Communities

02-05-08

Just before daybreak, we were awakened by the sound of sleet falling on the roof, when I went to bed (at about 3:30 am, yeah I know…), the temp was 42 and steady, the wind was blowing, as usual, I could see the stars out the window so the sky was clear, what a difference a few hours can make! Bob got up and started the fire going in the wood stove, I laid in bed until it got light outside, Bob was making biscuits on the wood stove, he makes a pretty mean biscuit :) I finally rolled out of bed to see the snow, the sleet had stopped and had been replaced by fluffy snow flakes. Everywhere I looked, the snow was swirling, the ground was becoming white, the mountains were looking very scenic. I grabbed my camera (cell phone) and started snapping pix. I put on my thick, quilted coveralls (one of the best things we got before we left Irving!), I leashed up a very reluctant dog and went outside. Once we were out, Pekoe became less reluctant and more interested in doing her business, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was starting to shine, it had just came over the east ridge of the mountains and illuminated the patchy snow on the ground, I snapped quite a few good pix, it’s amazing how a little snow can make the most mundane objects look special.

I came back inside when I ran out of memory in my cell phone for pix, the dog had completed her business and my fingers were frozen. I carried 2 logs up from the street side of our property, that’s a bit of a walk, all up hill, but I managed, we needed the wood, and besides, I didn’t want to have to explain why I didn’t bring at least one piece of wood when I was right next to it.

An interesting observation, I noticed that when frozen precipitation falls, it doesn’t melt, it evaporates, the air is so dry here, the humidity is nearly always low, when I picked up the snow today, it just evaporated in my hand, very interesting indeed…

Now I am sitting in front of a warm fire, wearing my warm, fuzzy pink PJs, sent to me by my MIL, enjoying part 2 of the weather event that was NOT predicted by the NOAH weather people on line, the clouds came back and it started snowing again.

Care Packages

In the last week, we have received 2 sets of care packages, the first came from Bob’s mom, it came via UPS, delivered to our neighbor’s house (thanks again to our wonderful neighbor!), it came in 3 boxes, one box was for our neighbor, he has been inducted into the family so he gets care packages too. About half of the stuff was …

02-04-08

Here are some pictures of the water system, it is all inside our cabin so we don’t have to worry about anything freezing. It basically works like this, we have a 55 gallon plastic (food safe) barrel next to the sink, it is filled with clean water. We placed a length of black plastic tubing (it’s like a hard water hose) going down into the inside of the barrel, it goes all the way to the bottom of the barrel. This goes to a 12 volt water pump, this is attached directly to the water faucet which is attached to the wall above my sink. The pump is powered by one of the big batteries in our power system. It is always powered on, but only comes on when the faucet is opened. When the faucet is opened, the pump immediately pumps water from the barrel to the faucet, it creates pressure so the water comes out hard enough to do what I need it to do. Right now, there is only cold water, we have to rely on our wood stove to provide hot water for now, that will change in the future, but for now, it works great!

The graphic I drew is pretty close to how it really looks, but things are a bit farther apart then I drew, the barrel is pretty close to the sink, the pump is really that close to the faucet, the sink is not that far from the faucet, and the battery is not that close to everything else.

My sink

I love my sink, it was a “found treasure”, when we still lived in Irving, I was coming home from work, taking one of my usual short cuts, I passed a rent house that was being renovated. There was a pile of trash and stuff sitting out near the street. I saw the sink sitting there and decided that it would be mine. I went home, got Bob, we went back and got the sink and a few miscellaneous items, it’s amazing what people throw away! :) The sink has been around for a while, I would guess it’s a 40s or 50s model, you don’t see them like this anymore. It’s enameled steel, white, with a double bowl design, what is different is it has built in drain boards on both sides of the sink, (all made out of enameled steel), it has an art deco look to it. The enamel is in pretty good shape, it does have a few dings in it, but far fewer than my original sink at my old house! The biggest advantage for me is the drain boards, most people now days have automatic dish washers and don’t have much need for these, but since I am living more like a pioneer, the drain boards are a real help to me.

Bob …

OK, sorry about the pix thing, I had a lot of pix uploaded but apparently they weren’t showing up, I could see them but they weren’t visible to anyone else, I fixed the problem, now the pix will be visible to everyone.

Here are the entries with pix:
https://wretha.blogspot.com/2008/01/big-accomplishments.html

https://wretha.blogspot.com/2008/01/solar-stuff-mice-and-smoke.html

I believe the other entries with pix were visible.

2 Comments

nanabird2000 said…

Pictures came through great great stove bet it puts out the heat. Been meaning to ask how the bug likes the roads out there. Handle like you want it to ?
Nancy

January 23, 2008 9:33 PM

Wretha said…

Hi Nancy, the stove keeps us toasty warm, in fact a lot of the time, we have to crack a window to cool things off.

