Flash Flood 2012

Yesterday early evening, we had the biggest rain storm of the season. It has rained everyday for the past four days, poured actually, buckets full.

The flooding arroyo in this video, or the temporary river is a road we usually drive down. Luckily there is an alternate road that we usually take. We drove down this "road" about 20 minutes before the flooding. I thank Lakshmi: we didn't. I thought we'd be struck by lightening, but in reality we would have been washed away. Well, who really knows, maybe I was running away from an adventure. Either way, I'm glad we were home to see it instead of stuck in the middle of it. This has only happened one other time, two years ago, since we've been here.

You will also see a hummingbird we rescued, it flew away after a few minutes, but that's not recorded, and also the first wall we adobe plastered. I still have to seal it with linseed oil. This wall is one of three in my bedroom. Two more to go, then the floor as well and a wood plank ceiling. Eventually, we will be back in that room. Two rooms! What a luxury, I can't hardly imagine.

The music in this video is by Single Moms, our band. The recording is very rough, but I thought it felt right.

SUMMER 20-12

Spring, 2012

The internet has really been bumming me out lately so I've been avoiding it. Instead, I have made a lot of art and music. I almost quit writing the blog, but I was convinced by friends that that was a preposterous idea. I'll just have to keep on trucking.

This entry will be filled with both house and life, since it's been so long, and we've been living in such a vivacious style. Rewind to late April when we took a trip into space. My favorite place on earth, which is a few hours drive away. Unless you get lost on back roads, and then it will take about eight hours to get there, and your horn will eventually vibrate out from underneath the hood and onto the washboard gravel road.

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

We took a field trip to the Ghost Ranch to learn about the dinosaurs who used to claim these lands as their local stomping ground. We collected dinosaur bones that were scattered all over the ground. A bit of enchantment is actually a constant out here. Luckily for my mother, a friend was with us and he took some pictures of me. Here you go, Mom. Thank you, Joshua.

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

We were attacked by gremlins in late May. This is why the blog never got updated. They ate my hard drive and ransacked our house! I knew we shouldn't have fed them after midnight but Dain wouldn't listen to me. We won the fight, but I'll spare you the gory details.

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

Here is the front of our house one month ago, and two months ago, which will help you understand that we have been doing something out here...

From April, May, June 2012

(This is actually February, when Nora visited, but you get the picture.)

One month ago:

From April, May, June 2012

Earlier today (it's actually even more done now):

From April, May, June 2012

The western wall of our attic is still made out of the good old fashioned plastic/carpet/rope combination. This is a challenge that we are going to have to live with for quite a while longer. We made a tarp that can be raised during rain storms. It has a real nice boat feel to it. The boat aesthetic is one we have been enjoying and are planning to continue to incorporate it into our decor.

From April, May, June 2012

We have been busy, closing in the entire front, in order to get our gutters up and our water catchment started. Here are some up-to-date pictures. It's been frustrating and slow. We somehow managed to get every last pane of glass for free. The frame of this greenhouse is made out of redwood, and it's turning out beautifully. You may notice the two little windows that still have to be put in, we did that earlier today, but this picture was from this morning. Damn it! It's already out of date!

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

The bottom of the house is now closed off with cement. It will be buried with dirt up to the bottom of the cement. All of those cans will eventually be HIDDEN FOR ETERNITY. You can see the mosaic we made in the front of our house with broken ceramics we've collected over the past two years.

Finishing up the cement and mosaic:

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

Cans flattened and used for siding (work in progress/we need to get more cans/eat more coconut milk):

From April, May, June 2012

We've also been able to use as much power as we want. We are rich in power. We've been able to make music, digital art, non-digital art under BRIGHT LIGHTS, watch movies on a huge old completely energy inefficient tube TV, and use the sewing machine that was Dain's Great Grandmother's. After some re-wiring this old Singer has been godly. I'm just now learning how to use it, but I'm not lying when I say: IT HASN'T JAMMED ON ME ONCE! It is amazing. I am in love.

From April, May, June 2012

Here is a dress I made: My 2012 summer look is a synthesis of comic book attire, post apocalyptic dress wear, and the desert discomfort.

From April, May, June 2012

Inspirational look.

From April, May, June 2012

Making art, playing music...

