Loft Construction Tucson
	Mark Builds Rooftop Loft March 2010
	This trip was dedicated almost entirely to the loft and to the concept of the rooftop sunset picnic.
1. There was a lot of preparation for this trip. Since the roof would be a mess, I built a bunk for the Blueberry (I normally sleep on the hut roof.) The passenger seat folds forward and the foot of the bunk folds out and rests on it. This structure also provided a slot to hold the solar power setup. I slept on this bunk most nights of the month I was away.
2. It was weird preparing to either buy a boat in san diego and sail, or build a rooftop loft in tucson. I had to bring the stuff for both projects just in case...
3. And so my first stop was Harbor Island next to the airport and downtown San Diego. The sprawling mass of concrete, cars, and humanity can look pretty through the lens of a camera!
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5. No, this is not the boat I looked at. This boat is too small.
6. This is the boat I considered buying. It was a difficult decision, but I finally realized that this boat wasn't big enough either. And so the search continues... Many thanks to captain Emu for lodging me for a night during my boat search, and for lots of helpful advice and counsel regarding the sailboat search.
7. After looking at the Cal 29 sailboat and deciding against, I drove east from the city and camped along Kitchen Creek near Laguna Mountain. It always surprises me to see this flow in the desert. You might have to spend a few months in San Diego to appreciate fully the discovery of this wilderness which is only an hour away!
8. Arriving in the Sonoran desert is a thrill.
9. My brain was tuned to wildflowers by a couple of friends B4 I left Arcata, and so I started taking flower pics right away. This one is almost as tall as the EUKOR!
10. The church at Ajo (garlic) Arizona. When I arrived here, I realized that I was having impure thoughts, so I went into this church and confessed. Turned out, according the priest, that my impure thoughts were actually an acidic tummy, and so instead of atonement I had to take some papaya enzyme tablets!
11. Upon arrival in Tucson, I immediately began studying the shade roof to figure out how hard it would be to deconstruct it. I didn't know whether it would take a week or an eternity of hammering.
12. One last photo of the shade roof. (The shade roof was a concept I developed for dealing with the heat conduction. It's just a roof on top of a roof with channels of air running in the direction of the prevailing south wind. The hut effectively sits in its own shade.)
13. But it's still pretty hot!
14. To my great surpise, delight, and relief, the roof came flying apart without resistance! (partly because of the decaying power of the elements in the desert.) I took the whole thing apart in one full day of work.
15. During my rather violent deconstructionist period, I wore an helmet, just in case I should suddenly convert to existentialism and fling myseph off the roof.
16. This is an action photo with a lot going on, which is in need of interpretation. Here, the hut is becoming bald, like myselph. I have sorted the un-re-used wood and left the heavy pieces of plywood up on the roof where I would recycle them into the loft construction. Also in the picture, the ladder is leaning with all its weight against the wall of the hut!
17. Warning: Do not attempt to shake hands with a baby barrel cactus, no matter how cute and friendly you are.
18. When I am in the desert, I crawl inside a lot of raw vegetables, and then they crawl inside of me.
19. This art photo is a study of what the hammer is doing when I am not using it.
20. The sun is what I go to the desert for.
21. Here you can see the new loft door leading to the new hatch and ladder in the ceiling. This is the moment just before the rooftop sunset picnic begins.
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23. I sliced up the rolled roofing and rolled it up into rolls and stored it in the shower, where I later head-butted them when I fell off the little wall.
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28. The greenity of the desert this trip was shockful! I've never seen such full greeny grass here B4.
29. This is part of my new idea for a rain catchment. I built up the edges of the rim of the hut wall by wrapping 2x4 segments with chicken wire, nailing them to the roof frame, and then building up mortar and stucco to a rounded form.
30. Here you see the primary roof, which is sturdy enough to build a second floor and walk on.
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34. Here I have added the second layer of rolled roof which was stored in the shower, and sealed the edges with tar. I sealed the roof right to the edge of the stucco to form a water-tight catchment.
35. Next, I painted the roof with aluminum fibered roof coating. This reduces heat by reflection and also reduced global warming!
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37. Our land is juxtaposed with government land which is licensed as free range, and I saw many horses this trip.
38. The view climbing up to Kitt Peak on my usual pilgrimage to the observatory.
39. Baboquivari Peak in the distance.
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48. Fairy-Duster.
49. Warning: Do not attempt to shake hands with fire ants, no matter how friendly they may seem.
50. San Xavier Mission. I go here, not to confess my impure thoughts, but to feed stray dogs which congregate in the courtyard.
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53. The hedgehog.
54. The view from the new balcony of the hut.
55. Venus and Mercury. This was my view just after sunset each twilight.
56. Ocotillo.
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58. Here you can see the beams in the primary roof.
59. Campfire with distance city light.
60. The loft is complete!
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62. The wind blew my street sign down. So I climbed up on the car and tied it together with a strap of climbing webbing.
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64. These are the wind-mill fields east of LA.
65. Phone Pics: The next few pictures were taken with the phone. I went to the San Xavier Mission several times to feed the stray dogs which roam about the land.
66. This trip I could only find one, but she had given birth to puppies and was very hungry!
67. Two Domes!
68. Emu and Lazarus visited one sunday, and we went to lunch at Zemam's. Lazarus knows two javelinas here, and was hoping to visit with them again.
69. This is the portable solar power system I set up to supply electricity for my drill, phone, camera, and flashlights.
70. This statue sits in an aquarium at the Hare Krishna temple in Tucson. They have a vegetarian restaurant and I can eat a nice dinner while I confess my impure thoughts to the temple priest. The statue depicts how crowded Venice Beach is in LA and how you can get trampled to death there. Some believe wrongly that it depicts how a young man emerges from the sea, loses his soccer ball, gets old while trying to find it, and then drowns in frustration. But I don't believe this.
71. Finally, I decided that I didn't like the loft and so I took it down and restored the old roof. But the whole process of building something and then ripping it apart and then repeating the cycle perpetually is what life is all about, and that's what I love about this big beautiful happy world we live in! Hoooweeeee!
	Wooden Tent On The Rooftop.