On the level...

It doesn't look like much of a change.

You might not be able to see the change if we just took a picture of the side of Box 1.

But you can FEEL the change!

So what is it that we did?

Box 1 has been leveled! I can now drop a can of food or a bottle of shampoo without having it roll right out the end of the box! The new sense of equilibrium is astounding - getting out of bed and finding my balance will no longer be an issue. Oh, the simple pleasures in life!

Before: Front view (you really can't tell that it's tilty here, but believe me, it is...)

You can kinda tell here that the box tilts to the front and to one side.

After: Front/side view (It's not fancy, but it works for us!)

Blowin' in the wind: The making of a wind turbine

The answer is indeed blowing in the wind. So what was the question?

The question was: "How can we provide electricity to Box 1 while staying within our budget and off the grid?"

Wind power! BA has been hard at work researching construction methods and needed components for a home-made wind turbine. It's not done yet, but here are some pictures of what we've done so far.

This is a fan motor. It will be the motor that runs the turbine, and it will be attached to a flywheel.
BA got it free at a scrapyard and rewired it himself. 

This is the PVC pipe that will become the blades for the turbine.

This is BA cutting out the turbine blades from the PVC pipe, using a circular saw.

These are the blades. You can't tell from the pic, but there are three of them.
They are slightly curved with notches on the ends.

We'll be doing more work on the windmill over the weekend, so check back for "Blowin' in the wind Part II." If this concept works well to provide electricity for Box 1, we'll repeat the process on the future structures of BaHa Ranch. Alternatives would include buying a manufactured windmill or windmill kit, or using solar power on a larger scale than what we are already using.

We got most of the information on how to do this from How To Build A Wind Turbine, so if you want to try this too, check them out! 

The Best-Laid Plans of Ba and Ha

I once had a boss who would always ask me, "Got big plans for the weekend?" He asked this every time I saw him, no matter what I was trying to talk to him about. Well, if he had asked me that question last week, I would have said that yes, I had big plans for the weekend. Big, big plans!

So what were those plans? Here's the biggest plan of them all:

+

=

And did it actually happen? No. Here's a reality check: it takes a lot of equipment and manpower to move a structure that weights 10,000 pounds and is 40 feet long. Here's another reality check: equipment and manpower are expensive things. Oh and let's not forget the most important reality check of all: we can't afford to move Box 1 onto its foundation. Yes, I've seen the guy who moved his container in a similar manner using logs and two trucks. Apparently, that is not an option for us. For one thing, we don't have any logs. Getting logs in Hill Country would probably be fairly cost-prohibitive. Then there is the fact that the container is currently around 60 yards from where it needs to be. Then figure in the terrain: hilly, rocky, and covered in scrub brush. 

So what really happened this weekend?

We removed the "temporary" screen door at the end of the box and set the materials aside for re-purposing:

We sold two love-seats that were just too big for our space:

We bought a used Ikea fold-out bed that is the perfect size for our space (this is a picture from the Ikea website and not the actual couch that we bought. Looks the same, though):

The doggie got her rabies shot and spent the rest of the weekend resting in her warm, cozy bed:

And I made some cookies (I would share them with you if I could, because I'm just nice like that :):

So there's your BaHa Ranch update. Not what I had hoped for, but the weekend's events made us rethink our priorities. I'm afraid to even make plans and verbalize them now. Hey, but I'm going to anyway, because otherwise this would just be a blog about dogs and cookies, and you're not interested in something like that, are you? 

Priorities: 

• Level the box (Right where it is. It's fine. Really. We'll just have an expensive mini-Stonehenge to show our visitors 60 yards away) Done!
• Put in a door and some windows 
• Finish the walls inside
• Electricity!
• A heating source and a cooling source
• A rainwater catchment system
• An elementary grey-water system Done!
• A small refrigerator Done!

Sounds do-able, right? I think it does. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

That's all for now! And by the way, Happy Valentine's Day!