Smiling Dog Eco-Ranch

"Bottle Mason"

2012-01-09T14:41:00.003-05:00

I am still unable to post photos, but at least have answers and a solution! Our six year old Gateway computer (tower) has several fatal problems, the worst of which was the death of the hard drive. A shop in Alpine was able to retrieve all the data on the drive though and store it on an external, terabyte hard drive that will be used in the future to back up in for on the new machine.

I found a great laptop that charges from 12 volt that, with peripherals and the new LCD television, will do more, easier that the old machine, so that will replace the old one in a couple more weeks.

For now, I am doing a bit of bottle masonry inside the dog's building. I never had a real desk in there before. I have rewired the 110 volt system and installed a comprehensive 12 volt system in the building that is integrated into the new 12 foot long desk. The system monitors are built into the wall and the new 16 watt LED lights are built into the ceiling along with night lights and an automotive audio system.

But it is the bottle work that was the most surprising to me. Most of the things we are doing here, we never tested before we moved. Because of this, the actual construction is a surprise. For example, although tire construction is a great method of building and dealing with an unwanted garbage source, I found it something I personally did not enjoy doing....... Though the small Earthship we have started will be finished.

In the back of my mind I was concerned that after gathering some 50,000 glass bottles, that too would be unpleasant. It was a VERY pleasant surprise to find that not only is working with the bottles easy, I really enjoy it! The desk was designed with mirrors on the wall behind the curve of the bottles. There is a series of small LED lights mounted in the wall also that shine on the mirror and bottles and this light is reflected around, giving the bottles a warm, backlighted glow at night.

The desk is so solid and stable, that it is easy to see how a very large building can be constructed using bottles that is highly stable. When we begin the construction with the cat litter bottles, thousands of glass bottles are going to be incorporated into the structure. Debbie and I cannot wait to begin!!!

In case anyone wonders why we are putting so much effort into the dog's building, firstly, we love them and spend much of our time with them and secondly, sadly, since their average age is now nearly 11 years, their number will decrease dramatically soon, leaving us a building to use for other things than a doggy condo. I am using the construction methods we plan to use on the rest of the complex here first, to see if they are viable and to become skilled with them before trying them in the house.

With this, as with everything we are doing now, we are taking many photos so that when we get the new computer, we will be able to post them and the stories then.

Happy 2012!! Changes for the New Year

2012-01-03T11:46:00.002-05:00

To everyone out there, Happy New Year 2012!!! If those that seek to control our thoughts and most importantly, BUYING HABITS have sufficiently brainwashed us, we have only some 353 more days to live, so make the most of them!

For the rest of us though, we must continue to plan to live, build, protect and most importantly: change the thinking and habits of as many of the "lemmings" as possible so that we can live in a better world, the coming world of peace, love and understanding that we can help create by less consumption and more education.

THAT has been the destination of our journey, not publicity, number of "friends" we can collect, or eccentric "re-invention" of ourselves after a half century of life. THAT is the purpose of this blog. We never intended it to be a forum for discussion, or "correction" of "wrongs" or wrong thinking. AND..... We NEVER, NEVER wanted to become one of the so-called "blog buddies" that some waste their lives reading each day. We are doers, not readers, not followers and we are not afraid to be out front on the trail breaking the trail through the deep snow of life, instead of taking the easier path of following the trail already broken.

With that in mind, there are some changes to the format here. My profile and some of the information here has been changed a bit. The biggest and most controversial change though, will be the comments..... There are none any longer. I really cannot stand anonymity when used for contrariness and that seems to have become in fashion in the 21st century. If a comment is sent, it will be seen and if it contains useful information, such as links, or methodology, it will post. But just general back and forth will not be. I know that is the way of the blog, but not this one!

Within the limitations of my injuries and Debbie's abilities, we have begun and will continue to build this place with the really cool stuff we have learned and found out there. We made the decision to purchase a new computer as soon as we are able, since the old one (six years old) blew out it's operating system. Until then, we cannot post photos or videos from this IPAD. We will take photos and store posts though, for the day we set up a new system.

Finally, there will be posts about the continued construction and other information of interest as we can.

So my friends, best wishes for the New Year! Go out and embrace it and realize that life had been here foe several billion years and will be here for at least a couple more! The only thing that will happen on December 21st, is that the days will begin to get longer again!

Merry Christmas & a Happy Holiday Season for the rest of us!!!

2011-12-24T19:59:00.002-05:00

Once again, Debbie, the dogs, Mercury the Macaw, the cats and myself wish you all the very best of this Holiday Season!!!!!!

We very nearly had a "white"Christmas..... But the snow melted by noon. Now the tops of the mountains are glistening with a combination of snow and ice, as the temperature is predicted to drop to the mid- twenties overnight.

Enjoy the day and reflect on that which gives you solace and strength!!!

Off Line!

2011-12-19T23:45:00.003-05:00

Due to an unforeseen problem, I will be off line for a while...... At least for the commercial, er HOLIDAY season. My "old"Gateway computer has blown it's operating system and I won't buy a new one for this machine. It seems that computers has continued to progress since we bought this one eight years ago!

Rather than replace the operating system on this one, we will buy a new computer that has many more functions and far more speed AND will run off our 12. Volt power. There are many more advantages as well. Still do not look to us for daily myopic posts about what the refugees or groupies of a particular shut down grill are doing. We have many great ideas that we are working on and many great items that true off-grid followers will be interested in!

But if you are interested in pathetic prose about cows or what down and out life losers are up to while drinking the local "koolaid" mixture of iced tea and lemonade, go to another blog where your comments and tacit approval are welcome, encouraged and required to insure the manhood of the owner of the blog!!!

While I am off line, I will be installing the new LED lights, as well as adding them to the new web site that will be posted when we have our new computer, finishing the rock work on the inside of the dog's building, beginning the bottle veneer on that building, finishing the interior of it, setting up the new TV sets and stereos, installing new electric, new solar panels, new wind turbines, new batteries and beginning the conversion of our first junk vehicle to a eco- friendly,80+MPG vehicle!

So we will not be idle, just unable to post to the cyber world' because we will be busy living in the real world until we are able to buy a newer computer to use for the posts here,that WILL remain occasional..... We Iike real life, not cyber life and are busy developing ways for people to live comfortably and economically off- grid..... Not increasing our "friend" or "follower" base!!!!

I will try to post some during the commercial season, but no promises! But when the new computer arrives, I will post several new posts, with photos..... Sans the faux Keiller prose of other blogs,

See you then!!!,

STRANGE POST!!

2011-12-11T15:44:00.003-05:00

I have never (I think) fully explained why I do not post very frequently anymore….at least honestly! I cannot turn the damn monitor on my computer on when the temperature is cold! The power supply on this old CRT is going bad and it sometimes takes up to three hours for the thing to turn on!

We came into a bit of money recently and I am repairing many things, this being one of them. I have a new 32” LED, Energy Star television that uses 10% of the power the old CRT television did. This will double as my new computer monitor as well. So there will be no more power hungry CRTs in this place any longer. We also have two types of new LED lights. One new light is a 16-watt LED ceiling light. We will be using four of these to light the interior of the dog’s building.

I have to finish, finishing the inside of the dog’s building (they get less than half of the new configuration) and rewire the TV, computer, stereo and lights. There are also changes in our plumbing to do, along with insulating & drywalling the ceiling and walls.

Because of the new electronics and rewiring, I will be disassembling this computer for several days as I insulate, rewire and drywall the wall the computer sits on. I will try to post using the IPAD however.

While I want the content here to remain close to the “reuse, recycle, repurpose, live GREEN” theme. I am still an individual human and as such, have opinions and feelings about things. I am not going to leave these out of this blog and write on another blog, but will incorporate them into posts. Readers can read what they want, or not, as they wish with no hard feelings on my part! I will however, stick to not commenting about individuals in this area, or any individual in particular, however strange and however blatantly illegal, immoral or improper their actions are.

That being said, I have an observation and some comments from my (nearly) 60-year-old perspective. These are not written as an indictment toward anyone in particular, though they are partially an explanation to one individual I have corresponded with.

Last week, I watched an extremely interesting TV show (yes we make ourselves afford TV and enjoy it like ALL of you would if you had it) called “I, Caveman”. The two-hour program was created by “30 Days” star and creator and award winning author, Morgan Spurlock. It also featured him as one of the participants and he MADE the entire show!

For the TV deficient, the program had 10 assorted 21^st century people, including Spurlock, live for 10 days as Paleolithic hunter/gatherers. Everything was taken from them and they were given a period appropriate shelter and clothing and put in central Colorado.

They were cold, frighteningly hungry and mentally unprepared for the ordeal. Two dropped out. The remaining eight began to make the transition to “cavemen”. I found it interesting on several levels beyond what you saw on the screen, but Morgan Spurlock’s presence in a program seems to create that and for that, he is a genius. THIS one should have gone the full “30 Days”!!!

For this comment though, I want to focus on ONE aspect of the show that few probably noticed! One of the people who dropped out was a petite “princess” of a girl who never really did anything except whine. During one of her whines, I heard what I feel is the primary problem with 21^st century people, or at least Americans. Here is what she said, not an exact quote, but close enough:

“ I just can’t deal with the people here! I can’t look at them and talk, or have them around me. Maybe on FACEBOOK or something I could deal with them. But having them right here in front of me is terrible, I can’t stand that!”

She said more, way too damn much, but that is the crux of it and my problem with many people today. The INTERNET junkies are forgetting how to communicate face-to-face, to interact as a group, to find their place in the tribe of mankind. We have had the INTERNET for less than a generation, humans adapt in 3-5 generations, honing the adaptation in 20 or so. 20 YEARS is not enough time to think you can communicate effectively with others in THIS medium!

We are, despite what some Middle Eastern myths have too many people believing: PRIMATES!!!! As primates; communication between us, love, fear, hate and TRUST are learned and earned not by merely by language, but by appearance, body language, eye contact, physical contact and more….. FAR more than the written word can convey, even by this :) or this :( !!!!!!!!

I have to SEE you, touch you and talk to you to determine if you are “my kind” of fellow human. “Mystery man 21987” and what you write to me in an e-mail or “tweet” is not enough and depriving yourself of the personal encounters, deprives you of MANY potential friends who would give you their last dollar! Try getting that from “Karen 34987” or “Xmyn”!

I have a friend, my best friend, who lives in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia who I write to several times a week. Perhaps you too have many good “friends” who live out of this country, or 2000 miles away (“Why, just LOOK at the number of my FACEBOOK friends!”) that you write to daily. But here is the difference: I have visited MY friend in Kuala Lumpur many times. I have stayed at his place, done countless “food crawls” with him and gotten so stinking drunk with him that we both forgot what country we were in.

He is my kind of human because I have looked into his eyes, his soul and found kinship! Because of this, we CAN write to each other and KNOW positively what is being said, as we can visualize each other’s faces!

I will leave you readers to think this over with the following quote that works on many levels. “IMHO” the quote applies to me…. Perhaps to you as well?

“I knew a man, who I did not care for. And then one day, this man gave me a call. We sat and talked about things on our minds and now this man, he is a friend of mine.” Friend & Lover” Reach Out in The Darkness, 1968

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T16:22:00.003-05:00

Debbie, the dogs, Mercury the Macaw and I wish everyone a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!

No matter what your circumstances, take a moment to give thanks for the things (material and spiritual) that you DO have and the ability within you to change and acquire the things you require!

(photo is looking SE toward Packsaddle Mountain at sunset)

Illness, "Paying The Water Bill", Firewood

2011-11-23T10:14:00.007-05:00

We have been a bit busy around here and haven't had time to post or create the video I mentioned a while back. Our plans are to get more done very soon and to document it here as we do!

My shoulder injuries have me going to the doctor twice a week for treatment. This will continue for several months. Having traveled through Asia and particularly Japan, I am very aware of other people that appear to be ill. In Japan (as well as China and others) when a person has a cough, cold or flu, if they MUST go out in public..... which most do not because they have a proper work and "sick day" ethic...... they wear masks. While this is unusual to a Westerner, the Japanese take it in stride.

Of all things, my doctor had a fairly severe cold over the last two weeks. He was at work every day, not wearing a mask and coughing frequently. I did not think of the germs right away....... until Monday when I began to develop a sore throat. Now I have a severe cold and just from being around me, Debbie is catching it as well!

Today is our 32nd wedding anniversary! We had planned on attending the dinner at the Terlingua Crisis Center, so that we would not have to cook anything, but I won't go now as the risk of infecting others with the cold is too great.

What ever happened to this type of thinking in America? When we lived in the city, we constantly saw very sick people at work, infecting HUNDREDS with their germs, while claiming the "couldn't afford to take a sick day! As I am getting older and a bit more susceptible to germs. I find this type of arrogant attitude selfish and totally lacking in respect for the welfare of others!!!!

WEAR A DAMN MASK IF YOU ARE ILL AND MUST GO OUT!! NO ONE WANTS YOUR GERMS!

There have been some changes this year in the Terlingua Creek bed that actually allow me to drive in the bed, CAREFULLY, for several miles. One benefit of this, is that a couple of very deep holes are now available for us to draw water from! One of these had NO cattle tracks and thus was not contaminated by their use. (sidebar here, someone shot and killed about 7 of the cattle that illegally roam the area. This is very sad, as these cattle are more pets than "crop" to the man who owns them. I heard that arrests have been made though)

Despite the very limited use of my shoulders, I was able to keeps the water pump tied in the truck bed and pump directly from the nine foot deep hole. Last year at this time, we were running out of water and had to begin hauling it from Study Butte. Today the tank is full and there are three more deep holes that should keep water in them for several more weeks. As these dry up, I will fill our tank until they disappear.

The water is clear, sweet water. However, I still use a small amount of bleach to purify, then hang the damiana plant in the tank for two days. Today, Wednesday, the water is clear and there is a very slight hint of mint in the taste. This water tastes so good that there is no need to buy gimmicky AND EXPENSIVE bottled water!

Lastly, the new routes in the creek bed allowed me access to a moderate amount of dead mesquite for firewood. In addition to the cardboard we are rolling into out logs, these large pieces of mesquite burn long and hot so this year we should have plenty of firewood and create ZERO additional carbon in gathering or using it.

This is a minor victory for "Eco-Ranch" & "green" living....... BUT, it is one of those that if we all found ONE thing to do NOW that we haven't been doing that is carbon free, the effect would be the same as removing several thousand vehicles from US highways!

".... It's Just Another Day!" (with apologies to McCartney)

2011-11-11T11:28:00.003-05:00

Someone wrote me several days ago asking if I would just post things from day to day if there is nothing I think is interesting going on here.... So here is just another day in our lives.

Debbie has been having a great deal of fun shopping on-line for dog clothes for our remaining hairless dogs. The clothes we have are old and worn out, so with just the few remaining hairless, she has been buying some cute things for "the kids".

Our largest hairless, Jessie is modeling her new jeans and shirt..... unhappily, in the middle photo.

Clothes for the hairless have been important, as our dog buildings have all been uninsulated thus far and drafty.

We are now insulating the walls above the rock work and installing sheetrock and a ceiling (also sheetrock) on the exposed insulation.

I was very hesitant to do this, as it could be done with natural materials. However, with my shoulder injuries, I cannot load the cement mixer, nor handle the wheelbarrow to build walls out of stabilized adobe this year. The dogs don't understand this, they just know
they are cold. For their health, we are being a bit "un-green" in just this one thing.

The top and bottom photos are of our "guardian dog", Cascade At just one year of age, he weighs in at 100 pounds of solid muscle. He loves to play and is VERY gentle with the little dogs and his toys. The top photo shows him with a packing air bag he carried around for a couple of hours, until the little ones got it from him and shredded it!

Always on guard, nothing gets past him and if the need arises, he is as nasty as his Great Pyrenees ancestors!

Today, we are cutting up four more of the one-inch-thick cardboard boxes for firewood. Each box lasts just one day. We still have the 1800 or so smaller boxes and someone offered me all the broken wooden pallets I can haul away as additional firewood. We will get some of these after the thick cardboard is gone.

Debbie and I are still working on the bottles as we can. We are not quite halfway through 1/2 filling them all with the bentonite. Once that is completed, we will add dirt, then water, then hopefully I will be healed enough to start building with them!

And THAT, is just another day!

Firewood....... Eco-Ranch Style!

2011-11-05T18:25:00.003-04:00

'Tis the season, so to speak, for our biggest "green" challenge out here, FIREWOOD! With little available in a desert, you either need to import, improvise, or eliminate your need for firewood in the winter!

Of course the best solution is to eliminate the need and that is our eventual goal. "Casa Tierra De Gato" will have the thermal mass, ceiling insulation and geothermal temperature control, so that the need for firewood will be virtually eliminated.

The cottage we built in north Florida was heavily insulated, had "low E" window and door glass and nearly one wall built out of antique brick. As one wise-ass "green" contractor says about HIS homes, "You can heat this building with a fart!" Our cottage was the same, though we decided not to heat it using his suggestion, because of the smell!

Instead, for the two winters we lived in the cottage, we burned about one cord of wood per winter. Since it was so small, 650 square feet, we actually had trouble "turning" the burn in the wood stove down enough for us to be comfortable. Even when the temperature hit 9 degrees one night, we had to open a window a crack to cool the inside!

Here in Terlingua, most easily collected "wild" firewood, has been collected over the years by others. Buying firewood, is both expensive and not very "green" due to the distance it has to travel to get to our place from central or east Texas.

Propane is a possibility and is used by many. The cost has come down dramatically recently, but it still remains a fossil fuel.

Debbie and I decided long ago that to use propane or CNG is merely substituting one fossil fuel (fuel oil, coal and so on) for another. THAT is definitely NOT "planet friendly"! We WOULD be warm, but our carbon footprint would grow. An alternative had to be found!

I will begin insulating and finishing the dog's building, where we sleep in the cold months because the wood stove in in it and it is easier to heat us all with the one stove that to heat the travel trailer (with propane) AND the dog's building. Once that is done, it should easily be heated from the farting of 21 aged dogs!

But we still needed an alternative. Shredding, wetting, mixing and pressing cardboard into usable sized bricks was something I was going to do. However, my test "brick" took way to much electricity to mix into a workable pulp and it only burned for about an hour when completely dry.

Again, "K.I.S.S.ing" came to the rescue! With all the boxes that the cat litter bottles are packaged in, we have a ready source of fuel, the problem was how to use it to its best advantage.

With my shoulders stopping me from doing much heavy work AND requiring "physical therapy" daily to keep the joints limber, we were able to accomplish two things at once:

(From the top photo) The boxes, once the bottles are removed and they are flattened and bent enough to put into the 18"x 16" combustion chamber, only allow a box or two to fit inside. This would only burn for about 15 minutes and leave the chunk ash that burned cardboard leaves.

But if you cut the flaps off, open them up and ROLL the cardboard of 2-3 ( I am doing three) into "logs", a fill of 5-7 logs will burn for about 90 minutes! Each "log" is tied off with enough string to hold them together until several are packed into the chamber. When the heat burns through the string releasing the tension, the combustion chamber hold them in rolls.

The flaps are likewise tied into bundles. These burn for less than an hour though, but we use them while watching TV, then switch to logs.

Two problems are solved by doing this: 1) what to do with the 1800 or so boxes we will have and 2) light therapy for my shoulders!

As with many of our particular solutions, this is unique to our area. Cardboard is recyclable and should NOT be burned! However in this area no one is equipped to recycle cardboard, so it is a problem to dispose of as it takes up so much space in dumpsters. But if residents started to collect the cardboard from local businesses and roll their own logs, the cardboard problem would go away and those that are now paying as much as $280 a cord for trucked in firewood, would have a bit more spending money!

Right now, with the cardboard in the cat litter boxes, we have enough for fires every night for 40 days or so. I collected about 5 cubic yards of flattened cardboard for the "shredding", so this will provide another 40 days of burning, which will get us through the cold weather WITHOUT BURNING ONE STICK OF IMPORTED FIREWOOD!

We also have a bit of construction debris and will continue to have this...... AND.... when I am out, I am on the lookout for logs, especially those cut up logs the highway department leaves on the side of roadways (that actually HAVE trees). I have about 1000 pounds of this material here as well. When I get up to load the firebox at 3-4 in the morning, I fill it with this wood. That way I don't have to get up again until morning.

The negative to the cardboard, is that it takes TIME to cut, roll and tie into logs. We don't mind the time and it is great exercise for the forearms in both men and women (gets rid of the "gobblers" that hang off a mature woman's triceps). Of course the other negative is that the stove has to be stoked every hour and a half....... but right now I don't sleep through the night anyway due to the pain in my shoulders and then there are the "potty breaks" that are a bit more frequent at my age! Stoking the fire is actually fun and ECO-FRIENDLY!

Regarding wood stoves: We had two in north Florida. One was an old-time metal stove that came out of a hunting lodge in northern Ontario. This stove would burn for 4 hours with a fill, but a fill was about 100 pounds of wood. It was a wood eating monster! It was heating the dog's Florida building, which was about 575 square feet and uninsulated. Wood was free in Florida, as we had over 25 acres of mature, first growth trees on our land and 3-4 trees died and fell every year, so the cost was not an issue.

The one we are using here is a "soapstone, catalytic, cast iron" modern stove. The same one that was in our Florida cottage. It cannot take more than about 50 pounds of hardwood in a fill, but one fill of hardwood will burn for about 10 hours, then continue to provide heat for another 4-5 hours as it cooled down.

If you were buying the lodge stove, it might cost you about $800. Our soapstone stove cost about $1600. But do the math using the cost of wood in your area (or the value of your time) and you can see the break even is inside two seasons. If you need a stove, THAT is one item you need to step up and pay the money for. You will NEVER regret it!

Building a House With (essentially) PET Bottles

2011-11-02T10:25:00.003-04:00

rj said...: So where did all of those cat litter bottles come from? Remind me how they integrate into a house?

I covered this somewhat in my earlier post about Casa Tierra De Gato", but it is worth covering again, with a little refresher of the history as well.

Our intention was to build a large "Earthship", using most of the Michael Reynolds systems in the construction. As I gathered the tires, about 499 in total, I was having a great deal of trouble designing something I really wanted to build using tires as the main building material.

The project kept coming up nearly as costly as using traditional building materials. EVERY design I came up with, was something we did not like!

This is why the house was never started. I am building an "office" out of some of the tires. It will be a traditional shaped earthship with an all glass bottle west wall. The rest of the tires will be filled with dirt and placed to mitigate the flow of water through the wash or arroyo that runs through our property.

As we collect the beer bottles from about half the bars in the area, (I WILL STILL COLLECT ANY BOTTLES FROM ANYONE THAT WILL SEPERATE THEM FROM THEIR TRASH) the videos and articles we found on "glass bottle houses" were captivating and we both fell in love with the use of glass bottles as a building medium. We decided to concentrate more on using the bottles, even if these were later covered with plaster and stucco.

