Reunited

Don's 1st cousin, Ludelle, and two of her daughters, made the trek down here from Abilene to visit Don this weekend. After trying to locate Don for quite some time, they stumbled upon this blog during an internet search and contacted me a few weeks ago. It had been about 20 years since they had seen each other last. I can tell that they were related to Don, because they all had that same genuine compassion for those around them. We gave them the abbreviated tour of Terlingua and the more in depth tour of Domeland. I think that they were all quite impressed with Don's achievements and the word is that they will be back again in a month. 

Here is Don explaining how his jig creates a template, which when assembled, provides the frame for the dome. The dome in the background is about 1000 square feet on the inside.   

Don talking geometry with Ludell's daughter, Janet. 

Brown Recluse Bite

"How are you doing this morning, Don?"

"Very Bad! We must go to Ojinaga to see a doctor about this spider bite. I think it was a brown recluse. My whole arm is swelling up!"

And so I picked up Don, and off to Mexico we went. Don doesn't have health insurance and so a $20 doctor's visit across the border is quite appealing. He has a certain doctor there that he likes. 

Don couldn't quite remember where the doctor's office was, or even what his name was, and so he wondered around the town showing people his arm and asking questions in broken Spanish. We finally found a woman who spoke perfect English who led us to a very modern building and in it we found Don's Doctor. The visit only took about 15 minutes, Don was prescribed some antibiotics, and then we ate lunch and went grocery shopping. I also took advantage and bought some cemento, which is half the price of cement in the USA. 

On the drive home, we listened to Michael Pollan's The Omnivores Dilemma on audiobooks. Since Don is hard of hearing, I panned the sound over to his side of the car and cranked it. Don was excited about Pollan's viewpoint on food production and kept nodding and agreeing with the points made. 

110 in the shade

I never would have thought that 110 degrees would feel pleasant, but it does in the desert, as long as there is shade. Don and I stuccoed for most of the day at above 100 degrees. It sounds hot, but I'd take it over 85 degrees and humid. The nights are still cooling off into the 60s. 

One way to keep cool out here is to dip your shirt in a bucket of water, ring it out, and then put it back on. It is COLD, even when using warm water. This is due to evaporative cooling. This form fitting AC unit is good for about 30 minutes before it has to be recharged. A siesta is also a good way to avoid the hottest part of day, though I still have yet to adopt that pastime.

But the BEST way to cool off around here is at Agua Fria, a year round cold spring about 12 miles from my place. Don and I went there during the hottest part of the day today. Heaven!

Don's Cousin, Ludell, also in her 80s, tracked him down through this blog. She is coming down here next weekend to reunite with Don after about 20 years. 

Anyways, I am getting pretty good at stuccoing. 

Brown Coat Continued

I have been back out here in Terlingua for all of March and April, mostly playing music around the area. Now that the season is coming to an end, I am finding some time to get back to the building. This last Thursday, we had a great team to work on and almost finish up the brown coat inside the dome. Don, Mundo, and myself developed a nice rhythm and got the hardest part done (the center of the dome, where the stucco can fall down on you as you apply it). Since we aren't using any power tools, all the stucco from beginning to end of this project is being mixed by hand, rather than a power mixer. We are also using our own aggregate in our stucco mixture, found locally for free, rather than a pre-mix such as quikrete. In order to prepare for a full workday such as today, all of the supplies must be gathered beforehand. The sand is gathered a couple of miles from my land, where it settles on the road from nearby natural deposits. The road becomes difficult to drive on when the wind piles the loose sand in heaps on the road. By gathering the sand, it also clears the road so that it is a bit easier to drive on. Since I don't have access to a conventional pickup truck, I use my volvo, Ruby, pretty much like a truck by putting  the seats down and then covering the back of the wagon with a heavy duty tarp. There is almost as much room in there as a pickup truck. The sand then has to be filtered very finely. I screen it with both lath and mosquito netting.  We also have to make sure that there is enough water on hand. Stucco gets very thirsty for the stuff. 

Don and Mundo are both expert stuccoers, with very different techniques. I learned a lot from watching them as I mixed stucco. I felt pretty comfortable with stuccoing the scratch coat since it doesn't have to be perfect and gets covered up. But for the brown coat, the part that get seen, I wanted more experienced hands to do the task. 

A long day makes for a good night's sleep, however, I learned later that my slumber was only a few feet away from a rattle snake, the first one I have seen on my land. 

A Bizarre Dream in Far West Texas

I had a very lucid and bizarre dream that about 25 extraordinary beings , mostly musicians, from far away places such as Austin, New York, and even as far as Denmark, showed up here in Far West Texas and enlisted me in their adventure. 

Find the rest of the story here. 

Wired Up to the Sun

I don't have access to the grid out here, but I do have access to the Sun, which is a more secure source of electricity in the long run. 

My friend George helped me wire up the outlets in the dome over the last couple of days. I have never wired up a house before, so I wanted someone with experience to be in charge of this part. 

When Emile visited last year, we installed the

 outlet boxes (the easy part). 

We decided to run both Romex wire (standard housing wire for AC outlets) and DC wiring through the same conduit that wraps around the outside of the dome. That way, I have a choice whether or not to plug in AC powered appliances or equipment directly or less energy intensive 12 volt DC versions. Once the outside of the dome is stuccoed, the conduit won't be accessible anymore, so we felt it important to have the option for both AC and DC, as they both have positives and negatives. 

We spent much of today driving to find the pieces that we need. We went by George and his wife Anita's property to get a couple of connectors that we were missing. They are also getting started here as well, and have built a temporary structure and outdoor shower (pictured here with their dusty puppy, Lulu). 

I learned a lot about wiring by watching George. And I got to install a couple of outlets, as well as the DC powered light in the center of the dome. It seems pretty easy once you've done it a few times.  The dome's power will be on two circuits.  My current inverter doesn't quite have enough power to move the current evenly through the thick Romex wire, and so until I get a stronger inverter, I will use DC power. 

Up till now, I have been running power right from the battery bank, plugging everything directly into an inverter. George pointed out that my connections were messy on my battery bank and stressed that those should all be tight so that it won't short out the circuit or fry the battery or something. He showed me some easy ways to fix those connections. 

I've spent about $500 so far for solar panels, an inverter, conduit, connectors, etc and that seems to be enough for running the basics right now (computer, internet modem and wifi, lights, radio, and rechargeables. I am sure I will have to upgrade soon. 

Other than those expenses for infrastructure, my electric bill each month continues to be $0! 

Ocotillo Explosions, Dark Blue Bonnets, And Lions

We have been hard hit this year by an explosive spring flower demonstration. The Ocotillo blooms make it look like Van Gogh went mad with a paintbrush, dotting the landscape with reflective orange and red highlights, matching the color of the desert sunsets. And the Crazy Gaint Bluebonnets add a dark blue, almost purple hue to reflect the morning sky. 

In other news, a couple of days ago, a friend and I spotted a Mountain Lion pacing around in front of its cave, the 2nd lion I have seen out here so far.  

This is certainly the Texas that most people are unfamiliar with.