House cleaning

Went back this weekend and ran the service wire from the main breaker to the breaker box inside. That done, I re-connected the few circuts I had inside and we have electricity. The new trailer has built in shelves and bins. We spent all day sunday taking stuff from the bunker to the trailer. When we finished we had a clean living room and a bedroom. Now the cabinets and a litte more wiring and viola.

New Trailer

Made a quick trip (800 miles RT) to the panhandle to save 3K on a trailer. The trip went well and next weekend we will go out to the bunker and begin to remove supplies and tools and store them in the trailer. We are getting ready to make it a home.
I will finish the electrical while we are there and install the air handler for heat, I'll do the AC next summer if we need it. We have discovered that heat or cold really doesn't matter that much because of the concrete walls. What concerns me is moisture. The AC will handle that in the summer but what am I going to do in the winter. There are plans for a whole house vent but without heat exchangers I will lose a lot of heat with the moisture.

WATER HEATER

The water heater has arrived. It is backward in operation but will fill the bill. It is a 40 gal. tank that has a coil of corrigated and finned copper inside. The water in the outer tank is to be heated with a 5500 watt element or outside source (solar panels) and the heat is transfered to the coil which takes cold supply water and gives hot water at the faucet. Hooking the system to the solar panels will be straight forward and will be a unpressurized system (a small 12V pump will run from a photovoltaic panel) and at night the system will shut down to keep the water from cooling. On cloudy days or for a lot of hot water the electric element will take over.

Re-think the plan.

The work of the past two years has been heavy so I think it's time to re-assess the plan. The original time line included an addition to the west side of the bunker this spring and completion in the summer or 2006. So far there hasen't been time to really enjoy it.
The bunker itself now has water, sewer and electricity so I think it's time to make it a home and finish all of the little things that need to be done. I bought a nearly new refrigerator this week and some oak chairs and I need to finish the kitchen cabinets so for the next few trips we can work on finishing up.

Winter Morning Fog

Yippie!!! LET THERE BE LIGHT

Got a call today from the electric company. The box that I installed met their stringent codes and a meter would be installed as soon as I provided them with the providers work order. Never mind that the installer wouldn't be there without some sort of instruction from the provider. I have a feeling that we may go around and around like that tiger from long ago that turned into butter. (you have to be 60+ to know that one)
Later in the day I got a call that the meter was installed and all was well but that I should still try and get the paper work right.
BUT I HAVE ELECTRICITY!!!

Problem in Paradise

I've been operating everything at the bunker with a curious bunch of extention cords and jumpers from the temporary power pole. I spent a lot of time and put up a very expensive service drop called an all-in-one made by Square-D. I would run a jumper from the temporary to the drop and have almost all I needed for working in the bunker. When I finally called the electric service provider to move the meter and get rid of the temp they responded the same day. Then the problems began. The installer hadn't seen that type of breaker box (remember this is a Square D) and wouldn't swap the service. After checking with his boss it seems that the problem was not with the box itself but the meter socket. I needed "other than a ring type receptical", no problem, but then he called out a specific brand. This is a well known brand but in the city they haven't used this brand (no known reason) for years and I had to check with all of the suppliers to finaly find one. The one I found required me to size up the service and install a new breaker box. I moved the box into the bunker (the old/new one was outside) and this required me to drill a 4" hole through 24' of concrete. After drilling several hours in the cold I had the pleasure of trying to bend 3/0 wire to make two 90 degree turns. I gave up after I hit myself in the face with the free end. Next trip.
I still have to get the power company to put in the meter.

Service Box

Facade

This is a church in New Mexico and it looks so good I may copy part of it for the addition. The false buttreses on either side of the door are a little much but the outline is what looks good me. The color is pretty good too.

A new year

2005 starts with a wimper. The weather is so nice it makes my tacklebox quiver. The bunker is coming together nicely. Next trip the electrical service entrance will go in and the kitchen will be closer to finished. The rest of the electrial will fall into place and we will start on the addition this spring. There is a large rockingchair in the garage in Austin and soon it will be on the porch and ready for my wide butt to position itself and start rocking. I only hope Barbara can time the hand-off of the martini glass to the speed of the rocking.

Christmas in Ft Davis

Christmas in Ft Davis
Originally uploaded by neillsmth.

This picture was taken from the driveway, about 10 feet down the hill. The driveway continues down to the road about 40 feet lower and 200 feet away. The rocks are part of a wall that runs West and hides the tunnel from the bunker. The trailers are up behind the bunker and the crain is out front ready to work.

Sagebrush Santa

Made from tumblweeds and cotton.
This is one of the old store fronts in "downtown" Ft Davis.

Paint test

DSCF0001.JPG copy
Originally uploaded by neillsmth.

Compare this with the artists remdering below. The color will be that between the window and door. The band around the bottom will be tinted more red.

ft davis art

ft davis art
Originally uploaded by neillsmth.

A visiting artist painted this and has it in a gallery in Austin. Looks a lot like the bunker but I'm sure its not. Still neat though. I will wait til we move in and hang the original on the wall

Working Inside

Drove out Thanksgiving night to wire the bedroom and mount the service panel. Many tight fits and small problems but we got it done and headed back Sat. night to beat the traffic. The service panel was made for underground service and I had to modify it slightly to accept overhead feed. The panel box only cost 23.00 on e-bay (thirty one to ship) but it is an all in one and worth much more. The next trip we will complete the wiring and all that will be left is installing the kitchen cabinets.

Bunker Roof

The roof was built up by adding concrete blocks at the corners and metal trusses for spanish tile mansard. The steel ladder leaning against the back wall is the ladder from the hatch.

The bedroom

Bringing Home the Silver Twinkie

Because of the cold weather and snow we took a quick trip Sat to pick up the Airstream. It's been sitting there two years so I had to do a little maintenance to get it off the hill. The batteries were up because of the solar panels and I found THE problem with the air bags (the vent line was plugged by some sort of varmit). I did discover a flat tire and that is a job. It did have to be a rear inner. That fixed we watched the Longhorns beat O State in a very exciting game and spent another night in the bunker.
The trip back to Austin was uneventful. A lot of deer hunters on the road but the Moho ran well untill about 50 mles out. Plugged fuel filter I guess. It ran worse and worse the rest of the trip and backing it into the back yard was tricky because it was running so bad. Now I have to fix it before I can use it.

First nighter

Spent the first night in the bunker. Very quet.
The weather changed quickly this weekend. No snow that we know of but the temp dropped to 28 with a high in the 30's. All that concrete is like a big heatsink and the inside stays pretty constant. We didn't winterize the airstream though so that may be a problem. I think I'll go get it Saturday. All of the electrical will go in Thanksgiving and the plumbing is finished so it will be liveable. The addition will be started in the spring.

The Bunker

The Bunker
Originally uploaded by neillsmth.

The bunker will stay this way until the addition is built. You can see how thick the walls are by noting te door return. Three feet thick, solid concrete. There will be a set of sprial stairs leading up to the roof making the whole roof a sun deck. It will be a very good place for Mexican martinis. Paint will go on next spring, I have enough that we had to put 16 buckets under the bed and make end tables out of 4 more.