First snow

While we did dodge the recent deep freeze that hit pretty much the rest of the country to the east, we did get our first snow (Nov 16) and single digit temps (Nov 17).

I find the snow to be much more pleasant when there is only an inch of it, I don't have to clear a driveway or roof, and I don't have to go to work.

By running the propane heater for about an hour before dark, and having a timer turn on the heat lamp at 0300, the lowest temperature the pump house reached was 34 degrees. I didn't heat the garage at all and the temp near the water heater bottomed out at 46 degrees.

Inside the house, even though it was quite cold outside, we went to bed with the indoor temp at 69 degrees and woke up to 56 degrees without heating at all over night. I had to think how many times the furnace would have come on at Bonnybank if the temps had been in the low teens overnight.

So far I am relatively pleased with our prospects for the winter at Mariposa.

Cold weather is coming

At this elevation (just over 7000 feet) it tends to get pretty cold at night; Zuno would be willing to bear witness to that:

Since our house is super insulated, the heating requirements are easily met by our little woodstove and a wall mounted propane heater. The coldest night we have had thus far was about 20 degrees, and the house only dropped from 64 degrees to 58 degrees overnight. A morning fire with 4 small pieces of pine brings the temp up to 68 degrees in the course of an hour.

Unfortunately, I was stymied in my GRAND PLAN by the burdensome state of New Mexico housing permit requirements. My original plan for the water system was this: Solar pump brings water to a buried cistern. Hand pump bring the water from the cistern to the surface. Jill carries the water from the pump house to the residence. :D The type of hand pump I bought allowed the water to drop back down to a frost free depth between uses.

Sadly, the state would not permit our house without hot and cold running water. To this end, the builder installed a pressure tank in the pump house, and a propane water heater in the garage. Now I have to admit, it HAS been nice being able to turn on a faucet and get water, but the placement of the pressure tank and the water heater cause concern with the approach of the cold weather. The builder would say things like "the only thing I am worried about is the feed line from the pressure tank freezing up" "if we insulate it, it SHOULD be alright". Or the propane guy: "the heater unit SHOULD be alright here, it gets some heat from the house" "these lines are not SUPPOSED to break if they freeze".

The advice of the guy who did the wiring for the pressure tank was to build a footing around the pump house shed to keep the cold from bleeding in underneath, and to rig a heat lamp near the pressure tank itself (actually he said ideally the pressure tank should have been installed in the garage, but whatever). He suggested a cinder block footing, but I decided to use the free building materials I had at my disposal.

I insulated around the pressure tank itself and bought a small heat lamp that could be directed at the most vulnerable parts of the system. I also bought little battery operated thermometers to keep track of the temps.

For the propane water heater, I built a little insulated booth out of foamboard, and moved a bunch of water storage in as an emergency water supply if the pipes froze, but also as a heat sink.

As an additional measure if we run into one of the REALLY cold spells that the locals like to prophesy every chance they get ("I remember back in the 70s it was 35 below zero for a WEEK!") I bought 2 indoor rated portable propane heaters and hooked them up to 40lb bottles. There is one in the pump house and one in the garage.

I realize that all of my planning may still be to no avail, so I did locate the buried cistern and I purchased a marine bilge pump so I can access that supply of water if the pipes leading to the house freeze up.

I did make a collar and a cover so I could back fill and insulate the cistern opening from the cold as well.

In the end, I am hoping we will do ok through the cold winter months. Time will tell. If I had to do it all over, I think I would have just passed on having the building permitted (there are tons of rural folks living in uninspected dwellings out here)  and rolled the dice on living without homeowner's insurance.

Fatty Lumpkin

While we loved the Ford E350 van which we bought several years ago, it suffered from 2 defects here in NM. One, it was 2 wheel drive. The roads in this area can be pretty bad after rain or snow, so the idea of a 4x4 was enticing. Two, it was so big, I don't think I could have gotten it safely into my garage.

We decided to buy a new truck. I did some research and landed on a Toyota Tacoma Access Cab. I went with the 4 cylinder engine for better fuel economy.

Originally I had planned to name it "Snowmane" in keeping with the Tolkien steed names for my vehicles. The drive back from Albuquerque however quickly showed me that the little truck could not live up to the name of the horse ridden into battle by Theoden King.

I decided the truck's preferred pace was more like that of Tom Bombadil's pony, Fatty Lumpkin.

