Monday, December 24, 2012

Season's Greetings

Don't forget the Pot Luck dinner at the Legion tonight at 6:00. Bring a dish of food or a donation. Now... What am I going to take???

Pictures from last night's Pot Luck dinner.
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Saturday, December 22, 2012

I guess we're Safe?

Well 12/21/2012 left without a big bang and I don't have ocean front property. Sort of makes me wonder what idiot or idiots will come up with the next event that will supposedly wipe all life from our mother earth? Will we believe it even if its true? It seems to be a little like the boy that cried wolf. Suppose something really came up that would spell certain doom for us all, but we all didn't believe it and said screw it. Then it happens and we are no more. Perhaps we would all be better off since we wouldn't be worrying about it until it happened. Not that the majority actually believed anything was going to happen this time and for that matter 01/01/2000 or doom's day sayers from the past.


Pictures from last night's End of the world Party.


Picture from this morning's sunrise.
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Thursday, December 20, 2012

My ocean front property in Terlingua

Before 12/21/2012


After 12/21/2012

Yeaha!

Anyone have a boat for sale?

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Quick Fix (I Hope) / Damn that hurt!

We are under a high wind warning and someone said there was supposed to be record breaking winds. Oh NO... Tell me it isn't true! That would probably have to be 150 MPH wind down here.

Anyway I still haven't got around to adding supports to stabilize the front part of the roof and its too windy now to try and work on a ladder. I decided to try out the straps to maybe keep the roof on here and I hope it works. Problem is the straps are vibrating in the wind and it sounds like a squadron of WW2 bombers flying over. Hope I'll be able to sleep with that noise tonight.

I was at the legion yesterday evening and forgot to take one of the little LED flash lights with me so I could see how to get to the cabin since it was dark. I'd used the trailer to go get water a couple of days ago and had jacked the tongue as high as it would go to be able to get as much water out of the tank as possible. I'd forgotten about it being between the Jeep and cabin and I found it by knocking a dent in my right knee cap. Its sure giving me hell today!

Below are a few more pictures I've taken lately.
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Sunday, December 16, 2012

Public Service Announcement

Would be nice to win this!

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Upcoming Legion Events

For lack of anything better to post here you go.

Sorry for the last one being on the fuzzy side.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Update / Big Fridge / My first song?

Got the big monitor setup where I can watch movies off of my laptop. It isn't crooked just looks that way in the picture. Makes it nice to be able to sit on the bunk across the room and watch movies on the cold nights. Of course I have  a decent sound system hooked up also so its more or less like watching movies on a stereo TV.

The wind is up again today, but its out of the south and so far I don't feel any wind coming in anywhere. I pretty well have the door sealed up real good now so that shouldn't be a problem with another high east wind.

Got the big fridge running now off of a separate battery bank and inverter. Its doing real good except for the cloudy day so I'm running the generator with a battery charger hooked up to it to make sure the fridge has the juice to get by through the night. I'll be adding more panels to the second bank as soon as I can, but as long as the sun is out it charges the batteries and runs the fridge to. This is actually a pretty darned large fridge and it will take some doing and $$$ to stock it and the freezer. You can bet there will be some frozen pizzas and meat in the freezer.  (Not to mention a full bag of ice for when its needed)

As for my first song? Well some time back I posted a video by George Goss called Ain't no honkey tonks in jail. Well he told me if I'd write the lyrics to a song he'd put it to music and sing it so I took him up on it. He may or may not accept it? I call it Exiled to Terlingua

Left the Old Lady For a gal named Sady,
But the judge didn't think that was right.

Now I'm exiled to Terlingua. Sady can't see ya.
You left me just for spite.

Got the dog, but it bit me and my eX done hit me.
So now I got a black eye.

My family disowned me and my eX won't phone me.
But the judge thought that was alright.

Now I'm exiled to Terlingua and they say may the killer bees sting ya.
I just say that ain't right.

Left the old lady for a gal names Sady,
But the judge didn't think that was right.

Now I'm exiled to Terlingua and the judge said Boy wouldn't want to be ya.
Just makes me want to cry.

Left the Old Lady For a gal named Sady,
But the judge didn't think that was right.

Now I'm exiled to Terlingua. Sady can't see ya.
You left me just for spite.

Got the dog, but it bit me and my eX done hit me.
So now I got a black eye.

My family disowned me and my eX won't phone me.
But the judge thought that was alright.

