We're back-AND we have NEWS!

It's been too long!  After a self imposed hiatus, we're back and better than ever! 

We have P R O G R E S S with a CAPITAL P!

 

First up is our solar shed.  A luxurious 368 square feet complete with a concrete floor to house our 2,000 water storage tank, water pressure tank and of course solar panels on top, our first real structure may look small to the rest of you but it's a FREAKIN building people!  After 4 long months of trailers we have never been so excited!

 

A special thanks to our friend Lari who showed us how to do an old fashioned barn (or shed) raising in a day!

 

 

One by one the walls went up...

 and...kaboom!  A framed structure!  Whoo hoo!

Slowly but surely it's coming together.   We are so proud we could burst as our Rolls Royce of solar sheds takes shape.

Next up...Foundation!!!!!

This poor cement truck driver - we seriously cried!  Who knew cement blocks could be so exciting!

What could be better?

 

Well a foundation of course!

 

 

 

 



Although when you're 6, the giant dirt mountains from the excavation are WAY more exciting!

 

 

 A thing of pure beauty these concrete blocks!

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And what have our workers been up to this whole time?

 





Pumpkin patches.....

 

 

 Hanging out at the local diner....

 Watching trains from the top of Grandma's "house"....

 

Eating, eating and more eating....

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Our construction moves on.  By this coming Sunday we anticipate beginning the log construction of the house.  A scary, exciting yet daunting next step.
 
We are so excited to share this journey and adventure with you.  For those of you who have followed this blog from the beginning....first of all...thank you.  Second, you know it was dedicated to our father who passed away so unexpectedly and is missed more and more every day.  Just days before our father's birthday we got our permit.  On what would have been his 68th birthday we began construction.  It served as a reminder to us that a summer spent in trailers living in rustic conditions means something....time is short and dreams make the world go round.

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Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you---
Sweet dreams that leave all worries far behind you.
But in your dreams, whatever they be,
Dream a little dream with me.

 

 

The Great Escape- Weeks 9-10

We're gonna stay together baby through the monsoon and no matter the weather honey me and you will bloom....yeah yeah yeah! What's this you say?  Lakefront property, lounging next to the river, enjoying some R&R?  Hah!  This ladies and gentlemen is our road; our only ingress and egress; our only connection to supplies, Starbucks, nail appointments and all manner of N-E-C-E-S-S-I-T-I-E-S! More important than Starbucks and nails (if there is such a thing) - 1/2 of our crew got stuck on the other side! -----------------------------------------------------------

Not to fear - where there's a will there's a way.  We're no Steve McQueen but we can stage our own great escape and no stinkin' flood will keep us down!

So....we parked the Beemer on the civilization side....

And the stranded outwitted the barbed wire fence to crawl on the train trestle.

Armed with their most valuable possessions, the refugees scaled the bridge and began their way across the flood...

Closer and closer they came; relieved to be free, they waived to their rescuers...

And tightly clutched their teddy bears!

Safe on the other side, they scaled great heights and engaged in Herculean feats to get safely to the ground.

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What we've learned:  We're crazy.  Plumb, certifiably crazy!  And, we're loving every minute (okay that's a bit of an exaggeration) we're loving alot of this adventure; speaking of adventures, this one never ends-never a dull moment; monsoon season is not to be trifled with; having a train trestle border your road is simply the best thing ever, we pity all the poor folks that don't have such a luxury; and, at the end of the day...getting home is the only thing that matters.

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Construction Update:  Since we realize this blog entry is not particularly informative about our building status and recognize some of you read this blog for information rather than entertainment (go figure) here's where we're at....cross your fingers...a little birdy at the permit department told us we're almost there so we've readied the foundation contractor and the surveyor to mark the house lines (which we already marked but our child labor force decided to remove and play with).  Hopefully by the next entry we can report a permit and building progress. It's been a long and often times challenging summer but the memories we've made and the things we've experienced are simply indescribable.

 Live to Dream...Dream to Live

Trials, Tribulations and Tarantulas! Weeks 7-8

 Time flies when you're having fun and our little "paradise" has proven to be challenging.  Can you say M-O-N-S-O-O-N????

