Hellllloooooooo!!! My apologies to everyone for the long silence. A number of you have reached out to ask when the next blog will be out and I can’t tell you how good it feels to know some of you really do love the blog and want to keep up with what’s happening. Thank you!
Technical Issues
The first update is to let you know that cell service here is bad. Shocker right? I know! I can't even get to my web page from a design standpoint so I need to manage my process better and do all my writing and editing offline and then prepare to go to town for coffee or cocktail to find a connection to upload and manage the website. I have needed to come up with a routine anyway and this will hopefully be the impetus. I can make and receive calls usually….. and I can stream a Youtube video now and then, download an audiobook, check Facebook, and keep up with my online permaculture course but it does eat up data of which I have a finite monthly supply so I have to manage closely how I use it. That’s a good thing as it makes me much more aware of how much time can be wasted on a device and helps me to use the resource a little more wisely. My world has become smaller and the majority of my stress is now strictly self imposed.
Another technical device issue that occurred is my computer suddenly asked for some sort of code that I did not have (and can’t remember ever having even though IT is sure I would have written it down somewhere…..) and would not boot up. At all. So I had to reset. A COMPLETE RESET. So I lost everything that was on it. And before you ask, yes, there were a few things that were saved to the cloud however, since the cloud is no longer an option for me out here, much of it was not backed up anywhere. And so it’s gone. I won’t know exactly what is gone until I actually need it so I see a year or so of “Why can’t I find that document….. Oh yea…. Fuck” moments. Hopefully the major emotional melt down is over….
One of the things I lost is the product key for my Microsoft Office. And, of course, Microsoft does not save THAT info when you input it because they want you to purchase their subscription office product instead which requires an internet connection AND a monthly fee. Um, no. So, I am now using Google which allows me to work offline, doesn’t charge me a fee, and will back up my work to the cloud as soon as I’m connected. Not sure why I purchased Office in the first place. Live and learn.
A bit of good news on that whole debacle is I bought a Remarkable 2 some time ago and most of my notes that I take are on that which IS backed up to the cloud when I’m able to sign on AND it keeps all of those documents, etc on the Remarkable itself. It was an expensive purchase that I agonized over buying for months but it has now earned its keep. For those who know how much I hate paper, the Remarkable has eliminated all of my paper needs. I now only have paper for those archaic institutions that still require me to print out a hard copy, sign on a line, AND THEN SCAN WITH MY PHONE and email back to them at which point I then have to burn the paper. I’ll let you all chew on that insanity for a moment.
The Good
Another, more recent, non essential, expensive but worth it, item I purchased was a fat tire ebike! OMG that thing is FUN. The bike I had was impossible to ride out here… it’s made for street riding… but the fat tire bike was a game changer! For those interested in the brand it’s a Pedego which my friend Sue told me about. They just opened a shop in Moab which is a huge benefit as that means it can be serviced locally. Not all bike shops can service all ebikes. But the bike itself is amazing! Pedal assist for the gnarly hills, it also has a throttle that can be used seperately, and the fat tires go over almost all any terrain. Blip loves to run beside me and her happy face alone would make the bike worth it. LOL We do need to figure out how to let her ride on it as we sometimes go long distances and she gets tired and wants to be carried. Backpack? Frontpack? Basket? Feel free to throw out your thoughts here!
A quick update on the animals
Blip is loving the “farm” life. She spends most of her day patrolling the perimeter, soaking up the sun in the morning or finding a nice shady spot in the heat of the day. She never goes out of sight and I’m happy about that. I really don’t want to have to keep her “locked up” somehow. I had hoped she would be a good watch dog but she pretty much sucks at alerting me to people before I already know they’re here and she will bark at animals she smells but can’t see so…..watchdog is not on her resume. And yes, believe it or not, I have had a surprising amount of visitors here in the middle of nowhere.
Dragon is also loving the life… he is out most days on his lounge chair for an hour or so soaking up the sun and once he’s had enough will climb down and find a shady spot. This has given me heart failure a couple of times so I’m planning a Dragon den enclosure that will allow him to have a place that’s outside with sunning and shade spots but enclosed with rabbit cage wire. A mini Dragon habitat. I’m trying to figure out the best location for it and hope to have it done before it’s too cold for him to use it this year.
The Bad
We lost Albert a few months ago. I am devastated and I can’t go into it but I miss him terribly. I only mention it because I shared so much about him on here and it’s only right that I share that he is gone. And even that short mention brings tears so let’s move on.
Update on the ”property”, “farm”, “homestead”, “compound”, what SHOULD I call it?? Property feels weird to say all the time... Farm makes people laugh…. Homestead is probably more accurate…. Compound feels like I need more guns… I have been trying to come up with a name for the place. I used 80 Acres and I default to that often. I’ve tried out Broken Sands but it hasn’t seemed to stick. I like Broken Ground… that seems accurate too since it IS broken and I AM breaking it to grow more, but someone else uses that and it seems like I’d be stealing it. Happy to hear suggestions.
