Jill's arts and crafts

Now that we have settled into a routine and seem to have quite a bit more free time, Jill has been putting her artistic talents to work.

First we got a little router bit for the Dremel tool, and she made a sign to help the delivery guys find us, and a cover for the dog food barrel. The wood for both projects was salvaged from our steadily dwindling scrap pile.

Next she started gathering up some of the ancient barbed wire that still lives in tangled piles here and there about the landscape. She has made a couple of twisted wire items, and plans to do more in the future.

Some spare tiles from our friends Gene and Karen, set with some pottery shards found on the ridge by our house. Hot plate, tea tray.

Gray water

Part of our plan to live in a more sustainable fashion is making sure we are as water conscious as possible.

The humanure composting was a big step, as well as our very moderate showering methods, but we also wanted to make sure to re-use our gray water whenever possible.

One important point to make about gray water reclamation has to do with the type of soap you use. You have to make sure the water you are putting back in the ground is not toxic. Just because a detergent claims to be bio-degradable does not mean it contains no chemicals that are harmful to the eco-system. There are very few soaps that claim to be bio-compatible. We use Oasis brand soap which we buy in a gallon jug and use for all of our needs; laundry, dishes, and bathing.

Jill has already been using the water from Charlotte to make one of the Pinon trees a bit greener, and after we got our plumbing inspection completed we also disconnected the kitchen sink to catch the wash water in a bucket.

My understanding is you do not want to pour gray water from the sink directly on the ground, as the fats will clog the soil. Instead you pour them over mulch, which suspends the particles until they can break down.

A happy byproduct of the recent firewood delivery was a good bit of Ponderosa bark which we crumbled up into bark mulch. I was fortunate to have a helper for this chore:

I dug a shallow trench around the base of another Pinon in the front yard and filled it with bark mulch.

In the evening after the last batch of dishes has been washed, Jill takes out the water and pours it over the mulch.

In a groove

The blog entries may become less frequent as we seem to have settled into a fairly comfortable routine.

We get up and turn the modem for the satellite internet (because we have bonus data before 0800) and switch on the electric water kettle for coffee. E-mails are read and answered, etc.

We put down some kibble for the dogs, then start up a fire in the rocket stove. Bread gets buttered and put in the pan to toast.  Eat breakfast, drink coffee, and pay a visit to the out-house. Jill usually fills the hummingbird feeders at this point if it needs doing.

Next and most important to the four legged members of the family is the morning dog walk. We have several favorite routes now. One is out the cow path to the west which ends up at our neighbor Laurel's property. Another is up the wash to the old Hopi campsite where someday I hope to find an arrow head :) Another is out the road that ends at our part-time neighbor's Adrian and Jennifer's land.

After the dogs walk, we usually do some chores. There is always SOMETHING to do, and we spend 2-3 hours at whatever needs doing.

Between 1100-1200 we take a break and sit on the porch, drinking tea and watching the birds. Bird watching has become a staple occupation. I bought a set of decent binoculars that have enough eye relief i can use them without taking my glasses off, which is a huge improvement.

Around noon we come in and kick the internet back on. I usually start up a computer game on steam, then disconnect from the server.

We eat our main meal around 1400-1500. After that it could be more dog walking, game playing, or porch setting, all depends on the day.

Around 1800 we usually settle in and watch a dvd or (if we have enough data available) a show on Netflix. Hop into bed around 2000 and read until sleepy.

Wake up the next morning and start all over again.

It isn't the life for everyone, but I couldn't be happier. :)

Firewood

At first I was hoping to be able to get my firewood locally, and it SEEMED as if I had found someone who would be able to accommodate me. Unfortunately that never panned out, so I ended up finding a business on Craigslist that would deliver to this far corner of Cibola County.

After weighing the merits and costs of the different types of wood available here (pine, juniper, pinon, elm, and oak) I ended up buying 4 cords of Ponderosa Pine, which I had dumped near the compost station.

We decided to stack the wood around the perimeter of the hog wire fence that keeps the neighbors cow out of the straw bales. The hog wire has never been one of the more aesthetically pleasing parts of the view from our front porch.

My tiny Morso stove which we got to heat our tiny home only has a 7x7 opening to the firebox, so I am having to split some of the wood to make it practical to use. There is some pleasure to be gained from whacking things with a splitting maul, but the muscles are ones I don't normally use.

I split and stacked about 1/3 a cord on the front porch; all ready for winter.