Do Dogs Have a Soul?

I took this picture of our dog on the couch before she died. I know what I see in the picture. But anything else.... Well, that's up to you....

Electricity....

God! I want electricity!!!! That is all....

(Should be, according to PG & E anyway, this week... But I've been wrong before...)

"I'll have the venison, please..."

Our three dogs have a habit of running off down the hill and onto the neighboring property. It's at least 120 acres of cattle range land so they don't often have much to worry about. Other than Trixie.

Trixie is the kitty. She's sorta beige-ish colored. Has a long, thick tail. Green eyes. And she weighs at least 140 pounds or more. She's a mountain lion. A cougar. "Kitty!"

But Trixie doesn't seem all that interested in us. Nor the tasty morsels of dogs we have.

Anyway, the dogs went running off down the hill again yesterday. We usually have to take a good half hour getting them to come back. (We're working on fixing that; it's a problem.) First to come back yesterday was C.B.. With two dark spots on either side of her neck where she'd discovered the joys of Eau du Bovine. (a.k.a., Cow Shit.)

And then comes Crash. Very happy. With something in his mouth. Proud, in fact. He had a present for us. (Or, for himself, I'm not exactly sure which.)

It was the intact skeleton of the entire back leg of a deer. Complete with Appetizer Ants. And the hoof. And a smidgeon of deer hide and hair.

UGH!

So, we threw it on the grill and cooked it up to kill anything growing in or on it. And now we have free dog chewy treats.

Later that night, a large pack of coyotes were howling away down the hill. I suppose mourning the loss of their deer leg.

The joys of rural living with dogs!

("Steak, anybody??")

HOT WATER!!!

Yippeee!!!!!!

We have hot water!!!!

I've taken my first HOT shower on my property!!! God! It felt so damn good... I almost felt like a real, normal human being again....

Only thing we're waiting for now to be able to move in is the grading inspector to call me the hell back. Then, it's the Final Inspection and then move in time!

Oh, and PG & E still hasn't got us hooked up to electricity yet. Good thing I bought a generator on Ebay back in July--it's been pretty much the main thing that has kept living on this hill palpable.

Almost Done!!!

YIPPEE!!!!

I have a phone line at the house now!!! Now I can surf all those sites that the Library won't let me onto... ;{)

The VERY last thing we're waiting for before we can move the hell into the house is a grading re-inspection (I put the house too damn close to the top of a slope (i.e., closer than 2 feet) so I had to, uh, re-slope the slope), the inspection for the gas line (i.e., propane) and the final inspection. If all goes well (I HOPE I HOPE I HOPEIHOPEIHOPEIHOPE) I'll be movin' into the damn house this weekend!!!!!!

Oh, and then I gotta start waiting for PG & E to come out and get the electricity hooked up. Shouldn't be too long. Probably by Christmas... :)

Well, that's it for now. I'll be posting pictures soon now that I can waste time on the 'net at home again...

28 Days Later (Not The Movie)

After Seven weeks of "camping" on my new property, I'm waxing poetic today.

A couple days ago, I was struck by how much more attached or in tune I have become to, generally, nature. More specifically, the cycles of the moon. When you're out camping under the stars (and rain clouds and thunderheads) for such an extended time, the cycles of the moon become plainly obvious. Even the movement of the planets among the stars is obvious.

I used to go to sleep very late at night and wake up around noon (or sometimes later). But, over the past seven weeks, I've been sacking it in shortly after sundown and getting up shortly after sunup. Do I feel better after spending so much time on a "natural" waking cycle? I don't know. I still get pretty darn irritated and annoyed with and at things.

Anyway, the past seven weeks have been, at the very least, interesting. But I am so VERY ready to be done with this extended camping trip. Today, the plumbing connections are being made so we'll have indoor plumbing soon--maybe by tonight! (You don't really want to know the details but having those connections made will vastly improve the quality of life for us.)

On the other hand, as I think I said 28 days ago, this experience could be sucking a lot harder if it weren't for the running water. Oh, and the trailer's refrigerator and freezer finally got to working well. (Well, it works well enough.)

And, finally, we're able to move ahead with the telephone connection. We were supposed to have trenched the 650 feet (from where the pole is going to be to the house) to a depth of 18 to 24 inches. However, the bedrock is--in some places--only four inches below the surface. UGH! But, we and Verizon got that worked out. Sometime in the next 30 days, I should have phone service!!!

