Fire pit and solar shower.

After the rather tiring chore of spreading the gravel, we had settled into a routine of small chores until we got some energy back. That mostly consisted of warfare against the ants and the cutting, splitting and organizing of the scrap wood left over from the construction.

A quick word about the ants. I had come here thinking I would need to deal with the red harvester ants since they were so prevalent, and caused Zuno so much pain last summer. As it turns out, the red ants haven't really been a problem. Jill did get bitten once and can attest to the pain of the bite, but for the most part they have not factored in. The tiny brown ants on the other hand have been a nuisance. We were hardly here a week when they had started to make inroads into the garage, the teardrop shed, and the pump house. It was in the pump house where I discovered they are quite destructive to wood. They are like tiny carpenter ants. Our plan to use the fairly earth friendly Equal sweetener did NOT work, so I finally went to full on toxic warfare. I used a combination of Terro ant bait and Ortho spray. As of this writing, I seem to have the ones that were invading my space under control.

The next two jobs on my list were building a fire pit and a larger solar shower.

The fire pit which we had out back at 14 Spring St in Maine is one of the few things that I miss about Maine. I decided I wanted something similar at Mariposa. I bought a few cinder blocks for the cooking section, and then hauled rock from the ridge behind the house for the circle. Since I took this photo, we have adorned the pit with a few pottery shards we found south of the house. I haven't used the pit yet, but I am looking forward to doing so when the days get shorter and the nights get colder.

Since we arrived a little over a month ago, we have been using a bag type solar shower which my folks gave to us. It works quite well, but we wanted something a little more permanent. I had purchased a black plastic 55 gallon drum a while back and installed a spigot.

Originally I was going to dig holes and set the 4x4 posts in Quickcrete, but it has been dry and the ground is as hard as a rock. The thought of trying to dig the post holes did not appeal to me. I decided to attach the shower structure to the pump house instead. Another trip to good old Home Depot in Gallup provided the lumber for the frame. I had built up the bed with some of the gravel road base, and set blocks for the 4x4 corner posts to rest on. We decided that a sit down shower would suffice, which saved some money on the lumber and made filling the barrel less of a hassle. The corner posts are 6 footers, so you CAN stand up in the shower, you just don't get much pressure.

Like the washing machine (Charlotte) we shall see how well it works.

Before and after videos

As promised here are the before and after videos. The upload used a significant chunk of my monthly satellite allotment, so don't be expecting too many videos in the future :)

Before

After

Misc Pictures

I have some pics that don't really fit into any particular thread, so I decided I would post them here. Nothing too exciting, so don't get your hopes up.

Sunrise over Cerro Alto.

Cool cloud formation we saw while sitting on the porch watching a lightning storm

Jill and Zeke chillin' on the porch

Dog walk on the road to nowhere

Someone in Fence Lake has a sense of humor, there hasn't been any water in Fence Lake in a LONG time

We have a LOT of species of beetles here at Mariposa, some of them quite large. I assume this grub is the larvae to one such beetle. It is certainly about the largest grub I have ever seen.

Another creepy bug

Rainbow!

Gopher Snake

Tarantula

First fire in our little Morso wood-stove

The view towards Quemado as you crest the ridge that leads towards our friends Gene and Karen's house.

The birds of Mariposa

I have decided to keep a running list of the birds we have identified here at Mariposa. Some of them are familiar, and others are new to me. I will update the list as we spot new species.

Turkey Vulture
Raven
American Kestrel
Western Wood Pewee
Juniper Titmouse
Western Bluebird
Chipping Sparrow
House Finch
Black Chinned Hummingbird
Rufous Hummingbird
Broad tailed Hummingbird
Lesser Goldfinch
White Winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Bullock's Oriole
Red Tailed Hawk
Brown Headed Cowbird
Mountain Chickadee
Pinyon Jay
Says Phoebe
Canyon Towhee
Hairy Woodpecker
Red Shafted Flicker
Lark Sparrow
Black Headed Grosbeak
Lazuli Bunting
Common Nighthawk
Western Scrub Jay
Black Throated Gray Warbler
Williamson Sapsucker
Green Tailed Towhee
Red Breasted Nuthatch
White Breasted Nuthatch
White Crowned Sparrow
Dark Eyed Junco (Oregon, Gray Headed and Pink Sided sub-species I believe)
Spotted Towhee
Grey Catbird
Sharp Shinned Hawk
American Robin
Pine Siskin
Red Naped Sapsucker
Cassin's Finch
Stellar's Jay
Western Tanager

Don't Fence Me In...Or Out

We had a moonlight visitor recently who raised an interesting difference between living in a western state vs an eastern state. Although we did not get to see our visitor in the flesh, there is no doubt about who it was. (Photos of hoof prints and cow flops)

Our neighbors, and just about everyone else we've met out here, keep cattle. We do not keep cattle. We do, however, have an expensive pole mounted solar array that would make a prime steer scratching post, and bales of straw for our compost system that are attractive to cows, and we do plan to have a vegetable garden at some point. To protect these investments, it was important to learn who was responsible for keeping the 2,000 lb walking steak factories out of areas where they are unwelcome. Who has the responsibility for building the fences shows the difference between eastern and western states. 

It works like this: back east, if you have an animal that your neighbor does not want crossing on to their property, it is your responsibility to fence your animal in. That is a "fence in" state. Here in the west, if your neighbor doesn't want your animals crossing on to their property, it is their responsibility to fence your animal out. That is a "fence out" state. New Mexico is a fence out state, so it is up to us to build fences around any areas we want to be steer-free. Here is attempt #1 at a fence around the delicious straw bales. (Photo is compost area fence)

We will also want to keep deer and elk out of the garden, and they may not be too impressed with this fence design. The plan is to use local experts to construct fences for the solar array and the garden. We'll write up a separate entry when that happens. For now, keep your cloven hooves crossed that this fence keeps the one-ton moonlight visitors fenced out!

C of O!!

After several visits by a plethora of NM inspectors we FINALLY have our Certificate of Occupancy. I am only making a post about this because it has been such a long drawn out process. We made the initial payment on the Mariposa project in Dec of 2013. So approximately 7 months from start to finish for a 420 square foot home :)

Jill was quick to note that our final inspector (who was a bit of a nit-picker) managed to get the address wrong and neglected to put her name on the certificate despite the fact it was on every other piece of paperwork pertaining to the property.

Gravel vs the monsoon

Last year when we were here, there were a lot of thunderstorms, and a fair amount of run off as a result. I took one look at the soft earth surrounding the house and decided I wanted something that would NOT wash away with the next big storm.

I asked my builder Mark Berry if he knew of someone who could provide me with a dump load of gravel. He recommended a guy out of Springerville, AZ who would be able to deliver a "belly dump" load of road base (gravel with a "binder").

The load was 18 cubic yards of gravel, and here is what it looked like just after delivery:

Jill and I have been spreading it the old fashioned way with a shovel, wheel-barrow, and rake. It is tiring labor, this old body is not used to REAL work.

I will gleefully post a picture when this chore is done.

On a side note, the semi tractor and trailer that the load was delivered in was horrifying. I am no truck enforcement guy and I saw several violations ( he had suffered a blow-out en-route and rode in on a flat tire while telling an amusing anecdote of how the severed retread had almost hit the car behind him). If Trooper Freeman had been around, the fines on this rig probably would have bankrupt the guy.

Finally finished spreading the gravel. Took 10 days working 2-3 hours a day. It is spread 1-3 inches deep depending on where it is at. Now we just need a good rain storm to wash the coating of binder off. The gravel itself is a blue/gray rock and looks nicer than what this picture shows.