Greetings Sigolicious
Where are you at there, more or less? North of St. Johns towards Witch Wells, or are you NW between Concho and Snowflake? I am very familiar with that country, used to work there.Just curious.
And BTW, how is my man Titus doing? He reminds me so much of my grandsons. Good wishes and prayers for you and your family.

Hey, my grandparents lived in St Johns. Buried in the cemetery there. My aunt and uncle are still living there too. Small world.

quote:

Originally posted by RHINOWSO:
Great thread, love all the updates!

Thanks, updates give me an opportunity to look back and see where I was. Also have some down time when I run out or materials to accomplish projects

quote:

Originally posted by sasquatch28:
I am digging this thread. I have aspirations of a semi-off -grid place in the Appalachian Mtns.

It's not that hard, just takes a plan with options and back ups. I am also regularly reminded that I have a resource out here that has made it so much better, my in-laws who have been out here going on 7yrs. Invaluable!

quote:

Originally posted by DoubleAdobe:
Greetings Sigolicious
Where are you at there, more or less? North of St. Johns towards Witch Wells, or are you NW between Concho and Snowflake? I am very familiar with that country, used to work there.Just curious.
And BTW, how is my man Titus doing? He reminds me so much of my grandsons. Good wishes and prayers for you and your family.

Titus is doing well. 6th round of chemo this week followed by stem cell therapy. It's rough, but he is a warrior fighting the good fight!

I am northeast of the powerplant. I can walk to New Mexico in about 10 minutes

quote:

Originally posted by PorterN:
Hey, my grandparents lived in St Johns. Buried in the cemetery there. My aunt and uncle are still living there too. Small world.

I've probably met them in town, sat next to them at El Cupidos Mexican or The village Cafe for breakfast. Very small town.

Love me some Arizona sunsets!

Nice! Trying to steal MoZ title? You're a day late.

I'm jelly.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Nice! Trying to steal MoZ title? You're a day late.

I'm jelly.

I'm not, but the dog, he's a stinker.........

Nice images you've been posting!

Getting more things accomplished.

Finally got the big 42' RV back from Mesa where they were doing warranty work. Even though we have the 1200 sqft garage, living in a 20' travel trailer, aka The Escape Pod, was getting old. Not enough room to move and not enough windows, was hot as..... well hot in there during the day. Big'n has way more ventilation and is just mo better comfortable.

Now the Escape Pod is relegated to weekend trip and guest quarters duty.



Officially have the water harvesting tanks set up and a total of around 8000 gallons of usable storage capacity if I include the IBC totes on the trailer. Large tanks are 2500 gallons each, but only have about 2300 usable.





Build some overhead storage in the garage and finally have the proper arrangement to get both vehicles in there once winter comes. Hopefully that and the cats will deter varmints from eating wiring.





Off grid living is rough

Installed a washer and clothes line. Clothes dry in about 15 minutes in the sun and wind here. Wife has a great formula for cold washing and drying so they aren't stiff and itchy. I love it. Washer drains into the sink and sink drains into the 55 gallon barrel to reclaim the grey water for plants and other uses. Set up isn't complete as with many things I want to test/use for a while to ensure it is working as expected and such. I'll shortly build a shelf over the barrel for more storage of laundry and cleaning items/materials.



Water purification in the RV. 10 micron paper and 5 micron GAC carbon filter followed by a UV filter. Water tastes awesome.



I'm not in the DogHaus, but the whiskey is and flows smooth.......

One of our favorite shows is "Homestead Rescue". It doesn't look like you'll be needing their help. I'd love to do what you're doing but it's a bit late in life. Good luck.

You guys sure are ambitious, but getting it done. I'll bet the 5th wheel is a big improvement over the little guy. How's that for an understatement.

Jim

i would need to vacation somewhere else this time of year no matter the accommodations. Just to damn hot and dry for me.

quote:

Originally posted by az4783054:
One of our favorite shows is "Homestead Rescue". It doesn't look like you'll be needing their help. I'd love to do what you're doing but it's a bit late in life. Good luck.

I am fairly certain most of those folks on that show didn't have a plan to begin with, or a poor plan based on faulty information and poor research.

I's not really that complicated, but you must have a plan and it is definitaly a world where one is none and two is one. Some common sense, thinking on your feet, and in many cases just plain patiently taking time to think through problems makes life much easier. My in-laws are in their mid 60s and live just across the valley, been out here 7 years and started from scratch. They have been my #1 resource of knowledge and information.