The bug takes the roads great! It’s rough, but these bugs were designed for this, on Christmas, we took the bug to go to a friend’s house for dinner, one of the wheels on the bug was loose and fell off! We walked back to our property, it wasn’t far, we got a few tools, found the lug nuts on the road, and put everything back together, nothing was damaged, this was the one tire that we didn’t change before we left, Bob hadn’t checked it, I’m glad it didn’t happen when we were traveling out here! Anyhoo, it didn’t hurt anything, we put it back on, tightened it back up and went on to dinner. :)

January 25, 2008 9:22 PM

01-20-08

Big accomplishments, we now have a metal roof, our big wood burning stove and the sink drain has been plumbed.

First, the metal roof, we were gifted with the material for the metal roof, it was left over material from other projects, it was given to us by our good friends out here, it’s about 3 different colors, but no one can see it unless you are standing on the roof, and we are now water proof and much more wind proof. A few days ago, the weather report said we might get some rain, thunderstorms and possible snow, we had one day’s notice! So Bob went to work in the morning and didn’t stop until it was complete, in fact got sick from doing it, breathing all the dust (the panels were coated in dust and dirt, like everything out here) and the wind was relentless that day, sunny but cold, he had gotten a bit run down and having to cover the entire roof in one day just about finished him off… (he’s getting better now).

I didn’t get to help him, I wished I could have, that was the day I watched my neighbor’s dog Sam, and Sam couldn’t be left alone. Bob did a really good job, as usual :)

The next day, it drizzled, for about 10 minutes, just enough to make the tiniest layer of moist dirt, couldn’t even call it mud, but it was enough to make water run off the roof, nothing dripped inside, it’s also more quiet, when the wind blows it’s a lot quieter. We never got the rain, thunderstorms or snow.

Bob also plumbed the sink, no running water yet, but I can do the dishes inside at the sink now, and I can pour liquids down the sink, it runs through the floor, outside to the ground, we dug a pit and will fill it with gravel, basically gray water disposal.

Yesterday, I made a water run to my neighbor’s house, as I was leaving, Bob was hauling the big wood stove from the side of the house to the back of the house, this thing is big, it weighs around 300 pounds, Bob designed and made this wood stove, it works great, we used it to heat our whole house where we used to live, so it should have no problem heating our little one room cabin! :) I told Bob that I would help him with it when I got back, he smiled and said he would see me when I got back. Well, when I got back, he was on the roof, finishing the chimney cap and spark arrestor. He had, all by himself, removed the small wood stove, and put in the big wood stove, please understand, our cabin sits about 7 feet in the air, there is a 4 step tall wooden …

Bob the Lumberjack

This morning, Bob went out and cut down a few juniper trees. they are about 6-8 inches in diameter and the part he is using is about 8 (+/-) feet tall, he is using them for posts and beams inside the cabin, it is going to strengthen up the cabin considerably, and it will lend a rustic look too, I’ll try to snap a few pix when it is done.

Grass

I have been eyeballing the local grass, it grows in clumps and gets 18-20 inches long, it is quite strong, I have been considering ways I can use it, such as weaving it into mats, baskets & bowls, making wall coverings and window blinds. I will have to look on line to learn more about weaving, but not knowing about something has never stopped me before! ;)

Dentist

Bob had to go into town and go to the dentist, he has a bad molar, the dentist gave him a prescription for antibiotics, he will probably have it pulled, it’s cheaper than fixing it, money isn’t something we have in abundance, he has to go back in early February and will decide then how to proceed. Hopefully we can come up with something between now and then. I had a filling come out just before we moved out here, I went to my Dad’s dentist and he fixed it, I am very happy with his work, I wished he was out here…

Last night was COLD!!! I think it was the coldest night yet, we used a laser thermometer, I tested several surfaces outside, the metal ladder said 9 degrees(!), the ground registered 19 degrees, a few other surfaces registered between 14-19 degrees, that was early in the night, I know it got colder as the night went on, there was a light breeze from time to time, Bob stayed up all night keeping the fire going, we really need to get our big wood stove in the cabin. Fortunately once the sun comes up, the temps raise up into the 50’s, at least it feels that warm in the sunshine, if you get in the shade, you are reminded that it is still winter here.

3 Comments

nanabird said…

Hey look forward to reading your blogs almost like talking to you at Curves. Nothing worse than a bad tooth poor Bob. FYI the Haltom Curves is closing as of this Friday and merging with the Richland Hills store so many ladies are not happy and have resigned the reason she is isn’t making any money at that location. Don’t know what I will do I joined here for convience……You are so lucky to have such a wonderful neighbor and friend so close and so willing to help you out. Hope thing continue to go well for you guys find all your stuff quite interesting keep up