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.

Week 4/5!

Oh beautiful for spacious skies......

Progress is a beautiful thing.  Our solar now runs water, the water pressure pump, washer, refrigerator and more.  All from the sun and a big 'ole goose egg for a monthly bill.  Talk about freedom!

We gave up on sod (mucho expensive) and planted grass seeds instead.  Worried about the birds carting off with our seed?  No problem - we have a dachshund on duty who takes her bird chasing responsibilities VERY VERY seriously.

The work never ends but fortunately we have supervisors who are pretty tolerable. 

And....allow the workers multiple breaks....

In case you're wondering...mud....NOT cow pies!

And fortunately they clean up well!

There was even time this week for a truly necessary and much envied rainbow mohawk (props to John Cordova @ Shear Irony in Flagstaff)

Although it couldn't stand up to the monsoons...

Monsoon season is upon us allegedly until September 30th.  It is like nothing we've ever seen and we mean that literally.  You can actually see a storm move towards you, neatly bundled with lightening flashes, ominous clouds, sheets of rain and punctuated thunder that bounces off the surrounding mountains.




The rain is so fierce that even the locals flee to the road to avoid the rivers, streams, lakes and just plain flooding...of course this creates huge traffic jams!

Yet the end result as the sun emerges is beauty, plants, bushes, trees turn green, things literally spring from the ground it seems overnight and what we already believed to be beautiful becomes simply breathtaking...

We've now spent 5 weeks camping in the high desert.  We have gone from no shade or amenities to comfortable, albeit rustic shelter; running water and electricity.  As we sit back and survey the accomplishments we're filled with a sense of pride for the things we accomplished and learned.  The peace we feel in our ever developing paradise is simply indescribable.  Ladies and gentlemen...life is to short....DREAM ON!
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What we've learned?  There is nothing...nothing that compares to experiencing a thunderstorm from inside a tent trailer...warm and cozy yet surrounded by lightening, thunder and a downpour;  trailers are wonderful, wonderful things in monsoon season, trailer canopies are not (may they rest in peace); our children have never been happier surrounded by wide open space and wondrous creatures (all right even we admit some of them are not so wondrous-that cute little white fuzzy thing is bad ju ju and can down a cow); coyotes, cows, jack rabbits, elk, javelinas and more are normal back yard accouterments and as our houses make their way towards us the memories we've made in the last 5 weeks will be with us for a life time.  Viva la familia!

Week 3 - whoo hoo!

Surrounded by breathtaking scenery (yes that's a resident hawk in the pic), we began week 3...

First up was solar...complete with a temporary solar array while we await permits for our permanent solar structure...stupid bureaucrats!

The grownups built some too!

And now for the panels...

 

And next to build the storage area for the really freakin' heavy batteries!!!

We start 'em young baby!

Ahh..the finished project...by this time next week, we'll have it wired and will have the ultimate luxury, nary to be taken for granted...hot...yes that's right folks...hot water!!  Woot woot.

Next...drumroll please....dah dah dah dah!!! GRAVEL!

Our best friend ever...Mr. Dumptruck....just ask the 6 year old boy who watched in wide eyed wonder as gravel was delivered and dumped...

 

Final product?  Our very own zen garden.

What have we learned??????

Dust is evil-gravel is not (even with gravel, if godliness is truly next to cleanliness...we're screwed); crickets are totally harmless but quite possibly the ugliest bugs ever; this many plant based eaters need FOUR not TWO sanicans; dumptrucks are super cool and we want one of our very own; we need about 8 more hours in a day; and... there's nothing better at the end of a long day then sitting on your own property watching the stars as moonlight bathes the horizon!