I was offered a job with a local bentonite mining company who had bought a bankrupt cat litter operation (cat litter is primarily bentonite clay). Their problem was that they inherited some 250 pallets of bottles, either empty or full of cat litter that had to go to make room for their bentonite operation. Recycling or even hauling these to a land fill would be an expensive proposition so they were offered to us and we looked at them to try to find a way to use them for construction, instead of tires.

They are in four sizes, but the smallest and the middle size represent about 600 bottles, so these will be used elsewhere. Mostly there are 10 pound bottles, about the size of a bleach bottle. About 2500 are 20 pound bottles, again roughly the size of a 1-1/2 gallon bleach bottle. All are roughly rectangular in shape. (see top photo)

The challenge is to create a matrix that will hold the weight of the house, as well as a bottle that will carry the weight of the matrix. Bentonite expands when wet, which is why it clumps and is used for cat litter.

After trying several mixes, we found that about 1/3 bottle of bentonite and 2/3 bottle of the adobe dirt we have everywhere, is fine. Shaking each bottle a bit, then adding water (twice), causes the bentonite to bond with the adobe, expand and completely fill the bottles with a HARD filler. If you look at any of the PET bottle projects I have "favorited" in my YOUTUBE channel, you will see people hand packing PET bottles with dirt and even garbage to create a "brick" that will support the matrix.

We are using water to expand the bentonite instead of hand packing, because the expansion is far better with water. We are using grey water for this and in the winter, we have a surplus of grey water, as there are no gardens for it. Again, this meets the "green" requirement for an alternative construction building. For us, an Eco-Ranch.

The matrix is still under consideration though. There are enough 20 pound bottles to build four rows of the 26-29 needed for the house. If you look at the second photo, you will see a pattern of laying the bottles that is called a 5 stack, or a 7 stack, depending on how many are used in a row. This is a common method of stacking feed and fertilizer on and off pallets and is very stable. Using this pattern, the walls of the house would end up about 21 inches thick after plaster and stucco.

The problem is the 20 pound bottles in a 5/7 stack, are about 24" thick. This would create a space in the middle of the 10 pound layers that would have to be completely filled with mortar. That is a LOT of extra mortar.

An alternative would be to stack the 10 pound bottles in a six stack, all facing the same way. They would face the opposite way that conventional bricks do in a "normal" house. I don't really like this for these "bricks" though, it will create problems leveling each row.

A better choice would be to do the initial 4 rows of 20 pound bottles, then line up the 5/7 stacks of 10 pound bottles, even with the INSIDE wall. A layer of chicken wire could stretch from the ground up to about the 15th row and this area filled with mortar. the thicker base and the taper create more structural strength and is the traditional way adobe buildings are build throughout the world. Given the extra stability of the 5/7 stack and the taper, we are leaning toward this.

My injuries have caused yet another change in the construction though and this one is as sad as the foolishness of the illegal "gating" that our property association has spent over $60,000 of our money on this year.

Due to GW Bush's greed, Worker's Compensation laws in Texas are about the worst in the country. They are heavily front end loaded in favor of the insurance companies that represent the employers and do their best to deny every claim. In order to protect myself from the INSURANCE COMPANY, I had to hire an attorney to represent me. My employer took this personally (for now) and they are not giving me any more bottles. Hopefully they will realize this was not personal and I can gather the rest of the bottles!

So far, we have just over 10,000 of the close to 30,000 bottles they have. This is enough to build the house, but not the basement we had hoped to have. By the time I am able to begin, we should know if the rest of the bottles are available or not. If we cannot build a basement, we will use air tubes for cooling. The extra square footage is not an issue, the basement was strictly for heating and cooling.

Any shortage of cat litter bottles will be made up by building the top few rows of the house out of wine bottles cut and fitted to be the same thickness as the walls. Each door and window opening will be surrounded by glass bottles and the size of these can be adjusted if we are still short of cat litter bottles. There is supposed to be a lot of glass bottles in the house anyway. In fact, we designed an 1000 square foot addition that will be entirely glass bottles.

Trying to anticipate a couple potential questions:

The handles of the bottles will be surrounded by mortar that incorporates into each row of mortar, so vertical and lateral strength should equal or exceed that of blocks.
The water inside the bottles will eventually dry out, bet there will only be minimal shrinkage, if any.
Bottles will be protected from UV disintegration by covering with pond liner until used and then covered with plaster and stucco after construction.

One other thing, a VERY common misconception about "building with trash". The cost is nowhere near that of using brick or block. We will use about twice the mortar in this building, but the "bricks" are free, as are the glass bottles.

One local in Terlingua, a regular reader of this blog, had an "expert" opinion about how building with recycled material is as costly, if not more costly than buying new. He based this on the cost of a Reynolds designed earthship and NOT on the principles we are developing and "preaching" here. One has to assume that the labor of an owner built home is out of the picture, so you look at just the cost of material.

Also and my friend "on the porch" doesn't seem to get this, the most important point: the vast majority of this home will be constructed using material that is carbon neutral, requires no transportation or manufacturing and is otherwise destined for a landfill!

NOT to pick on his thinking, but so long as this thinking permeates our culture, builders of alternative construction buildings will be continue to be marginalized and the required changes in building codes will be difficult to enact!

I have tried to not go out on a limb guessing the cost of our home, but I can assure everyone that it will NOT exceed $30,000 for a 3500 square foot house that will look like any home anywhere! The majority of these costs will be in the doors, windows, roof and wiring.

You can do this too! All you need to do is imagine it! That is the kind of thinking that made this country great and that is the kind of thinking that will return us to greatness!

"Typical Day"

2011-11-01T11:49:00.005-04:00

A couple readers wrote asking if I would post something about our day to day life right now. I didn't think there was much to say, as the injuries are not allowing me to do anything heavy at the moment. However, we are working, so I thought I would write about that.

The first photo gives an idea of what our "front yard" was looking like for a long time. There were pallets of the empty cat litter bottles all around and the little rain we received had caused the cardboard boxes to fail, dumping the bottles everywhere!

Actually, the same thing has happened to the cases of glass bottles..... the beer bottles, also. See the second photo. From the air, or from a distance, it appeared to be a disorganized mess!

I can handle the 10 pound full bottles of cat litter if I am careful, so Debbie and I started preparing bottles for the construction. The third photo shows the 400 or so that are completely filled and ready to use. As we finish bottles, they will add to these rows and run down the driveway. The completed rows will be covered by the pond liter, so UV light does not start any deterioration.

The glass bottles also are a mess.
The worst part of it all is the
deteriorating cardboard! The boxes
fall over and blow all over. Debbie
had to go out after every mild wind and patrol for cardboard.

During the hot months, there was nothing we could do about the cardboard, as there is still a "burn ban" in force in Brewster County. Now that the nights are chilly, I am able to roll the cardboard into little logs and burn then in the wood stove. The aged cardboard burns as completely as a hardwood log, but faster. NOW, we are able to begin to organize and clean it all up!

Photo four shows the pile of glass bottles. We are organizing the glass into piles by color, size and "uniqueness". From there, we will design the patterns that will be used in the buildings and walls. The cardboard you see in this photo will be removed so that only the bottles remain.

The last photo shows what we are concentrating on now. With some 10,000 cat litter bottles trying to blow around the desert, we are taking the empty ones and pouring half the bentonite from full ones into the empties. These we place these on the ground in an area close to where the house will go.

When we finish this
(we have done about 3,000 so far),

we will cover them with the pond liner until we have time to finish them as bricks for the house. This way, nothing is blowing around the desert and the area looks as neat as it can while some 6,000 square feet of buildings are constructed!

I am able to work about 2-3 hours a day before my injuries tell me I have to quit. This is enough though, as Debbie gets tired as well..... it is hard work to stoop over the bottles!

So, a typical day for us right now begins when the temperature warms up a bit and we can fill the bottles. Two to three times a week, more right now as the rich people's chili cook-off is coming this weekend, I go into town for the bottles. We sort these when they arrive here! Right now, I have about 300 green and clear bottles in the back of the truck. I get these from Alpine when I go there for the doctor visits.

After we tire of doing bottles, we do "house work" and any research required for my injuries. Then we watch TV for a couple hours in the evening. This repeats again every day, unless it is a day I have to go to the doctor.

It may seem a bit boring, but I am still in fairly severe pain and that is VERY tiring! The system, flawed or not, works slowly! The good thing about it is that we can afford to take the time it will require.

I really feel for those with mortgages, car payments and credit card bills that are in my situation though. It can ruin these folks in no time at all!

Apology

2011-10-24T13:47:00.004-04:00

It was just pointed out to me that I am not thinking as clearly or sharp as I usually do. This affected my ability to interpret what I read and saw yesterday and even now. This is a result of the new pain medication I am taking for the shoulder damage and will likely continue for some time.

In my life, I have never had anything effect my thinking before, but then I have NEVER taken a narcotic medication, ever. Because of this, I will refrain from independent comment about the gating issues, I have had an attorney offer to advise me on this issue and I have accepted.

Regarding the post I removed and am replacing with this on, if you read it and were offended in any way, I apologize and apologize for the incorrect information as well! Additionally, I sent several apologies to others with my assurance that I will have no further comments.

Given the case law I read, the gating issue will be resolved, as usual, in favor of the Property Owner's Association... without my comments! Along with that, any gating issues I have will disappear or be enforceable.

My first priority is to heal and to continue work on the "Eco-Ranch" and that will be done.

You can take the boy out of New York, but you can't take the New York out of the boy! (NEW EDIT)

2011-10-22T23:25:00.005-04:00

No, this isn't another attack against the person who stays 2.5 miles to our SE, I am sticking to my word about discussing persons, events and personalities. But as I also said, IF it is something related to building a planet friendly oasis, I will comment and THAT, my friends is what this post is about.

There is a reason that so many "off-the-wall" and generally weird, fringe, misfits (and yes, I count myself in there somewhere) end up in places like this, waiting for the Mayan calender to end, the return of Jesus on a white horse, or the mother of all asteroids to hit the Earth. The reason is that they don't fit in the mainstream, so they come here or other remote areas to wait, hoping against hope that when the apocalypse DOES occur, THEN they will FINALLY fit in.

Of course they forget that: "You can take the boy out of New York, but you can't take New York out of the boy." Or simply: "Wherever you go, there you are!"

Weird people in New York, Austin, California (is that possible?) Florida, or anywhere will be weird wherever they go because: THERE THEY ARE, unchanged!

So, when we bought this place, the prime factor for the purchase was the purchase price, NOT the location, though just in case of apocalyptic events, we did want altitude and distance from a coast. Many others, including the above mentioned misfits did the same. The only sense of community, is the connection of fellow non-mainstreamers.

Too much time on the hands of someone who can't afford TV (but pretends to hate it) causes pettiness to grow like mold on a brownstone and soon the person who bought their cheap property with eyes wide open, suddenly sees the roads that were intended to be used by ALL property owners as private roads.

This hit home today when the container people, now proud owners of 81 assorted acres on 15 different tracts of land in Terlingua Ranch, decided they want to put gates on a road that has existed since the "Ranch" was subdivided in 1976. "In the land of the blind (poor), these one eyed (temporarily equity rich) folks seek to be King of their extremely tiny by Texas standards, "Castle" of three containers set far too close to the road.

This we will handle in our own way, within the law. But it is actually what I learned today that is far more important!

There is a lawsuit due to go to trial in late November about this very issue. It seems some other "one-eyed, would be king" has also fenced fellow property owners off of a road that existed since 1976!

Speaking to an acquaintance this morning about the issues, he told me HE was going to gate his road off, "as soon as the Association loses the case", in order to keep someone he doesn't like from driving by his property.

As Tim (the tool man) Taylor used to say, "Ehaaah?!"

Did none of these rocket scientists fail to understand that the roads are there for ingress and egress for all residents and those having business in "The Ranch"? When they built or bought homes that sat on top of the roads, did they not see the roads?

We all own, unless time has forced the graders to move the roads due to erosion, to the middle of the road. But that is not a place to plant a garden or build a fence! The road cannot be public land and be a private road, so we all "own" the roads, but have granted, through the original 1976 deeds that we are bound by no matter how hard a cretin or two wishes it otherwise, an EASEMENT that IS the road AND access for property owners and others having business on the road! WE DON'T ACTUALLY OWN THE ROAD TO DO WITH IT AS WE PLEASE.

I am not obligated to drive the shortest route to my place, open and shut gates, or any of the other bull crap that the rumor mills are circulating. I can drive any way I damn well please to my property, UNIMPEDED, as I AM A PROPERTY OWNER..... it is that simple.

The lawsuit will be heard, though I cannot understand why a summary judgement was not immediately granted in the Association's favor, on November 28th.

When it is decided in the Association's favor, as numerous case laws dating back to Statehood support, I hope the cretins who started this crap are kicked all the way back to New York, Chicago, Bumsquat and the mud flats of what once was Lake Travis, so that those of us who want to enjoy our tiny piece of the desert can travel unimpeded, without having to negotiate a "corn maze" of gates marking the territory of some "one-eyed feudal lord"!

Grow your asses up "Ranch" dwellers. Live and let live, even tiny five-acre tracts are big enough to ignore your neighbor if you don't like them. There is no need to dream up ways to mess with them. For crying out loud, "Criminal Trespass Warnings", illegal gates, enough signs to make the Five Man Electrical Band faint and cliquish gossip on splinter infested picnic tables????? Are you fools perennially frozen in the fourth grade????????

The only, only saving grace about these actions, according to those who know, is that these problems are ALL being caused by refugees from places other than Texas..... which just goes to show you I was right last year when I said that "what this place needs is more Texans!"

IF you read my previous edit, my reliable source was someone attempting to rekindle my animosity against the person who stays 2.5 miles to my SE. I have removed it and the post that follows this one. The information was wrong and I apologize to all , including CJ.

Back to building next post, but if you are considering this lifestyle, re-read this carefully so you know what you are getting into unless you pay $5-20,000 an acre for "Neighbors" who by virtue of actually having some real money, aren't fringe dwelling trouble makers!

Requested Update

2011-10-21T11:43:00.003-04:00

A couple readers wrote me privately asking for an update on my personal injuries. Since we are not able to find time to do what we can do with the building materials, or to begin to ,define on paper the "eco-ranch" concept I will give just a short update today.

First on the "eco-ranch" concept. I have been asked by an international producer to present the concept to them, as soon as health permits, to see if a "reality" type. one season series can be done. It may come to nothing, these things generally do, but it might work. Time will tell, AFTER I present it to them. Right no, my health is most important.

On my health. I am still the same as I have been. Some days I have increased pain from the crushing injuries and some days little. We are treating these. My shoulders are actually getting more painful and while I can use them and almost appear normal, the moment I reach to or above shoulder level, or attempt to lift, twist or move anything with more weight than a beer can, they hurt.

There will not be much beer can lifting anyway however, as the pain has progressed beyond the ability for manage with "a couple of drinks" in the evening..... AND alcohol is not covered by insurance programs, but appropriate pain medication is. As some readers may know, alcohol and pain medication can be a deadly mix, so no more beer for a while. That is not a problem and I have stopped drinking the moderate amount of alcohol I do drink, many times in the past, due to to my professional driving schedules.

Since I have had to retain an attorney, this is about all I will be able to say about my injuries. Don't look for a chronicle or diary of their progress, as that is not what this is set up for.

But do look for me to discuss some of the difficulties this presents in day-to-day living and performing chores, as that IS a consideration! No one wants to, or plans to be ill, but we must consider the possibility when, for example, having water depends on our ability to carry a 50 pound pump up and down a creek bank ten times, or even loading firewood into a stove.

I will post again during the weekend!

Unplanned Sabbatical

2011-10-09T21:55:00.004-04:00

Hello to all readers! I have been on and will continue to be on an "unplanned sabbatical" for some time. More on that in a moment.

There is not much to write about anyhow though, as we are working hard to bring the (recounted to) 30,000 cat litter bottles here, as well as continuing to collect the glass bottles from Study Butte and Terlingua. YES, despite rumors to the contrary, we are still collecting bottles and will for the long term!

There will be a couple of videos, but we are not sure when we can do that.

My injuries are extensive, painful and debilitating. Often by the time of evening when I had been writing, I have had to much "pain medication" to write coherently, so I am just not writing at all. However, please continue to follow this blog as my condition won't continue forever!

Please don't ask after the injuries though. I am not in a position to answer right now.

The cat litter bottle collection continues, though Debbie must unload all the bottles from the truck. Today we crossed 14,000 bottles! That leaves about 16,000 more to bring home...... but these are enough to build the home we designed while still exiled in Florida..... just without one addition I would like to build. So if I become unable to move the rest, we can at least build a proper home the way we wanted and create the "eco-ranch" prototype.

I do apologize that I am not able to write more though..... as well as remind all readers that I am no longer commenting on persons and their quirks, foils, ego problems, poor engineering, planned government rip-offs and general gossip. Several wrote me privately wanting me to comment on poorly engineered dams, fraudulent attempts to get government funds to repair dams that never held water, concealed carry permits for New York refugees, container buildings and so on. I won't comment, though you must know I would like to!

We will restrict this blog to the information needed to live comfortably with a near zero (or negative) carbon footprint while developing individual infrastructure on a limited budget.

More as I am able to write!

Not A Great Summer!!!

2011-09-12T22:41:00.003-04:00

I am leaving soon for another trip, most likely my last out of town trip. I have been working for a local mining company for several months now and the job is working out fine.... except for the "incidents" I am writing about tonight!

While I love the travel and the clients I see delivering around the SW, I have had enough of truck driving and travel in general! When I started driving over-the-road 41 years ago, there were about 170 million people in the U.S. Now, there are 350 million and they all seem to have two cars and five cell phones! The rookie truck drivers are everywhere, prefacing every sentence with "the F word" and taking up all the parking spots at truck stops and rest areas.

Their plastic water bottles full of urine are scattered everywhere that big trucks can squeeze into and THAT alone has given us a bad name, let alone all their other antics! They remind me of a slightly more mature version of that person who stays in (or out) of a closet sized "house" about 2.5 miles to our SW.

I have a very nice local job here that is about 6 miles from our property. I am home every night and encounter no traffic or rookie truckers and the angry people that are left in their wake!

BUT, there have been a couple of unfortunate accidents this summer. About a month ago, a front-end loader malfunctioned and rolled over with me inside. My right shoulder was slammed into the ground and is still touch and go as to the ultimate damage.

Yesterday, the 600 pound tailgate of a dump truck slammed into my left arm, slamming my right side into the body of the truck. Three ribs on my right side were broken.

I have had MANY injuries over the years, but I must say that THREE broken ribs is the most painful! I can barely breath!

Still, this is the way things go sometimes! I will heal and will still have this good job to fund the construction of "Casa Tierra De Gato" and the new project I am leaving to acquire in a few days.

However, please accept my apologies that I am not able to shoot the videos or start the construction just yet. These are some VERY painful and exhausting injuries! I should have something ready next weekend....... barring yet another accident!

2011-09-11T19:27:00.001-04:00

What Is An Eco-Ranch?

This is the question I am being asked by many. It is such a cool name that I think folks want it to be, or BECOME something......... and so do we!

Debbie & I were very lucky to have made a difference, albeit small, in the world by being the instruments that saved the American Hairless Terrier from extinction and obtained recognition for the breed. Now, thanks in a big way to our efforts and sacrifices, almost any family that has allergies to canines can afford to own a nearly hypo-allergenic dog.

But we want to make a broader contribution to the world, particularly IF it is changing as we think it is. Teaching (while learning ourselves) humanity to live with a zero or near zero carbon footprint AND (and that "and" is the most imortant part of our mission) how to STOP depleting Mother Earth of Her natural resources and wealth!

We have decided...... and had it decided for us, that educating ourselves and others in responsible living will be the goal of the rest of our lives!

Unfortunately, despite their very cool systems and use of unrecyclable trash, "Earthships" in the classic form have come to be associated with wealthy white folk who want to give the appearance of "green" living. But make no mistake, an Earthship IS green living! It is just green living that is out of the range of the mainstream and face it, there are only so many weird thinking white folks out there willing to spend $500,000 on a "tire house".

I have NO qualms with Micheal Reynolds and his fantastic and wonderful vision! I think he will be remembered as the one pioneer in this movement who turned everything on and around! My problem is to mainstream the movement Reynolds has started in a way, financially, that "Joe Lunchbox" can afford and will WANT to afford!

So, here it is: An "ECO-RANCH" can be a tire house. But it can also be an earthbag, straw, rammed earth, bottle (glass or PET), pallet, rock, cat litter bottle, or other re-purposed/recycled material used for building.

But there is MORE....... it also has to have the same type of consideration to the systems and interior of the structure, it cannot chomp carbon within the recycled walls!

A great example is the refugees from Austin that have bought about 50 acres of land in the area that we lovingly call "the container people". They started with an outdated re-purposing idea: using containers to build a home (outdated because containers are not a dead end waste product, but a 100% recyclable product that given the cost of steel now, NEEDS to be recycled, not dropped onto an unzoned property and "lived" in.

But the container people have further created a Bizzaro version of green living by buying all new sheet rock, insulation, roofing and so on. They also installed a conventional septic system and drive a 12 MPG Dodge behemoth truck to drag all this newly manufactured material to their "ranch"! Clearly NOT building any type of "green" property, but THINKING that they are.

So an "Eco-Ranch" needs to utilize available material on the INSIDE and the roof as well as in the structure walls. Now around here, we can forgive buying new steel roofing, as so many of us depend on rain catchment for our water needs, including drinking. We must be careful not to have chemicals leaching from our roofs into our tanks! But that is the only caveat!

An Eco-Ranch needs to have a plan for ALL the waste water, black & grey, that does not dump it all into a conventional septic system. We like the Michael Reynolds system for the earthships and highly recommend you check this out if you have a septic system now.

An Eco-Ranch needs to create as much of its own food as possible, of course. But Eco-Ranchers also need to buy local and in season! You negate your gains if you are buying oranges from Brazil, or kiwis from New Zealand and so on!

An Eco-Rancher needs to give thought to their transportation as well. A Diesel Dodge dually may impress people you will never meet, but it also gets about 15 miles per imported oil diesel fuel! Better to have a diesel VW (until Detroit gets the message and builds something similar here) and convert it to use peanut, corn, soy, cottonseed or other American grown bio-oils. The big dually can sit there waiting for the huge load we all need to haul once a month or so!

In fact, an Eco-Rancher should use the smallest and least consumptive vehicle they fell safe operating. If that is a car, fine, a motorcycle, better, an electric motorcycle better still and a bicycle, perfect. But bicycles are not always practical! I have P.A.D. and cannot, no matter how much I want to, pedal a bicycle any longer. So I am buying an electric bicycle for the short 6 mile commute to my job. We have another transportation project that is just starting, but I am not sharing that yet!

