Clean Up phase 1

Made the trip back to the bunker this past weekend to begin removing the trash and assess the damage a little more thoroughly. The damage was deeper than we had thought. The solar panels were intact but the wires and connectors were burned off and the grid tie inverter was cooked. The water panels front glass was gone and the solder had melted from the copper pipes inside. The air conditioner has an undetermined problem that wasn't a problem because the temp was COLD. So, I'll be out of the solar business if I can find someone to take them off my hands(37 high voltage panels).

As you can see from the pictures two of the trailers were destroyed and the third with no bed became a trailer sand witch for a trip to the junk yard. The small crane that I have was perfect for the job of lifting the 16'flatbed into the 20 footer and then lifting the Wells cargo into the flatbed. I had to cut the axles off so the width would work out but they fit like a glove. Next trip I will have a bed and side boards on the 20' and haul the axles and other steel off. They only pay $100 a ton but something is better than nothing. Maybe I'll make enough to pay for the four new tires I had to buy.

The trip back to Austin was an adventure. After creeping down the road about 20 MPH under the speed limit to take the trailers into Fort Stockton. They had a much harder time unloading than I had loading and managed to bend the frame and snap a weld at the tail gate. The magnetic tail light wires were too short and fell off with any bump. A DPS trooper pulled me over because I looked so suspicious and we had a nice chat. No ticket. The XO and I pulled back on the hi way and in a mile or so one of the lights fell off. I got out and re-attached the lens-less tail light. Two miles further what was left of the tail gate fell off and while I walked back to pick it up the trooper stopped and gave me a ride back to the truck with the tail gate balanced on his trunk lid. Made it almost to Junction before both tail lights fell off. Well it was still daylight and I said we could make it home before dark and as long as the truck lights could be seen over the trailer we should be O.K. Well, we made it. Now all I have to do is rewire and put a new bed on the 20'er.

More Pictures

The Bunker

Where to start. Barb and I were there at the bunker to begin some finish work I have promised to do. I had brought the 20ft trailer out to get it out of the yard here in Austin. Some of the work involved cutting some steel and we thought we had better not. The humidity was about 4% and the wind was really blowing. We decided not to do the cutting and to head back a day early so I could rest before a DR.s appointment on Monday. Sometime Saturday a welder in Marfa caused sparks to ignite the dry grass at his shop. News reports say that it only took only 1:30 minutes to cover the 21 miles to Fort Davis. By that time it had spread into a wide front that burned the mountain and 20 or 30 houses in town.
We were blissfully ignorant of all this until Sunday morning when we saw a crawler on the national news. I called Mr. Hicks on his cell and got all the news. He told us that The Bunker was still standing but materials that I had stored in back was gone as well as one of the enclosed trailers. The wooden porch was undamaged (that'll make you scratch your head) and the power poles had been spared. Many of the poles on the road and down on the hiway were burned off at ground level (see picture). We thought we had better see for ourselves so we headded back.


The whole mountain was on fire and I heard Sunday that it was 0% contained and had scorched 84 sq miles in Jeff Davis county alone. On our way to Ft D we were stopped on hiway 67 outside of Alpine due to fires along the road. Things went bad very fast and a change in wind direction put us (Barb and I and about 30 other drivers) in danger. I wasn't worried, I was parked two cars behind a propane truck. Wait!!! What.. The smoke was very dense and the DPS figured we stood a better chance if we got out of there through the fire line. He told us to saddle up and lead us about 6 miles out of the fire area. Once out we saw that they had Northbound traffic stopped and there were about fifty cars waiting. Damage to a RR bridge caused the Sunset Limited to be delayed 6 hours between Alpine and Marfa. See link.
Later Sunday night we tried to go back to Fort Stockton but the road was still closed and 90 to Marathon was closed too. All of this was 30 miles from Fort Davis and we had to retrace our course and by this time the road to Balmohrea was closed also. Wild Rose Canyon was blazing and it was dark. The back fires that were set up on the mountain glowed and gave the whole world a feeling of eeriness We were stuck. DPS troopers told us the only way out was past the observatory 50 miles to Kent and then 67 miles to Fort Stockton. No early bed-time for us.

