So.  An Outdoor Room.  And a Sleeping Room.
What I arrived at.
Looking out towards the back yard:

 Cliffside.  At the bottom is Dry Creek, which is, ironically, rarely dry.

 My new main entrance:

 The porch connects to my cedar Sleeping Room:

 Dawn from inside my front door:

 And again, wider:

Oh- and for my dad

The view above.   I can't see stars through it, but the corrugated plastic acts like ocean waves on the full moon - the reflection repeats and repeats into a bright line of moonbeams.   And each morning, Jupiter and Venus peak in my Sleeping Room window.

Birth of an Outdoor Room

So, I found my dream cabin on Mt. Lucas.  Except it quickly became a nightmare.
One of the many nightmare episodes was that this was a duplex cabin.

My duplex neighbor is quite nice.  But he's a boy.

We can hear everything (and I mean everything) the other person does.  And since he has a one room efficiency, and I have a 2 room "one bedroom", I was way too close to him.  Our beds were 4 feet away from each other, with only 2 layers of drywall between us (no insulation).  And he had the habit of coming home between 11pm and 2:30am.  Sometimes (more and more) with his girlfriend.  Who isn't quiet.  If I was a guy, I suppose I'd just join in and masturbate.  But I'm not.  A guy.

The guy isn't an asshole.  He's just a boy.  Let's the toilet seat fall shut - I can hear it.  Slams the front door every time - I can hear it.  Drops things instead of placing things - I can hear it.  Scoots furniture (oddly frequently) - I can hear it.  On the good side, he doesn't blast his music or tv, and doesn't have really loud phone conversations.  And no yelling at the girlfriend.  Like I said - not an asshole - just a boy.  Who made it so I couldn't sleep.

It was so bad, I slept in my tent for 2 months, as far back in my backyard as I could get.
Back there, next to the bench.

Something had to give.

So, here was my goal:

But, given my budget, I thought I'd go for something more like this:

Yes, it's a chicken coop.  See, "Screened porch" was a bit hi-faluten to me.  Ok - really just high-priced.  But I really did like the small brick patio, row of big rocks and raised bed garden that were already in my yard.  What I wanted was no mosquitoes.  And a barrier so that deer, rats, raccoons, snakes, frogs, armadillos, foxes and coyotes couldn't get in while I slept out there.  So I decided what I was really going for was an Outdoor Room.

Valentine's Day, 2012.  The day I locked my keys in the car for the first time in 15 years.  I was stuck on the side of a mountain. With a strange man. He let me use his phone to call triple A.  I'd locked my purse in the car, too.Then he suggested we walk to Dry Creek Cafe and Boat Dock.

This is the view from his backyard. We're halfway up Mt. Lucas. That's the fire pit he built.  And take a good look at that puddle next to it.  You won't see much water after this. It's Texas, y'all.