Blogging in the Gloom

Winter is fast approaching, with three light snows since October. Our power system, now comprising four solar panels, a wind generator and six deep-cell batteries, is being tested--we've had a couple days when there was neither sun nor wind to charge the batteries. On those days, we rely on the gasoline generator we had to buy last summer to run the AC on really hot days. A smaller gasoline generator runs the power tools when we need them.

Catching up is always tricky. Where did I leave off? I'll rely on my photo files to keep things sort of in order, starting with the two large solar panels. (We also have two smaller ones that came with Serenity.)

These two panels are mounted on satellite dish mounts, so they can be turned side-to-side and up-and-down to track the sun. Greg usually adjusts them twice a day to maximize the solar gain. So far it's working quite well.

Since my last post, Greg built a pumphouse, which I call The Monolith, since it's taller than it is wide. The eleven-foot ceiling is necessary for the every-five-year maintenance our Simple Pump http://simplepump.com will require. The pumphouse began like this:

and now looks like this:

We took a short break in late August to return to New Mexico and welcome our second grandson into the world.

We then returned to the never-ending job of building a home. I spent my time finishing the Wash House interior while Greg put up fence posts and dug trenches for wires from the solar panels:

The gothic window and its faux-stone wall separate the Throne Room, which contains our Nature's Head composting toilet www.natureshead.net and the washing machine--a utility sink and a plunger.

In late September, we finally had enough wind-free days to install the Sunforce 600 wind generator and tower we bought from Home Depot.

The tower is thirty feet tall, and required a lot of fiddling to get the guy wires adjusted properly. The tower had to be raised and adjusted by itself, then lowered again to mount the generator. Greg enlisted the help of our neighbor, Robert, to raise the tower with the turbine in place, while I was in town volunteering at the food bank. Of course, as soon as it went up, the wind was nowhere to be found for several days.

With winter approaching, we decided it would be a good idea to enclose the doors to the studio (former bunny barn) and wash house against the wind, rain and snow, so we designed an airlock:

We removed the tall studio door and rebuilt the shorter wash house door, including two-inch foam insulation to keep out the cold. (70s joke: "I have this lovely coffee table, could you make me a hollow-core door out of it?") This modification allowed us to install a vented propane heater into the studio, primarily to keep the composting toilet at the required 55 degrees to function properly. It works so well, we've threatened to move into the studio on really cold days ....

During all this building, digging, etc., we took a Sunday off to go into town and greet the steam train on its way through:

At the end of the summer, we lost BunBun, our Cinnamon doe, to the heat, so when the weather cooled down (finally), we went in search of a replacement. We ended up with several replacements, a New Zealand White doe (we've raised NZs before), two Creme de Argent does, and a litter of Satin babies. This sudden bunny explosion required the construction of a new bunny barn, which is being built the Montello Way--using almost exclusively salvaged materials. It began this way:

As usual, a simple bunny barn wasn't enough, so we decided to add a chicken house and run to the other side, so when spring rolls around, we can get some chickens. Before we had the chance to close anything in, we found out we needed the space sooner than expected, so we started with the smaller chicken side of the building, which now looks like this:

When the weather warms up again, we'll paint this to match the other buildings. In the meantime, it's home to seven of our bunnies, including these guys:

Do I hear an "Awwwww ...."?

If the gloomy weather continues, I'll finally get a chance to actually work in my studio. If not, I'm sure we'll be getting on with Bunny Barn II, the larger side where all the bunnies can be together. In the meantime, we hope everyone has a special holiday season.

 Merry Christmas from our house to yours!



Fauna and Fires and Floods, oh my!

A lot has happened since my last post. It's hard to decide where to begin. I guess I'll start with the Fauna.

When someone offered us a cowdog puppy, we decided it might be a good idea to have a larger dog to keep the beasties away from Rosa the Chewdle, especially since she's never been keen on staying in her kennel, which has consequently now been converted into a replacement bunny barn. (The original now being finished out as my studio.)