We tend to just call it Lumpy.

It has been a good little truck thus far, but it won't be winning any races.

Austin's visit

My brother Austin is the first relative to venture out to Mariposa. He was not deterred by the notion of living out of the back of his truck, pooping in a bucket, or showering outdoors. He arrived on a Saturday, after a long drive with bad traffic in the areas of Sante Fe and Albuquerque.

The first order of business was the leveling of his truck/home away from home (we did offer to let him sleep in the house or in the shed, but he was really looking forward to using his truck camper).

Soon after that, we settled into our usual routine of being retired and it seemed to appeal to Austin. I heard him remark on more than one occasion "it doesn't get any better than this". I tend to agree :)

We DID do a few different activities, the first of which was a road trip to the El Malpais National Monument which is about an hour northeast of Fence Lake. we went to the Ranger Station/Visitor Center, the Sandstone Bluffs overlook,

 the Zuni/Acoma trailhead, and of course, Ventana Arch.

In addition to our usual activities of porch sitting and eating, we also shot our longbows and air rifles, played some prairie croquet, and a game Austin introduced called "ladder ball".

Jill was a gracious hostess and made Austin his own fire poker out of barbed wire (since I wouldn't let him touch mine :))

All in all we had a very enjoyable visit, and Austin has promised to return soon. We look forward to seeing him.

New Shed

After we really got settled in and put everything where we wanted, we found the garage space was a little cramped. I particularly did not enjoy threading Stybba (the motorcycle) past Lumpy ( the truck) every time I wanted to go for a ride.

We decided to buy a Weatherking 10x16 shed, which Jill often calls the "Man Shed".

I had a fairly flat spot picked out, and it only took a couple of days with a shovel, a rake, and a 2x4 to make a level pad.

The shed was completed to my order in about 10 days, and delivered on a full sized flatbed tractor/trailer.

Jill immediately got busy on making a barbed wire fence "A" to adorn the front, and I made a list of stuff from good old Home Depot to build a work bench.

I built a work bench, and actually had a bunch of shelf brackets left over from Spring St in Maine which allowed me to put in a nice row of shelves.

I bought a folding aluminum ramp to roll Stybba up into the shed, and moved a bunch of stuff over from the garage. I love my new space, and we both love the added room in the garage.

The JOY of the New Mexico Motor Vehicles Division

Today I finally finished my business with the NM MVD. Since it has been so much fun, I thought a blog entry was called for.

Let me begin by saying the closest MVD office is in Gallup, which is about an hour drive to the north. Granted, I chose to live remotely, but a trip to the MVD is an excursion at any rate.

Visit #1. I was truly naive at this point in the game, so I thought I would get my driver's license, and register both the van and the little utility trailer that I had purchased in Arizona all in one fell swoop. I drove to the Gallup office and brought about half a dozen items for proof of residency; the same paperwork I had used at the United States Post Office in Fence Lake when setting up my PO box. The clerk took my Maine license, my Social Security card and then started looking at my pile of invoices from the builder, solar contractor, propane supplier, etc. She immediately told me that none of it was any good. She said she needed BILLS, not invoices. When I pointed out the the invoices WERE bills for the work, she said that they needed something from a utility company. I said the propane bill was the closest thing I had, but she didn't like that because it was hand written. She said how about a cable bill, and electric bill, or a water bill? I explained that we lived off grid and had none of those services. She then suggested a mortgage statement. I explained that the property was paid off, there was no mortgage. She said well how about a deed or a tax statement? I told her my deed and tax statements showed that I owned 4 lots on Lonesome Pine Road, and one of the lots had a higher rate because it had a structure on it, but none of them mentioned my address of 46 Lonesome Pine Road. She seemed amazed that I didn't have any of these items at my fingertips. The only piece of proof she would accept was the contract from my homeowner's insurance. She then gave me a list of paperwork the MVD WOULD accept as proof of residency, among them being a credit card statement, a bank statement, and a motor vehicle registration. With the wait (I arrived 5 minutes after the office opened in the morning and was #24 in line) I spent over an hour at the lovely (not) Gallup MVD office.

