10/18/22 (Tuesday)

Today in class, we covered contained sewage treatment and gray & black water system construction. I feel like I followed along for the most part, though some questions remain. Interestingly both the toilet AND the kitchen drain get hooked up to the black water system. This is because food particles and grease oftentimes get dumped down the kitchen drain, which is problematic for the gray water system. On the other hand, the tub, hand sink, and washing machine would all be hooked up to the gray water system, and that water then would be used to flush the toilet after going through the botanical cells. One important callout today--no bleach should be used in Earthship plumbing. Bleach can wreak havoc on the good bacteria in both the gray and black water systems. Interestingly, too, you have the option of diverting all waste water to the septic tank (I.e. shifting to "conventional plumbing") by simply installing a three-way valve within the system--something inspectors prefer to see. That said, you can always flip back to diverting the gray water to the botanical cells (gray water system) whenever you'd like--pretty cool.

I was back working on the blasted window stops again this afternoon. Getting a little better, perhaps, but still a ways to go. Just can't seem to get enough of my weight behind the impact driver when trying to screw the dang stop in, which unfortunately results in the driver slipping and scarring the wood. I attribute this mostly to the almost impossible ladder angles and being more mindful of staying on said ladder than using all my might to drive the screw in. Every time my classmate and I were able to find relatively solid footing for the ladder, it was always still several feet away from the window thanks to tire walls jutting out at the base and two-foot high planter walls that had already been poured, amidst a myriad of other obstacles. This order of operations doesn't quite jibe in my brain, but I suppose the work has to be done somewhat out of order so that there's a job for everyone. Although we had an abbreviated session on-site today, we were able to finish two windows--already an improvement over yesterday!

Returned to The Espresso Bar tonight and ordered another flight--so good! How do we get New England coffeehouses on board with this?! Also, in my one-day absence, they seem to have gotten all decked out for Halloween--looks very festive!