Since our last post, we've acquired another house, multiple mice, more mice bait, traps, peppermint and cinnamon oil than humanly conceivable...and finally.....multiple kittens!  With a sigh of relief, we can proudly say we've bid the mice au revoir...for now!

First up?  House number 2!  It arrived late at night, much too late to unload although in our excitement we would have given it a shot.  It is hard to describe the emotions in seeing what would have been our father's house arrive on a semi truck like he drove.  RIP Daddy.  

 Bright and early, Home Depot showed up with interior framing and who knows what else...

And unceremoniously dumped it all on the ground (primarily because we STILL have no building permit).

With 3100 square feet of house on the ground (sigh) we then turned our attention to attire - because after all....who can build a house without the proper "look?"

 

 Don't worry, he didn't actually leave the store with all of this!

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With no houses to build (thank you Yavapai County) and realizing our child labor force was itching for an education, a schoolhouse in the desert was created.



First came the floor....thank you Ms. Cielo!

 

                                                                                       Then the picnic tables (aka desks).



Kudos to Daddy who was a first time picnic table builder!

Just add a tent - and viola!  We have a school "house"!

   

By the next day...we had very happy schoolers!

 

We celebrated the end of our first school day with a beautiful moon rising...

And...a new camper!  NOT NOT NOT!



 This guy was minding his own business making his merry way to our mess tent.  We, due to the fab moon, stomped around without lights and someone accidentally crushed on the poor not so little and very furry camper wannabe. 

In spite of the intrusion, our labor force was exhausted and our supervisors, knowing the job was done, relaxed.

 

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What we've learned:  without permits, you might as well hang out at the pool;

 When you're 6, there is little that compares to a shovel, a hose and 40 acres of dirt; mice are very very icky; our heart palpitations in discovering live mice stuck on a sticky trap do not soon fade; the monsoon season here is really freakin' long; it is a gift to raise children in fresh air surrounded by beauty our cameras really never seem to fully capture; and there are few things that compare to fans, swamp coolers, ice, freezer air and hose wars!

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 Where is your dream today?  Did you place it on a shelf for safekeeping and forget about it or bury it in a safe long forgotten?  Wherever it resides, retrieve it, own it, live it.  Life is far too short.

 

Week 6 - Where is a good pair of ruby slippers when you need 'em????

Rain, rain, rain!  Not just a few tepid drops oh no...that would be far too easy.  We're talking thunderstorms like you've never seen with thunder that rolls on indefinitely, lightening so bright you'll need sunglasses at midnight and torrents, rivers, streams, floods and any other word for rain you can think of!  Yet through it all, we are blessed.  Why?  Because we are  here...this is our dream... and we live it proudly!

July 16th - house #1 arrival!  Yay!  This ladies and gentlemen is what 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths looks like...on the ground.  Yet optimism (or is it hope) springs eternal.  One day.....

Why on the ground you ask?

One word...PERMIT!  Still don't have one, don't know when we'll get one. 

We admit to flagging spirits...a house here waiting for willing hands which are currently tied by bureaucracy.  Even our workers seem to be slowing down.

On top of that we're getting a first real taste of monsoon season and what a doozie it is!

Witness the before picture:

Idyllic in an admittedly rustic sort of way....

Then many kabooms, unweldy gusts and much watershed later....man down, man down!

Let's rephrase that! "Men down, men down!"

The victims?  Our "kitchen" and the newly constructed school "house" and yes for you doubters they were BOLTED down. 

Soggy and waterlogged as unrescued artwork, we  wondered just what we were thinking!

And yet... no rainstorm is complete without a rainbow and a truly spectacular sunset.  Reassured by the beauty surrounding us we regrouped and re energized.

Our workers perked up...

And showed us rain or shine, that we go on!

 A school house absent the "house" became a stage and play area....

 With performances that admittedly could use honing but brought immeasurable joy...

 And at the end of it all, as we walked off into the sunset, we realized that rain or shine we still believe and our dream lives on.