working title

Sorry for the gap in entries.  Still missing our camera, so this will be another text-only post.

In the week since our last post, we've gotten a fair amount of rain.  Almost every day, there has been a lot of cloud buildup, and while not everyone has gotten rain everyday, it has precipitated somewhere in the area almost everyday this week.

So the desert is as green as it gets, chock full of flora and fauna.

We recently completed our chicken tractor and put the meat birds in for finishing.  The tractor has a footprint of about 50 inches by 16 feet, and is entirely made of steel.  The main body is welded cattle panels, with angle steel reinforcing the center against sag.  The whole framework is wrapped stem to stern in chicken wire, with a 4x4' door panel for access.  It doesn't have its wheels on yet, so it makes a good harrow to drag around.

The birds are all six weeks old, and the meaties will be ready for the freezer in four weeks or less.

We've also finally started setting tile in our bathroom.  We've been sitting on the tiles for months now, and have bought and returned a couple of incorrect items -- a mastic that needed an additive not sold in our area, a premixed mastic that turned out to be much cheaper at another store -- and we still need to figure out if we will use the grout that we have.  

But the important thing is that we have one wall tiled! And it looks great!  Although on the next wall, we will be more diligent in randomizing the tiles.  We had a few too-similar tiles end up too close together.

A few projects are in the planning stages and hopefully we will begin working on them in a few weeks.

The biggest one on the list is routing electricity and water around the homestead.  This will mean purchasing a whole lot of wire and speedy-line. We will also need to rent a machine to dig a trench from the workshop, to the barn, and to the house.

Part of that project will be getting at least one big tank, maybe two, and setting it/them on the north side of the workshop for rain catchment.

We are also eager to install an evaporative cooler in our house, and we think we may have found just the right one for our little 300 square foot space.

Building a porch has been on the To-Do List forever, but recently has made its way closer to the top of that list.

And there is so much more, but we can cross those bridges when we get there...

Thanks for reading :)

Solar as usual

We recently helped our friends expand their solar power system. They added 1,400 watts of PV to their array, which doubled their power input.

Their new panels are mounted to the roof using a prefabricated IronRidge aluminum mounting system.

The SunTech PV modules come with a 20 year output warranty and are well matched to the battery bank voltage, which means the OutBack Power MPPT charge controller can operate at peak efficiency.

Our friends are happy to now have more electricity than they need, even during times of heavy electrical usage.




The 1.8 kilowatt SunStation was recently delivered to its new owners on the Terlingua Ranch.  The couple is pleased with the performance so far, and are able to run their Airstream travel trailer, including a hefty, roof-mounted air conditioner. 

Surprisingly, the brand new, modern AC (13k BTU) consumes 1.9 kilowatts per hour.  That's about 600 watts more than the similarly sized window unit at my parents' home, which dates to about 1980.


We received a large delivery of concrete blocks for some upcoming homestead improvements. 380 8x8x16" blocks, 20 bags of mortar and 20 bags of Portland cement.

We are adding a back wall on the shop in blocks up to 7' high, the remainder is framed in steel and covered by steel panels.

The floor of the chicken coop was also excavated and poured with homemade concrete this past week.  Just a little bit of ferro-cement work on the remaining wall, and our last surviving chicken Foxy Lady (who is doing really well, by the way) will be moving back in.