Secret life of Mateo

Wow, I can't believe it's nearly May already. We're still alive and well at the Ranch. Summer is nearly over and the rains will be here any day now. Matt's been busy with multiple crazy little projects which test his creative wits and it's all going quite successfully, in my opinion. He started out drawing up all sorts of official architecture documents for the first house at the Ranch, and now the building is already well underway. It's actually getting a roof as we speak and it's likely to be done in the next 1-2 months. An interesting modification that the owner/yoga teacher wanted was a glass mosaic of bottles in the shape of a lotus flower on one of the large walls. Using coke bottles set in a wooden frame, they poured concrete to complete the wall.

Next he was asked to design an obstacle course for children (age 8-12) and adults. We get quite a few school groups and groups of families over major holidays so it's perfect for keeping kids occupied. Matt researched online and drew up plans trying to make it exciting, but also safe. The obstacle course is now 90% complete and is a challenge not only to the 6 year old resident on the Ranch, but also to the adult sized staff and volunteers.

While the house was being built and the obstacles were getting installed, Matt also designed a massage pavilion near the pools and researched structures that could be used for climbing/bird watching/security. Most recently however, he with the help of another volunteer Mike, has been fleshing out the designs for producing bio-diesel from used kitchen oil. Matt's been quite busy to say the least. The therapy space is also being built as we speak and will perhaps be up and running in the next few weeks. Stuff happens fast here, faster than I ever imagined. I guess it helps to have an army of employees that work 10 hours a day 7 days a week.

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