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.

Spring Break

Had to make a pre-Spring Break run to the valley just to find some warm weather. That five foot gator above shows how South Texas differs from West Texas in a big way.
The XO and I spent the day driving down the coast to Corpus Christi. Corpus is one of the little known jewels of Texas. Blue water, white boats and palm trees. What's not to like. Port Isabel is similar but has none of the charm. The second day drive to Port Isabel was enjoyable and warm (92 degrees) and interestingly total miles from Austin was almost the same as running out to the bunker.
409 to the coast and 437 to the bunker.
The picture of the bunker above was taken from the highway with my new camera. That shot is about a three quarters of a mile.

Cowboy Poets

Desperadoes waiting for ....

It was cold down in Alpine Saturday morning. The cowboy breakfast brought out the real hard core. I was there with my new camera and was looking for just the right shot to portray the cowboy poet gathering. This one just about says it all. There was nearly 200 years of cold mornings and hot coffee just sitting together remembering how it used to be and for these guys how it would be tomorrow.
There were about forty poets and musical groups in attendance and we didn't get to see all of them but those that we did see were terrific. One group of Celtic, Scottish/Irish/Welsh and English players from Canada blew away the audiences with old folk tunes that were the basis for a lot of cowboy music. Their rendition of the Streets of Laredo was spectacular and the addition of the Harp really set their music apart from any I have ever heard.
The cowboys that recited poems and stories were great too. The XO and I didn't see all that we wanted but there is always next year.

Fired up the smoker

Now that the weather has started to warm up I thought I would try the old smoker. The XO picked up some country ribs just because they looked so good.
While they smoked I built some gates to replace the doors at he bunker. They didn't weather too well and began to sag.
But back to the ribs. They were pre-sliced and I was a little afraid they would dry out because they were exposed on all sides. Solution, cranberry juice sprayed a couple tmes an hour. I was using the 3-2-1 method. 3 hours at 225 degrees, 2 hours at 225 wrapped in foil with extra juice to keep them moist, then 1 hour open, still at 225. They were great. The picture was taked just before they were served.
Oh, by the way. Next week end (the 26,7,8,) the Cowboy Poetry gathering happens at Sul Ross University down in Alpine. I don't know how many entrants will show up but it is really a great time. Since the 1st of March is my birthday I always figure they are there to celabrate with me. Visit their web site www.cowboy-poetry.org/

Howdy

Back on my feet and taking another run at the bunker. Things haven't been conducive for a road trip but now I'm blogging from the bunker. This is what the XO and I call an up and back. Not going to do any work this trip "just because".
I need to make some plans for the place. I've got the trusses for the roof of the addition and until I get the roof up I won't have any place to install the solar panels. When the solar panels go up I have four solar water panels to install with them. These will provide domestic hot water and winter heat. I just hope my body will hold together for all the work that needs to be done.
I'm sorry I haven't kept the blog up but the way things were going I didn't have anything to say. I avoid politics and religion because those are sort of personal. That said, how about the senatorial election last night.

Winter comes to the mountain

The XO and I made a quick trip just to see the snow on Wednesday. The snow was mostly gone but the cold was still in attendance and more snow was to come in Thursday into Friday. We spent the night and headed back. All the way the news was that Austin would be paralyzed with snow on Friday. Yea,..Right. About noon I saw 4 flakes and they looked rather forlorn and lost. Well, it's early.

Update 11/12/09 Coming up on week four. I see the saw bones (literally) on Monday and I can start serious training if everything is in place. The XO and I have arranged to put a new roof on the house Monday so we may not make the trip next week.
Week Three: Haven't blogged because I have been taking it easy. The XO has been working my arm three to five times a day and I am really coming along. My motion is better at three weeks with this routine than it was at six with the right shoulder. One more week before I'll see the Doctor and we can see the x-rays. If the little tab he placed has held its position holding the large muscle from my back in place on the arm bone I'll be good to go. We can begin some weight training and some stretching and the arm will be as good as new in a week or so.
We plan on coming out to the bunker after the doctor visit to spend some time (I had to promise no work). I might try to go down to Terlingua and look up John Wells at the Field Lab. His place is really looking good. I think it's because he works a lot harder than I do.