So, to have an Eco-Ranch, you need to:

build from trash that has not possible further use, both inside & outside
need to utilize all it's waste water for plant growth
it must grow as much of its own food as possible
it must use the least consumptive mode of transportation possible, powered by AMERICAN GROWN fuels (note here: YES, I know we cannot possibly grow enough crops to fuels our transportation requirements. BUT, if we took our personal MPG to over 100, then we can easily do it and I will show you how in upcoming posts!)

THAT, is our definition on an Eco-Ranch here in the US (eco-ranch.us).

There is more, but that is mostly sub groups of these four qualifications. I will show you 1, 2, 3 or 4 ways to do these things. That should set you down the path to find numbers 5 through 5000 ways and that, THAT my friends, is our goal!

If you remember nothing else, forget our names and our projects...... if you come away with the knowledge to build your own Eco-Ranch and the curiosity to do it, we will have accomplished our goals..... without forgettable solicited articles in various newspapers and magazines!

Just remember to look at trash differently and to strive to create your own "individual infrastructure" of power, fuel, sewage, food and transportation and you WILL have an Eco-Ranch, even if you live in a New York City brownstone!

Stay tuned!

The Bird Bath/Fountain

2011-09-04T21:14:00.005-04:00

After about six weeks of on and off work, I finally finished our combination bird bath & fountain today!

We have fed and watered the birds now for about 16 months. Last count by Debbie the meticulous bird watcher, was 42 different species has visited our place! A "visit" is counted only when a bird touches down on the property..... except for raptors, these we count is they fly overhead.

We think the water has been the big attraction, particularly when the only water for several miles around WAS the old bird bath.

The old one was in the same place and is STILL there, under the concrete. It was a 4"x4" set in the ground, a piece of plywood nailed to it and a piece of rock that I had chiseled out to hold water. It needed to be filled several times daily.

To build the new one, my first ever attempt at freehand cement sculpture, I had to overhaul the entire thing, while keeping the main components.

First, the basin was dug out, in a general oval shape. We have 24,000 square feet (probably 22,000 now) of old pond liner, so this was set in a quadruple thickness under the entire basin area, OVER the maximum height the water would ever reach.

This would insure that even if the concrete cracked, no water would leak out and empty the fountain. A filter box was built out of the hardware cloth and will take normal pond filter medium so that the pump is not damaged by debris passing through it.

The pond liner was stapled to the 4"x4", again to above the water line. Then, 1/4" hardware cloth was stapled around the 4"x4" and under the plywood, touching the existing rock base.

Another piece of hardware cloth was straightened and 2" of each side bent up to form a ramp with sides. This was set under the existing rock and weighted to the pond liner on the bottom basin. The plastic & copper water line for the fountain was set into the layers of ferrocement so the lines are not visible anywhere.

From here, it was a matter of coating the hardware cloth with many layers of cement to make a ferrocement sculpture out of the post and upper basin and form the lower basin.

The rock was a bit shallow and was not designed to spill water so the a spillway in the rock was carefully ground until the water spilled over its entire 12" width. Then, as the layers of cement were hand added, the top of the rock was raised with the concrete about 2" and sculpted into the form.

When it was time for the last layers of cement,the ramp was covered with individual river rocks from Terlingua Creek, creating a broken falls area for water to "chuckle" down from the top basin to the bottom one.

Then, 1/2" PVC pipe had been laid on top of the pond liner and set into the concrete lower basin for the pump. A tiny, .3 liter per minute, 12 volt pump was set on the PVC and connected to the bottom water line.

Finally, since the theme of the ranch is the recycled/re-purposed materials, we had wanted to have a bottle pouring the water into the top basin. Debbie picked out the bottle, an everyday "Herradura Tequila" square bottle. A hole was drilled into the bottom and the 1/4" plastic water line was secured through the hole. The bottle was set in the concrete at a good pouring angle and it was finished!

Of course the fountain wouldn't look right unless it had a nice, clean garden surrounding it, so today I worked all day on this, creating a "berm & basin" outline for the garden. Rainwater will follow the natural course it has for centuries into the garden, but it cannot escape due to the berm, so it will collect and saturate the soil in the garden, watering the plants! We are following this "berm & basin" theme for all the gardens and all the developed areas of the property.

Let us know what you think of the bird bath fountain and its garden!

Changing Our Company & Ranch Names

2011-08-30T23:35:00.004-04:00

Since we are no longer building with primarily tires, due to the acquisition of over 25,000 large plastic, cat litter bottles, we thought it best to not feature the word “Earthship” in our information any longer. We still feel that ANY construction that is environmentally friendly and utilizes what is essentially “garbage” is an Earthship. However, Michael Reynolds went through hell for over 25 years to establish his complete construction systems for what he calls an Earthship and he has earned the right to the name both morally and legally.

We are still building one “Earthship” on our property. It is a 1200 square foot meeting/ranch office building that we are calling “Ten Forward” after the lounge of the same name on the STARSHIP Enterprise (next generation). This building will incorporate all the traditional Earthship systems and will truly BE an Earthship.

However, the main building, our home, the dog’s building the garden atrium and my workshop will be constructed from the 25,000 plastic bottles and glass bottles. Also, a PET bottle building will be constructed, as will an “earth bag” one.

Since I have often said that the entire property should be considered an “earthship” as it, the property and what we create on it, “sails” the earth on renewable wings, I felt a different, broader term was required to designate this. Earthship does not do it and definitely does not belong to us!

So we are re-naming our projects and our commitment with a name that is more descriptive of our goals: Eco-Ranches.

An Eco-Ranch will be a place that sits in harmony on the land leaving a negative carbon footprint. Eco-Ranchers will also be people that live in harmony with the Earth…. Though maybe not with other humans all the time!

Everything will soon change to: “Smiling Dog Eco-Ranch” and we will strive to teach the “Eco-Ranch” lifestyle and construction. Since this term covers the entire property and lifestyle, there is no need to use terms like “wind farm”, “Earthship”, or “solar farm” as that is implied with the name, along with self-sufficiency, alternative energy and so on.

It is my hope that this name, but more what it means, catches on and becomes a movement back to our human roots and back to “Mother Earth’s” good graces. If the movement makes a difference, then we will have accomplished our goal, even if no one ever remembers us… I have had my “15 minutes of fame” about 15 times now anyway! Correcting Humanity’s damage to the Earth is what is important now. Let those that crave attention, seek and find it. Healing the Earth is to us, more important than a forgettable article in the New York Times!

The website, blogs and YOUTUBE channel will soon reflect this, as well as a more non-confrontational attitude with others and a more educational slant.

Debbie & I will cease using the “smiling dog earthship” and “singingturkeys’ domains and e-mail addresses. We will, as soon as our server can activate the new domain, begin using these e-mail addresses though the old ones will still work:

Robert@eco-ranch.us

Debbie@eco-ranch.us

The web site will continue to work using the old domains.

However, the new URL will be: http://eco-ranch.us

Also, our new business address is:

Smiling Dog Eco-Ranch

50 E. Earthship Drive

Alpine, TX 79830

We were lucky enough to be able to name BOTH the roads to our place. Telling people we live on the corner of “Smiling Dog Trail” and “Earthship Drive” is waaaay cooler than the corner of Front St. & Church St., or Rodriguez & Mailbox!

An additional blog is located at: http://10fwd.blogspot.com/

This blog will be the place to post non-construction comments and so on. I will post opinion and explanations there, as well as the occasional tirade against “them” (the bastards). Please feel free to read it and comment there. Comments there, as here, are moderated, but only for profanity and conversation that belongs in an e-mail, not to censor a dissenting opinion.

Thanks to all 3-400 daily readers of this blog! Please continue to follow it, despite the lack of personality conflicts…. I guess to have a personality conflict, there must first BE a personality and those I have discussed here in the past are sadly lacking in that area! But we will have to survive on knowledge and re-use innovation, not drama.

Stick around and add to the conversations!

Still Here!!!!!

2011-08-29T23:16:00.002-04:00

We have been off line from our ISP for about a week now. Just got service back, but too late tonight to post anything.

I will have a post by Wednesday night, along with a new video on our YOUTUBE channel.

Return of "THE BOSS"

2011-08-14T00:21:00.004-04:00

In case it is several days before I can post again, I didn't want to leave a negative, but extremely necessary post up for too long, so here is something cute:

As you may remember, Debbie's Mother is in a nursing home and was in failing health. At the end of June, I sent her to her Mother for a month, or "as long as it took". I didn't advertise this, because there had already been threats to set fire to our pile of tires for the earthship and I didn't want to make it easy for that to occur.

Debbie stayed five weeks, had her
Mother's medication changed and adjusted and after her Mother made an incredible turnaround, she returned home on Thursday.

This was the longest she has been away from our dogs since we got them. With them almost all geriatric now, she wanted to record their reactions when they saw her return. Now if you are a dog lover, you might enjoy this, if not, I could never explain is to you!

They all sleep during the heat of the day, so we sort of snuck up on them. Only a couple heard the truck pull up (photo 1).

Our "favorites" rushed to the gate to see if it was us (photo2).

Debbie got inside the gate and was mobbed by all, except the "guardian dog" who waits for the terriers to tell him if he is needed (photo 3).

Finally, the big guy came to greet her (photo 4).

She was mobbed for about five minutes, then they decided it was time to go back to sleep... except for the big guy and the pale, fat one in the first photo. Even now, these two will not let her out of their sight!

Keeping this place going was very difficult, particularly with me working 9-11 hours every day while she was gone. But Debbie missed the real heat and the inconvenience of not having the big power inverter and the DC generator!

Of course I missed her terribly, but her Mother has been like a Mother to me for 33 years and if this was going to be good-bye, I wanted Debbie to be there.

But for now, it is not goodbye and she will return to her Mother in a few months time!

Speaking of the DC generator, the new idler pulley arrived finally. I cut a groove in the support brace, creating a slide to tighten the belt, installed a new belt, fired it up and immediately the "float charge" went to 14.5 volts. We now have all the charge we want AND an inverter that can finally run the A/C units!

Tomorrow, Debbie & I will start the LONG and tedious job of filling every one of the 11,000 plastic bottles 1/2 way with bentonite and sand. THEN..... we can start the footing of the house..... but more on that in the next posts, with photos.

MOMMYYYY!!!!!! HE'S TOUCHING ME!!!!!

2011-08-13T23:23:00.004-04:00

THAT was the first thought I had when I heard last week that the person who stays 2.5 miles to our SE was going to get a "trespass warrant" against me! When it arrived at lunchtime today, delivered by a very apologetic Brewster Sheriff's Deputy, the thought sprang again into mind..... a child whining about nothing, trying to get someone in trouble!

The deputy tried to defuse any anger I had, by explaining to me that if he didn't deliver these, there would be no need for him to put on his uniform! OK..... now to all the area residents, "blog buddies" and those with actual lives, who have participated in this inane and unnecessary waste of time , WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH YOU????? Do you actually waste our tax dollars with this stupid, meaningless crap because you cannot talk with each other like adults..... or just ignore each other? Please stop embarrassing your parents and get a life!

The story I heard about this incident from my sources, was that "CJ" had a "twinky-dink" visitor late one night early last week. In between whatever an older "sugar queen" does to a "twinky-dink", they decided to flash a vehicle passing by on the road about 1/2 mile north of "CJ's" container palace with a laser pointer.

They must have hit someone truly Texan in the eyes with the thing, as they stopped the vehicle and either fired a gun or lit an M80 in the direction of the container palace, terrifying both CJ and his "visitor".

With typical NY bravado, in the face of danger, CJ called the sheriff's department, wasting the time of four deputies (and our tax money), blaming the entire incident, including embellishments, on ME and failing to understand why ANYONE would retaliate against potential retina damage (called "imminent bodily harm" in Texas law) by firing a gun or firework at the assailant!

One thing I always loved about Texas is how broad the definitions of "imminent bodily harm" are. It always made it easy to justify actions.... still does I imagine!

Of course firing a gun or lighting a firecracker is not illegal in this county. However, using a laser pointer to try to blind someone, IS.

Listening to the entire drama unfold, including nearly bringing a fourth deputy in from Lajitas, was almost as comical as "The Apparition" was a few months ago, when I swear the ghost of Howard Hughes was riding a "Uranus" motorcycle, with sidecar, down Mailbox Road!

If you can read my scan of this "notice" and you know anything at all about the law, it states NOTHING that is not already the law. As near as I can figure, it is designed to frighten bullies into thinking that something sinister will occur if the bullying continues. The same things apply to everyone who enters the property of another.

So I do not understand it, except that it is the latest in the harassment that CJ has sent my way..... the appliances, no trespassing signs, crashing into our truck, telling three different people he was going to light our tires on fire and so on.

I am actually embarrassed that a grown, 51 year old man would admit to being out "flashing" cars with a light AND try to make his poor victim the criminal for retaliating! But, as the owners of CJ's former hangout, the defunct "Grub Shack" liked to say about his ridiculous antics: "oh, that's just John!" as if he were a mischievous child they were somehow proud of!

I suppose I should be grateful that he is still talking about harassing me. My Mother used to say that when someone stopped talking about doing something, that was the time to worry, because now they WERE going to do something!

So with that, this will be the last word from me ever about that person.

Challenges In The Extreme Heat

2011-08-03T22:23:00.003-04:00

The DC generator, still a great idea, is giving me trouble. This is primarily due to the salvaged belt tensioner I installed in it. The current tensioner is for a serpentine belt. It allows the belt to move a bit on it and it is hitting and cutting on the wire that is holding tension to it.

I contacted the pulley distributor and a v-belt idler is on the way for $30. I have to cut a 5/8" groove in the mount, to allow the idler to slide and tighten the belt, but that is easy to do.

This brings the total cost for the DC generator to just under $400, but it is made of all new parts. Salvaged or used would still cost far less and work fine. I still feel this is the way to go for an off-grid set-up, with a small generator as a real emergency back-up.

The 5000 watt inverter finally was repaired and arrived here yesterday. I got to run the A/C for about 30 minutes before the tensioner ate the belt........ and the spare belt! But at least I know it works and fixing the DC generator correctly needed to be done anyway!

The heat is wearing me out early in the afternoon, so moving the plastic bottles is going VERY slowly! I hope to get a one or so tons of additional bentonite to fill the empty bottles with. Debbie and I will start that next week, as well as digging the footing for the house.

Many, MANY thanks to Shot Time Liquor in Study Butte! They had bottle lined walkways that they were tired of so they dug them up. They called and asked if I was interested in them...... of course I was, so they dropped them off. Most of these bottles are unusual shapes and colors and I have admired them for many months. Now they will be in reflecting walls, standing upright to show off the colors and shapes.

Anyone else with bottles or glass products..... even odd pieces of antique glass, PLEASE call me and I will be happy to make arrangement to get them! The Shot Time bottles were a real surprise and a great acquisition!

With the heat taking a real toll, that is about all that is going on here. Once this heat breaks and before the extreme cold returns, we should get a good start on the plastic bottle house. We have named it:

Casa Tierra De Gato

Can you guess why?????

We are looking for the following items right now :

Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Good, usable, electric hot water tank, 40 gallon minimum

I no longer have tires marking the drop off place, but it is the NW junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the old Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.6 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus we have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay a fair price for every used item I have listed here, except the glass goods, obviously!

IMPORTANT!!!!

2011-07-28T22:03:00.003-04:00

Just in case it was not clear in my previous few posts, we DO NOT NEED any more tires or appliances!!! Also, we are holding off on taking cardboard for a week or so, until the latest test on an alternative use is completed.

PLEASE, PLEASE do not drop off any more tires or appliances, but DO, DO continue to drop off bottles and other unbroken glass of any sort!!!

I had not made this clear earlier. Perhaps due to this, there was an "incident" this week involving appliances that gave the person who stays 2.5 miles to our SE an opportunity to create yet ANOTHER joke that was funny only to himself!

Someone drove down "Mailbox Rd.", over the small hill and dumped a refrigerator and two air conditioners on the side of the road. On my way into the Ghost Town I saw this, but did not have the trailer and was going out, not in. Though not certain they were meant for us, I was going to get the trailer when I returned and take them anyway.

However, when I returned from the Ghost Town, SOMEONE (whose tire tracks I have memorized, just in case I needed the information) had put up a cairn of rocks with a sign on it that read: NO TRESPASSING. There was another one duct taped to the refrigerator that said: NO DUMPING.

I imagine this may be considered quite funny in NYC, but as this person should have learned in his extremely short three years of living in Texas, Texans give a great deal of respect to a "NO TRESPASSING" sign, unlike NYC where nothing is illegal until you get caught!

I now could not retrieve the appliances, even if they really were meant for us! The point became moot last night, as the appliances had disappeared and there were MORE matching tire tracks in the dirt. The NO DUMPING sign had been taped over the NO TRESPASSING sign.

This morning, as I left, the Toyota truck that belongs to the tire tracks, was speeding out of Mailbox Rd. even faster than it was going when it plowed into the side of my PARKED truck several months ago. I wondered why it was going so fast and got the binoculars on it and spotted the refrigerator in the bed.

The driver must have spotted me going out and not wanting me to see the appliances (as if there was any doubt who was doing this anyway), gassed on it to get out of my sight! The truck with the appliances in the bed made a fast left and headed for Alpine. Last I saw, it was traveling in excess of 80 MPH, north. About three hours later, the truck returned from Alpine, minus the appliances, but with a piece of pipe in the bed instead.

I cannot see the joke in this individuals actions, though like his many carefully choreographed, unfunny, one-liners, Three Stooges engineering projects and blog drivel; I am sure he thought this all hilarious!

So please, no more tires or appliances. Glass can be left on the NW corner of the intersection of Mailbox Rd. & SR 118, inside the fence on the cleared area. I check and pick things up here daily..... but only want bottles, jars and other unbroken glass now.

Since we will now build our earthship using the plastic bottles and glass, no tires, we have more than enough tires to complete the 1200 square foot "office" building that will still be constructed out of tires and bottles. Like many others who build with glass bottles, the bottle projects will continue for as long as I live, so please keep the bottles & glass coming!

I am bringing back the "items needed" section at the end of each post. There are things we need that we could easily find in a more populous area, but around here..... nothing!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Good, usable, electric hot water tank, 40 gallon minimum

Paid The Water Bill Again!

2011-07-23T23:58:00.005-04:00

Terlingua Creek was flowing today! It was about 50 yards wide and moving at about walking speed until it got to Debbie's falls, then it speeds up through the falls, then slows down as the creek widens and deepens for a few miles.

Normally I wait for the water to stop rushing and to clear up before pumping any into our tank, but with the drought being so prolonged, I am a bit snake-bit by having to haul water, so I put just over 1000 gallons in the tank (now 2200 total). It is silty and will take several days to clear. I added a few damiana branches (http://www.ehow.com/list_7360750_damiana-plants.html http://www.herbco.com/p-440-damiana-leaf-cs.aspx) to the tank to speed up the clarification and to treat it naturally. I did add three cups of bleach to the tank as well, since the silt could carry micro-organisms the damiana can't kill).

One great side benefit (of the many) of living closely with so many dogs as a family (as opposed to a kennel), is that both of us have a bit more "fauna" in our digestive tracts than the normal American does. My Asian friends are always amazed when I visit and drink tap water and eat all the different street foods without getting intestinal problems! I have no proof, but I credit the "dog germs" for this! We have not had any problems with using the creek water, though once the damn trespassing cattle start walking through my water hole, I stop pumping until the next rain.

The last time I pumped silty water, it took three days to clear, without a damiana. When it all settles, I have a small marine bilge pump, set on a 3/4" PVC water pipe that I turn on to "vacuum" the bottom of the tank. Works great and only sucks up about 30 gallons of water and mud. We use this to water our plants with.

I would have filled the tank and my little pond today, but I got a late start and we were expecting more rain today and more again Sunday, so I left room for that in the tank.

The rain we did get came in about an hour. It moved very quickly and created small washouts in the road. I did not go all the way out, so I don't know the condition of the road east of the "container people" but I suspect it is deeply rutted, as usual.

A fast rainfall like this carries a LOT of silt with it, making the water heavier than an non-desert rainfall of the same amount. This is why though it was only 3/4 of an inch, the road out has several minor washouts. It is most likely the reason that there are so many home-made dams and impoundments that wash out as well. Without flow mitigation, the speed and weight requires a Hoover Dam to hold it back!

Anyone wanting to impound any water, should buy the series of "Rainwater Harvesting" books by Brad Lancaster. In north Florida, we built our 5 acre pond using his principles and many of the berms that mitigated the flow speed held up even to the SIX INCH rainfall we received in just a couple hours, saving the banks of the pond.

We are slowly creating berms and basins here, as we dig earth for tires and now bottles. I am digging in flow areas and contouring the channels just as Lancaster discusses in his books.

Bottles, Bentonite, Tires & Rain

2011-07-22T23:21:00.006-04:00

I had a chance to sit down and do some work with the bottles I have been given today. I took some photos and uploaded them, but the photos uploaded sort of funky, so I will point of which I am talking about.

At upper far right is a photo of one of the bottles we will now be using to construct the house. This one is empty and unmarked. About half are this way, the other half are filled with sodium bentonite granules: CLAY.

I mentioned in the last post that we would use "earth filled bottles". What we are going to do is fill each bottle 2/3 with bentonite and 1/3 with the soil from the property, then fill with water and let sit and "cure". Bentonite swells when water is added, so the bottles will swell and become hard as well. This will support the weight of the building, as will the mortar matrix, of course.

The photo at near right is a jar that I half filled with bentonite. The top, near right photo is the same jar just after I added water. The photo at far right is the same jar again, four hours later. The bentonite had swelled and filled the jar. I am sure that eventually the moisture will reach the particles at the very bottom,
causing a bit more swelling as well.

The walls of the house will be made of TWO rows of these bottles, set as one would set bricks, but with 1- 1.5 inches of mortar in between, not the customary 1/2 inch.

Debbie wants to tweak the floor plan a bit more, but that won't delay construction. The time between now and about September 1st, when I would like to start laying the bottles will be spent moving them here, four pallets at a time, as well as prepping the site and pouring (by hand) the footing.

I found something VERY interesting as I moved the tires the last couple of days! Fully half, if not more, are unsuitable for use in an earthship!

Most of these were dropped off here by others, but some were ones I collected. The biggest problem is that they are so dried out from sun exposure that the crack like "bitch ice" when handled. I tried to pound a few of these, but they disintegrated and had to be replaced.

Then there were the big truck tires, ATV tires, old alphanumerics and bias plies. I was shocked to see how many could not be used! It appears that the many tires that are just sitting in the desert are becoming brittle and unsuitable for even this use! Now I have a rather large pile of tires too, out of sight, sort of, but there getting more brittle by the day!

The last two photos are of the mesa to our west (Taurus Mesa?) as it rained on it at sunset. I just thought the effect was interesting!