The house is in one peice. The roof is on. My new washer and dryer are installed. Soon--very soon--I hope to be able to move in...

Three weeks.... And Counting...

It's been three weeks now that I moved out of my old house. And it's been three weeks of "camping" in the dirt of the new property.

Three weeks of dirt. Three weeks of heat. Three weeks of doing nothing. Three weeks of water that tastes like pipe dope. Three weeks of "showering" with a hose. Three weeks without plumbing. Three weeks without decent phone service. Three weeks without a damn home...

The house was delivered a week ago and is still in two peices. Electricity is going to take a good three to four additional weeks to get hooked up. It's really starting to get on my damn nerves.

On the other hand, there are some benefits. I have however been reading. A lot. In the past week, I've read When the Wind Blows, Roses are Red, Violets are Blue, Pop Goes the Weasel, and The Andromeda Strain and half of The Terminal Man. (I think there might be a couple more but I can't be sure.)

I've also been staring at the stars for a very long time. I've seen more meteors and satellites in these past three weeks than I'd seen my entire life previous.

I've apparently been losing weight. (Yes, that's a good thing.) I've seen all sorts of birds, lizards, insects, and assorted wildlife. Heard the nightly chirp-ing of at least one bat (eating said insects.)

All in all, it sucks but it could suck a lot harder. The one saving grace is that we have running water. Without that, the whole experience would REALLY be pissing me off...

Rain + Dirt = MUD!

Ok, so about 2:00 o'clock this morning, I was awakened by a thunderous clap of thunder. (I suppose that's why it was thunderous... But I digress....) A few moments later, a small sprinklin' of rain was coming down. It was mildly refreshing.

It remained mildly refreshing for about two minutes. It remained mildly refreshing until it started pouring.

We lept up from our beds scrambling around the "camp site" that I call home putting the electronic stuff away, getting my sleeping bag out of the downpour, putting the dogs in the truck, things like that.

After we rescued all we thought needed rescuing, we huddled together in the tiny spot of space still left in the trailer I'm using for storage.

It poured for about 45 minutes or so making a nice mud patch that used to be a dirt patch. Lightening struck the high voltage power lines at least once. Or I think it did.

After the storm passed, we watched the lightening strikes in the valley. It was as pretty as I had hoped it would be.

In fact, the whole thunder storm experience would have been nice and purty if I'd had a house already...

Ah! Homesteading!!!

The Internet, The Library, and Dirt!!!!

HEY!

I found the Internet! It's over here in this library here in town! And all I have to do is sit down and log on! Yippee!!!!

(I know, I sound like I'm easily entertained. And I am.)

Got all moved out of the old house. Living on the patch of dirt where the new house will be going. Not a lot to do up there. I really, really mean it, too.

You know that "Slower pace" that a lot of people seem to want? Well, gosh darn it, I found it! For excitement yesterday, I did the following:

• Watched a clock for about an hour and half
• Watched the temperature drop 10 degrees in about an hour
• Watched vultures fly on and off the high voltage power lines. All day.
• Got really excited when we got water out of the well
• Got even more excited when we got water pressure out of the pressure tank.
• Watched meteors
• Looked at the dirt
• Got a sunburn through my shirt
• Took a nap
• Took a shower with newly pressurized COLD!! water.
• Walked down the drive way and saw the, I guess, heat lightening over the Sierras
• Well, you get the idea....

But, aside from being outside all the damn time, it's purty ok. It'll be more OK once the house gets up there. And then a flurry of activity starts....

Gotta git the skirting (cinder blocks) on. Gotta get some more gravel for the driveway. Gotta get PG & E to get things right.

But, it IS a fantastic thing I've done with buyin' the land.

This is it!

Well, two days to go and I'll be living without electricity, without indoor plumbing, without phone; hell, without a lot of things we currently take for granted. But, it should all go well.

Got most of the water and well stuff hooked up. Septic's all in and covered up. House won't be delivered for another week from today. So, we're gonna be roughin' it.

Got most of my crap moved out of the current house and into the itty bitty trailer. Movin' the pond tomorrow. (Whatta mess that's gonna be!)

All in all, it's been a fairly easy move...