Now I'm exiled to Terlingua and they say may the killer bees sting ya.
I just say that ain't right.

Left the old lady for a gal names Sady,
But the judge didn't think that was right.

Now I'm exiled to Terlingua and the judge said Boy wouldn't want to be ya.
Just makes me want to cry.



2012 by David T Smith

I never said it was good did I? ;)



Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Big Difference

Night before last turned out to be a REALLY Lousy night. I'm guesstimating that the wind was gusting around 50 MPH when the cold front blew in. The temp dropped to below freezing over night and that wind was plenty cold coming in through the cracks around the door. Worst part was that the wind had to be out of the east northeast because it was coming in here plenty fast. Almost felt like a fan blowing.

I'd robbed the cushions from the dining room bunk in the trailer to make a quick temporary bed out of and the bottom was vinyl which made it slide around on the OSB board floor like it was made out of ice. To make a long story short I had all of the cushions together when I went to bed, but as I turned it caused the cushions to separate and slide apart. That let the cold air use the space between the cushions as a way in under the cover. The little heater just couldn't overcome the cold air coming around the door. I finally got up and put duct tape over the cracks around the door and that seemed to help so I hit the rack again. Later I started getting very cold again and found later that the wind had blown the duct tape off. 40 degrees was the coldest I saw in here that night. I'd seen 23 or lower in the Dungeon so I guess this was still a big improvement.


Determined not to have the same type night I managed to find enough stuff around here to temporarily weatherstrip the door and I got in high gear yesterday evening and got a temporary bunk built. I had more than enough lumber for that that had gone south after  I broke my arm and couldn't use it in time to keep that from happening.

This hammock was what I had intended to use to start with, but once I had it up and tried it I decided there was NO WAY I could get a decent night's sleep on that so it came down a lot quicker than it was put up.

Last night turned out  to be a very good night. Perhaps one of the best I've had in cold weather since I've been living here. There wasn't any wind so I couldn't tell how well the weather stripping would have done. The little heater did a great job on low until  about 6:00 AM when the temp had gotten to 55 degrees so I switched it to high and got up when the temp  got up to about 68 degrees fairly quickly. It was 35 degrees in the trailer when I went to check that and I'm sure it got below freezing again because the ice chest I had outside with ice and water in it was crusted over with ice.

And here are a few pictures I've taken lately with the new camera.

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Sunday, December 9, 2012

First Knight

Actually  that should be First Night. (as in the cabin) The hammock didn't work at all after I put it up in here. Might be OK  for a nap, but not to spend the night on. I'll  be sleeping on a foam mattress on the floor with a sleeping bag. Meanwhile I'm  trying to set here and hold a LED light to type by and it isn't working very well.

Will try to update this tomorrow or start a new thread.

BTW looks like it isn't supposed to be as cold as predicted earlier.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Almost there (I think)

This morning Judy (one of my friends and neighbors) came by and helped me get the rest of the insulation up I was having trouble with. Didn't take all that long, but it would have taken me forever trying to do it by myself. There's still a small amount to do, but I can do that by myself. I also need to do more sealing around the outside roof as soon as I can get to it.

Below is all the stuff that had too come out of the cabin for us to put up the insulation. I'd just been moving it all from one area to another area and getting it out of there made things a lot easier. Most will be crammed back in the storage tank since most of it came out of there to start with.


Below are pictures inside I took tonight. Its unbelievable how quiet it is in there now.

Also tried out the new big fridge and the compressor wouldn't start off of the 750 watt inverter. Looks like I'll have to use the bigger 1000 watt inverter. It will be real nice to have such a large fridge and freezer.



Ramblings



I've killed three more small cone noses in the last two days. One in side here yesterday and two outside the door today. Seems like the season for them is starting later and the ending season is to.

Night before last I heard the first pack of coyotes close outside in over a year. (Probably closer to two years) Sounded real close.

The front end on the Jeep is shot and I need to rebuild that as soon as I can get the cabin finished far enough to weather the COLD front I keep hearing about.

Don't have an S.O.T.P. picked out for the day...


Wednesday, November 28, 2012

3 Plus / More freebies

Couldn't remember when I first set foot on Terlingua soil so back tracked through the blog. I've actually been here a little over 3 years. (Three years a month and a few days to be exact.) Things have changed a lot for me and most for the better for those who haven't read this blog from the start.

Today is Bigfoot and Littlefoot's third anniversary and I remember Just Me and myself watched John Wells marry them over the internet. Congratulations again you two!