Pictures of fire damage

These are the houses that were totaled. They went up like a roman candle and thank goodness all were empty at the time. The first one is the three building on the very tip of the mountain. They had been working on a remodel for about a year.

It looks like the end of the worid

This week end there was a major fire that involved the bunker. When I say MAJOR I mean 60K acres+. The fire was so fast it destroyed 3 of the houses on the mountain totally and damaged most of the rest. I have a few pictures to share:

TLG's

I want one. Have you seen the Direct TV ads about the opulence of having so many channels to watch? The tiny "lap giraffe' is what I'm talking about. I can see a whole herd roaming the bunker compound and I can plant several bonzai trees for feed and a tiny watering hole down by the address marker. Soon I can run the whole herd North to the railhead. Yipie..eeye..ay. Wait, that means a market for the meat. They will eat them. No, I better keep them down on the ranch. Well they do make cuddly
pets. Want one?

I'm back

Well, there has been very little to write about in past few months that wouldn't be like whining or too personal to share. I have all the new parts installed and working fine and the blood thing is not resolved but won't kill me any time soon.
The XO and I have made several trips but did no work until last week when I finished up a few things that have needed doing. I was able to get down on the floor to cut and fit the last of the carpet. I loaded up all the tools and stuff we won't be needing to bring back to put into a garage sale. Anyone need a chainsaw that will cut 13" into solid concrete? I also had to replace a board on the porch that had warped really bad. We will be spending more time out here in the future but we don't have to work as hard as we have in the past.
The moon was so bright Saturday the you could read a newspaper on the roof. There was still moon shadows at 7:00AM. Really neat. If I hadn't have been so bone tired I would have set up the telescope to see the moon better.

I have tried to stay out of current events and politics in this blog but one small statement: What the hell is going on? How come I'm in this hand-basket? I'm too old not to notice that things are changing and not for the better. At least the bunker is WAY OUT THERE and as Austin circles the drain West Texas will remain as it has been for the past 175 years.

Saturday Report

PT is progressing but I had more swelling than last time so there is more pain. Most of the swelling has gone down by today (Sat) and the pain is mostly discomfort. I told the therapist on his first visit that I wanted to be walking around the block by Saturday and he suggested that we do it right away. Did and have done ever since. The distance is 1/4 mile but looks longer from behind a cane.
The holiday kind of messed up the schedule but I've been working on my own and everything is starting to fall into place. The one Bad thing is wearing these support-hose. Now I know why women are so mean. I look like an elf in white tights.

Looks like he owns the place

One of the neighbors down the mountain says he sees a cougar up at my place in the late evenings. Mostly the eyes glowing (the cougar that is) but I've not seen any tracks or a den. There may be a bobcat that comes around once in a while or it could be a large feral tabby. Either way when the sun goes down they tend to grow larger. I'm a U of H Cougar myself, class of '68, and I seem to remember growing a lot when I prowled at night.

The Deed is Did

Monday, about 10:00AM, an army of medical personnel rolled me into the operating room. We had a difficult time with the spinal block but the second anesthetist was successful. Two hours later I'm in the recovery room and wide awake. Matter of fact I was just in "twilight" sleep during the entire procedure. Couldn't see anything though, they had me draped with rags and towels and the drugs were good so I didn't care what happened.
I'm home today, Wednesday, and the physical therapy begins tomorrow.

Time for the "last" surgery

Well, fall is here and I can hardly walk so it must be time for the left knee joint to be replaced. I was scheduled for the replacement in April but the blood problem got in the way. I have been on oxygen all year and have to be bled every week or so and that has kept me from letting the knee surgeon take the skill/saw to my bones. No kidding, after they break the knee joint they cut the top off the femur and the tibia and replace the knee with the metal and plastic joint. Sounds bloody and nasty but I'll be in dreamland and it won't bother me a bit. I know what to expect now and I'm looking forward to it. The pain is gone when I wake up and the only thing that hurts is the muscles and tenons that had to be moved to do the job. It takes some work to keep the joint flexible but I know that if I don't it will cause me a lot of grief later. I have almost as much flex on the right side as a man my age should have and much more than most joint replacement patients. I have worked out and ridden a bicycle many a mile to make sure it don't stiffen up. So Monday is the day and I plan to be home on Wednesday and walking around to block by Saturday. I'll blog us an update next week.