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

From April, May, June 2012

Our band, Single Moms, will have recordings available soon.

We have been at it for two years on July 4th. You can rewind like a archeologist and click back to the first entry, July 4th 2010 and check out of "ground breaking" explosion.

A new thing we are trying out is something called... what is it? How does it go? Is it called... taking it easy? I can't really remember what that is.. but the vague memory of it sounds so appealing.. it gives me a warm bubbly feeling inside.. I'll let you know how that works out for us when it comes into action.

2500 Gallons of fun!

We bought our cistern! Hurray! It was very expensive for us. Yet worth every penny. This cistern is going to provide our water for the rest of our life. The cistern holds 2500 gallons. We will need to get a second one eventually. But this will be what we have for at least the next few years. Look how huge it is! We were told it weighs 400 pounds! We thought it would be difficult to get from the end of the driveway to the house, which is about 1/8 a mile. It wasn't at all though! It practically rolled itself half the way. The other half took only a small amount of effort. Standing it up and getting it into place was the most difficult part, but nothing even close to "difficult." So, the two of us got it up there, no problem!

We will harvest our rainwater with it. Water will be collected off our roof, and into the cistern. From there it will gravity feed into a series of filters. Then it will go into a pressure tank.. Or the other way around, I'm not sure actually. But we wont be doing that until (probably) next winter. It's an above ground cistern. This means that if we want to bury it (which we do), we have to put tire walls around it to support the dirt, so the dirt doesn't push into the cistern walls. The plastic is about 1/2 an inch think.

We had such an awesome day of friends helping us on Saturday! Three friends from ABQ came and dug dug dug. They also pounded, and moved dirt too! It was such a relief to have some help. The first help we've had all winter. The summer was great, friends showing up to help left and right. Luckily that's right around the corner again. Our neighbor, who has been super helpful and awesome, also showed up and helped us connect the cistern to the water pipe. Without him, we would have listen to the guys at the hardware store, and really botched this one up. We really got lucky with our awesome neighbors. Nick and Nora moved dirt from the "kitchen" all day long. It looks great! We're about 75% done with moving the dirt. Unfortunately, moving the dirt is much easier than leveling it off for the room. But man oh man, what a great start! I'm so excited! It looks like the kitchen will get its roof in much less time than I originally thought. If we skipped burying the house, we could have it done in 3 or 4 months! But, I think we'll stick to the plan, and bury the side and back of this thing so that it starts holding a much more constant temperature.

busy busy busy

So, to anyone who did not receive this card, I appologize. Here we are, at our best:

We have been busy. Taking it easy. But working as well. The past few weeks have been amazing. We got into our house, as you know, a day before our pronounced 6 Month deadline. We are now happily keeping warm at night, and have a place to keep out the dust! As well as a place to cook some amazing meals. We have been having fun. People ask us what we do. We make some art, play board games, play cards, scrabble of course. We read too many books. Sometime one a day. We write our friends who don't write us back. We take long walks, and the cat comes with us too! We watch movies, listen to music. We do everything any one does, for the most part, but out here, surrounded by no one and with the utmost peace and quiet.

Here are some updates, picture wise:

A tree in our yard... came into bloom?!

A christmas story: A few weeks ago we got about 4 inches of snow! It was cold for a whole 3 days! It has been in the 50's and 60's everyday since! WHAT A WONDERFUL WONDERLAND, NORTHER NEW MEXICO!

WWII is in heaven (as are we):

We've cooked some AMAZING meals:

Sometimes I feel like it doesn't look like much.. but I know I'm wrong! Eventually, this room will be inside. It's so cool that we could enclose it first, and move in so soon.

We've been building a tire platform. We will put our cistern on this in a few weeks. It will be either a 2500 gallon cistern, or 3200 gallons. We need to get what ever fits best. Either will suffice. In the future we're going to add another cistern too, to have about 5 or 6,000 gallons.

We even had a few friends visit. I made these coffee addicts some coffee cakes!

Hiking around! We went a couple of miles! The cat came the whole way!

We have accumulated an couple cows worth of bones. It is turning into quite the collection.. and we're not even sure what we're doing with them yet... More to come soon, I'm sure... up next: GETTING THE CISTERN!