Making an entrance

The other thing we had to accomplish before the backhoe left for Missouri was installing the posts at the entrance.

Gerald and J.C. set the logs for the sides first. Gerald had bought the logs from the mill in Congress. They had a natural "Y" at the top to hold a crossbeam.






The log for the crossbeam had to be notched before it could be placed. That took a while.












J.C. used the backhoe to set the crossbeam.













But he had to finesse it by hand to work it into place. It was cold, and windy and we were starting to loose the sun by then.











One of the most dramatic moments was watching J.C. unhooked the strap from the backhoe. The propane guys had to wait for J.C. to finish so they could leave, and we all stood around the meadow watching.

He got it done, though, and the propane guys went on their way. Gerald also wanted to use the backhoe to set a heat stove on the porch. By the time they got that done, it was completely dark and 32 degrees. It nearly wore Gerald out, and we still had to stop for dinner and drive home.

The day we got gas

When we got back to the land, J.C. had dug the trench for the propane. We crossed our fingers. The last time we tried to have propane delivered, the roads were so muddy the propane truck couldn't make it up the hill, and the ground was too muddy to dig the trench.

We were supposed to get more rain on this day, but so far, the sky was blue and dry.





The propane truck showed up in the late afternoon. Gerald showed them where we wanted to place the tank, and the guys surveyed the area but determined they couldn't set the tank until the site work had been done.









But they set the line so we could have it inspected, which was important. Our hope was that we could have the line inspected the next day, and J.C. could backfill the trench before he took the backhoe to Missouri for Paul after Christmas.

The propane guys left the tank near the transformer until they could set it.

Domestic matters

While Paul's helpers finished up the wiring, Gerald and I played with the arrangement of kitchen cabinets.











We had initially wanted to put a stove between the dining and living areas, but found we couldn't because we couldn't have more horizontal flue pipe than vertical, so we positioned the stove between the kitchen and dining areas and were pleased with the results.








As we were packing up to go home, Gerald noticed that there was water running in the wash behind the trailer. Not a torrent, true, but still a nice little creek.










And for the first time since the summer monsoon, there was water in our stock pond.

Electrified!

On Thursday, we had decided that our goal should be to get the house ready for an inspection of rough-in electric and plumbing. That meant we needed to go to Prescott for supplies. By the time we got back, it was 8 p.m. and dark. The temperature had already dipped to 29, and furry frost had begun to form on the top of the cooler.

With all the cloudy days, our solar charger was not keeping the battery in the trailer charged, so we had to run the generator all night again to keep the heat on. The the pop-outs had apparently reached their saturation point. They dripped on us all night. We slept with a sheet pulled up over our faces.

In the morning, everything was covered in frost.

The meadow looked like a holiday postcard.













And ice formed around the edges of the pools that had collected. On the upside, the roads were also frozen, and not a bog of quicksand.












We were cheered by the sight of the APS truck around 9 a.m. By 11, we had electricity!

Mud and rain and rain and more rain

We had gone back to the Valley for a holiday dinner with the intention of returning the next day. But it continued to rain and the roads were difficult, and by the time Gerald was able to round up all the materials, it was mid-afternoon, so we went back up on Thursday morning instead.

We got as far as Yarnell when we got the call from the propane driver who was supposed to deliver our propane. He couldn't get his truck up the hill I had gotten stuck on. Gerald called Paul, who was up at the land, but he said that even if he pulled the propane truck up the hill, the ground was too muddy to set the tank. He couldn't even get the backhoe into that area to dig the trench. So Gerald called the propane driver back and said we'd have to reschedule.

When we arrived, we saw the results of the wind. We had been wondering whether to keep the screen room now that we had the house dried in. One zipper was broken and there was a tear in the top. Now the decision seemed to have been made for us.

We could see what Paul was talking about concerning the propane tank. Here are the ruts the backhoe made in that area.











And pools of water had formed.













