A couple of days after I brought home the new amplified speakers for my computer - I had a hankerin' to test them out by finding a YouTube video of a live performance of Hotel California by the Eagles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea0CDieb4yM My favorite song sounded splendid blasting out of the HP laptop. The trumpet intro really grabbed me. I played coronet in Jr. high band way back in another life in Indiana. I tried a trumpet a couple of times and really liked it better. My good ol' nickle silver Signet coronet that I had since I was 13, burned up in the house fire I had in upstate NY. Anyway...after seeing the video, I decided I would really like to start practicing with a trumpet. Within 5 minutes of seeing the video, I ordered a trumpet from http://www.kkmusicstore.com/ Hmmmmmm....amazing how efficient the internet has become - enabling just such a spur of the moment purchase. It just arrived today and I love it but tooting it well is gonna take some getting used to. Hopefully (with a lot of practice) I can do a YouTube video soon(ish) of me playing the intro that spurred the purchase.Got out early again this morning and filled the second layer of rebar voids on the west and south entrance. 10 bags of concrete. I'm starting to like this early day work schedule now. Nice to accomplish what may be the only outdoor labor of the day by 11AM. Sponged off the sweat and hit "you know where" for lunch. Good group there today so lingered longer than planned. Came home and popped a loaf of bread into the solar oven for some super nice folks camped out on their newly purchased property west of me.
I headed back down to Study Butte for some laundry way late in the day. Luckily, I came across the new folks on my way out and passed off the still warm freshly baked Field Lab Loaf to them. Got all the way down south and the laundry was CLOSED....problems with 
their water system. Came home with my dirty duds and finished off the day shuffling my rebar off to the side of my driveway. The new ability to fully furl my solar panels for late day sun is giving my batteries quite a nice bump.
their water system. Came home with my dirty duds and finished off the day shuffling my rebar off to the side of my driveway. The new ability to fully furl my solar panels for late day sun is giving my batteries quite a nice bump.
17 comments:
Something else we have in common.. The Eagles!.. I like your version but I sure like the acoustic version they did http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjCbDYHnsLM.. I have a "driving" CD that started out as a cassette tape and now is a CD, starts with Hotel California, then life in the Fast lane, then goes on from there. I found out I can't fire it up till the road is clear in front of me.. The ole Foot Gets real heavy.
I love to drive to "Rocky Mountain Way." Not, strictly speaking, the Eagles, but good stuff.
Hi John,
From the shadow of the panels, it looks like you get a very low sun angle late in the day.
Maybe you could dig a little slope, so the two front wheels of the solar panels drop down a bit when you move them into the evening position?
You can't go wrong with a bit of the Eagles.
I like the idea of adjustable pannels, we get so little sun here in London, every bit helps.
Looks like you are now really making progress on your greenhouse. Last summer I visited Fort Davis and was amazed at the large collection of greenhouses just south of Fort Davis. Must be the largest in the entire state of Texas. I got some of their tomatoes from Alpine and they were great. I would like to viist the Fort Davis greenhouses if allowed. Have you visited the area?
Nice trumpet intro, Im 40 something and never heard it before. If I did, maybe I wouldnt have given up the trumpet after high school.
Ive been out to the ranch before and even bought property from DB Smith(Rip).I found a little cooler and more treed chunk of heaven in Arizona and am on my way to do what your doing. I will start posting on your blog and add some stories about my Alaskan homesteading experience in the future. til then,,,
Did you ever get your wind generators? If not, I know of the best and cheepest in the country besides the Doit your self type.
Check out Mikes Windmill shop out of Show Low Az. Now thats what I call an impulse buy. A $400 wind generator. Oh yeah Im getting excited just thinking about it.
We learn more about you each day. If you like horns, you may enjoy the picture I posted today.
http://justanotherday-don.blogspot.com/2009/07/horns-and-hats.html
Stay cool
One of the beauties of living out in the desert with scant few neighbors is you can practise all day and no one protest.
Oh but hey you do have an HOA :)
Good luck with the trumpet.
John is the HOA in the desert as big of a pain in the rear as they are in the city?
Or do you really want to discuss them on a public blog?
I'll answer that one, I bought some property in the ranch and the main thing was the special assesment (money) they wanted, they just take care of the roads and lots of politics. but I hear they lost there battle and the lodge is shut down now ( no more cabins to rent and the pool/laundry closed. other than that they really only made sure the roads were graded sort of. they are not much of a hoa compared to others , the main reason is the texas land use is very liberal out there.
In parts of Arizona its the same way. you can build what you want and do what you want.
Hey Marc, thanks for that response. I am not a fan of HOA's at all.
I used to work with an organization in Arlington that was an umbrella group for all the Arlington HOAs and lets just say I saw some stuff that was just over the top in being mean and hateful. And over stuff that was just crazy.
Now I am living in a nieghborhood without one and with people who are the nicest most easy going down to earth people on the planet.
yw winterchill, I am not a fan of people who think they need to tell me how to live either(HOAs)when I lived in Alaska only those who lived in the cities had those. The problem is the Hoa in terlinga could be a good thing if it only focused on the lodge and roads. They dont do a good job with either.If I lived out there, Id volunteer to grade the roads on my spare time and even help out with repairs on the lodge. Unfortunately the HOA is really just a way to extort money from land owners to be able to provide an income for parasites. What is a parasite? anything that sucks value and gives little or no return back to its host.
next post Ill try to be a little less jovial. ha ha
Hi Marc,
In May of 1989 i was staying around Alpine, Texas and was looking for vacant land to buy around the area. I visited Terlingua Ranch to look for property. They had this lodge building and the guy in charge was using a computer to organize a mailing list of current property owners for the purpose of contacting people to update their delinquent association dues or something like that. They had a map on the wall with available lots for sale. I had the money to pay cash at the time if i found something interesting. It did not work out. After spending a couple days there (i slept in my 1966 chevy station wagon) the manager told me that my car did not meet their standards for speed or ruggedness on the dirt roads - i should buy something like a Chevy Suburban so i could drive real fast down the dirt roads like they all did. I did not like the people running it (Terlingua Ranch) so i left to go to Montana without buying anything. You mentioned you bought land in Terlingua Ranch. Do you still own it or did you sell it?
You mentioned that there are counties in Arizona where you can build pretty much anything you want. Do you know which counties those might be?
messtime,
Im sure theres are few good people in the Hoa now. But the lodge is closed down.
many counties in Arizona are unrestricted. yavapai is one.
Thanks Marc,
I share some of your values that's why i
asked you. 20 years ago i visited some
Arizona counties - like Apache, Navajo,
Coconino counties and (some others probably) looking for land to live on in a shed or small travel trailer! I'd visit the court house located in the county seat town and check to see if they followed the "Universal building Code" or something like that. None of my efforts worked out. Nothing developed. Oh well, thanks for the info.
Marc,
I'm the same as "messtime". I had to setup a blog to post a picture.
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