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I cannot believe it has been more than a month since I posted an update… suffice it to say that we have not stopped working and been laying about!
In the past month, the exterior of the house has been almost finished, including:
Stucco Caulking and Painting Exterior Trim (soffits and fascia) Exterior Door installation Chimney Roofing Installation of Garage Doors Gravel placed on drive and on road Exterior Light fixture installation
We hired a subcontractor for the stucco. While they worked on stucco, I kept up (barely) with painting and caulking all the soffits and fascia. We used the [...]
Our big plans to start an early framing day have been greeted by rain! It rained a bit several hours ago (very, very early this morning), after which it stopped for awhile, giving us false hope. It has begun drizzling again, so prospects for moving all the power tools out onto the wet work area are looking less likely. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t lose an entire day.
Since we are doing all the prep work ourselves for the slab foundation, we also did the installation of the rebar for the foundation. We did get some help from a couple of local construction workers who worked with us for an hourly wage. That helped a great deal and made the work go much more quickly. The entire family did learn how to wire rebar and how to insert support rebar for the footers. Here are a few photos of the process:
Nearly all rebar in place…
Corners bent without Cheater pipes.
18" apart Rebar meets [...]
This summer has already brought huge forest fires to New Mexico. The nearest fire, near Ruidoso, altered the sky even 70 miles away… The following three shots were taken from our land toward the northwest turning toward the west…
Smoke on the horizon
We had a wonderful week of rain here in the dry southeastern New Mexico desert. Because of the dirt road in front of our property, we tried to minimize the driving we did when the weather was so wet, but welcomed the wonderful smell of the rain and much-needed moisture. It came just in time to give additional water to our newly-transplanted pecan trees, as well as the native cacti on the property. Here are photos of the blooms that came soon after the rain:
The prickly pears look like they’ll be producing fruit, so maybe I’ll try my hand [...]
Well… it has been a hectic month. We have driven over 4500 miles, criss-crossing the southern U.S., hauling our belongings, pets, kids and selves from Georgia to New Mexico.
The first leg of the trip began on Easter. After playing and directing the choir for Easter Sunday Mass, we loaded up the kids, dog and lizards into the two vehicles and started out. Behind the dually, we had the gooseneck trailer hitched (loaded with 2 bulldozers); the Tahoe pulled a rented U-Haul trailer with the WWII Harley WLA motorcycle strapped inside. We stopped in West Monroe, LA for the first [...]
COST UPDATE: After talking with the driller, we found out that all the drillers in the region have a minimum fee for drilling that is about $2500. Apparently, even though it was not quoted to us, it is the going price for the work involved in hauling out all the equipment, setting up, etc. We are still thrilled with the fact that the well came in at only 40 feet, but would caution folks to ask what the minimum charge will be in a case of this sort so that they are not surprised.
Based on my research [...]
We have thirty-five acres in southern Colorado, which we bought a couple of years ago. Some of the photos we have posted here on the site are from that land. It is absolutely beautiful and is where we plan to spend free time once we have finished building the homestead in southeastern NM.
The acreage in Colorado has a trout stream running through one corner of the property, so water was available already. However, when we bought the land, the previous owner had already applied for and been granted a homestead well permit for the property. We decided to [...]
Well… as the infrequent postings have given testament to, the family has been very preoccupied with preparations for the big move to NM. We are packing up belongings in cardboard boxes, finalizing plans and routes, and getting more and more excited about it.
The workshop is nearly complete and we are very happy with the progress. We’ve had a nice driveway finished with stone and a small concrete slab poured at the workshop entrance. The interior is nearly complete. The job was made a bit more difficult for the subcontractors since hooking up the water and electricity are [...]
Annanasnaja arguta kiwi
Did you know that kiwis have 10 times the amount of Vitamin C in lemons? There are several different types of hardy kiwis that can grow in many different zones — some as far north as zone 3. The female kiwis, with their beautiful vines can produce up to 25 lbs of fruit each year when mature. Since the kiwis need a male for pollination, and the male can pollinate up to 8 different female vines, I’m thinking we might as well purchase several different varieties to see which produce best for our area and to [...]
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