Some of you who follow on Facebook have seen some updates but for those who do not follow Facebook, here’s where we’re at.
I’m now on the property full time. I left the RV park about a month ago. I was delayed by a week due to a monsoon rain storm that turned the road to the “compound” (haha) into a slip and slide and was impassable with the RV. It was barely passable in Thelma. But we are here now and that’s what counts. Some of you know I purchased a “farm” truck, Junior, but what you may not know is that Junior died literally right after I bought him. It was bad luck for sure but again, there has been a silver lining. First, the guy who sold me the truck did give me back a little over half of what I paid. More than fair as he had done a good bit of work on it before I bought it. He did not intentionally sell me a dud and he felt bad about everything as well. In the process of trying to figure out if Junior was salvageable, I met Kevin, who was an excellent mechanic for many years in Moab.
Kevin and I had multiple occasions to talk thanks to Junior and I discovered that he had a mini-excavator and skid steer (which is like a small front end loader) and he was willing (thank doG!) to drive both pieces of equipment from the La Sal area to here and help me with my greenhouse and driveway. He spent a week or so driving out here (that’s a 2.5 to 3 hour drive each way!) almost every day to work in the hot sun. He saved me hundreds of dollars in gravel by finding gravel on my property right at the end of the driveway and turning the place where he found it into a catch pond for the water runoff and built an amazing driveway. He dug out the hole for my geothermal greenhouse which was no small feat…. It’s approximately 10’ X 20’ and 8’ deep. He was able to use a large portion of the clay like dirt that came out of the hole to build up the road before adding the gravel. And I was ecstatic to find that the top 2’ feet of soil where we dug was actually excellent and can be used in the garden(s). I’ve not found that kind of topsoil anywhere else on this property yet so SWEET! He also brought me about 3 tons of compost (4 year old horse shit) which is like gold that I can mix in with all of the gardens/plants/trees to come. He did amazing work and we had some good laughs and I’m sure we will have more “business” in the future but more than that, I am happy to call him a friend.
A little about the geothermal greenhouse. As I think all of you know at this point, I am in the desert. Elevation is about 4400 feet. Rain is scarce and the temps can be extreme. Summer temps will hit 100 degrees and winters can drop into the teens. I am off grid which means I am not connected to the electrical grid or city water (I don’t even have an address!). I have solar power on the RV and I haul my drinking/cooking water from a local town and I will be adding rain catch systems as well. The goal here is to be self-sustaining (more on that in future blogs) and being able to have a garden all year long will be vital to that. Heating and cooling a greenhouse off grid in extreme temps required a lot of research and what I learned was that I could use the earth's thermal energy to help me maintain a more consistent temperature inside the greenhouse with minimal power. (power will be needed for a fan that can be hooked to an independent, small scale, solar system) We dug out a hole 8 feet deep, I laid down 200 feet of 4” corrugated drain pipe on the bottom and I covered that with first, about 8” of the clay/soil mix and I’m now in the process of sifting the topsoil and adding another 10” of good planting soil/compost mix for a total of 18” to 20” of dirt. The pipe ends come up at opposite corners which I will hook the fan up to. Air will be pulled out of the greenhouse and pass through this 200’ of pipe and be cooled/heated to the underground temp of approximately 50 degrees and should help to maintain that temp in the greenhouse for most of the year. Time will tell if I have done it correctly. I am putting the 18” to 20” of dirt back in by hand, well shovel and wheelbarrow actually, so it has been labor intensive. It will suck to the extreme if it doesn’t work…. So I’m going with it will work. Lol
Other updates, I have ordered a shed that will be delivered (THAT left few options of where to get it!) and it will hopefully be here in a few more weeks. That will allow me to take the tent down that is currently holding my bike, hay, and the few tools that I have accumulated. Again, I have so many moments of complete exasperation when I need a tool I used to have and know I’ll now need to buy another one. Things like that make me angry all over again. As much as I have worked on healing and moving on and as much as I love where I currently am in my life, there are still times I want to scream and punch something. So many things lost and gone. I sometimes wish I had a mind erasure.
I have purchased two water tanks, 275 gallons each, and a trailer to haul one of them to and from Thompson for water. I’ve done that once. It’s an interesting experience pulling a trailer with over 2,000 pounds of sloshing liquid in it! Rules for that are make sure it’s tied down securely, plan on the typical 45 minute drive back taking an hour and a half, take the back road, have something good to listen to on the radio, and leave the distraction, AKA Blip, at home. The trip was smooth and uneventful, thankfully.
I have been thinking of doing a Youtube channel for updates via video. Anyone out there know anything about Youtube? I would love to get your advice!
Well, this has been a long update and I’m sure you are ready to move on with your day. Thanks for taking the time to catch up with me.
Stay healthy and safe and keep Movin’ On.
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