More Freebies


The little oven is compliments of one of my friends/neighbor Howard. It isn't real big, but should do everything I need it to do. (cook decent sized pizzas and who knows what else?) Its supposed to be a built in so I plan to build it in a small cabinet with wheels on it with the propane tank inside the cabinet like a propane grill. By doing that I'll be able to move it in the cabin in the winter to help provide heat and be able to cook meals without it getting too hot inside. In the summer I can move it to a small outside kitchen I plan to build eventually. I'd imagine the new fridge will stay in the cabin though. I'll probably build in a sink for dish washing both in the cabin and outside kitchen.

Bigfoot also brought me a couple more high E dual pain windows that I've decided to put on the south end. They are frosted but that doesn't really matter I plan to also double those to double the insulation value and they will mainly be for lighting during the day.

After Ring brought me another bundle of insulation to finish off the cabin Bigfoot brought me some more R19 insulation and it will come in handy because they are cut in 4 foot length pieces. I need several 4 foot pieces for the ceiling so I won't have to cut the other stuff. He also brought me some R30 that I can use for stuffing in areas where I can't use the R19 stuff.

Then comes Nick. He came buy and dropped off some R13 insulation and I'll probably use it to insulate the under pinning on the cabin. Should help both in the winter and summer since the floor isn't insulated. Occasionally Harbor Freight runs a sell on interlocking rubber tiles that are about a half inch thick and are made out of hard foam rubber. They are intended for covering garage floors, but since they are foam I figure they would have a decent insulation value so I plan to cover the floor in the cabin with those. Should be able to do that for under $100. I just may have enough insulation left over for the add on bathroom when I get it built.


 S.O.T.P.




Friday, November 23, 2012

Turkey Day at the Legion

Had a decent turnout at the legion yesterday for Turkey Day. Not as many people came as were expected, but still a good crowd. I didn't start taking pictures until a good number of people had already left. I was focusing on Videos earlier of Jared & Moses playing and I uploaded one of those to Youtube and its posted here. at the bottom. Took me a while to figure out the video part of the camera so I missed some really good ones until I figured that out. Still need to read the manual to find out how to get the best out of the new camera.

Just Me (Julianne) had her banjo there, but if she got it out and played it I'd already left. I left about 7:30 or 8:00 over stuffed, but it looked like some of them were around there until closing (Midnight) since the outside party lights were still on then.


There was way more than enough food to go around, but for some reason this year there wasn't much in the way of desert. I guess we need to work on that for next year. What was there was really good. I ate a couple of different types of fruit salad and a good sized slice of cherry pie which was enough for me. There was also pumpkin pie, but I've never liked that so didn't eat any of it.


Not sure of the name of the song in the video so I took my best guess. This is Jared and Moses in the video with Jared on the guitar and Moses on the harmonica.

BTW its windy as hell here and mighty cool so I'm just hunkering down today.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Turkey Day

Hope all the Americans have a great one and the rest of the world has a good day.

BTW .1 inch of rain last night and no sign of leaks in the cabin. Of course that wasn't much rain and may not have been enough and fast enough to cause the leaks.


There will be a Thanksgiving Dinner at the Legion starting at 3:00 PM. Entertainment is to be provided by several local musicians. Its open to the public.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Fly Slayer / New Fridge / Heater / Party Table

Big, Little and Under Feets made it down yesterday evening, but it was this morning before Bigfoot came by. He was bearing gifts as usual and one was a new (to me) apartment sized fridge. This should open up a whole new world for me as far as food storage does. It has a large separate freezer compartment and decent sized fridge part to boot. It pulls less than 150 watts running which is about twice that of the small fridge, but I have plenty of solar to support it.
Ring dropped off the large spool a few days ago and that will make a good party table. I'm figuring I can put the white plastic drum I have in the center and on top of it with the solar light on it and have a well lighted area for the party area and a lighted place to eat for several people. (At night anyway)

Bigfoot also brought me this. I bet I'll have a lot of fun with it, but I brought it in here and loaded it and even though there had been a bunch of flies in here earlier they all seem to have vanished now. Evidently new technology news and warnings must travel fast in the fly community. If you wonder how it works you can watch the video below.

And last, but not least Bigfoot also dropped off this heater. Its a loaner, but hopefully I can get one like it before he needs it back. It should do great in the cabin once I finish insulating it.

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