la bomba bicicleta

Had a great visit with Dr. Deb and her friend Stacy, who drove out to Terlingua from East Texas.  They are staying at le Chateau TFL, and came by to have us fabricate a bicycle water pump. Got to give them a tour of the homestead, too.  It turns out that Deb's a whiz at ferro-cement, and had lots of questions about the Presidio Gallena.

We recently got this nifty little band saw for cutting metal, and now we don't know how we got on without one for so long.  It makes the whole process more precise and less dramatic (we had been using a chop saw with an abrasive disk).

 

The mercury is supposed to drop tonight and into the next couple days with a big cold front that's moving in, but today was just perfect.

Soggy

At the end of the rainy day, we had accumulated an inch of rain for this storm (that's across two days).  Everything is soaked pretty thoroughly, and the creeks (and roads) were flowing.

The presidio gallena was holding water, though the birds didn't seem to mind.  Some fresh wood chips took care of the problem, and gave the birds some new stuff to scratch and peck.

Prep work

We finally finished butchering all nineteen meat birds today.  Now we have nineteen whole, skinless birds, and as many necks, hearts, and livers.  I also cleaned a few gizzards for my mother, because last time I told her I was butchering, that was her first question: "Did you save the gizzards?"  

Just for you, Mom, I did this time ... and they are pretty nasty things to clean, by the way.  

But what I really want to have someday is a chicken plucker, a la 'Whiz-bang.'  What could make a young and tender bird even tastier? A crispy, delicious skin ... yum!  And southern fried chicken just isn't the same without that crunchy, breaded skin.  But plucking by hand is a huge chore.  It takes forever and if you don't do it right, you can leave bits behind, which will make your dinner guests squeamish.

After the birds were cleaned and put away, we started in on our 100 gallon waterer project.  This project uses a bucket, some poultry watering nipples ordered online, some tubing, and a float valve.

The chickens learned pretty quickly that pecking at the nipples causes water to flow, though a few stubborn ones refused to try until we removed the other waterer.  This new system will hopefully ensure that the birds have an ample supply of clean drinking water for a long time between refills.  Since it is a closed system, the birds can't poop in their water, it won't evaporate as quickly, and debris won't block the flow.

We have no idea how long the 100 gallons will last with this new watering system, but hopefully it will make it easier for humans to keep the coop supplied with clean water.

FAIL!

This morning we were stunned to find that the fox (undoubtedly the same one that perpetrated the Massacre) had tried to break into the coop again!

And he/she was REALLY working hard!

The main hole dug by the front door was five feet long. 
After inspecting the paw prints in the dirt piles and the scratches on the stucco, we're pretty sure the varmint is a fox.  

If anyone else has experience and wants to share an opinion, feel free to comment.  
Soon we'll have a wifi camera on the coop, so we'll have definitive proof.

Three other, smaller holes were attempted on the back side, but there was no chance at all of breaking in by digging. Presidio Gallena flipped that fox the bird.

The Great Chicken Massacre

We suffered a devastating loss yesterday.  In the wee hours of the morning a fox broke into our chicken coop and laid waste to all the birds.  There were over thirty dead.  About 20 meat birds and all 15 of our beautiful and friendly egg layers.

At first it seemed a total loss, but while cleaning up the carnage we found one bird still alive and hiding among the dead.

She has had the skin ripped off one leg, all the way up to her hip and her armpit.  The injury makes her almost immobile, but otherwise she seems lively and alert. 

We took her next door to the adobe, where she is now living in a dog crate.  Her injury has been treated with Woundkote, a spray on antiseptic dressing.  She is eating and drinking, and I promised her that if she pulls through, she will live a long life as an honorary egg layer.

We are calling her Foxy, as a reminder of what a terrible loss we suffered because our so-called 'fortress' couldn't keep out one burrowing varmint.

This is the last time we will ever have an intruder in our coop!

Google image: Terlingua kit fox

Ferro-concrete wall and Case loader reclamation

Our first real ferro-concrete wall, for the chicken fortress:

Tim Dean's 1970s era Case loader is a beast of a machine! Supercharger worked amazingly well, but there were no brakes going down Yellow Hill.

An Excellent October

At the beginning of this month my good friend Arick arrived for a few months' stay on the Terlingua Ranch. Arick originally guided us to this place and he also has a lot of input on the micro-windpower technology.

We have been working on a few projects, and one of the more fun ones was building adobe nesting "caves" for the chickens. This was Sara's design that we had been wanting to try.  We managed to pour a footing with 8% Portland in the adobe mix, and also lots of old bottles and cans.
The wall is 18" thick. We used a bucket for the form and we plan on making a slightly thicker mixture so that we can shape the rest of the wall by hand into some interesting curves.

My parents Kathie and Robert arrived on the 13th and stayed for a very busy and exciting seven days. We started their trip off by visiting the Cottonwood Spring and exploring Smugglers' Notch.
My parents also looked at some property on the Ranch, and one of the more notable pieces is picture below.
My father, Arick, and I were lucky enough be taken to the Agua Fria Ranch by TR GM Frank. It was an amazing tour! This place has a rich history, mainly due to the spring which feeds the area. The ride took us through beautiful pasture, but the highlight was the spring and its surroundings. Simply amazing.

Spring's source

Ancient petroglyphs

 

Some of the friendly locals

Dad and I hacked out a new, circular driveway, and in doing so we pulled out a ton of the invasive greasewood (aka creosote bush). Using Dennis' patent-pending greasewood popper:
We finished off my parents visit with a trip to the underground bar and grill La Kiva

(L to R): me, Arick, Dad and Mom

To finish off our evening we made a trip down to the Rio Grande at Lajitas to watch the sunset.