Travel Trailer and Truck Work

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This is our newly acquired travel trailer which will add comfort and warmth to my "Boondocks" experience in the coming months, and add to the future guest accommodations at the ranch.



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When we first got the trailer there was a lingering odor of cat urine. The carpet had to be torn out completely to begin the remediation. After all the carpet was out, I gave the bare sub-floor two very heavy coats of white polymeric roof sealer. We decided to replace the carpet with a medium quality laminate.


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I completely removed and rebuilt the support frame for the couch, raising it two inches to improve the storage space under and to better fit my seating height requirements.

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I closed off the outside hatch, (it's the open one in the second picture above), and insulated the wall with 1 inch of foil-faced foam board. Then I coated the area with a polymeric vapor barrier and carpeted it. Afterwards I wainscoted the wall next to where I will sleep for a little more warmth.

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Here the floor is almost all installed and awaiting the newly stained trim.

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The couch/bed back in place ready for use. The empty box under the left end is typical of the boxes that will be used for storage. It's the same size as a Xerox box.

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My wife has been encouraging, and ever so patient throughout this entire mess. She has a very good eye for living space, and I have been grateful for her help and impressed with her suggestions.

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This is a pretty good shot of the fabric we found to reupholster the dinette and couch cushions.

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In this view the slide is all the way out. We were able to get the trim on the slide and the floor to compliment each other very well. With the carpet removed the slide glides silently in and out. It used to groan and hesitate.

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This is the alcove at the rear door. I guess two doors are nice to have, but that 4 square feet might have been added to some more functional space.

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The rear door alcove is a natural hanging locker so I added a clothes rod stained to match the "decor.

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I used a combination of 1/2 inch quarter-round and 1 1/2 inch door casing for the trim. It seemed to blend the floor and the cabinets well.

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After the stain mixture had been tested for color, I wiped down all the cabinet and drawer fronts with it. It covered the wear and oxidation of accumulated years of use and made a nice fresh patina.


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And this is the 2001 Dodge 3500, 4WD 5 speed diesel we bought to pull it with.


Sharon was having difficulty getting in the truck, so I installed these steps on both sides to make it easier. Turns out they make it much better for me too. In the picture they look a little too far forward, but they are exactly where they need to be. They are 20 inches wide and centered at the front of the seat.

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SCHEDULE CHANGE:
My plan now is to pull the trailer out to the ranch about the third week in March. I know I am a glutton for punishment and the weather might not be ideal (windchill), but I am anxious to see my friends and check on things, especially the fence. Hopefully there will be enough mild days to allow some progress to be made.

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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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