We got about 1/2 inch of rain tonight, in about an hour. That put about 400 gallons of water in our tank.

Of course the "container people" were not "in" when the rain hit, so I know I can look forward to a severely rutted drive from their container cabin to highway 118. I am beginning to think they enjoy tearing up the roads after a rain!

Wonder why there is no FNG post from the unpaid video producer? They gouge the road EVERY time it rains without fail!

Our world turned upside-down today!

2011-07-19T23:51:00.003-04:00

I have been in a sort of holding pattern for several months. I haven't written anything about it, nor even discussed it with Debbie, but I have been terribly unhappy! The Earthship is the reason! I cannot seem to design something I like, is functional and able to be constructed by ME.

This is not an excuse for my hatred directed at a couple people around here, there are truly worthy of contempt, but for a guy who waited half a lifetime to move here, I have at, times acted like I would rather be somewhere else!

That is not the case at all! I should and NEED to remember that this place has all sorts of weirdos, a few of them weirder than I and ignore them or embrace them. After some soul searching this past weekend, I discovered that I have been angry at the earthship project! I have not been happy with ANY of the designs for the earthship and I cannot get all the systems into it without it costing more than we can afford! If I put the windows where we need them, the tire walls have no integrity and if not, we will be living in a cave! I couldn't design a roof for it and hated what the finished home would look like!

Now we can design a proper earthship and build it here..... but not one that will maximize the views we have. So the more I designed, the more I hated what I designed!

Last week something got me thinking WAY outside even the earthship "box" and today it became a reality when I "saw" the completed project in my mind. Still an "earthship" by our definition, but not a classic Reynold's design.

You see, I was given over 11,000 plastic bottles last week, if I could use them! While trying to design the addition to the dog's building, the image of the original home we designed for this property kept interfering. I mentally placed it on the home site and it fit the views perfectly, fit the home site perfectly! That design was linear, earthships are not, so we abandoned that idea. But using earth filled plastic bottles can be linear, or not.

So, while we will use the tires we have, it won't be in the house and we won't be collecting any more. Same with appliances, that is harder on my body than tires! Cardboard is still a maybe, but I need the use of a chipper, or a donated one.

GLASS however, WE NEED!!!! Glass bottles, jars, glass brick, old leaded glass, almost any glass! My glass projects will work and will become a "rest of my lifetime" series of projects.

I will post more on the bottle house project from here onward. I am starting it now, not someday in the future. I will be taking bids on the initial site prep while I bring all 171 pallets of bottles here over the next 45 days. Once the site prep is done (call me if you have a tractor with a bucket and backhoe and want work), I start laying the bottles. The design for the house was done two years ago, so we just need to start this "journey of a thousand miles".

I am very happy, because I can easily handle the earth filled bottles and the mortar trowel. The finished building will have all the doors and windows we wanted and unlike tires, I can continue the bottles above the lintels!

AND, because of our remote location, I have taken 11,000 bottles and the cardboard boxes they come in, OUT of the waste stream and isn't that the goal of building an Earthship anyway? The material doesn't matter, the concept and the systems DO matter!

The DC Generator

2011-07-17T02:22:00.002-04:00

I finally had time and bandwidth to upload some photos of the DC generator. I did not set up for a video because there just isn't much to see in a video, except the thing running!

But I can tell you a bit about how it was built and how it works. I am very happy with it now that it is working as expected with no kinks, except the tensioner, but more on that further on.

To build it, I had to first find the engine and alternator, then fabricate the mount. Similar mounts can be ordered for most engines, but not mine, from online at various sites. I fabricated the motor mount and the alternator mount as one piece since I had to fabricate the alternator mount anyhow!

Cutting and drilling the holes into the 3/16" sheet metal was not that difficult. Once that was done I just had to mount the engine and the alternator!

I bought the engine from Max Tools (http://www.maxtool.com) because they had an electric start, 7 HP engine on sale for a low price with free shipping. A manual start motor cost a lot less, but it is hard for Debbie to pull start an engine, so I wanted electric start.

The alternator came from a rebuilder who I met on EBAY. I sent him an e-mail telling him what I wanted to do and asked for a recommendation. He had a 260 amp alternator on sale, so I ordered it. When we had a problem a week later (my fault) he took it back, repaired it and shipped it back to me for NO CHARGE!

I thought I needed a belt tensioner, so I bought one that came from a Chrysler Cirrus for $8, again from EBAY. Now here is where I made a mistake that shows my age, I had a choice of serpentine or "V" belts. I chose the v belt for no special reason other than I have never had any experience with the FAR more popular serpentine.

Because of this choice, the tensioner does not fit correctly, though it works perfectly. With serpentine belt, I would not have had to connect a tensioner for the tensioner, from the ceiling! By the way, the black particles you see on the back of the unit are from several attempts to not use a tensioner. The belts got hot and flew apart, leaving the black particles behind.

I am able to run the engine at just above an idle to get 50+ amps delivered to the batteries. At higher RPMs, I can get to 170 amps, but we don't need that and it is noisy. At the current RPMs, you can stand in front of the unit and carry on a quiet conversation.

Also, at low RPMS, the engine will run for about six hours on .6 of a gallon of gas. Not too bad for a gas engine!

The alternator connects to the batteries using two lengths of #4 wire. One would have been enough, but two insures that there is no heat build up if the engine were to be turned up.

To use the unit, we set the choke, turn the key and return the choke to "off". Then we throw a switch on the wall to start the field. It is that simple!

I did a few modifications to the electrical system since the ALMOST fire and now we really do not need the generator at all, unless we leave the refrigerator on when the computer is on. Still, having it and having it so easy to use has relieved us from worrying about power at all.

I used a new engine & alternator. All parts, except the fabricated mount were new. I have right at $350 in the system. A commercial mount would have cost around $30. I suppose that if you counted the labor for the mount and the masonry for the base, the unit would cost over $1000 to have it built for you.

YOUTUBE had several videos about similar generators that were built for nothing except the labor and scrounging time of the owner.

I can say this, the unit is far more efficient and quieter than any generator I have used, including a high end Honda generator.

Since I have another (pull start) gas engine here, I will try to build another one soon, this time with a direct drive coupler for the alternator. More on that WAYYYY later!

Note: I have been given several THOUSAND plastic bottles, about a gallon size. Since we need more room here, we are putting other construction on hold and I will be designing and building, fast, a 1200 square foot addition to the dog's building out of the bottles, set in mortar. I will post progress on that as it moves forward. Right now, I have 45,000 bottles to move. They are right where the addition must go!

Over the next week, I will transport the plastic bottles here and I plan on starting construction next weekend.

Rain

2011-07-12T17:42:00.003-04:00

I am sure that all the myriad "blogger buddies" out there are writing volumes about every sprinkle of rain that falls on our desert! In this instance, that is just fine. Not only does rain break our drought, but the heat also. I am enjoying a comfortable afternoon temperature of 79 degrees.... and a Sapporo beer.

I raced home today so I could be IN when the rain arrived. Last Saturday, the "container people" had to get "home" so badly (yet again) that they slipped and slid from side to side on the road, that the ruts they AGAIN dug in the road will be there, creating very unnecessary bumps in the road, until the next grading in 3-4 months.

We got only another 3/8 of an inch here, but this rain, added to Saturday and Sunday's gives us more water in the tank than we have had all year. If the creek is flowing, I will fill the tank and the tiny pond as well.

The rain did do something not so good though....... it wet the beer cases that hold the 45,000 or so beer bottles! Many are falling apart. It is a good thing I will begin a large project with the bottles this week!

We had to wait until we had money for portland & lime AND repair the mixer, before any project of any size could begin. I have a bit more concrete to mix for the new bird bath and then the bottle construction begins.... with photos as soon as the DSL issues are repaired!

So now, as soon as the DSL hog is "slaughtered" and we have reliable service again, I will post about the DC generator, the bird bath and the new bottle project.

Making a Dump

2011-07-10T20:45:00.005-04:00

I received a phone call from one of my "green" suppliers tonight. I had to order some parts and as we discussed my problem, he had the KISS solution I was looking for! Here is what happened:

Two weeks ago, we returned home from the Ghost Town. Something wasn't right with the power again and on examination, my excess power "dump", had burned up, nearly causing a fire. In fact there WOULD have been a fire, had the wires taken longer to burn through! They burned through quickly and severed the connection before serious damage occurred.

I had a "temporary" fix on the dump: two 100 watts halogen light bulbs. I know everyone says don't do it, but this was "temporary" until I could engineer a permanent dump.... AND afford to do it! Temporary had become permanent though and once we trimmed some watts from our "diet", we found the system dumping power every day. That bothered me, so I added another halogen light and THAT is what caused the problem. So much power ran through a small wire that the heat melted it and nearly caused a fire.

Of course the best dump is a water heating element, but I never found the time to try to design one, until this happened. Not wanting to do another temporary fix, I started designing the entire solar hot water system. Looking at tanks, I only found one that had the correct shape and could handle heat. But it cost over $200 for a 40 gallon tank. I can buy a 50 gallon hot water heater at Lowe's for less!

Here is where the "green supplier" helped! He has 12 volt heating elements that are designed to replace the electric ones in standard hot water heaters. For a KISS/KICK solution that will not have me building the solar hot water system now AND will be a permanent ADDITION to the dump load, another customer of his did this:

He took a piece of marine plywood, coated it and threaded eight elements through it. He silicon sealed all the electric connections and FLOATED the entire rig in his water tank with enough excess wire to travel from top to bottom.

The eight elements will never heat 5000 gallons enough to be of concern to the tank and he has a safe place to dump his excess power. SIMPLE & CHEAP.

For now, one 600 watt element will suffice for us. Since I don't like the wood, I will use something else non-toxic. The heating element is in the mail now, so I will let you all know how this works in a couple of weeks.

I was going to discuss the DC generator and upload a video for this post, but I have been having severe problems with my INTERNET speed. I called about this tonight with a hunch that turned out to be correct.

I am at the end of the line for the DSL here. Anyone who uses the DSL, uses it before me and subtracts some bandwidth. There is only one person on this line with me. That person has web cams running all the time and uploads excessive video and photos, as well as downloading TV shows, using all the available bandwidth.

I filed a formal complaint, asking that this person be taken to the commercial rates, since the usage is excessive and that they find a "go around" for me so that the foolishness that goes on there no longer stops me from checking my e-mail.

It was either that or target practice on bandwidth wasting cameras!

I should have the discussion of the DC generator later this week.... bandwidth allowing.

My Apologies!!!

2011-06-25T20:34:00.003-04:00

Once again I am unable to spellcheck this or fix misspellings. Just try your best to figure out what I meant to say!!
I have to apologize to all readers for the lack of posts this last month. I have had several trips out of the area and all of them, except this one, did not easily put me in the reach of a WIFI connection!

I was home only a couple days each trip and this time was consumed with trips of transport water and with repairs on the new DC generator.

Our garden continues to grow, oblivious to the drought. We did have, as I posted, 3/8 of an inch of rain at our place. One reader noted that that guy that stays 2.5 miles to our SE reported just a couple hundredths of an inch at his place. This is quite possible. I got stuck in a rainfall of about an inch last summer, just over a mile from our place and had to walk home. Debbie reported that should she saw the rain, but none fell on her! The weather in this area in a bit erratic, perhaps due to the proximity of Agua Fria mountain and the barrier it presents.

At any rate, the garden requires water, so I have to go and truck it in twice a week. Now I am using well water from a "deep well" in Study Butte, rather that the pricey city water. Locals turn their noses up at the well water, preferring to bow to the indoctrination of the water "manufacturers" who have convinced the world that all water, except that in their bottles bottles will cause a pig's foot to grow from your belly, or some other equally ridiculous crap manufactured to get the public to buy their bottled TAP WATER!

For every 1000 gallons of well water I get, I put a small branch of the "antibiotic plant" that grows in profusion in a secret spot near our
property. This plant takes the so-called smelly, bad tasting, well water and clarifies, purifies and "de-stinks"it. There is a very slight hint of mineral salts left, about the same as you would get out of a two dollar bottle of trendy mineral water served at room temperature. Like that bottled stuff, this water is full of much needed minerals for the body and helps with crapping..... Not that either of us need THAT with our diet, but it has that affect without expensive laxatives or even bottles of mineral supplements. After all, man evolved on the savannahs drinking this water and has a digestive system geared to it, so why pay for bottles of "purified"water, then vitamin & mineral supplements when Nature provides us with cheap or free water that has what we need IN it, not removed FROM it?

Before someone writes about "organisms"in un-"major corporation bottled"waters, I would refer you to the many recent papers written about how screwed up our bodies are since we eliminated them from our water. Even the hated roundworms & tapeworms have been receiving a second look from new studies on the human digestive system.... So again, we are just ahead of the curve, with extra money in our pockets!

The garden by the way, what did finally grow, is doing very nicely! The Daikon radishes are about nine inches long now and very thick. We are harvesting the largest ones almost daily. The garlic is nearly the size of what you buy in stores and the blue potatoes are flowering, a sign that we are just about three weeks from harvest on them.

The three varieties of squash are fruiting, but barely and the tomato plant has failed to produce tomatoes, but had a luxuriant growth until some animal got into it and destroyed half the plant.

Some kind of VERY hungry beetle flew in and COVERED the palo verde and desert museum trees one day. Debbie lost her mind at this as they tried to eat the trees like locusts! She filled a spray bottle with soapy water and sprayed each tree with it for two days until the damn things moved on or she killed them all. She even removed them by hand and squashed them..... But she saved her trees!

I STILL need to write abut the DC generator and take photos. I have not because it has not worked properly and is out of service right now. I finished building it and it looked very professional. But I had no real way to gauge how to size the engine pulley, so I went to a web site that
had detailed instructions. It suggested a five inch pulley on the engine side. I bought one and when I started the generator, it squealed to a stop! The engine was not powerful enough to drive the 260 amp alternator under a load with that pulley..... It was sort of like riding a bicycle uphill in twelfth gear. I ordered a 2.5 inch pulley and that fixed the problem, but not before the voltage regulator in the alternator burned out! At the same time the key mechanism in the engine broke!

Both manufacturers offered to immediately repair them. The engine manufacturer sent a new switch, it came before I left on this trip. I installed it and that problem was fixed. The alternator is in the mail back home right now and will be there when I get in.

Hopefully I will finally be able to post the photos of the DC generator then. When it works, it works great, putting out over 110 amps with the engine at an idle. It has a 2 litre fuel tanks and at an idle, it will run for over four hours. This is more than adequate to run BOTH of our air conditioners........ Except that the inverter is still being repaired and the smaller ones we are using don't have enough power to run either A/C unit.

This is life off the grid, unedited and unassisted by a huge nest egg to fall back on! It is what this life is, good and bad.

Speaking of bad, Debbie's mother has been in a nursing home since January. She suffers from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease and is failing, FAST. Debbie will leave soon for Florida to sit the vigil we all dread and say a final good-bye to her Mother. I love this woman as if she were my own, but cannot go with Debbie, as one of us needs to be here to care for the dogs until THEY die. My heart and I am sure your's as well, will go with my wife of 33 years as she faces this with her brother and Father.

I will be home, no traveling until Debbie returns. I plan on getting a lot done and should resume more regular posts as well. I am sure many of you have questions about the things I just touched on in this post. Hopefully I will have time to answer them and post more. I also plan on doing the unfinished web site pages as well......... I need to do something to pass the time with Debbie away!

Price Gouging in Alpine (too)!!!

2011-06-08T10:10:00.004-04:00

One thing about Debbie & I is we subscribe to that old Texas saying," If it walks like a duck and if it quacks like a duck and if it craps like a duck..... Partner, IT'S A DUCK!!!"

I have been identifying "ducks" all my life, both in print and in person and I have a perfect example now that I will be distributing to media sources. Unfortunately this does not come under the Texas usury laws, as the gasoline price gouging in Study Butte may, but it is still reprehensible!

Sometime after our last visit to this area before moving here and moving here, Porter Thriftway bought out the competing grocery store in Alpine, giving them a virtual monopoly on grocery sales in Alpine. Dollar General does not really count, since their selection is limited. Since I travel quite a bit, I notice that Thriftway prices are considerably higher than other stores with competition. Transportation into Alpine is a non-issue as Alpine is a short 130 mile round trip from I-10 and closer to 100 if a truck is traveling east/west or west east on a route.

Thriftway carries an unusual item: "Mr. Q Cumber" cucumber flavored soda. It comes in a 7 ounce bottle and is made with sugar, not the deadly high fructose corn syrup that is causing diabetes all around the country. I noticed this product several months ago and like you, thought it would taste nasty. I tried it about a month ago, it is very tasty and refreshing, a word I seldom use regarding beverages!

I bought six bottles on my next visit and six more and six more over the last month. Yesterday I went to Alpine to do our monthly shopping to find a surprise! Mr. Q Cumber had been moved from its poor shelf position and "high-shelved" into a visible position. There had also been a price change! Ever since I first noticed the product, the price has been $.69 a bottle. But since the scanners that everyone now uses.... the ones that allow the checkers to talk to each other about last night while ignore the customers...... had tagged this as an item that was selling well, Thriftway reset the shelves and raised the price for no other reason than to GOUGE the few people that were buying it!

The new price is $1.19 cents! This is a full $.50 cent PER BOTTLE increase!

I complained, but the "manager" they sent to appease me was no more than the customer service clerk, masquerading as a "manager". I am writing Thriftway, the Mr. Q Cumber distributor and the local newspapers about this, as well as Wal-Mart...... that's right, WALMART!

This area is LONG overdue for a WalMart super center. The small WalMart in Fort Stockton was built in the 1980's, I watched it go up. The area has grown and they should have built a "super center" here years ago. When they try to come here, the local merchants, the ones who are SOOOO pleasant to us when we come in, all the while charging us $.30 a gallon MORE for gas here than Alpine, 25% more for everything else and RAISE THEIR PRICES when the tourists are due (for the Chili Cook-off in particular), Thriftway, Stripes, McCoys and so on will all call on us, the consumers already smarting from the smiling rape they give us each time we shop with them to "help save the local merchants and JOBS".

I don't know about you, but I am not interested in saving the job of the clerk who "rang up" my order yesterday. She spent the entire time talking in Spanglish to the clerk at the next register and never ONCE looked directly at me. Yet Thriftway with it's 85% price gouging and clerks too busy talking to properly service the customer, will cry like babies when WalMart, Target or HEB try to come to town, as they WILL!

"Save our jobs! Save our jobs! WalMart is BAD!" They will cry in rallies and in print.

Eight buck a hour is eight bucks an hour whoever signs the check and WalMart will need clerks and will properly TRAIN them too. The clerks will get their discounts AND the lower prices that WalMart offers. The "merchants" will fondly wish for the "good old days" when everyone just dug deep and paid their exorbitant prices, all the while complaining that WalMart is unfair competition (to their Hummer payment maybe).

Don't get me wrong, I hate WalMart, but to take my business away from them, the biggest corporation in the world and the world's seventh (I think) largest economy, hurts me with higher prices , not WalMart! When they try to come to Brewster county, I will be there rooting for them, not because I love them, but because of Mr. Q Cumber and the rest of the smiling rape we get from our "local merchants".

At least WalMart is honest about their intent!

That is just my opinion. Some will disagree. All hate WalMart, but shop there anyway.

What does this have to do with Earthships and alternative energy, etc.? If YOU are considering moving here, you need all the facts, not just how much fun it is to sit on "the porch" and drink beer, look at the colorful "locals", live in a bus or container and slap up a solar panel or two. You need to know the temper of the area, how best to live in harmony with it, its quirks, and low spots as well as high spots.

In Florida, they "jokingly" call the hideous low wages, the "Sunshine Tax" that folks pay for living there. Here we have to "Tourist Price Tax" and the "Alpine Grocery Monopoly Tax". Better we level the playing field with a WalMart than pay these hidden extra costs for the "privilege " of living here!

As for me, I LIKE Mr. Q Cumber. I am not addicted to it. So, I will NEVER buy another bottle from Thriftway, at any price. Which brings me to yet another old saying, an America wide one (paraphrased):

"Gouge me once, shame on you. Gouge me twice, shame on ME!"

SHAME ON YOU, PORTER THRIFTWAY!!!!!

Potpourri

2011-06-05T00:22:00.003-04:00

The last post of the day is a collection of photos I didn't put in the other posts.

I have been talking about the DC generator and several readers are anxiously waiting for photos and a discussion of it. I am not ready to show it yet, because it is not "perfect" yet!

It is built and running, even as I write this, it is humming away, but rigged, not fully installed. See, as I was researching it, I had no experience to go by for the pulley ratios. I went to a site that seemed to be quite knowledgeable about them and they suggested a 5" pulley for the engine side, so I ordered one.

Then, since we have no auto parts store here, I had to drive to Alpine with the generator to fit a belt to it. Got it installed...... the base was not built yet though (photo one) and fired it up. The belt screamed at me and the engine stalled!

The guy who wrote the web site I read, must have been using an 80-100 amp alternator with the 5" pulley. With my 260 amp alternator, the engine cannot drive it with that pulley. We are waiting on a smaller pulley that will (according to an electrical engineer and a few others) drive it fine and let me run the engine at a low speed.

Right now, I am using a 25 foot long length of #10 electrical wire and running it slowly to avoid heat build up. The resistance from the wire allows it to charge, but not well.

But the rock base I constructed to hold it looks cool anyway! Mid-week I should be able to discuss the generator in detail with photos.

Oh, the last photo shows what DID happen when everything was turned off and I got the thing to run correctly with #4 wire running from it to the batteries. The battery charge is the
right meter. The wind turbines are the left one and they will run just a bit above the battery array charge, whatever that is, with a decent wind.

I need to run it a LOT slower!!!!

The second and third photos are of the prickly pear cuttings I am planting in a prickly pear garden and the garden with 20 of them planted. There will be 100 when it is completed, most will be spiny, but I did manage to get some spineless yesterday.

When this is producing, we can control whether we get new growth, or fruit on a particular plant. We will use the fruits for wine and jelly and the young paddles for food. Just another way to use the desert for our purposes!

The fourth photo is of a complete surprise to us! This is a stevia (or steevia) plant.... the super sweet herb. It was my idea to order one plant as a test, the thing was fairly expensive. To our amazement, it LOVES the desert and is growing great! It is too small to harvest leaves from yet, but we have taken a couple of old ones off and they really are super sweet tasting! I will keep you posted on this as well!

The fifth photo of the wilted sunflower is the same one I posted photos of here and on FACEBOOK a few weeks ago. It has matured now and the seeds are drying. Besides this head, there are about 6-8 smaller ones. We will save the seeds from all of them as treats for our vicious, nasty, biting, cussing parrot to eat.

Cave Scorpion Attack!