I should mention at this point that the United States Postal Service does not deliver to my address. They do not deliver to any of the residents who live south of the town center, instead they give you a free Post Office box. Well, the MVD does not give a rat's tail about your PO box number and they seemed quite unable to give me any advice on how I was going to prove residency when all of the paperwork they wanted was delivered to a PO box


Visit #2. I was able to get Cabela's to use my residential address on my Cabela's Visa card, and my motorcycle registration (which does have our residential address on it) had arrived which had both Jill's and my names on it, since the bike is titled in both of our names. This time we went to the Grants MVD office. It is a little bit longer drive, but it is more scenic, and I was pretty disgusted with the Gallup MVD. We got in early and were quickly served. I was immediately shot down. No, they would NOT take a Cabela's Visa statement (no rationale was given, they just don't) and she could not take my Social Security card because it was laminated (the lady in Gallup must have forgotten to mention that). Meanwhile Jill at another window was having similar luck. They would not accept the motorcycle registration because her name was listed SECOND on the form. Never mind that the title was in both of our names, she didn't care. Sadly, the title listed our PO box, not our residential address, so she would not use that document. The homeowner's insurance form that the lady at Gallup WOULD accept, she refused because it was a copy. I asked her if she was unable to use some level of discretion in cases like this. She was not so able. Once again, we left empty handed.

Visit #3. I applied for and received a new Social Security card, and I had talked our bank into listing our residential address on the bank statement. We had the homeowner's insurance packet which had recently been mailed to us and it did list a residential address. We both had bank statements in hand, so off to Grants we went. I handed over my bank statement (the page with my address on it) and she said "I need a statement". I literally felt my veins start to throb and my armpits start to sweat. I was proud of myself that I managed to be reasonably calm when I told her that it WAS the statement. She turned it over in her hands a few times and said "where is the rest of it?". Fortunately I had brought the entire statement, even though none of the other pages had anything to do with residency. Grudgingly she accepted the statement and the motorcycle registration and issued my driver's license. Jill was also successful, and we left with our paper licenses clutched firmly in our grubby little paws.

Visit #4. In the interim between visit #1 and visit #3 we had traded the van for a Toyota pick-up. Since we got the Toyota at a dealership in Albuquerque, they handled all of the registration paperwork. That left only the little utility trailer. I had not bothered to try and register it on visit #3 because I didn't want to confuse them by sneakily trying to do 2 things in one visit. So visit #4 was for the sole purpose of registering the trailer. I handed the clerk the paperwork which I had received from the trailer manufacturer in AZ. She scrutinized the documents, then proclaimed that she could not issue the registration because the invoice did not have the vehicle identification number on it. Never mind that the invoice number was the last 5 digits of the VIN. Never mind that I had the certificate of origin with the VIN. Never mind that the description on the invoice was excruciatingly detailed (with the exception of the VIN). Never mind that I had the temporary AZ registration with the VIN. Nope, no VIN, no reg. Hit the bricks you shifty deadbeat and don't come back without the proper paperwork. Honestly at this point I wasn't even surprised. I had expected that there would be some glitch and no common sense standard would be applied.

Visit #5. KB Trailers in AZ graciously generated a new invoice with the VIN on it, so the Grants MVD clerk was able to register the trailer.

It only took about 750 miles of travel and a few more gray hairs in my beard, but my immediate need to deal with the NM MVD is behind me.

Pie Fest

Every year in September, Pie Town holds a festival. It is one of THE social events in Catron County, so Jill and I decided to go. It is worth reading a little of Pie Town's history; it is a quaint story. I would link you to it, but after Google deleted my last blog for "spam" violations, I haven't been putting in links.

The drive was about an hour and twenty minutes, which isn't that bad for this remote corner of New Mexico.

When we arrived, the pie baking contest had just concluded, and the kids were involved in a sack race. Jill and I wandered around looking at a variety of vendors, everything from beautiful vintage Native jewelry, to piles of broken tools and assorted junk. (I was able to pick up a set of vice grips at one of the tool tables, which I am sure will make the pair I have been looking for magically appear.

We treated ourselves to a "Navajo Taco" which was a delicious piece of Navajo fry bread covered with meat, beans, lettuce, cheese and green chili. It was very fresh and very good. Later the chilis (I took Jill's portion as well) necessitated the taking of some Tums, but it was totally worth it.

I was VERY pleased to find some native honey from a place in Caballo, NM. I bought the biggest jar they had.

All in all, we had a good time, and plan to do it again next year.