Going Home For The Winter

This will be my last week here for this year. My next blog entry will be a recap of what I have managed to get done, what failed, and what is planned for next Spring. It may take a few hours to build the blog but I will get it done. Look for it next week sometime.
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The following was added March 14, 2009:

Here's a bunch of pictures and text from October 22, that I had not been able to post before.


The normal way to get an in-ground tank to withstand the load of backfill is to fill the tank with water first, but getting 2500 gallons of water delivered to our Boondocks location was iffy at best. The "empty" in-ground storage tank installation pit could not be "quickly" back filled without the tank collapsing under the load, so after first digging by hand down to the bottom of the tank all the way around I used the old tried-and-true method of corrugated roofing applied over 1 inch thick foam insulation to obtain the necessary sidewall rigidity. Plus I used the tractor loader to fill the pit evenly with rock-free fill dirt to keep from tipping or moving the tank. Since there was no way to mechanically fasten the foam board and the corrugated roofing to the tank I used most of two rolls of Gorilla tape to hold the stuff in place until the backfill could be dumped in around it. It worked and it looks okay. A lot more shovel work will be required to shape the berm evenly all the way around. Next year will see the final result.

When ever a large deep hole gets dug in this rocky ground, never fill it in without putting a post in it. You may not have an immediate need for it, but out here something will surely turn up. What, you might wonder, are the four massive pressure treated posts for? Not for the strength of the water tank, although they are very strong. They are the vertical supports for an octagonal 12' diameter gazebo/deck which will eventually be part of our outdoor living space. It will have a very nice view of both the mountains to the North and the valley and ridge line to the South.

While I was working the wind was blowing 20 to 25 mph, with gusts to 35 mph. Not hard as New Mexico winds go, but sharp edged roofing is nasty in any wind. Even though I was wearing gloves and being cautious, the sky gods decided to exact a few extra drops of blood in return for the success of my efforts (see the picture of my right wrist. And my Tetanus shot is current). Not only did I get nicked and scraped, but I suffered the added indignity of being knocked down and thrown into the pit with the water tank. While I was still trying to figure out if anything was broken (specifically me) my dear wife called with a banking question. Now anyone with a sense of humor would have to see the irony in that. All I could say was, "I'm down in the hole!" and of course I answered her question laying flat on my back. (She was not aware of my situation.)

The Hut is coming along nicely. Mondays heavy rains and strong storm winds proved it to be tight and dry. The roof sheathing has been covered with Elastomeric coating for added weather proofing and it stood up fine against the elements.





















This rainbow touched the ground right by my cube shack. I ran down there to snag the pot of gold, but I think the IRS must have gotten to it first. You know how they are.
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Wet And Windy

Just a couple of pictures taken on highway 47 south of Belen right at sundown on 11 Oct 2008.



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T' Storms, Main Gate And The Cube Hut

Sunday afternoon around 4:30 this boomer of a thunder storm came barreling east on highway 60. I had been working with the tractor, grading the approach to the main gate and I didn't see this monster until it was almost on me. I high-tailed it for the shack and got there just in time to avoid a thorough soaking. It dumped close to 2 inches of rain in four hours, and for the first time since last June there was water standing in puddles this morning. Usually the rain soaks right in.

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This is the main entrance gate to our 40 acres. I built it in June of 2006, and until today it couldn't be used because of the fence posts and barbed wire and the ditch that used to be there.

Now we will be able to bring in the sections of our house without taking down the fence and trucking the house cross country to the building site. The gate is 20 feet six inches wide (two ten foot green field gates). When we move in I'll change it to a single 20 footer with a support wheel and a remote electric gate opener.

I had quite a time learning how to make a surface this smooth with the box blade. I used the loader and the scarifier teeth to remove the top soil and get the rough (very) gradient and then with the blade set to about a quarter of it's depth capability I began grading in a long "X" pattern passing through the gate each time in a squashed series of about 50 figure 8 laps, working closer and closer to the gate as I gained confidence and control. You can see the tracks of the "X" pattern in the picture above.  Each time the surface was a little smoother. And because the tires follow the convolutions of the ground, the smoother the ground, the smoother the results of the blade. There is no substitute for patience in this process.

I have no clue why the above paragraph turned blue and underlined itself. It defied all efforts to correct it, so I left it alone fearing the whole blog would capsize if I messed with it too much.

In the next picture you can see the gentle slope I was able to make with the tractor. Less than three gallons of diesel fuel were used in about two and a half hours.