Gypsy the Cowdog


"Puppy" was a bit misleading, as Gypsy was about seven months old when we adopted her, and looked pretty much like a dog. She still acts like a puppy, though, much to Rosa's disgust. She has settled in well and now guards us from coyotes, strange vehicles that enter the gate, and the contrails from the jets that fly over from the AFB in Utah.

And speaking of the bunny barn and the bunnies, I finally got some photos of those:






Bunnicula




















New, improved Bunny Barn
(Formerly Puppy Pen)

We believe the rabbits are Cinnamon Rabbits, a mix of Californian, New Zealand White and Checkered Giant, although there's some possibility of a bit of angora mixed in. When the temperature returns to a reasonable level, we'll get serious with the rabbit raising portion of our ranch.

I've mentioned the Wash House, the 8'x8' building we added to the front of the bunny barn-cum-studio. This is where I wash the clothes, using a utility sink and a plunger, after pumping the necessary water, of course. We have a series of hoses connected to the pump through a four-way valve, which allows us to fill gallon jugs, pump water on the baby willow trees, fill the fresh water tank on Serenity, and pump water into buckets for the laundry. Here is Wash House, phase 1:

That's my shadow on the wall. With this arrangement, I had to monitor my water use so I could change the collection bucket before it overflowed, and then carry the water to the trees or some other deserving plant life. Greg has now connected a lot more pipe, so the water flows to its destination without my help. This speeds up the washing process, and saves a certain amount of wear and tear on the Washerwoman. You can see a portion of the Windbreak (aka privacy fence) in the background. The Wash House has a nice faux-parquet tile floor:

as does the studio. Both now have paneling on the walls, as well. The studio is finished except for painting the trim (and the outside walls), but I haven't yet photographed it. I'm still working on the trim and finishing touches in the Wash House.

The Big Event of the year in our little town is the 4th of July. It begins with a parade, followed by a cookout in the park, a pie eating contest and other forms of group entertainment. Greg, having joined the Tecoma Township Volunteer Fire Department in early June, was asked to drive one of the fire trucks in the parade. I took photos from the porch of the store:

Speaking of the fire department, Greg has gone out on three fire calls so far. Thankfully, only  one has been a major fire. That night we had a big fire on the mountains in two directions at the same time. The Rhyolite Fire was the most visible, although the 20 Mile Fire, which Greg responded to, was much larger. The rain (remember those floods I mentioned in the title?) helped the firefighters put both of them out.



Rhyolite Fire



This was the view from our yard, looking toward the east. The 20 Mile Fire looked much the same over the mountains to the west. Because of the prevalence of wildland fires like these, the highways are dotted with billboards that pose the question: How fast can your house run? Being a travel trailer, our house can make pretty good time, providing it's hitched to the truck. Of course it wasn't, that night.

 After several days of flames and smoke, it rained, and we went from fire to flood:





Gamble Road





Section Line River--er, Road







North gate



This used to be the way we went out, making a circular drive, in one gate, through the yard, out the other gate and back to the county road via the section line road. Its current resemblance to the Grand Canyon prevents us from doing that until we can make it back into a road again.

But, as the song says, "And after it rains, there's a rainbow ...."



Double Rainbow





Now I know where the pot of gold is, right over there to the east. Think I'll take a stroll that direction ....

Serenity has landed

I can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post. It's been a busy month, including an almost-two-week, 3500+ mile road trip. About a week before we left, our Simple Pump arrived:





Pump in a Tube or two

 The pump was installed, as advertised, in about two hours, with the generous help of Don, who works on pumps for a living and was curious about our hand pump. We now have water!



Connecting drop pipe section

 


Installing pump rod

 

Simple pump in action






Water!



As soon as the pump was in and working, we began the process of moving to This Land (which will probably be renamed Raven's Nest, which apparently it was for many years). First, we moved the bunnies to the dog kennel, which Rosa the Chewdle doesn't call home. Then we hitched Serenity up and hauled her out to her new home:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch ....



The view from the kitchen window

For those of you who don't believe we live in the Wild West, this was the view out our front gate the day we moved Serenity:

Now it's time to go pump some more of that fresh water....

