Ruby Road Sign, Snow in Terlingua

My nearest neighbors, Ben and Vanessa delighted me when they brought their hand made Ruby Road sign to Terlingua and installed it at our intersection. They are the only other residents, part time or not, on Ruby Road. I named the street after my grandmother, and coincidentally, Ruby is also the name of Vanessa's car, as well as my red Volvo.

Ben and Vanessa, who live most of the time in Fredericksburg, have a great house in progress very close to my place. I got lucky.

Friends from Austin, The Lonesome Heroes, came by Earth Language for dinner on their way out of town after rockin the Starlight Theater. We talked about the status of the music industry, outdated concepts, and new opportunities in the modern musical landscape.

And then it snowed....

This is the most snow I have seen out here. I had a temporary igloo.

I went by Don's place, and he had one too.

Ruby was covered....

The snow melted by afternoon, as I was headed to Mexico to visit my friends Abe and Josie, which will be the subject of the next post.

My Afternoon Run Measured with an iPhone

It sure is nice to have a gravel exercise track right outside my door, where I don't have to worry about traffic, noise, or pollution. Here is the 3 mile run/walk routine I did this afternoon after the sun came out after a rainy winter day:

(Click the picture to enlarge)

Instead of 4 times around for a mile, as is dizzyingly typical for an exercise track, this one is once around for 3 miles,. I used an iPhone App called Runkeeper which monitors my location, speed, etc and then uploads it and gives statistics. This run seemed mostly flat, but it is nice to be able to look back and see the slight changes in elevation and other interesting data. After being near sea level for the last couple of weeks, the sudden altitude out here had me out of breath pretty quickly.

Water, Sun, Food, Bicycles, Friends

I've been back out in Terlingua for a few weeks and am excited to have accomplished all of the things I wanted to get done this time around. With help from friends and 'experts', I was able to optimize my solar system, organize my new temporary living space, and most importantly, set up water catchment.

Now that I have a shed with an angled roof, it opened up an opportunity to install my solar panels on my roof as as well as set up water catchment.

It turns out that Ryan, the solar guy is equally proficient with water catchment as he is with solar electricity. He says that plumbing and and wiring are more or less the same thing.

Ryan's partner in crime, Diego...

I got the catchment set up just in time. There is a 60% chance of rain in the next few days. I just need to leave out some cement bags to seal the deal.

My one almost dead battery has made a bit of a comeback. I can run my interior light all night if I want and since I have converted my modem, router, and laptop computer to DC, I can run everything without the energy drain of an inverter. During these winter days, if it is sunny, I can use and charge my computer between the hours of about 10 am and 3 pm. Once I have a full charge, my computer can work unplugged for about 3 hours.

Since my iPhone hardly draws any power, I use that for streaming radio and podcasts and reading the New York Times. I have even watched movies on it. I have one switch inside the shed that turns the whole network on and off.

The nights here have been COLD. One morning, I woke up to 18 degrees INSIDE the shed. I was very warm, however, wrapped in a down sleeping bag, two other down comforters, and a ski suit. I am looking into some sort of non toxic DIY insulation solution for the shed. I am also looking into getting a small propane heater suitable for indoor use. It doesn't get any colder out here than this past week, so I feel that it was a good test and quite manageable.

Other highlights from this most recent visit included...

My first visit to the brand new Terlingua Farmer's Market...

Eating fresh Terlingua Greens from the Farmer's Market...

Riding mountain bicycles through the desert under full moonlight with my Denton friend Remington Pohlmeyer...

And hanging out with my new neighbors Jim and Anna, also musicians who are building a house out here.

I got the privilege of helping them raise a wall...

12/25/09

I woke up this morning to 25 degrees, but I was wrapped warmly in my sleeping bag. There were some fragile ice crystals on my red wagon. Just to breathe on them erases them from existence. They quickly retreated with the emergence of the sun.

Just like last year, Santa came by to give me some candy. He told me that I was good enough. I don't think that he is as strict this far south.

Yesterday, my friend and local musician Jim Keaveny came by to lend me a hand with some shelves, furthering the spacial potential of this 120 square foot...cabin. I spent today organizing and adding a few more shelves.

It is nice to finally have complete protection from the wind and a door that I can open and close. This little shed, though not insulated, still manages to retain some of the heat from my little propane heater. It is probably due to the thermal mass created from all my belongings being crammed into a small space.

My one battery in my battery bank is almost dead. I can only use my computer when there is full sun, as my power is pretty much coming right off the panels, with the dead battery merely acting as a conduit. My one battery worked great for two years, but it is time to deposit a couple new batteries into the bank. My friend Ryan, the solar guy out here, tells me that the more batteries in the bank, the longer they all last, because they are all sharing the labor. Makes sense.

Radiant Floor

Awhile back I was considering installing a radiant floor, as friends have highly recommended their inexpensive heating capabilities during the winter. Rusty, my neighbor, renewed that idea when he suggested the same and took it a step forwards by offering to help me install it. Rusty has some experience after installing radiant heating beneath his poured adobe floor on his own house. He happened to have some pex pipe on hand. Pex is a great durable water pipe that is also inexpensive. It's flexibility makes it easy to shape. The pipe will move hot water underneath the floor, which will then conduct through the floor and into the interior space, providing free heating in the winter. A solar water heater on the outside of the dome will provide the heating mechanism. 

We only had half a day to start this process. Rusty was the foreman and my friend and songwriter Johann Wagner also leant a hand. Johann and I are currently on tour together, and so the poured adobe floor, which will cover the pex pipe and provide a plateau for bare feet, will have to wait.

Living in 120 Square Feet

I am moving up in the world. I decided to send back the shipping container I have been renting and buy a shed. It is the first thing I have put on a credit card in years, but the monthly payments will be less than what I have been paying to rent a shipping container, and in a couple of years, I will own it. In fact, 88% of my monthly payment will go towards ownership. With the shipping container rental, only 0% went towards ownership. So technically I am not debt free anymore, but my situation is better and my monthly expenses a bit less. 

When living in small spaces, it is important to think in cubic feet, rather than square feet. Believe it or not, inside this tiny shed I have an office, a kitchen, a sitting area, and a bedroom. Bunk beds, shelves, stackable containers, etc help to make the space more functional.

I was debating between purchasing a used shipping container or this shed. The shipping container is larger, more durable, and provides a 2^nd life for used material, but the shed won because it is more suitable for living in temporarily and the angled roof also has potential for water catchment and solar panel installation.  I was also considering building one myself, but I have never built a shed and I needed something fast. Since I will be using the shed for water catchment, I was able to claim a tax exemption, saving me about $200. 

The dome will be twice as big, and when I am able to move into it, the shed will be used as a guesthouse and storage area. 

Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava Desert in Israel

I had the privilege to visit Kibbutz Lotan in the Arava Desert in Israel, an area that hasn't received any significant rainfall in ten years. On average, less than an inch falls per year. Ground water, and a world famous permaculture program makes Lotan an oasis in the desert. Their Bustan Neighborhood is a prototype neighborhood, consisting of a dozen (so far) off-grid strawbale/adobe domes. These were built by the students and teachers of the Green Apprenticeship program. I stayed in one of their domes for two days during their very hot season. Here are some photos.

This is dome # 5, the one I stayed in
The inside of dome # 5
The Bustan Neighborhood
Lush gardens in an unlikely environment
A Desert Oasis
Children's playground...there are over 100 children at Kibbutz LotanMud tiled wall made by children at Kibbutz Lotan

Solar Oven Demonstration

Bathroom wall

Bottle Window
Mike Kaplan explaining the natural cycles and how Humans have strayed
Hebrew Class with Avi