On my flight from Washington to California I saw a magnificent sunset over the Pacific Ocean!

I had so much fun listening to my oldest son, Aaron, performing with his Celtic Music band called “Charmas.” My son is the tall handsome guy in the middle playing the wooden flute.

I had a nice weekend visit with my Mom and step-dad in Santa Cruz. My Mom let me borrow her car and on Saturday morning I found this very interesting building where the workshop was being held. It was decorated with art and inventions from the past.

First we introduced ourselves.  There were so many people attending the workshop this took about 2 hours. Most of us were beginner builders, but 4 attendees were construction contractors who came to learn more about Tiny House building.

First we heard from Jay Shafer, the author of “The Small House Book” that some believe was the beginning of the Tiny House Movement. Jay explained that a “Tiny House” is any house in which ALL the space is used well. It is an EFFICIENT HOUSE. He told us about building codes and minimum house size regulations.

Then we heard from Daniel Bell of Danielbellconstruction.com. He taught us about many things including safety, tools, trailers, foundations, framing, insulation, roofing, composting toilets, electrical and plumbing. In addition to a Power Point presentation on all topics, Daniel had a lot of cool models and samples of everything that he showed us. I learned a lot, and I finally understood off-grid and grid-tied solar power systems. Daniel said with a grid-tied system if you generate more power than you need, you can sell it to the power company. But it is not quite as great as it sounds since the power company buys the electricity from you wholesale, and sells it to you at retail.

 

It was nice to land safely at the airport in Seattle and go home to my Tiny House and children and dogs. It was a great 4 day weekend! 🙂