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The rain soaked my building site, costing me a day which might have seen the place under roof. Oh well, tomorrow is forecast to be clear and dry, with no more rain until next weekend. Fly rafters and roofing tomorrow. 

It was fun making and putting up these small classic gable end rafters. Each is 70 and 1/2 inches and easily one-handed into position. The power panel is not really out of plumb as it appears in the picture. That is a photographic effect known as "Rising Front Distortion".

The header on the left wall is for a 24 inch wide door that leads to the WC where my small composting toilet will reside. This small room (4x8) will also offer warmth and privacy for bathing. It will be a shed roofed attachment to the main building and have a pressure treated wood floor supported on posts and beam. 

The front where the gray door is will have a 6x8 covered porch and since it faces east it will be a shady place to relax on future Summer days.

Windows on both the east and west walls are vinyl, low "E" units, warm in Winter and cool in Summer. The window openings are not large, but they are sufficient for good ventilation and, at the same time the small openings are more secure.

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Electricity Operational And Computer Restored

I tried everything I could think of to return my computer to normal operation with no luck, until "nCleaner". It's freeware that apparently can go where others can't and avoids malware defenses that other commercial software doesn't. Anyway it seems to have done the trick for now.
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Here's a few pictures just to test my connection and show I'm still alive and kickin'. My wife got to spend a week with me out here and took a few pictures herself. I also bought her a BB gun and started teaching her to shoot.





The water storage tank in the ground, before back filling and pushing up the berm which will keep it from freezing.

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There was fire in the sky this day.


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EXCUSES, EXCUSES

My computer has slowed to a crawl and I haven't been able to correct the problem yet. Thinking hard about reinstalling XP Pro, SP3 once I have all the drivers collected and backed up.

Headed Back To The Ranch

It has been a short three weeks since I left, but two more hours of loading up, lunch, and a few hours rest will see my wife, Sharon and I back on the road to New Mexico.
She hasn't been there since March of 2006, when we signed the papers, and she is pretty excited to see how the place has changed.
We expect to make Mountainair before noon tomorrow and be out to our place in the early afternoon.
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Our Dog Brandy Died Today

She came to live with us on July 4, 2002, when she was already 7 years old. Half Pitt Bull and half Boxer, she was at first very aggressive and territorial, she barked wildly at everyone and everything that passed in front of her house. But she learned quickly and she wanted to please us so much that her personality changed in just a matter of weeks to docile and friendly.

She loved kids and tolerated the most outrageous handling from them. When our grandchildren or the neighbors children were here, Brandy often wound up sleeping under a pile of kids like puppies do. She was gentle and loving and protective of them. In the last three years she was a frequent overnight guest of the family next door, and made it quite clear that they were members of her pack. Three days ago, when she barely had the strength to move, she made her way next door to see the kids and lay on the floor with them for an hour.

This morning her strength had left her completely. We sat with her, stroking her and telling her how much we loved her and what a great companion she was. She thumped her tail a few times, closed her eyes and went to sleep. We had already made arrangements with the vet to do what was necessary, so my wife and I made her comfortable in the back floor of our mini-van and took her to be put to sleep for the last time.

My wife had always been afraid of animals until Brandy came to live with us, but the last six years with Brandy as her companion and teacher have worked a wonderful change in her attitude, her understanding of a dogs language, and her appreciation for the kind of love that a good dog has to give. Brandy will be greatly missed.
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When Contractors Are Good

What is so cool is when the contractors you trust with your money actually pro actively do their jobs even when you're not there to see to it.
The CO-OP staking technician Ted Mosley called me to say the trench from the last pole to the power panel was not deep enough (27 inches instead of the required 36 inches - we hit a very large boulder) and when the CO-OP puts the 40 foot conduit in that trench next Thursday it will have to be covered with concrete one foot thick, and then have the dirt built up with fill to meet code.

To save additional bucks and contractor fuel and time, we agreed that I would back fill all the trenches to code depth using my tractor and fill dirt that I can scrape up from several places near by. The stuff that came out of the trenches is so rocky it's really not suitable to go back in on top of the conduit.

The section of trench directly in line with the double conduit in the picture is too shallow to meet code, even though the trenching crew spent all day long with a jack hammer trying to break through.