There is actually a lot of failure out here. People buy the land cheap and think it will be easy, and it isnt, cheap or easy. Finances as part of the plan is an absolute must.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
You guys sure are ambitious, but getting it done. I'll bet the 5th wheel is a big improvement over the little guy. How's that for an understatement.

Jim

My better half makes the team twice as strong. We have our disagreements, but she is in it to win it. And yes, getting the big RV back and on spot was a climactic and culminating event. We can slow down just a bit. However; winter is around the corner and it gets pretty cold here in the high desert, so can't slack off on prparing for that. And spring comes soon so we need a greenhouse and raised garden beds in place in time for that too. All part of the plan.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
i would need to vacation somewhere else this time of year no matter the accommodations. Just to damn hot and dry for me.

Its really not that bad in the high desert. 25*-30* temp swings are the norm each day. Also averaging about 12mph winds. We have had a couple days over 100*. Hang out in the shade with a breeze and siesta with iced tea, when the sun goes down and it gets to 70*-75* its almost chilly.

As a kid growing up in Missouri, I hated the humidity. Same for the last 15 years of humidity in VA, I can handle this.

Beautiful sunset. The garage is *WOW* and the winter compound is ready. Yes, prepping for winter, even in a house I plan for that. Coming through NM several times in January, yes, it can get pretty durn cold. Cold, wet, and windy is my favorite NM weather - for being inside!

In a few weeks, God willing, I'll be camping in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Might see a similar sunset.

I'm guessing we're about 150 miles or so west of you, at 5,300 feet in Yavapai County. Love the weather and the politics, though the monsoon is a little late getting going this year.

Is that a "Green Mojave" rattlesnake you ran across there? I avoid and respect all of them, but those are supposed to be particularly aggressive and venomous. Be safe. Love the bull snakes, though.

Summer is just barely there or not quite there yet.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
Beautiful sunset. The garage is *WOW* and the winter compound is ready. Yes, prepping for winter, even in a house I plan for that. Coming through NM several times in January, yes, it can get pretty durn cold. Cold, wet, and windy is my favorite NM weather - for being inside!

In a few weeks, God willing, I'll be camping in the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument. Might see a similar sunset.

Enjoy your trip to Mizzery 4 car garage with two bays left open for parking in. I love it.

quote:

Originally posted by alpha229:
I'm guessing we're about 150 miles or so west of you, at 5,300 feet in Yavapai County. Love the weather and the politics, though the monsoon is a little late getting going this year.

Is that a "Green Mojave" rattlesnake you ran across there? I avoid and respect all of them, but those are supposed to be particularly aggressive and venomous. Be safe. Love the bull snakes, though.

Hello neighbor, I am at about 6200 feet and the weather is awesome here. I do not know for sure if it was a Green Mojave rattler, but he sure was pissy when he saw me coming at him with the suppressed 22.

quote:

Originally posted by old rugged cross:
Summer is just barely there or not quite there yet.

Summer is in full effect, but monsoon season is starting late. Not enough heat build up yet to get it rolling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Monsoon

quote:

Originally posted by Sigolicious:
However; winter is around the corner and it gets pretty cold here in the high desert, so can't slack off on prparing for that.

If you've never wintered in an RV before, you will be shocked how quickly you go through propane to heat the thing.

Not much new until the last couple of days. Mostly just helping my inlaws with horses and doing a lot of brass prep for reloading.

That was a nice relaxing time, until it finally cooled off a bit. Wife wanted to do stones around a tree with a nice paddle cactus growing underneath it and we needed to get started on a retaining wall behind the building. Plus we finally had some monsoon rains, although mild this year, and we could see where water was flowing and needed to be diverted. So time for dirt moving.

Prepped close to 2000 pieces of brass in the last month or so. Nothing but rifle for single stage.



Small stone wall for wife to do a cactus and rock garden.



Starting on the retaining wall of stone, or the death of me moving some 100+ pound stones. One or the other eventually......









Some aluminium boarding steps I found at the junk yard. Have two sets.



Sunset with storms rolling in......

Thanks for the update , hope grandson is doing great.

Those are the storms that blew past us and grew on the way to you.

Loving the updates brother.