Longhorn Cafe

blah, blah, blah......roll the video tape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OElVq5G2cGA

Ermengard

No romance - just chores today....played with blocks and built the bases for my towers. Will let them sit for a couple of days to decide what the next step will be. Stopped my Chucks for help on tracking down the owner of the travel trailer I'm interested in acquiring. He is pretty good at tracking down information. Came back home and had to raise the block foot on tower one an inch to line it up with the foot on tower two. That done - cleaned up the latest construction zone. Some old man out here told me I was crazy to have my cinder blocks delivered at the end of my driveway instead of at the house, knowing that I would have to move them. But you know what? I moved 100 cinder blocks back to the house today and I'm all pumped up tonight. Just the right amount of manual labor is a good thing. Finished up by enclosing my 2nd compost bin with the two pallets I had left over from the blocks I just moved. Named another friendly longhorn snacking here today after the youngest daughter of the guy who bought my house back in NY....her name is now Ermengard. Finally caught another pretty good (but not super fantastic) sunset tonight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsIU4seNG9w

fixer upper

Two hours of mixing and pouring - and eight bags of concrete later, my second entrance tower is planted firmly in the ground. Next step is to build some "heavy feet" for them with cinder block to help with the scale of the landscape. At this point, I'm playing it by ear. It will be fun to figure out how to embellish this project as it evolves. I chose a pre-reward for this task by getting my favorite breakfast sandwich from The Grub Shack. Took almost as much time to clean up the construction zone.

Not to waste the afternoon (keeping an eye on the calendar and my to do list for '09), I decided to take a closer look at an abandoned trailer just north of me off the highway. I've been thinking about this "broken dream" since the first time I saw it driving out here almost 2 years ago. Going to try and track down the owner if there is one as I would be more than happy to trailer it home and get to work on it as a future guest house. The poor thing is beat to hell and gutted, but I love the shape. If anyone local reading my blog has info about it - let me know. It is located on the east side of HWY 118, just north of Agua Fria Rd.

Sky's the limit

Didn't have a Field Lab kind of day today...but rather. a far from the rat race / southwest Texas kind of day. Was planning on setting my second entrance tower in concrete this morning but opted out to wait one more day - for slightly higher overnight temperatures. That left me with one of those special "sky's the limit" days. Chose to explore in the go kart. Drove over to my closest neighbor Capt. Kirk - he was more than willing to go for a ride. Capt. K has trekked all over this area and is usually more than willing to give a tour...especially his short cuts. I followed him out eating his dust the whole way - showing me 2 of his paths across Terlingua creek out to Agua Fria Rd. Highlight was a trip to an old abandoned underground dwelling in the middle of absolutely nowhere and the top of a small mesa with extraordinary views. My off road vehicle performed quite well. He finished off the tour with a trip out to Agua Fria mine. We met up with my longhorn owner buddy, Dick Cain on the way out. I told him about my new friends Beatrice and Guillermo....Dick gets such a kick out the fact that I name some of his longhorns. He said Benita is doing well and I asked him to send her my love. May try to go out to see her tomorrow .....after some Field Lab work.

Go Team!

One month down and 11 more to go. Celebrated February first by laying low. Did a load of laundry in Study Butte this morning with no other plan for the rest of the day. Managed to work in an easy project by spray painting some Field Lab stencils. After mounting the signage, I took a go kart ride into the nether regions to experience the views. Finished off the day with a visit from my new friends Capt. Bob and Ann. They got the full tour.

Earlier today I had the truck radio going for a bit too long apparently....tried to start the truck at 3:30 and all I got was click,click,click. Wired up two solar panels to the truck battery and 2 hours later she started right up. Let it run for a couple of minutes and took a brief sunset drive to bump the battery back up. Finally was able to find a live streaming feed on the internet just in time to catch the last ten minutes of the super bowl....that was an excellent 4th quarter, the only football game I saw all season - and enough to last me till Feb 2010.

Refrigerant

Blew off our third sub-freezing morning in a row by attending part of our January HOA meeting at the "now closed" Terlingua Ranch Lodge. The "powers that be" out here like to refer to it as the resort. Let me tell you....I've stayed at resorts before - this is barely a hunt camp. Anyway....didn't learn anything new and lost half a day.

Spent the afternoon twiddlin' with the SHWH. Had to drain an additional 10 gallons out of the system in order to update the plumbing - mounted the intake valve closer to the tank and adding a section of clear hose as a sight gauge for the fill level. This way I can accurately cypher how much water I use per shower. In regard to questions I have received about the grey water from the shower - it's just going into the ground for now....will be doing some plantings by the shower to take advantage of the water a bit later on this year. Had 10 longhorns in the yard all afternoon to keep me company and cheer me on.

Almost quit early to hang out with my visitors but got a second wind late in the day and challenged myself to build before sunset, the insulated door for the exposed plumbing on the west side of the tank enclosure. Finished it just as the sun was beginning to go down behind Agua Fria mountain. Since today was yet another day of plumbing and longhorns....for some variety - here is my winter time refrigerator outside on my front porch. It is powered only by the cold evening temperatures that chill the refrigerant (beer) that lines the walls. I open the lid in the early morning to collect the cold and shut it during the warmer daytime hours. The trick is not to drink the refrigerant too fast or I will loose the chill factor that 50 beers provide. It's a constant battle.

The wait is over...

Another cold morning....this time a 23 degree low just before sunrise. Had a great night's sleep with no overly dramatic dreams to wake me up. Got in 9 1/2 hours of shut eye. For 2 nights in a row, parts of my SHWH system froze up - and still no damage. As I was on the ladder checking the hoses this morning, 2 new longhorns arrived for a breakfast snack. A young mother and weened calf that I have named Beatrice and Guillermo.

Took my time readjusting the hot water manifold and added a longer hose to the tank outlet. I lowered and centered the manifold on the stall and hinged it at the top to it can be tilted to catch more sun as it is tracing higher in the sky each day this time of year. Was just about ready to build the west insulated end for the tank enclosure when I decided to hold off as I figured out that I need to do a slight plumbing adjustment and would need to drain some water. Had a plan for draining some water a bit later in the day. My new bovine visitors showed back up far an early dinner so I served up some range feed and water, pulled up a chair and a beer and joined them as we listened to "All Things Considered" on NPR. I sat next to them for about an hour while we all listened to the radio and they munched away.

The wind picked up again this afternoon, so I hung a tarp over my shower opening and as promised.....I took a shower - a most excellent shower I must say. And this wasn't just any shower....the longest I have ever had here at The Field Lab. A slow/steady/warm flow for 25+ minutes and there was plenty more if I wanted. I'm guessing I used about 6 gallons. I think the new system is going to work out just fine!