Bionic man redux

One week out from surgery I had the stitches removed and the Dr. said I could begin PT, carefully, with the XO acting as coach. He was amazed that I was ready to go home the day after my new shoulder was installed. No sense staying though, I'm really good at pain control and I had a little football of nerve-block so off I went. He doesn't know about years of dentist visits with no pain meds. I have pretty good mobility because I have been working at it since the surgery. I can raise my arm forward from my side to 135 degrees, think heil Hitler, and pivot my elbow and wrist 100% of their pre- replacement motion. When my right shoulder went in the company I was working for required me to be off 12 weeks, I'll be 100% and swimming laps in 4 now that I'm retired.

Bionic man

Back to the hospital next week. Number two shoulder (left) replacement. This time I will be more aware of what's going to happen and will bounce back quicker. UPDATE: Went in yesterday and was home today (10/21/09). Doctor was impressed with my lack of pain and my mobility so he sent me home early. Still have a couple of months of PT but I'll be back to 100%.
We have been in Annapolis, MD for the past few days on grandchildren watch. My son was in Egypt so the XO and I tried to help with the girls and had a really good time, they're 6&11 years old, we have to enjoy them while we can. The girls in Houston are older and almost out on their own, in fact one is away at college and the other is a junior in HS. I have tried to get the junior to look at Sul Ross in Alpine but nothing doing.

Run for the Bunker

Got to finish that patio. I have that few blocks to place and I want to test my new high speed internet system. update: 9/23, works like a charm. I have everything set up and I'm bloging from the bunker now. The XO and I made the trip Tuesday because it was raining here in Austin and we couldn't get anything done here. We put down the rest of the patio blocks and declared the courtyard done. I spent the rest of the day getting the 20' trailer ready to haul back to the home front. New lights and pump up the tires (They go flat) and it's good to go.

Another Home on Our Range

Down the hill from the bunker there is another home in the most inhospitable place. Don't know what kind of bird it is, maybe someone will tell us. They have moved along now that the kids are grown but they'll be back.

Tiles Down

I have replaced the photos from the last trip below because it looks better to show a completed job. The XO and I ran out of tile last trip and had to come back to Austin to replenish. I counted 90 for the finish and guess what. Ran short again. By the time we cut the edges and replaced a few that cracked when I ran the tamper over them we were 12 short. The real problem was that we changed the plan. There was to be a rock garden in one corner (3X4) so 12 tiles. Oh, well, next trip.
Now that the big stuff is done for a while the XO and I can just enjoy the next trip.
I have tentatively scheduled the replacement of the other shoulder for late October or early November. That means 5 or 6 weeks of down time. I could use some front porch time. We will probably also spend some time looking up some of the folks that inhabit this part of Texas. People in these parts are the most self reliant and talented you will ever find. Desert-rats that take each day as a challenge and end each day with the satisfaction of a job well done.

Finished Courtyard

The August trip in September

Lots of stuff going on so we didn't make our August trip to the bunker till this week. We had to get out of the heat so we headed for Sturgis SD. We also went through Iowa to visit my brother. I call him my retarded brother because he lives in Iowa. I have tried to get him to come to Texas but he won't even come to visit. He says that Texans are all braggarts but I remind him that Iowans don't have anything to brag about. Especially football.
For the past four years I have had two pallets of patio blocks gathering dust out back. Last trip I spread sand in the patio area and this week we laid them. My knees still hurt. The XO would gather them in a wagon and bring them to me on the sand and I would put them down. I thought that each pallet was 250 blocks which would have been just right but it turns out that they were 200. I'm short (well...short happens) so next trip we have to carry a hundred and lay them. It really looks great though and when finished it will be nice.