Mitre Peak

As we left this morning Mitre Peak was shrouded in cloud. Pretty neat, huh?

Quick Trip to Knock Down the Weeds

Made a trip to the bunker this week end just to get away from the Austin heat. There has been so much rain this year that the mountains are still green and the yard is 3 feet deep in weeds that we have never seen before. 'In fact I found two patches of ground cherries growing wild. The XO and I mowed and chopped all but the cherries. Not enough for a pie but they may make a nice short cake and cream for lunch.
The people that bought Mr. Williams place up the mountain happened to be in town. Very nice couple, Mike and Barbara from Odessa. They have done a ton of work on the place already and it will be grand when finished (are we ever finished?). I'm sure that they will be happy when they move down. I need to see if some of Barbara's eye for design could rub off on the XO and me.
All in all a good trip and even with the work it was very relaxing. We took the long way home (1 mile further) and stopped in Llano for BBQ at Coopers.

100++

Dang, we got through July here in Austin but already in August we've had two or three 100 degree days and every day has been 95 plus. The temp at the Bunker has been in the 80's and 60's at night. I think the XO and I will run out there for a few days. I need to do some measuring and marking for the next phase of construction. I need to move the trailers around and probe for the septic line. I have 24 trusses that are just sitting on one of trailers getting drier by the month (been sitting for three years). Been working on my body all this time and now that I have all the parts working it's time to do something. I still have one surgery to schedule but I'm holding off till fall besides this blood thing has yet to be resolved. It has been a rough couple of years and at times I was ready to throw in the towel. In fact we even discussed selling the place but figured it would have to go to a really "specific"(read: crazy)type of buyer. It is livable but I have grand ideas and most of the material on hand so finished it's not.

Back one more time

After the bad trip we had a few weeks ago the XO and I tried it again this weekend. We had not intended to do anything that even looked like work so to insure a low impact day we drove down to the Big Bend. On our way down we dropped in to see John Wells at the Field Lab. He left upstate New York for the sunny Southwest about four years ago and has lived a self sustaining life as a recluse (with many, many friends). He was baking a loaf of bread when we showed up and we had a nice chat. While we were talking his longhorn, Benita, showed up to mooch some feed and see who was there. She is as close to tame as a longhorn could be and even allowed the XO to scratch her side. John turned down our offer of lunch at the Grub Shack (waiting for the bread to finish) so we bid him ado and headed back to the hi way and on South to Study Butte and up the river to Terlingua and Lajitas. For those who have never been up the river road from Terlingua to Persidio you have missed the best 70 miles of West Texas. The only problem is the "getting there". For a really nice vacation try the Lajitas Resort or the Big Bend State Park. Look 'em up.

A Bell for the Bunker

The trip was not a total failure last week. I have searched for a suitable bell for the gate post for several years. Why isn't there a bells are us. I found one in Taos NM last year but the weight of that much brass and the cost of shipping put it out of the question. This one came through a lucky chance and I had to run all over the hill country to get my hands on it. For the last few months I haven't been able to pick it up let alone hang it. So on a chance I took it along, just in case. I intended to do no work at all but I picked up the wind turbine to bring back for sale and thought I had enough strength for one try at hanging the bell. It worked.. Yea..