2011-06-05T00:01:00.002-04:00

Last week, I had a scare that was part of the "epiphanal moments" I mentioned earlier. Pictured here is the culprit, a three inch, FAT cave scorpion, after it's demise!

My 13 year old dog, Tucson, sleeps with me every night, as he has for the last 13 years.

Since my snoring has me banished, most nights, to the dog's building, Tucson goes with me. Being an old man, he needs to get up and go to the doggy toilet during the night, then he bellows for me to pick him back up, as he cannot see well enough any longer to jump up or down from the bed. The funny thing is that he CAN hold it all night when we are in the big truck, but not at home!

He then wakes me and the rest of the house up at precisely 7:15 AM every morning so he can go again....... except one day last week!

He was barely breathing and listless. I though he had suffered a stroke during the night and this was the beginning of the "three day watch" where, if not denied their dignity by being "put down" an dog just winds down and dies over about three days, not eating or drinking, but fully aware and NOT scared.

It seemed far too soon to say goodbye to him, so you can imagine how I felt. Later in the day, he began to show some life and within two days was back to his normal self.

Debbie found this visitor squashed just under the bed and while we have 21 other old dogs and ANY of them could have killed it, only Tucson was ill. They are poisonous to a degree and to an eight pound, 13 year old dog, could cause quite the ordeal!

Whether our beloved pet is a dog, cat, bird, horse or cow; if it is TRULY a pet and not a prop used of foist an image on people, the loss or potential loss of the pet can be as devastating as the loss of any human loved one.

Since dogs live such short lives, I can tell you from experience that it is worse that the loss of a human, because we go through it so much more often as the dogs enter, enrich, then leave our lives so fast!

Meet The Fooders!

2011-06-04T23:39:00.004-04:00

A big part of an "Earthship" is the capacity to produce food from it. To the followers of Michael Reynolds, this means INSIDE the "ship". But the structure is not the entire "Earthship", the grounds it sits on are an integral part as well!

Our approach here is to use the property, as well as the house for our self-sufficiency. IF civilization collapse, we may not be able to maintain a greenhouse structure, so it is equally important to grow food, both vegetable and animal, ON the property efficiently.

So while our home will have plants in it, the bulk of our produce will be grown outdoors and in a rudimentary greenhouse that provides shade in summer and holds in the heat in the winter. No hydroponics or fancy growth mediums OR non-open pollination plants. (OK, Debbie DID order a lot of stuff from Burgess this year, but she realizes that was a mistake and from here on, only open pollination plants).

Pictured in the blog post are the plants that DID sprout in the garden. Note that they are ALL in the tractor tires and their 14" deep soil! Here is a list of what is pictured, from the top:

Zucchini (on the inside)
Red radishes
Pumpkin
Onions (yes, all three tires of them are doing poorly)
Garlic
Shallots
Crookneck Squash
Cherry Tomato (one, purchased at the Cottonwood store as a plant)
Butternut squash
Blue Potatoes (the white & red ones are the ones the damn "pika" thing is eating along with the artichokes and are not big enough for a photo)
Russian Daikon Radish (open pollination, heritage seeds)

I will keep you posted on the progress! Hopefully the winter garden will fare better!

The Gardens Grow!

2011-06-04T23:00:00.008-04:00

I had mentioned that there was news of the garden last week. Today I finally took time to shoot some photos of them.

The first photo is of the guardians to the south gardens, the Grumpy Stump Monster & Shyer the Dragon. They flank the huge Ammonite we pulled out of the creek a few months ago (with considerable help!).

Next is a long shot of the garden. There is a change in it from previous pictures. Only three plants in the center sprouted, most likely due to the narrow depth of the soil and the fact that we could not soak THAT with enough water!

Giving up on the inside, I have started to fill it with two-year old composted horse manure..... some of the finest black soil you could use in a garden! In a garden store or a Home Depot, you might pay as much as $20 a 50 pound bag for soil lie this. Here, it is free! All one has to do is get out in the 105 degree heat and shovel it into your truck (and out again at home). THAT explains why I am about the only person in the area doing this!

We will build an addition to this garden, also out of tires and fill that completely with the compost, for NEXT year, or maybe a winter garden. It is a lot of work, but isn't everything except hanging out in a local grill all day?!

The third photo is of Debbie's north garden. She ordered so many flowers that she needed more room. I had this area planted with Arizona desert plant seeds, but they did not come up so she commandeered this garden for some of her flowers.

The fourth shot is of Debbie standing in her garden the day I finished raking it up and lining the paths with rock for her. Right after this she started planting her flowers. She was so excited about this that I did not have the heart to tell her few of them might come up in this heat.

She would be making a liar out of me anyway now though, as many of them are growing, slowly, but growing!The next shot is of the same garden today, note the tree in the picture now.

That tree and the two little ones, were her birthday present on May 21st (the day that "Judgement" didn't happen). They are called "Desert Museum" trees and are a hybrid between an Arizona Palo Verde and something I forgot. The difference is that these grow like weeds! Also, unusual for a hybrid, the seeds will grow true to the parent tree.

I got them so the 40 or so different bird species Debbie has attracted to the feeders would have a safe place to sit and sit they do! Today, there were abut 30 cowbirds sitting in one of the small ones!

The last picture is of some radishes I thinned from the garden today. The radishes are not ready to harvest at all yet, but I always over-plant so we can eat the vegetables we thin out.

Obviously there are red ones there, far bigger already than the grocery store ones. The white ones are Russian Daikons. These grow slower and far larger than the red ones. These are used in Japanese pickled radish side dishes. I have the recipe and made all these radishes into a pickled side dish. Nothing in the world is better than food you grow yourself!!! We have been doing this, as well as our own poultry now for eight years, though the poultry will have to wait another year!

So that is the garden story so far. In the next post I will put up photos of the vegetables.

Failure!

2011-06-02T22:36:00.004-04:00

No photos today, so no discussion of the things that need to be photographed.

But it seems that I failed in my effort to save the Jerusalem Artichokes from being eaten. Though the hare and rabbits ARE problematic to a garden/farm, since they will eat tender and water laden young shoots, they are NOT the culprits eating my Jerusalem Artichokes and (only) red potatoes!

Today, something small enough to squeeze through 2" chicken wire ate the last shoot from the artichokes AND the only red potato shoot to survive the predation so far. I even set two mouse traps that were set off, but captured nothing. We think that the culprit is a small Pika-like rodent we have seen many times on the drive into our place.

It is big enough to survive the mouse trap, yet small enough to squeeze through 2" chicken wire. Since we have limited funds, we will just have to sacrifice the artichokes and red potatoes.

Also, a couple of folks phoned me today to talk about "green things" and asked about the dead hares. Since this and May are not "months with 'R's in them", I did not consider cleaning then to eat. THAT was a mistake I won't make again!!!!

As a poultry farmer and student of (not a follower of) Buddhism, I always thank the "spirit" of the animal that is killed for food. This applies to my quail, chickens and everything up to the emus. The only thing I don't thank are the hogs and that is due more to the adrenaline and excitement of the hunt for these nasty creatures, than to anything else.

I went against my grain to just leave the dead hares to the desert. Next time and there will be one, I will take the animal and utilize it. To anyone who noticed that it was wrong to leave them, I apologize! That won't happen again!

At least the new shoots on the prickly pears are safe from this set of hares...... until the void is filled by others!

Debbie and I have been working hard in the 105+ heat since it hit two weeks ago. Today, not by design, but just since I felt poorly, I took the day off from work and stayed out of the sun. I feel much better now and look forward to resetting the rock work on the DC generator base in the morning AND making a water, manure, bottle, shopping run tomorrow afternoon. It will be the 3rd of the month and that means that Debbie's SS check arrives, so I will combine chores during the heat of the day.

For all you younger folks, any temperature over 100 degrees is difficult to work in! I could not have done this 20 years ago and why I can now is a mystery!

It is a bit more difficult for me due to the fact that I must wear long pants and sleeves. So when I speak of the things we do in this heat, please remember that we take VERY frequent breaks and drink, on average, just over a gallon of water daily, each, when working outside. The heat WILL kill you and anyone who fails to mention that is a macho liar! DO NOT F*&K with the desert, it can and will kill you without remorse! We carry the pistol and water with us when we go out into it, even on our small property!

I am hoping to have many photos tomorrow and if I do, there will be a few posts!

The Heat Is ON!!! Happy Memorial Day & Beyond!

2011-06-01T23:05:00.004-04:00

Since I don't read other blogs, I don't know how many others are writing about the heat too, but I imagine they all are!

I have not posted photos of the DC generator, because I wanted to complete the rock base for it before taking photos. Friday, I had to go into Alpine (payday) in the afternoon, so I decided to do some rocking, run the errands, then do the pointing when I returned. I did not tell Debbie to wet the new mortar down from time to time and THAT was a problem.

When I returned from Alpine four hours later, the mortar had completely dried and was "powdering". It dried as though it were in a kiln and had no strength at all. When I started the generator, the vibration, which is somewhat isolated, cracked and further powdered the mortar. Two rocks fell out.

I now have to remove and reset these rocks and finish the base..... about 10-12 rocks total and a 3" concrete top, so it is not much work. but in this heat, I need to wait until I can be there all day to keep the mortar moist.

Sunday & Monday brought trips into Study Butte for water for the garden. Since I was going past the stables anyway, I brought all our containers and filled them up, each trip, with composted horse manure. The center of our garden has not sprouted, we think because the soil layer was not deep enough. So we gave up on the seeds planted there and are filling the center with the composted manure. Perhaps we will have better luck in there with the winter garden.

I stopped along the way to Study Butte and collected some paddles from Prickly Pear cacti. Many are dropping the thick paddles from last year to save the "core" of the plant during this drought, so I collected only from this area of the plants. I planted 19 new plants in what will be the prickly pear garden. Eventually there will be about 100 plants there that we will use for the fruit and the paddles.

One reader asked me about our radishes. Seems when he planted his, all he got was green growth, no body to his radishes. We have two varieties growing inside the tractor tires, the "normal" red ones, and Russian Daikons. We have been thinning these for about two weeks now and the red ones, even though they are still very young, are the size of the radishes you buy in the stores.

The Russian Daikons are about as thick as magic markers now, but they grow slower and FAR larger than the red ones. We don't have a secret to it, they just grow!

Speaking of the garden, something has been eating our Jerusalem Artichokes. Ate the tops down to nothing, then started digging up the tubers. It started on the potatoes as well, eating the tops of of the red ones Debbie ordered from the mail order place, Before it started eating my blue potatoes, which are very healthy at the moment, I decided to go hunting.

Of course the culprit had to be a hare! A smaller rabbit had eaten ALL the new growth off of the Chollo (sp)& varietal prickly pears in the early Spring. Though I hated to do it, I shot that one and the damage stopped. All the plants have regrown new shoots now.

I went hare hunting on Saturday and flushed one from under a mesquite bush. Thinking my turkey shot wouldn't carry the 60 or so yards to it, I held the shot and chased the thing through the wash until I lost it..... about a half mile chase in the 107 degree heat.

The mesquite was a regular cover for it, as the ground was clear and there was scat all around. Today, I took the shotgun and the SKS and approached the mesquite from downwind. A hare flushed and I took the shot, though long. I killed that one somehow, but not before he ate one more tuber of the Artichoke! Debbie said there were a pair of them all along. I had shot the male. I headed through the wash and approached our place again from downwind.

Right where it had been during construction last year, I flushed another that ran across the flats at full speed. I aimed and took a desperation shot from about 80 yards and down it went to my surprise. It was the female. I had killed both of our garden destroyers...... I hope.

Last night it rained at last.... no doubt the local bloggers have covered this story until it is a parody, but we got about 3/8 of an inch of rain. About 100 gallons in the tank and NOTHING in Terlingua Creek! Maybe next time. Still, the 100 gallons watered the garden today and again tomorrow, so we are grateful.

We have had to reinstall a wind turbine AND Debbie's parents are having some issues, so I have been too busy to take photos. Sorry, but for this writer, real life is far more important that a daily, or even weekly post. I am trying to get photos and time though, so I hope this update helps!

No Post

2011-05-24T22:49:00.003-04:00

I was not able to take photos today, so I will discuss the DC generator tomorrow.

I have news of our garden as well. It is growing well and I will address that in tomorrow's post!

The temperature here got to 102 degrees today. Hard on the garden! Good thing we have access to water for it or we would have lost everything! However the access to the water has been VERY time consuming!

Again, I will try to have a decent post with photos tomorrow!

Clarifications:

2011-05-23T10:46:00.005-04:00

I cannot post a proper post yet.
I am planting, trucking in water and completing the new DC generator.

I do have to clarify somethings though:

First, I received a phone call from a genuinely concerned area resident who asked me why I was "on the case" of the resident who helped me with the transfer switch that ultimately failed. Re-reading the post, it did look as though I was "on his case".

This is definitely NOT the situation!!! This young man has been a TREMENDOUS help to Debbie & I starting from the day I was trying to find the property and asked him for directions. He jumped on his four wheeler and took me to the spot. We have been good neighbors ever since, if not friends.

He is a regular "MacGuyver" when it comes to repairs and fabricating things and his electrical work is always good. I simply cannot say that he is a "certified, or licensed" electrician because I do not know that as a fact. While it may appear otherwise at times, I do not state misleading or inaccurate information. Would I recommended him and his work? Without question!

When the "container people" were installing a huge cattle gate in front of their 45 acre "ranch", they told me it was because we have a "thief" in the neighborhood, referring to a GSG comment made at the Grub Shack to all who would listen, by CJ. The container people and I have not spoken since that day, due to my defense of this man.

The failure of the transfer switch had NOTHING to do with his product, or his abilities. It failed for reasons related to our demands on it, no other reason.

If the story about the transfer switch appeared to indicate anything else, I apologize, particularly to my friend and neighbor!

Finally, when I write about challenges and failures, I am not looking to blame others, I am showing potential "New Homesteaders" that these are the things we all must live with. We can, as I did, read book after book until we have the technology down pat...... then something comes up that we did not anticipate, e/g: we watch the birds here. Debbie has spotted about five species that are not supposed to be found here, according to the books. The problem is that the BIRDS did not read the books! Same with our crashes and failures!

I want to help educate others on living this way with a realistic amount of money. A large nest egg give you options and cushions that most do not have, so I dwell on the problems that cost what might seem a small amount quite a bit because to us, it is not a small amount.

Other blogs in the area, entice people to want to come here, to MOVE here with romantic stories, forgetting the problems that to many can be "deal breakers". Not here.

I also try to convey the difficulty with interacting with so very many "escapees" from "the North", witness protection individuals, Libertarians and so on. Though not a Native Texan, I have spent my entire business life here. One thing this area needs in more Texans, or at least folks willing to embrace what it is to BE Texan. That does not require a birthright, just a mindset lacking in many, like my "friend" to the east about 2.5 miles!

Hope that clarifies a couple of things. I will post the photos and story of the DC generator when the stand for it is completed, probably tomorrow.

Alive In Las Cruces!

2011-05-19T00:30:00.004-04:00

I am alive and sitting in a terrible truck stop in Las Cruces, NM! At least it sells beer, so I am enjoying my evening cocktail! I mentioned that we were having some power issues as I was leaving. They were quite major, but after 18 months of "major"problems, Debbie just hunkered down and rolled with them!

I don't think this requires photos, so I can post about it from the road. I thought, abut seven months ago, that we needed a "transfer switch" to automatically cut the power from the inverter when the generator was on and the other way around. A local who is a real electrical wizard, someone told me also a certified electrician, had a 40 watt one that he insisted would be adequate, so I installed it instead of the $100 more expensive 100 watt one I found online. His failed, but insidiously! We did not see it, nor realize it had failed. We just kept thinking it was fine. But we noticed that the power was running down a LOT and that the generator was not really charging the system any longer. THREE chargers burned out. The gas generator burned out, but the engine is fine. The diesel generator lost one leg of its power as well. Then, the indestructible inverter started to fail.

I was able to buy another solar panel, but this did nothing to give us more power! One day I was walking by the transfer switch and heard it opening and closing. Debbie yelled out to me that it "was doing it again", referring to the charger built into the travel trailer.

I removed the transfer switch and moved the wiring around, but it was too late for the inverter, it failed. I was able to send it to a rebuilder though. I ordered three more from EBAY (bid low on six, won three), to use as back-ups, started my new electrical project and then left for this trip.

Debbie has kept me posted on the power though. The batteries I thought we had destroyed, "cooked" twice, then started working better than ever! I left Debbie running on the COBRA 1000 watt inverter that is installed and ready as a emergency inverter. But as I was leaving I touched the battery wires to see how hot is was (hot) and it sparked and blew out a huge puff of blue smoke...... Then kept running!!!!

Debbie called me this evening and told me it will now run only one appliance at a time...... But I will be home tomorrow and all three back-up inverters are waiting for me. One is big enough to run the entire place and will have to until I am able to buy the two new "pure sine wave" inverters our new supplier has offered at a huge discount. The repaired old one will become a replacement if one of the new ones goes.

Without the transfer switch gone, the entire systems operating as it did originally, but with 500 more watts of solar panels and the wind generators. Debbie has had to burn off power now!

Also, I am doing some cool stuff with LEDs and bottles. THAT requires photos though, but it reduces our power needs at night. None of this is new, or my own invention, but it is innovative all the same and I hope it helps some of you....... When I post it this weekend!

(I cannot spellcheck here using the IPAD, so please allow me these misspellings THIS time)

Catch Phrases.... Gone for another trip.... TIME!

2011-05-15T00:27:00.004-04:00

Again with no photos. I have spent the majority of the last three days working on our new battery array charging system. It's not new, I didn't invent it, nor did either Curly Joe DeRita or Fatty Arbuckle! What it will be is a fast, easy and cheap way to keep the array charged when we are running the air conditioning......

But machinist, I am NOT! I have made a mess out of a template and failed to see an obvious design necessity! I will write more on it when I return and can finish the thing. I am heading out soon for a few days.

I guess that with Americans living through "sound bites", catch phases are a growing thing again. If you want a real "shock". find and watch the old Sylvester Stallone movie: "Demolition Man". It is really freaky how they predicted our behavior now, WAY back then. Scary too, that we have become so shallow!

Not only do I like, "Individual Infrastructure", but "Water Is A Human Right, Not A Commodity" and "There Is Nothing New Under The Sun" to all go along with the standby: "Keep It Simple Stupid!" What's YOUR catch phrase..... and don't say "DUhOh".

If we all chose a message and devoted our time to promoting that single message, with 300 million of us all promoting and improving our thing, we could change the face of America and though I love Her dearly, she needs a drastic facelift! We chose ours, unintentionally through the interest our work here is garnering and, seriously, through the antics and asininity of CJ and his Fruit Lab/Stump Breaking Center.

Global Warming/Climate Change is serious and something that may well force the mainstream to adopt our living methods out here. As I travel throughout the southwest, I see how much work there is to do to get that message across in just this part of America, the world is a huge challenge.

When I started this blog in Florida a little over two years ago, I had this notion that the Earthship would be finished by now. I could not have imagined I could be so wrong! Time slips away when there is so much to do! The "individual infrastructure" requires constant work, water has to be hauled... whether from near or far and the material is handled at LEAST five times before it gets into the buildings!

The Earthship itself will be another two years before it is standing, as we will complete many other projects first. So if you are reading this to see it go up, you will need a lot of patience! But the journey, the projects that are required to get to that point will be interesting, that I promise. I just apologize for the snail's pace!

There won't be another post until next Thursday or Friday. I will be working and scrounging for more building material.... now I am focusing on gather material for our cistern project. Again, more on that one later!

Individual Infrastructure

2011-05-11T22:27:00.001-04:00

No photos tonight! Debbie & I spent the day planting the rest of our LONG overdue vegetables in the garden, along with 2 Redwood Trees, some rose bushes and "Hummingbird vines". These she wanted to try, so we ordered them. I must say that by adding the cocofiber to the soil as a moisture blocker/holder, we have a good chance of these growing. We will keep you posted!

Another reason we have no photos, is that we had a visitor over the weekend who took our time and we did not mind one bit! He is a young, aspiring photojournalist who spent the weekend here researching this lifestyle for a University project and a magazine article. A lesser man would, and HAS called such a visit a "media blitz". For us it was a chance to discuss the MANY, MANY things we have learned by studying the work of others who have FAR more experience at this than we do and to demonstrate how difficult this choice can be at times! He left Sunday night to meet his deadlines.

While picking up my bottles from the Ghost Town yesterday, a van full of University of Kentucky students pulled in for a couple of beers and dinner at the Starlight....... sidebar here: After having about eight tourists ask me if the "Chicken Fried Antelope" was any good, I decided to try it since we were taking OUR guest to the Starlight (Saturday night). It IS good and I recommend it! It tastes like the Antelope we used to get in South Dakota in the '60's and Diego prepared it wonderfully!

Back to the U of K students, after listening to their stories of the Mississippi River flooding (very disturbing) conversation drifted to life here and to the "Earthship"..... I will admit that I guide it there if the opportunity arises, but not for the chance to jump up and down saying "look at me" as one neophyte blogger near us does, but because THIS is the thing we both share passion for and we want to tell the world.

A couple of the students talked with me for quite a while and at one point I mentioned that "Individual Infrastructure" in my opinion, is the only way to make progress in promoting renewable energy, due to the meddling, patent buying and MURDER that corporate America does to those who try to mainstream "grid friendly" alternatives. When I said, "Individual Infrastructure", their eyes lit up and they suggested that I make it my "catch phrase".

Now I am sure that I heard it somewhere else, I just don't remember where.!

However, since "Individual Infrastructure" is cool and EXACTLY what Debbie & I have decided to "stand alone in the wilderness" and preach to all who will listen, we will take it! If anyone really knows who coined the term, let me know so I can give them credit.

The U of K students listened intently as I explained about the prohibitive laws restricting off grid life in urban areas, the use of experimental & alternative sewage treatment, rain catchment, cisterns and so on. Though this was not the purpose for their visit, it was something in the front of their minds and I left them with this thought, "It is up to you (X &Y gen kids) to carry this torch. My generation had the chance and blew it, opting for instant gratification. We leave this mess to you and I apologize. But do SOMETHING about it, don't sit on "the porch" or in some broken down grill in the middle of nowhere discussing it. Take the baton and run with it."

Debbie & I will be focusing on the KISS way to freedom using "Individual Infrastructure" from here forward and anything we find or "invent" that helps, will be posted and detailed here. If we and those who follow, worldwide, are to survive the next 50 years, we will need to conserve and create solutions to the problems the short-sighted "boomers" have have left. We believe, passionately, that the first step in this "thousand mile journey" is through "Individual Infrastructure"!

My thanks to the U of K students! I hope you did visit the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute. Even in the aftermath of the damage from the wildfires, there are huge lessons to be learned! Follow up with a visit next year and see how even in this desert, Mother Earth heals herself.

AND, that you so very much for visiting with me on "the porch"! Your visit will not be forgotten!

