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!

Week 2!!!!

Progress- we love it! We have running water (aka liquid gold), CLOSETS OH MY GOODNESS!  Such a luxury - even if you have to shake the clothes and check for bugs, scorpions, mice, etc before putting anything on - we cannot impress on you enough the joy of being able to locate a clean pair of underwear! Ha!

Our water pressure tank is operational (this means when we turn on a faucet, liquid gold comes out), our autofill works splendidly on the swamp cooler, we've rigged up a washing machine, clothesline and refrigerator. This is pure luxury people.

The most beautiful thing of all - bug bombs! They kill chiggers! We love them! We sheepishly admit to a hotel room for the weekend ostensibly to allow the bug bombs to do their magic!

All in all a great week and we look forward to building our solar array this week. Gravel and sod both arrive turning our little tent city into a virtual utopia.

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Our "home"  Two monster tents put together with plywood floors, swamp cooler, furniture, etc.



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Our favorite decoration!  Hard to tell but those are bomber size wasps entangled in the bug lines....what did we do last night, sat around and watched in fascination while a wasp tried to free itself.  It got an A for persistence...failed but still...



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Water lines, preparing for sod!  Yay!

A glimpse of our trailer havens....houses cannot arrive soon enough....but at least we have beds, AC, running water, etc.

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Soooo much still to do and our first house to build arrives July 16th - eeek!

 So....what have we learned this week? There is no shame in spending a much needed night or two in a hotel; chiggers can be killed; virtually any food can be cooked on a barbecue; there is indescribable satisfaction in progress; a $135 memory foam mattress from Costco is worth every penny...

 And...family is everything!

"Dreams are illustrations...from the book your soul is writing about you."

What a week but what great progress!  

A special thank you to our dear friends Joe and Maryanne for a VERY productive Sunday!

Our first week! We made it!

Our Tabula Rasa

This ladies and gentlemen is our starting point, our tabula rasa if you will. It looks beautiful and serene. Looks can be decieving! It was a brutal first week filled with 16 hour days but we came through it at the end empowered but what we accomplished.

First we learned in the high desert in June before you do anything you need shade. So we first added a bajillion tarp tents to further enhance the white trash appearance of our trailer gatherings.  

We gladly welcome child labor!

One shade shelter complete!

Once complete with furniture and swamp cooler it felt like the Ritz!

Then we learned that once cleared, our beautiful property really has a ton of dirt!  Bad for us, great for our workers!

Wide open spaces make great play areas, just ask the dachsund booking it in the background...

And indoor shelters, generators and swamp coolers have become our new best friends.

So what did we learn this week???  We'll brave high temps, challenging working conditions and put in really long, dusty and unpleasant days for this dream.  We've learned that we could care less what kind of bugs are good and bad...we kill them all (for all of you gasping at this concept try chigger bites and then tell us to be selective about what we kill); we've learned that peppermint oil and a diffuser can be our best friends; we've learned that a teapot of hot water poured over our heads at night can be the most luxurious feeling of all; we've learned that a close Starbucks is missed more than the family swimming pool (seriously!); we've learned that a call from the lab saying our well water is clear, drinkable and ready for use is more exciting than any other current world event and each day as our creature comforts are moved into place we've learned that family, hard work and a job well done make the world go round.

All our dreams can come true....if we have the courage to pursue them!

Walt Disney

In the beginning....

This blog is dedicated to our father, Harry Eugene Orcutt.  A truck driver who worked all his life looking forward to a dream of owning property and a log home.  On July 21, 2011, just 8 hours away from retirement while driving his truck home for the last time, our father suffered a massive heart attack and passed away.  His children have vowed to carry on his dream.  We sold our homes, purchased property, moved our families and will begin building our own log homes.  There is no water, no electricity...nothing but a dream.  This blog chronicles our adventure from the beginning.  

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.

RIP Daddy.