I am indeed remiss in my blogging. There is so much to tell I can't do justice to it in the time I have. I am up at 0500 and go like crazy until hunger or fatigue make me take a break. The weather overall has been good enough to encourage outside work. And, like the chickens, my eyes begin to close at sundown. I do sleep good though, not less than 7 hours, and sometimes as much as 9. When my porch is done I'll move my bed outside to better enjoy the night air and the occasional wind and rain.
I expected to have the porch on my shack by now, but other things have slowed me down. You would not believe the number of well wishing and curious visitors I have had out here. Usually though my time is well spent getting to know them. Almost every one has some information or connection of interest or value to me. And every one without exception has been up beat and encouraging
Like the water well drillers Walter and Cathy Elliott, of Elliott Brothers Drilling who drove the hundred or so miles from Pietown, NM to locate my best water and to schedule one of their rigs on site. That was the result of one of my neighbors knowing about the most reputable and successful drilling companies, and giving me the number to call. They will start drilling by the end of July.
My generator works like a charm and starts like a car. It has every kind of power out that I could want, including 12VDC screw terminals. I usually charge my cell phone between 2 and 4PM mountain time, using the 12VDC outlet (cigarette lighter) in my truck, so thats not a problem. my number if you don't have it is (909) 910-0880. The cell phone service because of the AT&T tower one mile away at Scholle Junction is outstanding. The USB cell phone modem hooks up immediately every time.
I have lost weight. I am in the last notch of my belt after only one week out here. I'll be headed to Walmart for new stuff by the time my birthday rolls around.
I talk to my wife twice a day, and she is doing well. My absence lets her concentrate on her own interests, many of which she had set aside. This is another joint effort, like paying off our house. I'm doing my part with her constant support, and she is doing her part with my constant support. I could not have done better in her choice of husbands!! :)
The one factor that will drive what kind of house I'll put out here is the water. Once I know for sure how much and how good, then we will decide. I dream of a beautiful country place. Only water can make that happen.
You are right about the cost of moving and setting up a mobile home. Out here a single wide 100 miles or less is $2000 on average. A double wide is $4000 and up, but there are some companies that include the moving and set up fees in the cost. And they advertise no state sales tax on repos. One way or another I am going to build my wife a nice place here in the boondocks.
Well, tomorrow should see a good start on the deck of my covered porch. I'll take some more pictures, but before I send them I've got to figure out which program I use to make them a much smaller file size. I can't send very many pictures when they are between 1.3 and 1.5 MB each.
With that I'll close. I hope you and yours are well.

The Sky Gods Played Last Night

What a night; thunder and lightning and wind, and only a little rain. The first big gusts hit at about 10pm like a big truck going by. Then every 10 to 15 minutes until almost 3am. Everything I had tied down and covered up stayed put. I think the juniper trees are my allies. They protect me from the wind. But because of the meteorological display I slept late and missed my cool-of-the-morning writing time.
Oh, before I forget, I'll be putting my phone on the charger every day between 2 and 4pm, so if I don't answer you'll know why. And don't worry about me; I really am getting stronger and lighter by the hour.

A Good First Day

This is the evening of my first full day and I have made some progress. I got a post office box in the nearby town.
It's POBox 480, Mountainair, NM 87036. Since I'll be here on my 67th birthday, my wife insisted that there be someplace for family and friends to send the all the birthday cards I'm sure to get out here on my big adventure.
Also I went into Los Lunas (40 miles) and bought a Ridgid 10 inch Contractor Table Saw. It is totally corrosion proof. No cast iron or untreated steel. Perfect for resisting the affects of the sudden cloud bursts we get out here. The first important task I have assigned myself is building a door for the shack that opens and closes and latches and locks. That before anything else.
By the way, gas in Mountainair, where I filled up today was only $3.89.
I'm going to charge my laptop battery for a couple of hours and update my blog and write to my wife in the morning, so as to enjoy the cool air and not be distracted by the noise of my generator.

Counting Down

A word to my friends and family, all of whom have to work for a living.

Hi
Just a note. Tomorrow I get my bridge replaced. Friday I finish loading up, and Saturday morning (like 2:00AM) I'm on the road for my first extended stay on the ranch. Probably six weeks at least with everything I have planned.
My laptop has a USB cellphone modem, so I should be blogging soon after I get there. I'll try to provide enough interesting stuff to at least relieve a little of the intense boredom without making you feel bad at the same time. I know you'd much rather be out there with me digging post holes and dragging 1/4 mile lengths of barbed wire around. Say hi to Bobby.
Later,
Dave

Sharing the Fun

Q: Hi David, welcome to Askablogr! Your off-the-grid living project sounds like a great adventure, and I bet if you bring your engineer's perspective and voice to the technical aspects of the project you'll attract a reader base pretty quickly. Let me know if you have feedback or suggestions on the signup / install process and looking forward to reading your blog as the project unfolds. Cheers!

Asked by Chris DeVore

A: Hi Chris,

I grew up on a ranch near Hondo, Texas, out west of San Antonio. Left the ranch when I was seventeen, but the ranch never left me. Including my military service I was in engineering for over forty five years. That education and experience will never leave me either.

I have a ton of ideas for wind and solar power generation schemes, and mostly simple efficient environmentally friendly structures. In the past few years I have accumulated several 3 inch 3-ring binders full of clippings, notes, and schetches of stuff I want to pursue further. The highlands of New Mexico have such wonderful natural resources for that kind of pursuit.

When I first thought of starting a blog, my only intention was to provide a regular progress report for my wife and family and friends, so they could see what I'm doing and know I am well and having fun. I wanted to share the fun.  It didn't really occur to me that there are people all over with interests similar to mine, and that we could develope a natural connection via the blog. I like the thought of being a part of such a connection. It seems to be a source of great potential benefit.  

Ask David a question.

Preparations and Plans

I spent yesterday sorting and packing tools, and this morning trimming trees. I am In "Honey-Do" mode today 'cause it's my wifes one day off. 10 days from now I will be building a covered porch on my shack and meeting with the contractor who will pour the slab, lay the foundation, and erect my metal barn. It is officially a "barn" for the sake of minimizing the Valencia County permit process fees, and reducing property taxes, and getting the state and federal tax credits for agricultural construction.

By day twenty I should be well into the power line (COOP) process, well location, and west-boundary-fence location. I have spotted a couple of Ford tractors in the Belen (30 miles away) area for sale, and plan to buy the better of the two ($3500.00 or less) to clear the fence line and do a little preliminary (money-saving fun) site preparation for the "barn".

I managed to work on my blog page later yesterday getting it to look a little more like I wanted. My wife likes it and she has a good eye for graphics and format, so I think it's good to go. Once I get out on the place I'll be using my solitary time to add pictures and commentary each evening.

First Post: Getting acquainted with BLOGGER

It has taken me from 4:30 this morning until now (4:00PM) to review the various software available for blogging, decide what I needed in the way of features, download four that looked promising, make some false starts, and finally after settling on BLOGGER (because of it's comparative simplicity) actually begin to create the structure of my first page. Learning to use Word or Power Point is a similar stretch of the gray matter!