The Oregon Trail

2011-05-09T11:49:00.005-04:00

One of the perks I get from my part-time job driving the truck, is the chance to travel to places I have not seen in some cases for 50 years.

This particular site on the old Oregon Trail is one of those places! The last time I was here, the "Oregon Trail" monument (1950) was quite a bit newer.

The old "Brownie" photos I took of it back in 1957 are now aged to that patina that many old photos get and are packed away, forgotten until this trip, in a box in storage. Before we moved though, I took all my old travel photos out and looked through them.

Here, in the days of the Gold Rush, hopeful pioneers traveled through this stark land, sometimes only covering in a day, what I did in five minutes with the big rig. Uncertain weather, water food and Native Americans made a rigorous, physical journey a difficult mental one as well.

In my younger days, I have walked some of these trails (though not this one) for 3-4 miles. Doing this makes you realize the grit those who settled this country possessed and why we STILL retain the ability to accomplish anything we set out to do!

Here, as in many other places, the ruts from those old wagons, oxen drawn with the able-bodied walking alongside, are clearly visible after a century and a half.

It is a moving experience to stand there and look to the distant mountains, knowing that our pioneer Mothers & Fathers WALKED to them, over them and beyond, hoping to create a home to live in..... in peace and freedom, or die in the effort.

Come to think of it, though having a far easier time of it, isn't that what MOST of us not concerned with getting our mugs in the media out here are trying to accomplish again?

Perhaps now, like then, America stands at the threshold of a new, exciting period of growth and innovation!

We can only hope....... and give thanks for those intrepid souls who walked there way to a new, fertile land.

These are the stories true Americans want to see on PBS.... and rightfully so!

From Big Bend to Yellowstone

2011-05-05T23:31:00.001-04:00

I just returned from a seven day trip that went as far as Yellowstone National Park. I will write about this, with photos and post a video to YOUTUBE from the trip in the next day or two.

Water Obsession!

2011-04-28T13:12:00.006-04:00

When we first contemplated moving to this are in 1986, I traveled out to the Davis Mountain Resort. I always wanted to live at altitude and had fallen in love with the Davis Mountains from a distance.

Without the INTERNET, searching for property was a chore. Arriving there for a "look-see", real Texans, not recent Northern transplants were all I met. It felt downright homey!

I located some seven acres at about 6200 feet. The trailer there had a large porch and while visiting the homeowner that afternoon, the Fort Stockton temperature hovered near 100 degrees, while we sat in 75 degree comfort.

Wild burros, sheep and deer passed through her yard and the breeze made that very special sound that it does when passing through pines. The place, at least for me, was perfect........ except for the unsightly metal water tank that stood about the rest of the structures!

Water it seemed, had to be delivered twice a month. Drilling was out of the question, due to the altitude, so trucking was the only option........ I had yet to study rainwater harvesting and all the things we are utilizing now, so I became discouraged at the prospect of that rather high cost and wavered over the place until someone else bought it.

Of course things always change and we soon began to see the effects of global climate change on television nightly. As the Deep South has been seeing these last few days with unprecedented tornadoes, change is occurring quickly. So quickly in fact that Al Gore may not have time to say, "I told you so!" to the bible toting Right that has tried to discredit him! Their Judgement Day may well arrive on May 21st.... brought on their own heads by denying the Truth!

OK, that may be extreme, but in the 20+ years that followed, humanity's awareness of this irrefutable fact has been raised and while the Right is ignoring it, much of the world and 47 % of United States has been trying to adapt, despite the Right's efforts. Debbie & I began studying "sustainability" & "green living" for the two-pronged purposes of saving money and resources, but in that order. It has been about eight years of hard study, trial and error (see berm & basin. The construction described here, washed out in a nine inch rainfall ONE day) and sacrifice to get the knowledge base we now have. One thing this knowledge has shown us, is that we have barely scratched the surface!

We though water, then power would be our main concerns here. Our power system, despite some of my complaining to the contrary, has worked perfectly and been virtually problem free, except where I made errors or shortcuts. Water, was even less problematic, unless you consider the rude comments from another resident when the mud from the water, caused us to get our truck stuck in it!

In fact, water was plentiful right up until the tank ran out in December and I began bringing it in! Now, I am seeing first hand how 3/4 of the world gets their water and have the new muscles to prove it!

The photos are the water barrels and buckets I found recently. The larger tank is not in this photo, as I had a load of tires to collect and these were all I could take with me. Still, had it not been for the garden, I would not have needed these. The garden will demand about 50 gallons a day itself. About a third of that is our grey water, the rest may well be fresh drinking water.

When we do laundry, we collect the rinse water from one load, to use as the wash water for the next load. If we are doing two loads of the dog's blankets, we will also reuse the wash water for the next wash and save the rinse for our wash water.

Bottom line is that nearly all 25 gallons of the used wash water is saved for our plants and garden. I have to carry it right now in five gallon buckets, as we are using the barrels to bring the extra in. We water at sunset, so it soaks in better and sprinkle the garden again at sunrise, to keep the cocofiber wet most of the day.

BUT..... we understand why the next wars will be fought over water! Without the supply we have, a garden would be impossible. If the worldwide transportation routes stop running, even for a few days, most of the developed world would be in trouble. If any major urban water sources became contaminated, entire cities would descend into chaos. Doubt it? Watch video of water being distributed to people after a major disaster for a minute. You will eventually see some child or small woman being repeatedly pushed aside reaching for water!

As a service to those residents living hand-to-mouth, several places around here offer water, but for $.10 a gallon. This may or not be fair, that is not my point. My point is that WATER is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT, not a commodity. Water distribution to humanity by Government, if required, should be free, or non-profit, with money collected going to support the infrastructure required to distribute it, not generate a profit or be redistributed to any other service.

Some may not see this point. But take away their grocery stores, free food distribution, transportation & plumbing and life then revolves around WATER, nothing else, not even food!

We are grateful for the opportunity to learn this, with our MINOR hardships involving water right now. With the large impound areas, extra tanks and ever-increasing catchment surfaces, this may be the only time we ever experience it. But this experience has been enough and we will add "water-as-a-human-right" to renewable energy and re-purposing trash as the focus of the rest of our lives....... with a bit of irritating the non-native locals on the side, lest they think I am ill!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug or Chevy Chevette

I have stacked four tires at the NW junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.6 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

On The Road Again

2011-04-28T00:24:00.007-04:00

My traveling companion of the last 13 years and I will be leaving in a few days for yet another trip. Tucson (at right) started accompanying me as a puppy in 1998 on short trips.

In 1999, we traveled over 7,000 miles in ONE trip around (literally) the United States delivering other puppies to their new owners. '99 put over 30,000 miles on us both. Between our trips in private vehicles and OTR trucks, he has logged just over a million miles through 42 states!

He spends most of his time now as he looks in this photo. However, on a recent trip, one of the ever-present "salesmen" that go from truck to truck in truck stops, had the balls to open the door of our truck while I was reading in the sleeper.

Before I could move, Tucson was off the bed and at the door with the "Rolex" vendor's hand tightly in his grip. Bleeding from four canine teeth that penetrated about 1/4 inch into his hand, he pulled away about a second after Tucson connected, when he saw me and the Bowie knife come out of the sleeper!

Yes, I lock the doors, but that time I forgot!

I has a VERY weird experience on the "Porch" of the Ghost Town last night! I was talking to a couple of tourists who were interested in "Sustainable Living" (I should have been on guard then, because that phrase, at least around here, seems to mean: DO NOTHING BUT TALK). One was quite interested in all aspects and methods of building a "green" homestead and will drive out here later to look at what we are doing.

The other guy was the weird experience though! He seemed to think that building with ANYTHING that would not biodegrade, was a crime! "You have to solve the trash problem" he kept saying, meaning find a way to make tires that don't simply wear out, but turn to dust at about 60,000 miles and beer bottles that are returnable. On that note, I really think he did not know that many beer bottles have been returnable or "deposited" for over 100 years!

I, he kept saying, was "down-cycling" products that would eventually end up in a landfill (??????). He could find no benefit in taking 1000 tires, 10,000 glass bottles, metal casing from old washing machines, cardboard, newspapers or ANYTHING out of the waste stream. Even earth bags were bad, because the bags themselves "would eventually end up in a land fill" (???)

When I finally did back him into a corner he could not "down-cycle" or "landfill" his way around, he squared his shoulders and said with all the pomposity of a New Yorker, "I will have you know you are talking to a Masters in Sustainable Architecture!"

Now I was not as sharp as I should have been, as I had been drinking a bit, so I did NOT get the name of the University he had attended, or I would warn all you with children to avoid that money pit like the plague. Sorry!

I did manage to learn that at 25, he had NEVER pounded a single nail, nor built a single home and had NOT visited Taos, or anyplace "green"! He reminded me of someone I met here who pretends to be an expert on this area, yet has not, in 3.5 years of living here, visited Big Bend National Park!

I understand the point he was making, which was that WE as a society need to eliminate throwaway anythings. He made great debate points there, but had not a single idea about how to accomplish any of it!

I have been scratching my head all day, trying to figure out how earthship, earthbag, hay bale, glass bottle, plastic bottle, "re-purposed trash" and reclaimed building material is the wrong thing to do!!

I guess I should be thankful that I didn't mention global warming to this well educated, but "dumb-as-a-turnip" young man!

AND, speaking of vegetables, our "normal" radishes sprouted yesterday as well, but no sign of the other vegetables yet, but it has been only five days, they WILL sprout in a few days! We will never again deal with a commercial seed company though. Our root vegetables have not even been shipped, despite their promises in the catalogs that "your plants will arrive at the optimum time for planting". I received radishes from the Ukraine and bitter gourd from Thailand LAST week, that I ordered two weeks AFTER Debbie ordered her commercial seeds and stock!

My list of things we are looking for has been changed. We now have four tires, not two at the "tire & bottle drop off place". This is a funny story.

We have new permanent residents on our side of 118 now. I am not naming names any longer, but since they are living in two, UNPAINTED, cargo containers, we just call them "the container people".

Nice folks, but a bit naive about the desert for now. They have also bought a piece of property on 118 where they will build, I am told, a little store and grill soon. Good thing for the GSG crowd too, since right about the time that deal closed for the container people, someone turned in the Grub Shack for some rather expensive violations and it is closed for now for alterations........ permanently according to their one employee!

Back to the tires though, they have been "cleaning up" the road into their place, which is also the road into ours and CJ's. They have removed the old tires (I left them there because CJ and the other residents had left them as well) and recently walked the road removing "all" the sharp flint rocks from the road since they had had five flat tires thus far. When I told Debbie that, her response was: "Welcome to the desert! They are going to need a bigger truck to get rid of ALL the rocks!"

They got my marker tires as well, though denied it when I asked about it. "Not a problem" I said, "Someone dropped off about 400 tires here a few months back and about 75 of these are unusable. I will replace the two with three and if these disappear, I will replace the three with four and so on until all 75 of the unusable tires are gone.

The tires are still there today, though I imagine some reader will take them to see what I will do (four tires). The stack is four now, because they missed a junk one, so I added it to my stack.

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug or Chevy Chevette

Garden Is Finished, Part 2

2011-04-26T00:39:00.003-04:00

As promised, here is the rest of the story on the garden, with photos.

Debbie was watering it today and to her delight, she found seedlings already! The tire shown at the bottom of the first photo, the one with the dark soil (cocofiber) is planted with Daikon Radishes. FIVE of these are up and through the soil, after just three days!

This is a fairly uncommon radish from the Ukraine, an heirloom that can be propagated, so we are quite happy because it was not cheap!

Looking at the photo, if you notice the gravel between the tires...... that is there to further seal the garden from moisture loss AND to direct the flow of water (when it does finally rain) around the garden, away from potentially eroding and undermining the soil inside the tires. In time, I will place all of the gravel screened from the pond around the garden and this will nearly cover the tires.

The entire garden is built in the lowest point in the path of drainage for about two acres. In a one inch rainfall, over 86,000 gallons of water falls on this drainage. If it were a roof, it would capture about 43,000 gallons of water. But since it is soil, I might be able to direct about 20,000 gallons SOMEWHERE, merely by placing the garden in the flow of water to act as a diversion dam.

Where to put the water is a separate issue though! Since we dug & screened the soil from one spot, we were left with a hole about 10' x 16' that has an average depth of two feet. So now that it is
properly lined and weighted (still some rock to set around the edges and gravel to place in the bottom), it can hold just about 2,400 gallons.

This water will be used to water the gardens and I have devised a watering pump for it using a 12 volt bilge pump.

Since the entire drainage is blocked by the garden and directed into the pond, the pond will fill and overflow wherever I direct it to go. Note the rocks that appear to form a culvert on the bottom edge of the pond in photo three.

I have to use my laser level to determine the low spot of the pond edge, but it should be about 11:00 to that. Water will gush from there toward the wash, so it will have to be mitigated with berm & basin (rainwater harvesting) to the point where we dig the next pond. Hopefully, that one will NOT be hand dug like this one was and can be 20,000+ gallons! We have enough pond liner to do several that size, so the only issue will be digging it.

The "smokestacks" in the garden are my own design, though I am sure, as I keep saying, "There is nothing new under the sun" in this, so others designed similar ones LONG before! The pipes are actually plastic wire spools I salvaged. They sit on top of the liner for the garden (liner, plastic, old carpet & padding), with large gravel surrounding them outward for 18". The composted horse manure, cocofiber, soil & cocofiber are all above the bottom of these.

Six large holes were cut at the very bottom of both pipe sections. In this way, anything poured into the will migrate outward from them along the sealed bottom of the garden, creating a water storage area at the bottom of the roots of the plants. The middle layer of cocofiber will store the water for release as the plant roots need it.

Until we place the central septic tank and plumbing for all the buildings, these "pipes" will serve as our black water disposal, with the cocofiber layer holding it about 8" below the elevated ground level, but the nutrients stored in it will be available to the plant roots. Once the septic tank is in place, we will use Michael Reynolds design for the drainfield of the system, which is essentially the same, but uses peat moss instead of cocofiber. For us, since the cocofiber is free, we will use this for that application as well and grow decorative plants and trees that will feed & shelter the birds in the very large area the "drain field" will cover.

The last photo is of MY tomato plant, purchased from a local store and grown by Bonnie's Nursery. Started plants, at least one of them, is a MUST in any garden, as they are "bellweathers" for the conditions the sprouting seeds and young plants are dealing with.

Tomorrow, I hope to get back to the "multi-purpose barn" as I had called it. It is actually a meeting room for guests that is attached to the barn, so I will refer to it as the meeting room from here on.

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug or Chevy Chevette

I have left two tires at the junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.3 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

Garden Finished! Blog Editing

2011-04-25T02:33:00.005-04:00

I returned from the "tour of Texas" trip several days ago. The garden however, was so late that we have done nothing except finish and plant it since my return.

I will have photos of the completed garden tomorrow, but for this post, here are two photos of the second to final phase of it's construction.

The top photo is of the pit I dug removing dirt for the elevated garden. I took it all from one spot so there would be a hole there that could be transformed into a pond. The white pond liner is all you can see in this shot though.

The second photo is of the garden,
completed and ready to plant, with the pond at the back. Tomorrow, when the completed photos are posted, I will get into detail about how it was designed and the purpose of the tubes you see coming out of the middle. It is nearly two AM right now and I am tired!

I will tell you this though, this project was one of the most physical things I have done in my life! It also may well have been the healthiest...... again, learn more tomorrow!

As I said, it is late tonight and like you, when I am tired, I make mistakes! I made a major one to the blog tonight...... I deleted ALL the comments made to the blog from day one!!!! I was trying to delete one waiting to be published that was pure SPAM....... unless you think naked Ukrainian girls in the shower is not SPAM! Unintentionally, I deleted ALL the comments, including the ones waiting for approval. Looking back, I cannot even see how it happened, but they are gone!

I have decided to use this error to change a few things and deleted some previous posts, this time on purpose. While I really do enjoy a fight, there are times when being expected to fight and the actions expected, are problematic.

I will try yo be more careful, but often I am tired and just hit the wrong key. Please rest assured that all comments that are not SPAM, or personally targeted, will post.

This blog remains MY blog and I will control the content. I began it to be a diary of our journey in mind and body from mainstream, to "green", or "correct living". That YOU are reading it, if only to see today's conflict, is flattering, but it is my diary of this journey that I hope to someday use to write a book. That is my only concern, not how you feel about my personal opinions of those I perceive to be jackasses, or the jackass you feel that you see from your perspective.

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug or Chevy Chevette

Rocky Mountain High

2011-04-16T23:23:00.005-04:00

As I said yesterday, I was in Colorado all last week. Here is a rather striking photo of Summit Mountain, near Telluride in the late afternoon sun.

It was cool in Colorado, with them having a real spring, not just waking up one day to 100 degree heat like we do! Above 7000 feet, it was still winter with most of the ski runs open and skiers on them. When I took this photo, I was up at around 8000 feet and the temperature was 58 degrees.

But the trip ended and I am back home for a few days before heading on another drive-around-Texas trip. With a little luck, we can get the garden finished and planted before I leave. I fabricated a neat way to send black water under the soils and trap it between the tarps and the composted horse manure layer, where it will itself compost and release nutrients into the growing plants.

There will be photos of this and more of the garden when I return from this latest trip. I have about 60-80 more five gallon buckets of screened soil to spread on the garden, then we can plant. Tomorrow, Sunday the 17th, is the last of the waxing moon this cycle, with the full moon tomorrow night. If we get the above ground seed in tomorrow, then we will have two weeks to plant the underground plants on the waning moon.

This is late I know to plant a garden here, but if you look back to last summer, we had some great plants in a mid-summer garden, along with some failures too though! Time will tell with this garden. One thing is certain, it won't lack for fertilizer!

Once the garden in in, Debbie will take over caring for it, while I finish the first room of the "barn complex" built from tires and bottles. I had to put this on hold while we put in the garden and of course, worked during the now busy season! There will be MANY photos of this as it progresses!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

FIRE!

2011-04-16T02:14:00.004-04:00

Hello everyone!

I have been in Colorado for the last week, delivering product for my employer, so I was completely unable to comment on the fires. As luck would have it, NONE of the six nights I was away, was I able to get near a WIFI network to post from the IPAD!

I generally do not want to comment on current events or news. One regular reader of the blog asked for a comment on the fires. While very late, I will comment now.

I left Terlingua Sunday at about noon, oblivious to the fires that were raging up north. As I approached Alpine, I noticed the huge plumes of smoke rising from the northeast through the northwest. Usually, the plumes could be smoke or dust, it is hard to tell the difference, but on Sunday, there was no doubt it was smoke and smoke from massive fires!

The fastest route for me, was to go straight up highway 17, to Pecos. However this route was through the second thickest cloud of smoke..... the thickest was just east of Alpine, right over the road to Fort Stockton. Since the fastest route for me was through Fort Davis and highway 17, I headed that way.

The road was uneventful to Fort Davis, though the smoke said otherwise! As I approached Fort Davis, I passed through a massive burn area that encompassed the Chihuahuan Desert Research Center. Just north of this and on the west side of the road, was an adobe home that I have watched under construction for several months. It lay right in the path of the fire, yet when I got to it, there was a ring of unburned grass around the one acre or so that the home sat on. Apparently someone had stood in the face of the raging inferno with just a garden hose and wet enough of the grasses to force the fire to go around the home!

A few miles later, another home was not so lucky! A single wide trailer sat in ashes, pieces of furniture and other items in what was once the front yard. Small mesquite trees smoldered all around it. Even the most heartless could not have seen this and felt for the homeowner!

I entered Fort Davis and headed for highway 17 out of town, only to be greeted by a Highway Patrol roadblock on the north side of town. Knowing the stress the officer who greeted me was under, I attempted a joke, "Hey! Don't you guys know there is a burn ban in this county?" The guy was sharp and did not miss a beat, " We aren't here for the fire. We are doing stage three inspections.... RIGHT HERE, in the middle of the road! (stage three is VERY time consuming and generally means the officer doing it is looking for ANY violation on a big rig, whether it exists, or NOT)

I explained to him, truthfully, that it was a greater health risk for me to sit there in the smoke (with my lung condition) than the fire posed for me to drive through. Also, since I have over 41 years professional driving experience on the road in ALL conditions from earthquakes, to floods, to hurricanes, to fires (1980's fires in Yellowstone and in the Comanche Grasslands), I could safely navigate the road north.

His supervisor agreed and let me pass, along with three cars. About two mile north of Fort Davis, the flames set in on both sides of the road! Fire loomed from 18" to 24" on both side of the road! Only the road itself stopped the flames from touching us! Behind me, the bobbleheads were set in high speed, heads moving from side to side faster than the Republican House tries to block President Obama'a attempts to solve the problems THEIR president left him!

The smoke rose straight up for about 20 feet, then the high winds caught them and had them boiling to the east in a far more threatening manner that a New Christian's vision of Hell!

Wildlife was determined, but not frantic to escape the flames. At one culvert, a family of seven javilina's ran out and headed for high ground. Two adults, led five 6-8 week old babies (choates?) up a hill/mountain toward safety. I witnessed about 20 deer doing the same thing One badger lumbered up a steep slope as well and I swear I saw an elk heading for high ground. I thought it sort of cool that the wildlife was not terrified of the flames, but rather determined to reach high ground!

After about 15 miles of this, suddenly, it was over! I passed the north roadblock with my bobbleheads in tow and we went on our way with only the boiling smoke in our rear view mirrors to remind us of the Hell that was proceeding east from Fort Davis.

I returned home this afternoon from a wonderful trip through Colorado and New Mexico, east on highway 90 from Van Horn to Marfa and Alpine. This may be old news to those of you who have followed the fires for the last week, but I might have passed the origin of at least one of the fires, about five miles west of Marfa.

I passed a homestead on the south side of highway 90 that was utterly destroyed by fire. Furniture and other belongings lay strewn on the front lawn. A couple hundred feet to the east, a crew was working on replacing the power poles burned by the flames. There was a "cut line", an area of plowed ground, to the south of the destroyed home that had stopped the flames from moving south.

BUT....... from the three or so acres the home once stood on, across the road and to the north and east in an ever widening swath as far as the eye could see, the charred ground told me that the fire either started at the homestead, or was stopped BY the homestead. My money is that the home started the massive blazes by burning itself in the high winds. At an rate, someone had a complete and total loss on their hands and MAY have been responsible for the losses of the twenty-some other homes!

So there is MY report on the fire, it has been a HUMAN disaster that deserves our concern. Nature, cares little, as this is Her way of replenishing the soil with minerals and nutrients stored in the dead, tall grasses. WE, have the intellect and WE should have known what was possible, given a single spark! Failure to understand Nature's ways, or arrogance regarding Her ways, resulted in the HUMAN losses. No one was to blame, except for those who forgot who really rules the Earth!