Organic Living

Organic Living is not the same thing as Organic Gardening, although we plan to do some of that as soon as we can get set up for it. Organic Living is also known as "go with the flow." Before moving up here, we both spent a lot of time researching things, drawing up plans in SketchUp and making decisions based on what we knew (or thought we did) about the area, our property, etc. Soon after arriving here, those plans went out the window. Rather than starting with the carefully drawn plans, we began with the Bunny Barn, as we realized we need a safe place for the bunnies before moving from our Home Base in town (where the bunnies occupy a portion of a secure dog kennel.) We bought a kennel for Rosa the Chewdle, and covered it with wire, because everyone told us we have to watch out for coyotes and hawks and other predators that will consider her a tasty snack. We set up the kennel in front of Tex the Container and wrapped a tarp around the east end to give Rosa a break from the wind:

Neither the Bunny Barn nor the kennel were part of those carefully made plans. Nor was the next step. We went out to work one day, after a night of very strong (i.e. 55 mph) west winds, to discover that the kennel, shipping weight *167 pounds* had moved four feet, so that the gate side (on the right in the photo) was touching the front of the dog house! Now we needed a wind break on the west side of our evolving compound. The next project on our list was bumped down a few notches to make way for a six-foot tall privacy fence:

The fence created a nice sheltered corner for the kennel, and the tarp went on top for shade--until more wind started ripping the grommets out and tearing up the tarp. We now have a new plan for shading the kennel, to be implemented soon. In the meantime, we took some time off to do a little sight seeing. We drove around Rhyolite Butte, which is clearly visible across the valley:

This photo doesn't do justice to the rocks near the base of the butte. This gives a better idea of scale:

The guy lounging against the rock there came up with a simple way to add another room onto the front of the Bunny Barn, which I decided would be an ideal place to do laundry. We don't yet have electricity--those carefully laid plans call for a solar electric system, but our experience here so far suggests that a wind generator is a better alternative for the local climate. We do get quite a lot of sun (especially since This Land has no trees on it), but they don't Call the Wind Maria for nothing. Er, that is, it rarely stops blowing, and reasonably-priced wind generators will charge batteries with as little as 4.5 mph winds, which we have plenty of. (Remember that moving dog kennel?) Anyway, not having power means hauling the laundry to a laundromat, which requires at least a 100-mile round trip and plugging far too many quarters into washers and dryers. Following the last such outing, I bought a laundry sink, a plunger and some clothes line, and we got busy building the Wash House:

At the same time, I began to agree with Greg, the Bunny Barn is much too nice for bunnies, or even mere storage. We put a floor in the Wash House, for obvious reasons (the dirt here, referred to as powder by some of the local residents, is very fine, especially when one walks on it all the time, and the aforementioned wind blows it everywhere), and the idea of putting a floor in the Bunny Barn suggested a much better use: a Starter Studio, where I can create some Western artwork. I have plenty of inspiration. With this in mind, we bought enough materials to finish the Wash House and put a floor in the Former Bunny Barn. (For the summer, the bunnies will share the dog kennel with Rosa, who would really rather not be in there.)

The Wash House, Phase I, is now complete. Phase II will entail insulating, putting in some kind of waterproof floor covering and wall coverings, but we have until winter to get that done. In the meantime, I have done two loads of hand laundry, with very agreeable results. (I can hear my women friends rolling their eyes and saying, "She's excited about doing hand laundry? Must be spending too much time in the sun ....")

In the meantime, we've had visits from more of the neighbors, including one I'd rather not have drop by:

This one was a bull snake, probably looking for gophers, not it's look-alike cousin the rattler, but still, I prefer not to encounter them unexpectedly. Or otherwise.

We're learning to be a bit more flexible with our plans, to consider the weather forecast to be more like guidelines, and the most important lesson so far is, Always Take the Cameras. The one day we both forgot our cameras, a pronghorn strolled across the road, grazed by the gate for a bit and then sauntered off across the desert, all too far away for a decent cell phone photo. Aarrghh ....