Fort Stuckton

If you travel through West Texas, 350 miles West of Austin be sure you:
1 have good tires
2 A good spare
3 It's not after two o'clock on a Saturday

The XO and I headed for the bunker this week end just to drop off a few things and generally check up on the place. I still am not able to work so we were just going to do an up-and-back. No need for the bug out bag, right? Bad idea.
About five years ago we were making the same trip and 6 miles West of Fort Stockton we had a flat. Right front, tread separation, donut spare and about forty thousand miles on the set. But it was Saturday morning so we just drove slowly back to town and bought a complete set of tries.
Fast forward five years to almost the exact spot. Blam! Same tire. I lean my crutches against the open trunk lid and unload the "stuff". A really nice guy from San Angelo (Thanks Mr. Wincowski) appeared out of nowhere and helped me (he did most of the work). When I dropped the jack the car just kept going down. Flat Spare. Soo.. I tried to limp, very slowly back to town. After crossing the median and crossing four lanes (80+ speed limit) of traffic I SLOWLY headed back. Half way I came upon a trooper making a two car stop and he didn't have the time or inclination to help me so I eased around him and kept on truckin'. Note, he did catch up with me just as I pulled into the Shell station, blinked his lights and continued on. I pulled up to the air pump, close enough to read the Out of Order sign on it. Drat.. I went inside with my fingers crossed that the pump was only unable to accept quarters, not so but the attendant told me that there was a free hose back at the diesel pumps. I pumped the spare up to where I could read the side of the tire that said 60lbs so I changed position, protecting my important parts and pumped her up. Now to find a tire.
Not a chance. Now I know why Fort Stockton has so many motels. Now the lack of bag comes out to bite us. Not even a tooth brush. So we spend some quality time and wait for the tire store to open Monday morning. Golly at 8AM there were six of us intrepid travelers waiting for the tire guy. One over-priced replacement later we are on our way. Everything else went smoothly and we are back in Austin .

Another Trip

Just now getting around to posting this. The XO and I flew into Chicago and drove to Northeastern Iowa to see my brother and his extended family. Don't know why he wants to live in Iowa I guess it's his problem. I lived there about fifty years ago too but I escaped. Strange, nothing has changed. I'm used to living in dynamic places that grow and change with thousands of families moving in every month. Even now with the stagnant economy the city of Austin is growing like a weed.
I was on crutches and my brother was pushing a walker, we looked like characters out of a horror movie. His kids and grandkids are scattered all over town so we gathered up those that were available and had a dinner shown in the pictures above. The XO is the top picture and brother Lyle is down to the right. Daughter Diana and granddaughter to the left. Bob, his son and Jim, Dianas husband are down right.

Another trip to the coast

Had to run down to Galveston this weekend to pick up a few things to make the bunker a little more self-sufficient. As long as we have electricity we will have water but in the event of an extended outage we need to have some safe storage. I have plans to store run-off water for gray water purposes but I needed a potable source so now I have a system that will provide 200 gallons and a method to purify the rain water if needed.
Of course we had to make a mini-vacation out of it. Galveston is one of those cities that has character. It was almost wiped out by hurricane Ike but from what I saw it has recovered about 80%. The major destruction was to the beach homes and they are gone. Many are not being rebuilt. The city itself was mostly roofs and trees and have been repaired and life goes on. The picture above says it all without saying a word. Many of the motels and restaurants along the seawall were damaged beyond repair. Some are just slow in rebuilding, the big Flagship Hotel was severely damaged but I was told that they plan to rebuild and even make a mall and amusement park out of it. Lemonade anyone?
I did take the XO for a cruise though, (two actually) so she should stay happy for a while. We rode the Bolivar ferry over to the penisula and back. It's part of the hiway department and is one of the few free trips one can take. About a twenty minute ride across the harbor and the sights are terrific.

New Gates

Time and the weather did bad things to the original gates. The glue dried out, the stiles split and some of the screws fell out. They looked good but just didn't work.
To combat the sagging problem I made the frames out of 2" steel tube and covered them with sheet metal. With my handy-dandy plasma cutter I free handed a design on them. It could be better but Rustic is what I was going for. Not bad If I do say so myself.
The XO and I loaded them up here in Austin and took advantage of the weather and spent two days installing them. We need to start
spending more time on the mountain.