The Good , The Bad & Ugly

2011-04-08T00:43:00.010-04:00

It was a good day today! Worked, that is always good! Got over 600 bottles, 40 tires, 340 gallons of fresh water, Debbie took some great photos and I had the crap scared out of me at sunset!

Drove over to Presidio. If you have not done that, it is a beautiful trip! Ran into my friend, Sonny, who some call the "Moped Man" because he drives an old Honda moped everywhere. Sonny bought my old Mighty Max P/U from me as it was dying. He is having fits keeping it alive though and that is how I ran into him today.

Sonny was driving along Ranch Road 170, about 8 miles from "the big hill" when I stopped him. Seems he rode it over to Presidio for a new starter and on the way back, lost his jacket. He had turned around to see if he could find it when I saw him.

The bike is not powerful enough to pull the hill, so he has to walk it up and THAT was where he thought the jacket was, on top of the hill.

At 100+ degrees, the day had taken its toll on Sonny though and I offered to search for it while he headed home. Though I looked everywhere, no jacket could be found. But I saved Sonny about four hours work, since the moped travels about 15 MPH!

While I was gone, several of the cacti in our garden finished opening up. Debbie took these fine shots of them..... THAT is the "good"!

OK, no ugly, sorry!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

The Garden & Another Mystery Thing!

2011-04-04T22:35:00.002-04:00

Things remain very busy here, even after the "Green Scene"!

I marvel at how the same group of people can sit for hours EVERY day at the little grill on the corner and still get things done! (maybe they don't)

Not my style, never was! Maybe that is why we always had everything we needed in our homes and never had excuses for the lack of comfort..... also maybe why retaining these comforts is so important to me!

It is important to non GSG people as well, I learned at the "Green Scene"! About 12 people stood through my discussion of Earthships. systems,
mindset and economics involved in the construction of one.

I was mad at myself for leaving one important point out though! I neglected to say that the size of the building is not terribly important since heating and cooling are not a big issue. In fact the larger it is, the COOLER it will be in summer. I had one of those "senior moments" at that point in the discussion and totally lost my train of thought!

We really enjoyed the event, though we could not stay into the night because the new "puppy" 70 pound "Cascade" would have eaten the dog's building in our extended absence! We forgot how much "fun" a new puppy is, since our dogs are mostly over ten years old now.

The "new" trailer is roadworthy now and has been put to good use on the second most important project we are working on, the garden! We loaded the trailer twice with composted horse manure and dumped it in the garden.

The "Green Scene" and the wind storm today halted work on the garden, but tomorrow we will work on it all day. Photos one & three are of the base for the garden. There are 19 tractor tires in an odd looking circle. These form and elevated garden, as well as being individual planters in their own right.

I had some old tarps and carpeting that we laid on the ground, using the tires to anchor them in place. We brought about 20 of the five gallon buckets filed with manure, to get a feel for how much would be needed. We scraped this to one side and added: a year's worth of ash from garbage & heat fires, then the composted/burned dog manure. This spread into a layer about 2 inches thick. Photo two is of Debbie standing in the garden after we completed this.

We are still spreading the horse manure evenly in the garden and each tire gets the same treatment as well. There will be more photos of this as it is completed. After the composted manure is spread, 3 inches of coconut fiber will be spread over it, then we will dig and screen dirt in a 3-4" layer, then plant in that layer.

Since we have not had rain here for six months, I am re-researching my (amateur) meteorological data. I had thought that last year's rains were the beginning of a wet cycle that would become normal for us, due to fresh water intrusion into the North Atlantic Current from Greenland's melting. ONE professional shows very convincing data that the opposite will occur though and we will become drier, at least for the rest of our lives.

If this occurs and even if it doesn't, we need to prepare to impound more water than we first thought. The books on Rainwater Harvesting show detailed, step by step plans for doing this and as we fill the garden with soil, we will be digging out of a rainwater channel, creating a small pond. Above this, we will dig basins and create berms to slow down and capture the water as it falls toward the wash. When completed, even in a heavy rainstorm, this once fast moving channel will meander slowly through "U" shaped berms, filling the basins before finally dropping into the wash.

Doing the same to ALL our erosion channels will impound enough non-potable water for irrigation and clothes washing. It is really not that much work to do, we tested it on the water channels in our five acre pond in North Florida. It worked as detailed in the book. Even in a record setting NINE INCH rainfall one day, only two of the seven bermed channels failed and one of these was expected. The other turned into an artesian spring that was still flowing when we moved here.

Before someone comments to point out the obvious: horse manure is a "hot" medium, WE KNOW! Since we ran a medium size poultry ranch in Florida, we have lots of experience using an even hotter medium for fertilizer and the key words with this garden are "composted horse manure" and the coconut fiber. I think we have the nutrients balanced for this year, but time will tell.

The last photo is of a native cactus, unusual to find now most likely due to collection. We found this one and a smaller one on the edge of the drop off to the wash, so I transplanted them into the cactus garden. The big one has bloomed and has five more buds. We just don't know what it is! If anyone has an idea, please let me know!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

Presenting At Green Scene On Saturday

2011-04-01T22:06:00.005-04:00

I will be doing a presentation on Earthship construction at the Terlingua Green Scene on Saturday, the 2nd at 4:00 PM.

This and construction of the garden for planting on the waxing moon, has kept me unavailable to write this week. I do have photos and a couple of subjects to write about and hopefully I will have time to do this on Sunday.

The presentation will NOT be a demonstration on pounding tires however! THAT takes me about 40 minutes a tire to do, so I will be stacking some small, empty ones. The presentation will be more about the mindset required to do ANY type of alternative construction, Earthship history, differences between Taos and Terlingua that will reflect in the final building and the all important "systems".

Given the unnecessary attention given to the local "schoolyard loudmouth" lately about some so-called "new" technologies in his sandbox, like a bicycle driven washing machine (first demonstrated by Joe DeRita in a Three Stooges short in 1947), I will also discuss how there is really "nothing new under the sun" when it comes to this lifestyle. Apropos that this "invention" that even made the NY Times, was first demonstrated by another stooge!

I am also compiling a list of links to many of the things we are doing here to (1) illustrate the above point (2) give people ready reference sites to begin or continue their journey and (3) reiterate my point from the header of this blog, that virtually nothing we are doing here is new and unlike some Northeastern transplants, we WILL NOT try to make folks think otherwise!

If you are around, try to make it....... there might be hecklers!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

Springtime Is Busy In The Desert!!!!

2011-03-28T00:07:00.007-04:00

We have four different projects going on right now and NONE of them is finished!

This has been a common theme for me these last eight years, but now its not only worse, but each project is contingent on the other. The only one that is not, is finishing the interior rocking of the dog's building. THAT can wait a few weeks.

What does not wait though, are the seasons! Spring is here and going great guns at the Earthship! The first three photos are of springtime visitors & bloomings.

Top is a migrant, a Scott's Oriole. He has stayed for three days now, feasting on what we call "stinkbugs" on the yucca. They are not actual stink bugs, but they look similar. Whatever they are, he ate about 30 while I took a series of 25 photos of him.

Second is our peach tree. This is it's second year and the photos does not do the blooms justice. It had to have had 300 blooms on it and thanks to those same "stinkbugs", there are now at least 200 peaches started.

Third is a bloom off of a rather uncommon cactus to see in a collection. The common name is "Hedgehog". I don't know the scientific name. Te blooms are blood red. One now has 12 blooms on it. We have five in our garden, four are blooming.

Next is a female House Finch sitting on our feeder. These are also migrants, staying while they color out to a medium red color, quarreling over possession of the feeder the entire time! We seems to be feeding about 100 of them, but it just may be the same 20 returning all through the day!

The last photo is of the first of the four projects, a trailer. The one that moved our things here without incident, making three round trips, has died of
multiple stress fractures. I welded it once, but it broke near those welds again last week while hauling the water tanks home. I have put it out
of it's misery...... It seemed grateful!

That left me with no trailer except
the one left on the property by the
original owner, the last photo. It had
been a sturdy, home made camper
for them, over 20 years ago when
their boys were adolescents. But dry
rot, theft and bullet holes ruined it as
a camper. We have been dismantling
it all winter. The wood from it was burned in our wood stove and got us through that intense cold snap!

Finally it is down to the chassis. I was surprised to find all the floor planks to be sound, but the best surprise was the wheel bearings! These looked to be brand new! I carefully re-packed them and installed the tires and wheels from the dead one... this trailer's having been stolen and now I just need to install the new LED lights from the other trailer, get a 2" ball and it is ready to take the place of the old one.

This one is 24" long, where the old one was just 20 feet. This means that now I can carry 16' material without worrying about overhang (4' is the hitch). Note the STEEL sides also. This is a far better trailer than the other one, but since both were free, I have no complaints!

With the trailer road worthy, we can finish project number two, the garden, in time to plant on the next waxing moon. I need to get several loads of horse manure and the coconut fiber with the trailer!

Project three is the first section of the multi-purpose barn. I will shoot a video of that in a couple of days.

So as usual, Springtime is busy and I am tired and sore!

Another Change To The Blog.......

2011-03-25T13:01:00.004-04:00

I ran into someone from "The Ranch" in the ghost town yesterday and we had an interesting conversation about the blog and it's content that prompted me to remove the "Blog Members" gadget from the blog.

This person said, quite politely, that I was a bit "controversial" and although they enjoyed reading the blog and my opinions, even if I was picking on someone for being a publicity hungry idiot, or for being lazy, they did not want to risk be ostracized by "The Ranch" ("The Community" as on commentor stated?) for joining the blog.

Funny how a lot of people would rather ignore the elephant in the room, rather than suffer the embarrassment of being the first to comment about the smell they are all enduring! But I understand this, as; and this may surprise some readers; I have been in this situation MANY times before with "the community", or the popular clique!

You want to talk about ostracism??? Try standing at the polls on election day in November of 2008; in the heart of inbred, racist, moron land, affectionately called the "Deep South", holding an "Obama/Biden" sign! THAT "community" of cousins NEVER had anything more to do with me!

So, I have removed the "blog members" gadget and now my "secret friend" can join without repercussions from the all important "Ranch"!

I do have an observation about this though. I have befriended a local man who has lived in the area for decades. This man has several very real mental problems that are fairly well controlled by prescription drugs. Having lived with someone with similar afflictions for 33 years, I understand, am sympathetic and very supportive of just how difficult life can be for someone in this condition.

However, "the community" is not so understanding and my friend, "Crazy BLANK", is roundly ignored and ostracized, even by "elephant fearing" people who have never met him! Since I have been seen with him and helping him with his construction, as he does me, I have noticed that I am "avoided" a bit more than is usual.

I guess it is that old primal instinct we all have left over from our ancestor's days on the savanna when if one looked in a certain direction, everyone did, for fear of attack first and for fear of showing an attitude different from the "community's" attitude second.

Try it sometime when in a group, look intently in one direction and see if everyone else follows!

As one who has never followed the direction the "community" follows, I have lots of experience with ostracism and being an outsider. But on those few occasions when the "community" has "ran over a cliff" like so many lemmings. I have stood on the side asking: "What the hell were you thinking!"

Anyway, I hope those closet "fans" can now feel comfortable to join the blog! I have four major projects going at the same time now, but I have every intention of showing photos and discussing the progress..... hopefully starting this evening!

Oh, another change...... I have decided that I WILL continue to post my opinions of subjects dear to my heart, or of general interest. To do otherwise is a re-invention of myself and there are already too many re-invented people in "the community".

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

12 volts versus 24, 36 or 48 volts

2011-03-23T23:38:00.003-04:00

We had a friend over for dinner tonight. The conversation drifted to power systems and after he left I thought it might make an interesting and even educational post for the blog.

It has now been a year since we moved here and I have learned many things! Not the least of them has been how people can perceive they have moved away from their "problems", without realizing that the problems come with them wherever they go. The old saying I think is: "Wherever you go, there you are!"

I learned this in 1975 when I moved to the Arctic to begin a new life, but brought my "Yankee" with me. I am sure a number of people who have moved here to escape (fill in the blank) life have learned that. I am sure more than one has realized that an outcast in THIS world will be an outcast in the next one!

"I never watch TV" -or- "I have no use for air conditioning" -or- "A bigger home is just more to heat and cool".............. are........... despite objections to the contrary, their own code for: "I can't afford it"!

The so-called non-TV watchers however smug they may sound, all actually either watch DVDs, download network shows, or receive podcasts of the same "drivel" they condemn from "television". I know for a fact that many are downloading porn from the INTERNET regularly. They just either cannot afford, or are too tight to pay for, satellite TV.

AC and heating objections are also just code for, "I cannot afford, or am ignorant of the power requirements needed to power an HVAC system!".

Same for building the tiny house, they lack the cash or engineering skills to create a livable home, so they settle for a closet sized dwelling that dimensional lumber can easily create.

This is not a put down to those with little money or initiative, it is a statement of what I have seen and heard over the last year while watching local stores get rich off of generator fuel, propane, Spam and ice! Denying this truth also has created a huge business for the local bars!

I also learned that a very personable couple, two of them actually, have molded the area's attitude about power..... and NOT in a positive way. One couple wired many "Terlingua Special" homes with 6 volt batteries connected by thin wires with unnecessary components in line, while the other built shoddy "wind generators" that barely produced any power at all until they self destructed like the tape player in an opening of "Mission Impossible"!

With money so tight here, it is no wonder that after suffering such rip offs, so many are willing to settle for no TV, no AC and a home tinier than a Tokyo apartment!

It was just these folks who had advised my friend to go with a 24 volt system because it "creates twice the power of a 12 volt system"! He asked me about mine and I showed it to him, as well as discussing the costs of building it, maintaining it and supplementing it with the diesel generator. I thought some readers here might benefit from this. Also, there is at least one electrical engineer who reads this and he (and others) may find flaws in my logic and THAT is welcome if I am in error!

Here is pretty much what I told him:

I have about $9000 invested in my system and generators. My electrical bill for our farm in Florida ran $375 a month, or $4500 a year. I spend about $100 a month on generator fuel, or $1200 a year, HERE.

This means I have saved about: $3200 in just one year and my break even date is about January of 2013 (unless we all die on 12-21-12). Of course since I will be adding around $9000 more to this system, the break even date is closer to January of 2016, or six years total. Of course battery replacement must be considered, but since I listened to real experts, not a "personable young couple", I bought batteries than can handle MY load for 10 years. Replacing THESE will carry a one year break even.

A 24 volt system delivers twice the voltage, with the same amount of available power. A 48 volt system delivers four times the voltage, with the same amount of available power.

There is no real advantage to going to a 24 or 36 volt system, beyond the savings from being able to use smaller (cheaper) wire. The only way a 48 volt system saves anything is either the cost of the cheaper wire, or the fact the 48 volt system, with a lot of other "hoop jumping", allows you to do a "grid-tie", save on your electrical bill and NOT have to have batteries for storage.

Anything over 12 volts stops you from being able to use anything 12 volt, like lights, radios, or rest of the multitude of 12 volt items available........ UNLESS you buy a "step down" transformer and even then, unless you buy a very expensive one, you will lose about 20% of your power in the conversion.

We use ALL 12 volt lighting here, so we don't have the 20% loss from the inverter to run 120 volt lights either. Same with our radios, portable phones and many other things a NORMAL home uses on a daily basis. Yes, there are some things that will run on 24 volts, or ANY voltage. But these items are scarce, limited in selection and far more expensive to buy.

Lastly, by using all 12 volt lighting like we do, 12 volt TVs & radios AND having a refrigerator capable of running on 12 volts (the travel trailer), if our inverter breaks down, as several have done to us in the past, we STILL have lights, communication, information and food storage that the 24, 36 or 48 volt home would NOT have.

One area resident has "experimented" with different voltages on his wind turbine and solar panels, trying to gain power, without success. He HAS spent quite a bit of money in the effort, but failed to comprehend that "X x Y/ Y = X" and "X x Z / Z (also) = X" e/g: if you have 1000 amp hours of storage, you will have 1000 amp hours of storage with ANY voltage and thus gain nothing from the higher voltage except the savings from running thinner wire, minus the cost of a "step down" transformer.

My advise to my friend and to all who read this, is to stay with 12 volts, buy batteries with plenty of amp hours, buy 12 volt lights and appliances wherever possible and IF you cannot afford to live as you did before moving here, be honest about it! Don't pretend you LIKE being without all the things you (and I) worked to be able to have in the 21at century and you REALLY enjoy having an ice chest for a refrigerator!

Flaws in my understanding of 12 volt theory? Let me know!

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

Garden time!

2011-03-16T11:19:00.002-04:00

NOTE: Since this is the busy season, posts will be sporadic and short, as I will be in and out rather quickly. I only have about three busy months and we arrived here AFTER things slowed down last year, so I need to do as much as possible now!

We will be working on the elevated garden over the next week, in between delivery trips. It will be laid out with tractor tires, with the existing ground covered with old tarps to slow water from moving through.

We have huge piles of ash and composted dog manure and will get several yards of horse manure as well. This will cover the tarps, then a screened 4-6" layer of earth will be spread onto this.

I will have photos and more over the weekend.

We are looking for the following items right now :

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry
Rock tumbler
Early model VW Bug

On The Road Again ( still)!!!

2011-03-12T20:26:00.005-05:00

I am still out on the road. The quick trip to Phoenix was followed six hours after returning, by a "tour of Texas" that has me traveling over 1500 miles inside the State! I should return Tuesday.

There are a couple of points before I write a brief post tonight.

First, I was in error about grounding issues. I DID have grounding problems, but I think of them as negative connection problems, so I did not recognize RJ's comment correctly. I think these were resolved prior to the arrival of the Chinese LEDs however. For the barn project, I will use fiber optic threads for the lighting there. This will not save wattage, but will save on repairs. More on this in future posts.

So like many, I wonder about my legacy. Debbie and I are very proud that we were responsible for saving the American Hairless Terrier from extinction and for promoting it worldwide. A least that is something, but I would like to do more, I would like to promote "green" &"alternative energy" thinking to "Joe Lunchbox" and family..... Not by sticking a magnetic sign on my truck and using my $500,000 inheritance to "not stop until my geriatric cow appears on the Today show". But to actually do something more than promote myself!

Someday, we too will get a far larger inheritance. We plan to use this and the time and effort from today until then, to try to help Americans to break free from the grip of the power grid and Exxon/Mobil, build a fine home with no mortgage attached and live with dignity. THAT my friends, cannot be accomplished by kissing a cow on the Today Show!!!!!!!

It also cannot be accomplished by bickering with people who for whatever reasons lack the drive and desire to do for themselves. Container dwellers, residents of rusty busses, or folks surviving in the back room of a bar are NOT, NOT my target audience. The fact that they read this, flatters me. Their comments, I am ambivalent to.

So the blog changes direction to the actual process of living this life as a 21st century American, not a cave, container, rusty bus or back room dweller. This blog will show how WE are building a home with ALL the conveniences I worked 41 years to acquire, OFF GRID and self sufficient. Yes, there WILL be a small amount of promotion and retailing, but not 12 postcards, or a coffee mug of an almost dead cow, but quality things to help fund the earthship, not to prove YOU are suckers!

DONE!

Today, I found yet another solution to a problem, sitting on the side of the road in Houston. Two 55 gallon plastic drums were dropped by a construction site. No damage, but they would have been blasted by a car or truck soon enough. These are exactly what we need for our washing machine. One will catch the wash water and one the rinse water. The rinse water will then be used for the next wash load and the wash water will go into the greywater tank for use in the gardens.

I will take photos of this as it is built, so others can see if it will work for them. It will save us about 25 gallons of water every wash load and allow us to save the dirty wash water for a day when it is needed in the gardens.

Photos and more after Tuesday.

By the way, we have many friends in Japan, Mainly in Tokyo and Kyoto. Thanks to FACEBOOK, we know all are OK. We all know that as many as 10,000 more may not be and someone loves everyone of them. Japan is a staunch ally of the United States and the land of a marvelous people........ People that need help today. If you can find it in your hearts, go to CNN.com to the help page and donate anything you can to these people. I did.

On The Road Again!

2011-03-07T20:13:00.002-05:00

I am out on the road again is week, writing using my IPAD. We are in Arizona for a fast trip, then back home and out again for a few days. This is the busy season I have waited nine months for and I must make the money while I can!

Sadly, one blog follower left us, most likely due to the thread about extra sources of bottles. I am sorry to lose them, but I long ago learned that he who tries to please everyone, ends up pleasing no one, or few and becomes a face IN the crowd, rather than a a face that rises above it. I prefer to be seen and take my chances. Via con dies, lost friend!

I found a windfall this evening in a dumpster behind a restaurant in Phoenix, Arizona. About forty, five gallon plastic buckets had been tossed it there! All were clean, having contained a mild chemical and are perfectly usable for anything, including potable water.

We use buckets like these right now to save wash water and rinse water from our washing machine, reusing the rinse water in the next wash load. We did not have enough buckets for a day's laundry, or to hold used wash water for our gardens..... Until tonight!

There were also about 20 lids for the buckets too. So it was a very good find for us, since these are about four bucks a bucket at Home Depot.

These buckets also make fine nest boxes for chickens and templates to use to pour cement nest boxes. They can also be bound together, 2-3 layers high, covered in chicken wire and used to make 40-50 gallon ferrocement water tanks out of, saving the buckets themselves for another use!

We always watch the dumpsters, trash piles at our client's and the side of the freeway. About three months ago, I found a brand new, 16' extension ladder and three new pieces of OSB, all on the side of I-10!

When I return, I am going to the Houston area, where the motorcycle, chipper and parts for the diesel three-wheeler are. If I can get a big rig to them, I will pick these up and can start these projects as well.

I will be home in a day or two and should have another post and photos. For now, check around, there is bound to be something re-purpose able available!

Spring is here!!! & The tire barn rises!!!

2011-03-02T20:54:00.008-05:00

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Spring has arrived to our homestead..... or at least the fruit trees think so! The top photo is of the very first blossom off our peach tree. They are always stunning and are probably the ONLY thing I miss from the deep south. South Georgia becomes ablaze this time of year with peach blossoms, wisteria, dogwood and plum trees in full bloom. But give us a little time and we will have MANY more fruit trees here!

The big news is the multi-purpose building construction. I am concentrating on an addition we added, a storage room. The bottom photo is of this part of the building. The addition is the left half. This will take 234 tires to complete. Tonight I sit at 21 tires filled, with 211 to go!

Got a flat tire yesterday in the Ghost Town. I limped on home leaking air all the way. When I found the hole, it was tiny and easily patched. Good thing, I still cannot buy the two new tires we desperately need.

For the heck of it, I looked through the 17" tire pile and was surprised to find one! It is a light truck tire and in far better shape than the one I patched, so it will go on the truck on Friday.

