Letter from Rex And Lavonne Ewing
Review – April 2003 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
We wanted to thank Kirby Perschbacher for the spirited and honest review of our book, Logs, Wind and Sun. As a builder, Kirby was able to offer a great deal of insight that would have been missing had the book been reviewed by someone who had not lumbered down the same road we did. And we absolutely agree that anyone wishing to build their own home — log or otherwise — and power it from renewable energy sources, should not rely on our book as the sole source of information (though, for purely egotistical reasons, we do think our book should be the primary source).
Kirby was also right to point out the stormy emotional times a couple might have to weather during the process of building a house. It takes time, patience, and ample financial resources to successfully endure the hardships of a large building project, and the impatient, tightly-wrapped couple who are short on money would be well advised to consider a less ambitious approach.
But, to paraphrase Nietzsche, whatever will not kill a relationship will make it stronger. We found ourselves working side by side, day in and day out, for something we both wanted with equal desire. In the process we unearthed talents we didn’t know we had, and admired each other all the more for them. For us it was a labor of love — both the house, and the book. And in the end our relationship had even greater depth than before.
So, rather than preach to people we didn’t know, about difficulties we never experienced, we decided to describe the journey the way it unfolded for us, and let people decide for themselves if it was a road they wanted to follow.
As for chinking: unlike Kirby suggests, it wasn’t particularly messy, just time-consuming. The process was summed up best in LaVonne’s Verity, “Someday you will finish chinking, though probably not today.”
I should also add a word about what Kirby describes as our “Egyptian” methods of moving materials. I think this is an affront to the builders of the pyramids. Though I don’t know how the pyramids were built (and anyone who thinks they do is kidding themselves) I find it hard to believe that such colossal, enduring monuments could have been built with the same crude means we employed to build our house. Just the same, they worked for us and, once we got into the rhythm of things, our methods seemed downright easy.
And one last thing: C’mon, Kirby, quit scaring people! We both know the owner-builder is (thankfully) impervious to OSHA’s sharp, bureaucratic talons.
Rex & LaVonne Ewing
Masonville