We found Paul inside the house, with two helpers who he hired to help with the electrical work. This was Paul's last day on the job and he said he would work as late as necessary to get everything done. He worked until 10 p.m., and there was still work to do. But he had his helpers come back the next day to finish the rough-in electrical, and explained what was left of the plumbing to Gerald.

Rain and snow

It began to snow in the afternoon. Our neighbor said it was the first snow of the year, and we were glad to be there to see it. Nothing stuck, just flurries. But it was cold, in the mid-30s. Paul looked miserable mixing cement on the front porch. Gerald brought him a cup of hot chocolate, and slipped and fell because our makeshift sidewalk got so slippery.

The snow turned to rain, and it rained steadily all night long. We ran the generator for several hours hoping to charge up the battery in the travel trailer. We hadn't been able to keep the heat on during the last two nights we spent there. The first night, we ran out of propane. The second night, we ran out of battery. We were worried because we were pretty sure it would freeze that night, and we didn't want the lines in the travel trailer to burst. We ran the generator hoping to charge up the battery, but by the end of the evening, we still didn't have enough of a charge to keep the heat on all night. So we poured our last to gallons of gas into the generator and let it run until it ran out of gas. By the time it did, we had enough battery to keep the heat on.

The next morning, I got up to go to Yarnell. Paul needed some hardware, and we needed some donuts. I met Paul coming in as I was going out. He said to be careful. The rain had made the roads very slick. There was one spot he could barely get up in four-wheel drive. As I headed out, I saw where he had trouble, and made a mental note to be careful there coming back.

Even in four-wheel low, I couldn't make it up the hill. After several attempts, I found myself firmly stuck in the ditch. Paul and Gerald came in the backhoe to pull me out. Once Paul got us going, he spread gravel over the area, which made all the difference. His dad was able to get in with no problem. So was our roofer, who we called because our unfinished roof let in a cascade of water. As for us, we had dinner plans in the Valley, and the rain showed no signs of abating, so we decided we'd better pack it up and get out while we could.

A nearly electric experience

We had gone home for one day, and returned to find Brian Hampton grading the road. It was a welcome sight, as the summer monsoon rains had left the roads rutted and rough, and they had been that way for months.









We were also encouraged to see two APS trucks sitting on the ranch road near the highway. Gerald got out to see if they were there to bring us our long-awaited electricity. They said they had pulled the wire, and another crew was setting the transformer. We were very excited. We missed that crew, though. We just saw the tops of two trucks more coming from the direction of the land on the way out. We arrived to find the transformer, but no meter, and no electricity.

The crew had told Paul, our contractor, that they were short a man and couldn't finish the job that day. Gerald called APS and was told that the crew had called and said it was snowing and they had to quit. It wasn't. The APS office called the crew back, but they didn't do any more work. They said they had guys on overtime who couldn't work any more and left. When Gerald called APS again, the guy in the office said he had found a way around that problem, but the crew didn't take it. We decided they must have just wanted to be off by noon.

We were a little worried about our power situation. It had been overcast, so the battery in the travel trailer, which we have hooked up to a solar panel, didn't have much juice and we worried about keeping heat that night.

While we were gone, Paul had relocated a couple of boulders to hide a 500-gallon propane tank that was to be delivered on Thursday.










The vanity was also in place in the guest bathroom, and Paul was at work on the shower pan.











Meanwhile, Gerald hung the pocket doors in the guest bathroom and laid out the kitchen cabinets, so we could get an idea of what the kitchen would look like.

Wood and more

The next day, Paul worked on plumbing. But he also skinned the guest bathroom. Here's the before picture.
















And the after.













Meanwhile, I spent the weekend stacking the lumber left over from construction that we thought we could use for firewood. When I was done, I had stacked four pallets and a giant "pile."









And for the first time since the framers started, we could see the ground.












As we were getting ready to leave, Paul was preparing to relocate a boulder for us to use to hide a propane tank.

Tin Roof

When we returned the next week, Paul had installed our weather vanes and the tin roof on the patio cover.