We also are organizing the tires by size and the bottles by color, separating out the booze & wine bottles for the more artistic parts of the walls. We are taking all the bottles we can, but the short fat bottles that some Mexican beer, as well as Heineken come in were a design problem for me, until I started sorting. We have enough to do the outside wall of the other sections of the multi-purpose building. That will solve the stumpy bottle dilemma> for me.

Debbie just spotted a huge fire in the direction of Dick Kane's ranch. He is the rancher who runs the cattle out here and the man who gave CJ the geriatric cow for his birthday last year. I called 911. The Sheriff and fire department are on the way. I will post a comment to this post about it, when I learn what happened!

I drove toward the Kane ranch to see if I could help and saw that the fire The fire Debbie spotted was actually a fire on Cienega Mountain, over 50 miles from here! The Kane ranch is in a direct line between our place and Cienega Mountain and it STILL looks like the fire is at his ranch!

Glad it isn't though.

We called 911 again and apologized.

We are looking for the following items right now (NEW ITEMS ADDED):

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now!
Used fryer oil from any area restaurant or home turkey fryer
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry.
Sledge hammers & one handle for my current head
Rock tumbler
Small (200-500 gallon) water tank. Any condition, so long as it holds water.

I have left two tires at the junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.3 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

The motorcycle and wood chipper have been found and our thanks to those who offered them!

Someone mentioned me in a GSG jaded post about my "begging" for things. We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

Wind Storm!

2011-02-28T10:16:00.005-05:00

Today has been the windiest day we have had here for several months! I think gusts have exceeded 60 MPH a few times. I uploaded the videos to YOUTUBE and here are the links to them:

The awning over the travel trailer has given and bowed about 3 inches in the largest of the gusts..... just as it was designed to do! This building has remained rock solid. Just as IT was designed to do. When I was building it and realized that I had left the box of hurricane straps behind, I hurriedly fabricated a "strapping system" out of scrap 2"x4"s and 4 1/2 " screws. Though about twice the work to install as the hurricane straps would have been, it has proved to be better than the metal ones ever were in the actual hurricanes of Florida!

The awning, the weakest link in the current construction, has the hurricane straps in it, DOUBLED. Given its design, it must bow in the wind from 2-4" and it does! The sound in here from the rattling of the 2" overhangs of the metal roof panels is scary, but they are holding fine, also due to doubling the screws that hold them to the purlons.

No tires got pounded today. This is partly due to the wind, but mostly due to the morning work I did. We had six five-gallon Joshua Trees that needed to be planted. Finally, I decided exactly where to plant them and I did this in the morning. The damn things weighed about 100 pounds each and I moved them a couple humdred feet by hand, then planted them. TIRING WORK!

A couple of weeks ago I dug up a huge fossil ammonite, over 10" in diameter in the creek bed. The rock it was in was huge and very hard, so if I wanted the fossil, I needed the entire rock! It must have weighed over 500 pounds (no CJ, I did not have a scale). Though we tried several times to pull it out of the creek bed with our truck, it kept coming loose, due to the speed I have to hit to climb the bank out.

My neighbor had offered to come with his four-wheeler and a cart and load it onto that and gently pull it out in low range. He came by and we did just that, easily!

It is sitting in the garden now, the central thing you see on the walk to the gate. I will take a photo of it when the wind stops!

I am uploading the videos of the wind storm to weather.com as well as YOUTUBE, so you might see one of them on the Weather Channel.

We are looking for the following items right now (NEW ITEMS ADDED):

Tires (back on the list), we just are not accepting hundreds at a time for now!
Used fryer oil from any area restaurant or home turkey fryer
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat (this is proving difficult!)
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry.
Sledge hammers & one handle for my current head
Rock tumbler
Small (200-500 gallon) water tank. Any condition, so long as it holds water.

I have left two tires at the junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.3 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

The motorcycle and wood chipper have been found and our thanks to those who offered them!

Someone mentioned me in a GSG jaded post about my "begging" for things. We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

This ain't as hard as folks say!

2011-02-24T19:17:00.003-05:00

Today, I "pounded" eight tires in between all my other chores. Debbie is doing laundry and I have to catch all the wash water for the gardens and the rinse water to use for the next wash. Hauling all those five gallon buckets of water is tiring, or I would have done a few more tires. I think that 10-14 will be my limit though.

Since the multi-purpose building will take 350 tires, it should take about a month to build the tire walls, a week for the bottles and about two weeks for the ferrocement roof.

So 6-7 weeks to complete this building and that is about what I thought when I decided to build it this size (1000 square feet).

The photos are of me sitting on the multi-purpose building's wall and on the truck tires that will be the footing for the Earthship. We never post any photos of me, so I thought I would pose for you all today!

Tire pounding is NOT as difficult as people keep saying though. Perhaps those that say that have not worked hard for a living, or built other buildings. I find it no more work than hauling concrete block around and less than handling the rocks! Still, it is hard!

For the first row, I have to dig down about as deep as the tire is. To avoid handling that dirt several times, I dug one space out and set the tire, then filled it with the dirt from the next one and so on. Extra dirt goes inside for subsequent courses. Any rock larger than a golf ball is piled into sized piles for the floor, the nest boxes and the trim work around the front of the building.

It is a big job! Any volunteers to help?

K.I.S.S.

2011-02-22T10:03:00.006-05:00

Keep It Simple Stupid!!!

This is a pretty good time to repeat this mantra here, as well a to make it clear what our plan and goals are. Many readers have contacted me over these last 18 months with ideas, alternatives and plans that they think might be helpful. EVERY one of them has been helpful in their own way, but often not as intended.

Some of the ideas were "Rube Goldburgesque" in their design, with 47 steps involved to turn on a light switch, others were overly simple, "Just don't do that" or something similar. Other ideas involve trading one type of "fossil" fuel like gasoline, for another, most often propane and calling THAT "green" or "sustainable".

I am not trying to sound ungrateful! Every call and idea has resulted in more research, or a change in our design or plans. But I do wonder sometimes if they "get" what we are doing, or their ideas are their own way of "getting" it?

The idea here is to build a home/farm that ANYONE would want to live in; OURSELVES, for a small fraction of what it would cost with conventional methods AND show anyone interested how to do it. While I wish we were younger and in better health, it is that very age & health that shows how ANYONE can do this!

But first and foremost this is a home, a farm or small ranch. It is not a junkyard under construction and "green" does no involve a junkyard for a front yard and using petrochemical fuels or substituting anything for sustainable power.... WIND & SOLAR (or whatever is close to your choice of a home) is the goal!!

EXAMPLE: Lighting has become a bit of an unexpected problem. The LEDs I thought would be wonderful, seem to all be made poorly in China, or at least they have the market so saturated that I cannot see the 100 quality US manufacturers amid the 1.3 billion crap Chinese ones! 12 volt CFLs are the same poorly made story, so we have been left to using 12 volt incandescents which use dramatically more power.

The Rube Goldberg solution is not address the simple solution, the light source, take a gas or diesel engine and connect it to a PMA that charges the batteries, or buy more petrochemical powered generators.

OR, we can KISS the problem by taking the fryer oil we will always have, process it into biodiesel, as we need to anyway, add a tiny amount of chemical to some of it (to adjust the flashpoint) and burn it in modern day oil lamps for our background & exterior illumination.

Cost of the PMA or generator route: about $3-900. PLUS fuel, maintenance & noise.
Cost of the oil lamps: about $300 for around ten lamps and two year's additive.

This "KISSes" the problem.

That is the intention here!

One area resident, a true engineering genius, has built wonderful jigs to use to construct domed buildings out of ferrocement. The jigs are made from rebar and of course a bit heavy. Also, their size limits the building's shape, unless new jigs are made using more material and welding. Our roofing for the structures we are building have been a real dilemma and were limiting the shape of the buildings......... until a phone call last night!

One reader and I were talking about several things, when he mentioned a very simple method of creating a reusable framework for our roofs that is lightweight and infinitely adaptable..... KISSing my currently most troubling design problem AND allowing us to use the preferred material, ferrocement!

Debbie & I are trying to show how to build and live well within a very limited income. It started out of necessity since I have not properly planned for retirement income, but these last few months, it has become my mission, the thing I can leave behind for others who either did not plan for retirement, or will have their plans wrested by the next incarnation of a "W". Our goal is to both KISS every step of the way AND to have that KISS last without requiring too much input or repair from "civilization".

I invite anyone who reads this, to visit, talk, help, or join us in this! Those who are already contributing ideas, please continue! No one has all the answers and mutual contribution, not competition is what moved Mankind off the savanna and here (like it or not)!

THE FIRST TIRE!!!!!

2011-02-21T16:58:00.004-05:00

As promised, here is a post about the construction.... at last! Pictured at right, is the first tire pounded with dirt and placed in the foundation of the new multi-purpose building!!!

(I will call it the multi-purpose building because it will serve as the hen house, brood rooms, sheep barn, creamery and meat & egg processing rooms)

So, after a little over 19 months, construction has finally begun! It has been a very long and hard road, made far more difficult by health issues, lack of money, neighbors who felt their desert sovereignty and "celebrity status" were threatened and the desert itself! We are still learning, researching on the INTERNET for many hours each week.

Actually, the research is much of the reason it has taken so long. I felt that this would be my last big project even before it started I don't want any mistakes, no cut corners and no regrets when it is done! I am about to draft the 20th or so design for the Earthship. Each changed draft was due to something new I either learned through research or experience here.

In fact, we are starting the multi-purpose building so that any unforeseen problems can be worked out there and not in the home we will live in for the rest of our lives.

The second photo is the back wall layout of this building. Tire number one is to the lower right. It bows out from a straight line for additional strength. The front will be a combination of rock, bottles and tires.... as it progresses, I will discuss it more. The old bus was acquired to be turned into the hen house, but it is not suitable for several reasons and must go away! It can run and has a 460 CID engine in it. IF anyone wants it, $200 takes it away!!!!!!

Photo three is of the final location of the actual Earthship. The main entry is framed between the two Agave.

Photo four is the pile of bottles, about 9,000 at the moment. Most are from the "porch" in Terlingua!

However, the "Starlight Theater is fast catching up with the porch contribution as well as providing the used fryer oil (center front)!

The fifth photo is of the largest of three tire piles, located behind the Earthship location.

Finally, photo six is of a rock I dug out of Terlingua Creek's bed. The consensus is that it is a large piece of fossilized deep sea bed, as there are barnacles, shells and small bits of fish or animal fossilized with the convoluted layers of silt.

This rock is fairly indicative of the types of rock and fossils we are finding there as we gather building rock and river rock. For a rock hunter, the area is a paradise!

So, after 19 months, here we are, pounding tires at last. By the way, it is NOT as difficult to do as some would make you think! All construction is hard work and this is no exception. It does involve a lot of repetition and handling the material several more times than other methods. But for the cost of the buildings, I will handle rocks and tires all day long!

Friends???

2011-02-20T11:19:00.004-05:00

Here is one of the "20" posts I said I had material for! I will also try to write one more today about the ongoing projects.

I have struggled with money my entire life. Somehow I never quite got the hang of handling it properly! I struggled, even when I earned six figures! But one thing I have never been is "poor".

What I mean is one of the chronically destitute that there are so many of today...... too poor, too unmotivated (lazy?) or just too beaten down to remove the tires from their trailer, or clean up the Pit Bull crap on their lawns....... but somehow always have Budweiser in the fridge, a new gold piercing, 30-06 & cartridges and cigarettes!

North Florida was a lesson to me, as the entire lifestyle there was geared to remind us all of our "place" in their "society". This may be something leftover from their wonderful contribution to America: slavery and their "need" to remind the former slaves that they were somehow less than human, a twisted sense of entitlement that the gentry developed, or both.

It was ugly! There has been no other time in my life where I felt I could not succeed by the size of my cajones, other than my time in north Florida. There, I truly WAS poor!

Coming here, we had little left over from the move and construction of our infrastructure. Looking for work at the END of the busy season last year did not help much, so we have continued to have little money and have struggled...... as do many out here. Yet unlike north Florida/Deep South, I have yet to meet a "poor" person and certainly WE are no longer that unique redneck brand of the poverty stricken.

Happily, work and money are returning to our lives....... but a few weeks ago we were struggling along when we acquired a new "friend"! We had talked for several months, on and off and since I do business with his employer, he knew we were struggling along. We seemed to have a lot in common, so we invited him to come out here, which he and his wife did.

Upon arriving, he "laid claim" to the old trailer that the previous owner of the property had left us. "You WILL work something out with me in trade for the trailer, won't you?" Then he saw our ancient "new" cement mixer and told me that he was going to borrow that one day.

Though we didn't realize it at the time, this was "gentried privilege" rearing its redneck head. We saw this in north Florida when the rich (those who had skirted their trailers and painted the Falcon on blocks planted in their front lawns) came calling on the poor, first admiring, then swindling the "help" out of their one or two treasured items.

When I was leaving for the oil field and my short sabbatical, he appeared with a couple hundred bucks in his hand. "You need some spending money until payday and I have TEN THOUSAND BUCKS in savings lying around, take this and pay me back when you get your first check."

I don't borrow or loan money with friends. If a friend is in need, I GIVE them what I can and NEVER expect to see it again. If it returns, I am surprised! However he was insistant and seemed sincere in wanting to help. Since I I barely had enough gas for the trip, so I took it as a loan that would be repaid before ANYTHING else.

Well, my BP would not let me take the job, so I returned in time for a long trip out for my old employer, the beginning of the "busy season". As I was preparing to leave for this trip, my new friend dropped by unexpectedly and TOLD me to help him load the cement mixer in his truck. "I have to build my barbecue and you will be out of town anyway" was the reasoning.

I was gone a week, but called him as I was returning, asking for it back so I could continue with the stonework in the building here. "Dude, I haven't had time to build the barbecue yet! I'll bring it next weekend!"

It didn't show up that weekend, so I called. "Dude, I am working for some rich woman at Gate Four (as though 'Gate Four' was some fancy gated community in south Florida) I have a wall and barbecue to build for her. I will be at least two weeks until I am done with the mixer. I'll just keep it until you can pay me back!"

Meanwhile, the rock work here is unfinished and the building bleeds heat out as fast as I can burn wood and HE is using MY mixer to make extra cash while we cannot keep warm! He had ZERO concern for this inconvenience, "Dude, my hours got cut and I need to make some money!"

I told him I had his money now and to bring it here, NOW.

At the end of the day, he phoned me saying he was having truck trouble and couldn't get here. "I'll hook up the trailer and come to you". There were excuses as to why that wouldn't work, so he finally, in anger told me it would be at work the next day and I could get it then.

I brought a helper with me to load it, a guy who (wrongfully) has a reputation in the area for being "crazy" and the man who sold me the mixer in the first place. With my "helper" there was no trouble getting the mixer back........ but not before my "friend" gave me a list of all the expenses he had incurred during our "friendship": fuel driving here, beer brought, labor charge for helping me move rocks and so on! "I'll just take that trailer and we will be even!"

Of course that did not happen. But I came away from the experience realizing how horribly we all treat those chronically poor people in life...... myself included as my intro shows!

Somehow, despite my numerous other faults, I failed to learn how to take advantage of the under-privileged, to steal from them and justify it. I am grateful for that.

My mixer would have cost me over $600 to replace. The trailer is bigger and better built that the one I currently have and will be invaluable to the Earthship construction. Yet my "friend" wanted them from day one and tried to take them through deception!

I saw this in the Deep South and hated it. I don't remember seeing it anywhere in Texas, we here seem to have better, deeper values than that as a whole.

I have come away from this experience even more wary of those not Texan (though I am sure some Texans would do the same) and with a deeper understanding of the feelings of the chronic poor, even those who always have beer & cigarettes! I think I saw a bit of myself in this man. THAT frightened me!

Perhaps, this can be food for thought for a reader or two. I hope not!

We are looking for the following items right now (NEW ITEMS ADDED):

NO MORE TIRES FOR A WHILE!!!! WE MAY HAVE ALL WE NEED!!!!!
Used fryer oil from any area restaurant or home turkey fryer
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry.
Sledge hammers
Rock tumbler
Small (200-500 gallon) water tank. Any condition, so long as it holds water.

I have left two tires at the junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.3 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

The motorcycle and wood chipper have been found and our thanks to those who offered them!

Someone mentioned me in a GSG jaded post about my "begging" for things. We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

Fast Trip To Dallas

2011-02-19T11:46:00.003-05:00

I was asked to make a VERY fast trip to Dallas & Abilene right after my last post. I returned last night. This is the nature of the job I have.

For security sake, I do not post when I am going out of town, which is also one of the reasons I refuse to commit to regular or daily posts. My entire life revolves around Debbie and our babies (the dogs) I am careful to keep all of them as safe as I can.

I promise I WILL post some of the "20 posts" beginning tonight!

Note: I am still waiting on the shipping costs of the generator, etc.

We are looking for the following items right now (NEW ITEMS ADDED):

NO MORE TIRES FOR A WHILE!!!! WE MAY HAVE ALL WE NEED!!!!!
VW Bug, any condition, but MUST have a clear, negotiable title!
Used fryer oil from any area restaurant or home turkey fryer
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry.
Sledge hammers
Rock tumbler
Small (200-500 gallon) water tank. Any condition, so long as it holds water.

I have left two tires at the junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.3 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

The motorcycle and wood chipper have been found and our thanks to those who offered them!

Someone mentioned me in a GSG jaded post about my "begging" for things. We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

I AM BACK

2011-02-13T16:42:00.004-05:00

I am back in town and on line with enough information for 20 posts!

Before I write much more though, I am buying a few things from another Chinese manufacturer (one who has a proper guarantee and return policy) and in case any readers here are looking for these, you can contact me directly for more information.

I am buying:

3500 watt gas generator
medium sized gas water pump
6.5 HP gas engine (for driving PMAs)

The shipping for two or more is a LOT less than for one, so contact me if you are looking for these.

They also make tillers for the US market. The prices are very low, under $100 for a 6.5 HP gas engine.

My "sabbatical" to work in the oil fields was cut short by the physical! I have been treated for and have had in varying degrees, hypertension, for over 20 years now..... same as ALL my siblings. With the increased activity level here, our local doctor (I went to a cardiologist in Florida) thought I might not need the medication any longer, so when money got very tight, a few months ago, I quit taking it.

When I got to the physical for my new job, my BP was far too high and they sent me home. Before leaving though, the company told me to shave my beard and mustache...... "company policy".

THAT is a deal breaker for me, as I have had the beard for 24 years and the mustache for 40!

At any rate, I went to my doctor here for several tests and there are two other things going on with my health that will never allow me to work at a job that requires a lot of physical activity again. I can build the Earthship or anything else.... AT MY OWN PACE, but not work the way I did 30 years ago or the way an oil field job requires.

Remember that every one who is reading this has "several things" going on in their own body now as well, you just need to dig deep enough. So I am not going to die tomorrow, or am I suddenly someone who can have sand kicked in their face and do nothing about it. However, in 40-60 years, one of these three things will kill me.

I don't intend on discussing the other two things, or my hypertension any further, so please respect this and move on.

There is more to write about, but I will save them for another post! Next post will be the "saga of our disappearing cement mixer". This will be resolved tomorrow and I will post on that, followed by a couple more about my time away...... and then back to the construction, which we are working hard at even now!

We are looking for the following items right now (NEW ITEMS ADDED):

NO MORE TIRES FOR A WHILE!!!! WE MAY HAVE ALL WE NEED!!!!!
VW Bug, any condition, but MUST have a clear, negotiable title!
Used fryer oil from any area restaurant or home turkey fryer
Colored bottles. Beer, wine, soda, liquor or any bottle that has the thickness of a "returnable" bottle. Nothing thin like the glass throwaways! Red, blue & yellow especially, but ANY color is desirable.
Also, ANY sturdy glass object such as: glass block, old water fountain bottle, glass brick pieces, mismatched or old plates and dishes, the gaudier the better..... whatever you have or find in glass!
1/2" or smaller black tubing that can withstand 200 degree heat
A large wheelbarrow.
Rock hammers for shaping rocks for the masonry.
Sledge hammers
Rock tumbler
Small (200-500 gallon) water tank. Any condition, so long as it holds water.

I have left two tires at the junction of Hwy. 118 and Mailbox Road, across from the Grub Shack/Feed Store/storage units. Anything can be dropped off there, including tires. I will pick up from here daily. Of course, you can always drive the 4.3 miles to our place to deliver and have a beer and food! Visitors are always welcome and we are seldom both gone.

The motorcycle and wood chipper have been found and our thanks to those who offered them!

Someone mentioned me in a GSG jaded post about my "begging" for things. We are NOT asking for free items. This is a remote area and thus have little access to good used items. I am more than willing to pay for every used item I have listed here, except the tires and glass goods, obviously!

Smiling Dog Eco-Ranch

"Bottle Mason"

Happy 2012!! Changes for the New Year

Merry Christmas & a Happy Holiday Season for the rest of us!!!

Off Line!

STRANGE POST!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Illness, "Paying The Water Bill", Firewood

".... It's Just Another Day!" (with apologies to McCartney)

Firewood....... Eco-Ranch Style!

Building a House With (essentially) PET Bottles

"Typical Day"

Apology

You can take the boy out of New York, but you can't take the New York out of the boy! (NEW EDIT)

Requested Update

Unplanned Sabbatical

Not A Great Summer!!!

The Bird Bath/Fountain

Changing Our Company & Ranch Names

Still Here!!!!!

Return of "THE BOSS"

MOMMYYYY!!!!!! HE'S TOUCHING ME!!!!!

Challenges In The Extreme Heat

IMPORTANT!!!!

Paid The Water Bill Again!

Bottles, Bentonite, Tires & Rain

Our world turned upside-down today!

More INTERNET problems!

The DC Generator

Rain

Making a Dump

My Apologies!!!

Price Gouging in Alpine (too)!!!

Potpourri

Cave Scorpion Attack!

Meet The Fooders!

The Gardens Grow!

Failure!

The Heat Is ON!!! Happy Memorial Day & Beyond!

No Post

Clarifications:

Alive In Las Cruces!

Catch Phrases.... Gone for another trip.... TIME!

Individual Infrastructure

The Oregon Trail

From Big Bend to Yellowstone

Water Obsession!

On The Road Again

Garden Is Finished, Part 2

Garden Finished! Blog Editing

Rocky Mountain High

FIRE!

The Good , The Bad & Ugly

The Garden & Another Mystery Thing!

Presenting At Green Scene On Saturday

Springtime Is Busy In The Desert!!!!

Another Change To The Blog.......

12 volts versus 24, 36 or 48 volts

Garden time!

On The Road Again ( still)!!!

On The Road Again!

Spring is here!!! & The tire barn rises!!!

Wind Storm!

This ain't as hard as folks say!

K.I.S.S.

THE FIRST TIRE!!!!!

Friends???

Fast Trip To Dallas

I AM BACK