Bambusoideae

We've been busy, how about you?

On the 12th we headed out to our Solitario job site and ran into a few noteworthy mud puddles along the way.  Even though we have gotten probably less than a quarter inch over the past few days, some areas have gotten a lot more.  It seems like parts of the Solitario have been consistently getting a bit more than average. 

Even though our trucks are both two-wheel drive, Casey is a very skilled driver in all conditions, and navigated the mud pits and washouts with relative ease.  As residents of Terlingua, though, we all know that sometimes driving just isn't an option.  Flash floods can be very dangerous, and one can never know for certain what is below the surface of rushing water.  So we were not surprised to find out that Pat and Bob of Echo E. Ranch had spent Thursday night in town out of necessity.  We ran into them (figuratively) along South County road as they inspected it for navigability on their way back home Friday morning.

We chatted about solar power and the desert until a stray cow meandered over and told us all to get a move on.

Back at the job site, we picked up where we had left off.  We connected the battery bank in a parallel-series configuration with two solid copper buss bars connecting the series strings into a parallel circuit.  These copper bars are really great and we hope to use them in future installations where applicable, and also in our own bank someday.

Once the batteries were ready to take a charge, we wired the panels into one of the Apollo Solar charge controllers.  The setup process on this unit was remarkably simple and straight-forward, something we all hope MorningStar and OutBack adopt soon.

It was a long day, and we had a great view to watch the clouds forming all across the Big Bend skies.  It was plain to see that rain was in our future, but we didn't want to rush the job.  Nor did we want to get stranded at the site!

Lucky for us, the rain held off until we began the drive back to town.  We could see that it was already raining on the Corazones though!  We hustled back and enjoyed the rest of the rain and wind from the comfort of our own home.

Saturday was spent beginning the installation of our bamboo flooring.  As you probably know, bamboo is one of the best raw materials on the planet, because it grows quickly, needs no fertilizer, and is incredibly strong.  While the flooring is considered "hardwood," bamboo is actually a grass.  It is as strong as any true hardwood floor, though, and looks amazing!  The flooring was less than $2 per square foot from Lumber Liquidators, and we borrowed the tool from Casey's sister and brother-in-law, so we saved a bundle and only paid retail for the cleats and the underlayment. 

The weather has made it really easy to work inside!  The temps have dropped from triple digits to lower eighties, and the humidity hasn't been that bad either. 

We have had a few severe winds, as our turbine will attest.  We lost one of our blades while we were out in the Solitario, and had some things scattered across the desert.

The thunder and rain has signaled a late spring to many desert animals, like the Leopard Frogs, which were bouncing right out of the sand at the sound of a storm slightly to the south.  I also spotted the second rattlesnake of the season, a three foot long Black Tail Rattlesnake that was crossing Lake Ament Rd at the creek.  I didn't have a camera on me when I saw the snake, but trust me that she was beautiful!