He and his helper, Lauren, helped Gerald unload kitchen cabinets we had brought up.












We received another shipment of lumber, this time the siding that Paul would be installing.












That night at sunset, the sky glowed as if it were on fire. It was an eerie-looking sky.












There was also a full moon, which was still up the next morning. It was supposed to be the largest visible full moon of the year.

Paul returns

It rained that night. Fortunately, it waited until after we went to bed. But that gave us a way to test the integrity of our new roof. There was a little water in the loft, under the unfinished portion of the roof. Aside from that, the only water problem we had was here, where Gerald forgot to close the door.







Our general contractor, Paul Russell, had flown in from Missouri on Sunday, and was on site first thing Monday morning. He and Gerald spent the day laying out the kitchen and bathroom, so he could start on the plumbing.









Here they are creating a template of the tub to be sure our platform was large enough. It was, just.

The rainbow

In the late afternoon, while the roofers were still on the job, Gerald and I were sitting by the fire. I turned around and actually gasped when I saw this rainbow. The end of it lit up the side of this hill as though to point the way to a pot of gold. Unfortunately, it's hard to see from the blog just how magnificent the rainbow was. You could see it from beginning to end, in bright, vivid colors. There was also a perfect secondary rainbow just above it that didn't photograph at all.

The Roof

We couldn't get roofing shingles delivered to the land, so Gerald "hired" Joe, to haul the shingles in his truck. They also rented a pallet jack to unload the shingles, but when we got it all to the land, the pallet jack didn't fit under the pallet. So they got creative. They secured a chain around the pallets of shingles, one at a time, and pulled them out of the truck using our pick-up.






The roofing crew started work the next day.













Here's how it looked by afternoon.













The roofers had hoped to finish the roof in one day. They worked until dark, and got all but this small piece of roof shingled.

Thanksgiving weekend

We arrived at the land on Wednesday of Thanksgiving week. It had rained in the days before we arrived, so the ground was already soggy. With such a high clay content, the soil was so mucky that Gerald had to make us this nice pathway with scraps of OSB. It didn't do much to save Bubba's feet, though, which looked like they had been dipped in brown.

But we got a real show on Wednesday night. We sat around the fire pit as the sky spit a few drops here and there, and talked about how these would be the times we'd remember. In years to come, we'd talk about the Thanksgiving we spent sitting around the fire pit in the rain.

But things were just getting started. Just after we turned in for the night, it began to pour. We went to sleep to the drumming of the rain on the pop-ups. Sometime during the night, the rain developed into one of those full-on Arizona storms. My dreams were shot through with ragged beams of blue light. I woke up to find lightening illuminating the trailer like a strobe light, while thunder rolled on and on. It was so loud, it rattled your insides. I thought Bubba must be freaking out, because I was getting a little freaked myself.

The next day, there were so many puddles in the house that Gerald remarked that "dried in" was apparently a relative term. We agreed that it was a good thing it rained like it did, though, so we could see the effect. Gerald had thought about bringing up kitchen cabinets and other things to work on. But by the looks of it, that wasn't a good idea until we got a solid roof and, perhaps, some siding.

Gerald spent Thanksgiving Day working on odds and ends in the house, then we went to our neighbors, Tom and Linda's, for a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner.
Gerald's shop manager, Dave, came up to join us on Friday. Gerald had wanted to install a furnace he had bought, but there were no instructions, and parts didn't fit together or were just plain missing. Besides that, once they began work, they found they had questions about the Yavapai County building codes. They decided the best thing to do would be to wait until they could get some of these issues resolved.

Instead, they extended part of the floor in the loft and worked on stripping bark from some of the logs used as porch supports.

On Saturday, J.C. pulled up a dumpster and brought along a young man named Justin to sort through the mounds of construction debris.











By the end of the day, we were left with piles of firewood to sort and stack on our next visit. As it was getting dark, J.C. was helping get the last of the debris into the dumpster, which was filled to overflowing. We left J.C. to finish up, and headed home.