Views

My good buddy in England commented that he enjoys seeing the views of the land around the house.  Since it's the prettiest time of the year, when the grass is green after the rains but not yet knee-high and weedy or dried out and brown, I took some shots of my views.

I think I've mentioned that I have only one neighbor, and his house is barely visible from mine.

And I like it that way!

First we'll look out the windows on all four sides of the house, then we'll walk Molly down to the road and look at the ranch across the way, then back up to the north end, past the trailer and into the little creek bed that only runs when it's pouring rain.

West out of the dining room.  What I will look at over coffee

South out of the kitchen.  The generator and woodpile won't always be there.

East on the front porch. That's the "upside down sunset" hill.

North out of the guest bedroom.

"The Meadow" looking away from the house

"The Corn Field" on the other side of the drive, looking toward the house

The fence line.  My only neighbor

The ranch across the road.  That's my mailbox.

Looking back up "The Meadow" toward the house

The driveway, the entrance to Sábado

The creek bed

Home Sweet Home (for a while longer)

The Blinding Flash Test

The solar batteries will be my lifeblood when the sun goes down, and they've been sitting around for a couple of months now, so it was getting important to get them a little drink of juice before they became damaged by neglect.

I rigged up the power center/charger on the workbench, wired up the batteries, and plugged it in to the generator.

About to perform the "Blinding Flash Test"

After a phone call to my solar tech, who told me to... um... flip the O-N / O-F-F switch to the O-N position.... it fired right up and started giving the batteries their long-awaited charge.

This should keep them happy until the solar panels are installed and the system is up and running for reals.

We have a roof!

January 25, 2016 - The roof is on. Tim the roofer camped here for three days and roofed both buildings by himself. He was a funny old cuss, who drank a lot of beer and swore like a sailor, but he did a good job, and promised to come back to help install the solar panels.

While he was putting the shingles on, he installed the mounting blocks for the solar.

You can't really see them in this picture, but there are 20 solar mounting blocks on this (South) side of the roof.

The roofer was the first visitor to use my guest RV spot.

Also built the box for my solar batteries this week.  It's made out of Hardie Panel - a fire resistant material.

Next up, the electrician.  He's promised to get out here this week, so keep your fingers crossed for me.

January 20, 2016

Couple of finallys:

Finally finished the shop doors

Finally got the roofer out here to put the roofing paper on, and he's gonna put the shingles on this weekend!
Also, the painter came to paint the fascia boards, since that would be harder to do once the shingles on.

Finally unpacked the solar power center and my 16 big ol' batteries.

Alex the contractor also got all the studs installed through the roof for the solar panel brackets.

More pix next week when the roof is on. And hopefully soon, the solar panels!

Rainy Day Road Trip

Apparently El Nino is here, and trying to wash us all away.  Since it rained all week and not much was getting done on the house, I took off to LA to see the Petersen Automobile museum, and also stopped in at an old stomping ground...

The museum is covered in a wacky metal sculpture
(Internet photo)

Here are a few of the amazing automobiles I saw

The Round Door Rolls

The Bugatti Veyron - fastest production car ever built.
1500 horsepower, 250 MPH

A wedding present from France to the Shah of Iran

500 horsepower V-10

I also paid a visit to the church of which my dad was Business Manager back in the 70s, where I used to run around as a kid.  Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.

Looked pretty good, considering it was built in 1929.

In the late 70s, after I returned from the service and college, I did a few woodworking projects for the church, including this box.  One of two or three of my projects that are still there.

They did make a little progress while I was gone: they finished the back porch roof and got the nailing inspection, which should mean we can start getting the roofing on next week.

Wetting the Bush

When the roof goes on and the structure is more or less closed in, all those stuck-together boards begin to really feel like a house.  For centuries (some say dating back to the Druids) traditional builders in many countries have celebrated with a little ceremony called Wetting the Bush.  The builder or owner attaches a sapling to the peak of the roof, and the owner buys drinks and something to eat for the crew, and together they toast (wet) the little tree.  This honors the good work the builders have done and hopefully brings good fortune to the house.

Lee and I had a bush wetting party when our Lakeside home was completed back in 1988, and we invited all our friends.  For 27 years, there was love, happiness and good fortune in that house.

This year, on Christmas Eve, I cut a little sapling from this property, clambered up on the front porch roof and attached it to the gable end. We then had a small celebration with soft drinks and french fries (because I'm the last of the big spenders...) and I thanked the boys for their good work, and we toasted the house.

The crew: Manuel, Andre, and Donald

Andre got on the Bobcat and filled in all the ditches after we passed the inspection of the underground piping, and this week Manuel and Andre are building the back porch roof - the last of the framing.

Here's hoping the bush wetting brings good fortune to the little bungalow at Sabado in Campo.

It's beginning to look like Construction Christmas

The crew has been off on other jobs this week, so Molly and I have kept ourselves busy puttering around the place.  Yesterday, I decided we needed a Christmas tree, so I found an old pallet and some construction bits and pieces and made us a tree.

Some gold screws, a bit of rope, a few framing brackets and some nail-gun ammo!

The other Big Event yesterday was the arrival of the propane tank.  (We get our thrills however we can out here in the country..) Now I just wish I had a stove.  Or a kitchen.  Or even a roof.  The foreman promised they would finish sheeting the roof on Monday.

Molly is decked out in her country girl attire and on the job inspecting the trenches.  Oh, we passed the underground plumbing inspection the other day, so hopefully soon we can get the bobcat back out here to fill in all the ditches.

The shop doors are all together and ready for stain, glass, and installation, so stay tuned for pix of those.

Hopefully one more post before Christmas. I gotta go find an oven somewhere because I just got signed up to make pumpkin pie!

Cheers!