I called Frank Sedillo (Price Right Electrical), and put him in touch with Mosley.
They discussed what needed to be done and agreed on a schedule when each would do their part. So the poles and the wire will go in next Thursday, and the concrete will be added on Friday, and I don't even have to be there to ramrod the operation.
Electricity on our place will be MAJOR progress. Almost on par with the well.
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How Rare Is The Warm Welcome

It has got to be one of the rarest experiences to be so warmly welcomed at a place you used to work. I was given that gift yesterday by my friends at Continental Data Graphics, where I worked for the last two years of my Boeing career.

I had no idea that what we are doing out there on the land would strike a sympathetic chord in the hearts of so many. Thank you.

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Some good news: The original contractor that came out to the ranch to bid on the concrete pad and raising the metal building is back in the picture with some new and money saving ideas. Possibly the potential for him to do the house foundation and the ETS chamber as well as the building piqued his interest.
He promised a new proposal with several options today by email.
I'm not getting my hopes up too high yet, but I am encouraged.
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It may interest some of you geeks out there to know that I am transitioning to the Linux operating system, and alternating between the Ubuntu 8.04, and the PCLinuxOS 2007 distros. So far both work equally well and I haven't found anything that I can't do as well as XP Pro. I'm using Ubuntu to write this blog.
Both distros detected and configured my networks (multiple) without hesitation, provided me with free applications for browsers and word processors, and let me use Windows NTFS files where needed.
The Linux world is full of free software for just about any application you could want.

I started trying Linux after I bought a refurbished HP that had Vista Home Premium installed. It would not run TurboTax 2007 and I almost lost my last four years tax records because of it. I thought it would be a simple thing to install XP on it and start over, but HP deliberately does not provide XP drivers for their Pavilion Slimline computers just so you can not go back to a decent operating system. Not only that but it would not accept another version of VISTA either.

Rather than have the new computer become a doorstop, I booted from a CD of PCLinuxOS 2007, and I was on the internet in less than three minutes. I was pretty amazed at that, so I went ahead and did a complete installation from the CD, set up my email with Firefox, and began restoring my file system, using software provided by various Linux archives on the internet. It works for me.
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Mackaela, The Cows, And Lunch

Q: Hi Dave, Do you need a special license to drive the truck and trailer you just got? When do you think it will too cold to stay? Seeing the BEEF drink from your bathtub, do you plan on raising cattle in the future? Let me know when your back and have time, we'll do lunch and you can tell your adventure story. Take careTerry

Asked by Terry

A: Hi Terry,

I have a commercial license, but that's only necessary for over 26000 pounds. A 28 foot trailer and a day cab, 2 axle truck would have to be really loaded to get that heavy. I'll put the required "NOT FOR HIRE" signs on the rig to avoid the attention of the DOT and not have to stop at weight and inspection stations.

Probably around the end of October will see me out of here for the winter. The only way I could stay longer would be if I can get the metal barn up and enclosed and heated. The shack just won't do in it's present configuration.

I'm pretty sure we will have some cows and horses to keep the grass mowed, but 40 acres in normal times won't support more than a few.

I'll definitely be on for lunch within a week or two after I get back.

Ask David a question.

Signing Off For One Month

The time has come for me to go home for a month to recharge my batteries, and plan the next phase of making a home in the high boondocks.
My wife, Sharon, and I will return to New Mexico on September 7. We will go up to the Karsten factory in ABQ, finalize the options on our modular home, and make the deposit to start the building process.
She will fly back to California a week later and I'll stay here to finish the barn, build the well house, and see to the completion of the fencing.
When it gets too cold to sleep in my shack, I'll head home for the winter.
I'll try to add something of interest periodically while I'm home, so I won't lose my BLOG space.

Mackaela Hooks Up

Part of the early morning view from approximately the height of our future south east facing deck. I would like the deck to be about three feet higher than this sight line.
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Why yes, I do like sunrise pictures. Why do you ask? I even think they're worth getting up for.

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And the damned cattle think my well trough is their new watering hole. One Hereford range bull challenged me this morning, but a good whack with a two by four changed his mind.

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Mackaela and the Reefer hooked up like they had met before.
I pulled up a pre-trip check list on the internet, and the rig (and air brakes) passed. Amazing! I did have to clean and re grease the 5th wheel and the release mechanism for it to work smoothly. Just about a 30 minute job.
I did the hook up trucker style with a solid bang and then yanked on the trailer before releasing the trailer brakes. I got good air pressure with no leaks (all four new grommets this morning) and the trailer brakes released on command. The lessons at truck driving school must have been good ones for me to have remembered so much.



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AND THEN there's the occasional sunset that speaks for itself.

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