Chim-chim, chéri. Look at my Dickinson P-9000.

I got the chimney on the Dickinson P-9000 marine heater installed. Drilling a 3″ hole right through my beautiful wall was an event. I got a hole saw bit and plunged right through.

The p-9000 comes with a fairly short length of flexible chimney pipe. You can buy extensions, but I like to avoid costs. I confirmed that the chimney can exit a wall horizontally, and the “deck fitting” can be screwed horizontally onto a side wall.

In fact, a representative from Dickinson sent me a photo to illustrate this point:

I love people.

I want one in my Ford Festiva.

So, I squinted one eye and did what I had to do in the name of progress. I picked a spot, and drilled a big ol’ hole.

Seeing each layer of building materials come out of the hole in reverse order was novel, but what really piqued my interest was that I couldn’t get the chimney to line up with the fittings on the heater. Huh. Maybe I should have squinted both eyes, or stood back further when I was throwing darts at a board.

To fix the problem, I went to my new best friend, Rough Sawn Cypress. RSC told me to just screw a couple boards into the studs, and install the heater wherever it wanted to go. Great. So now I’m listening to objects for advice, and I haven’t even smoked any pot.

All’s well that ends well. I put more cypress in the house, and the heater didn’t land anywhere too absurd for comfort. The deck fitting doesn’t look too bad where it ended up, either.

Yep… that’ll work.

Cypress “rails” in action. Wish I used it for the whole GD wall.

School bell? No. “Deck Fitting.”

Cut a sliver of siding to slip in and shim. “Precision.”

As these photos will no doubt demonstrate, you do not need to be a skilled genius to build a tiny house. You just have to keep… moving… along.

The heavy lifting is over. Time for pipes and wires.

My brain is a tornado no matter what I do to it. Drugs and logic are lost like bb’s fired into a maelstrom. Trying to keep my mind on target is like prodding an elephant with a stick of spaghetti.

I’ve developed a love/frustration relationship with my house. I look forward to getting it completed. I am proud of what I have finished so far. I have painted myself into 1,000 corners. My tender and easily-frazzled mind is awash. I’m still learning.

Since my last post, I’ve installed flooring. I have nice flooring that I pulled out of the trash. When I made some money, I bought some wood. I covered the bathroom walls with rough-sawn cypress. It smells good and looks good. I bought more cypress to build a porch. The porch extends four feet from the front of the house. There is no roof above it, but I will get to that. I saved up $2,000 and spent most of it at a bicycle swap meet. Two weeks later, when my eBay auctions began to bring in money, I purchased $678 worth of Trojan T-105 deep cycle batteries. I built a handsome box for my battery bank, and put it on the front porch. It will double as a bench. It is topped with rough sawn cypress – my new favorite wood. I brush my teeth with this shit. I shower by rubbing it on my body. I talk to it when I’m lonely.

I quit drinking on my birthday in 2011. My birthday in 2013 saw me buying a quarter keg of beer. I won’t let sobriety prevent me from enjoying a good kegger. Tiny House – tiny keg. I invited a slew-and-a-half of my favorite people over to celebrate what I’ve accomplished so far. I have work ahead of me, but a birthday and a mild-weather respite was good cause to celebrate the present.

To do: install electrical system and propane system. Golly gee…