At the Park – Days 44 – 46

Not a whole lot to update on so hopefully I don’t simply ramble on too much.

Good flight home.  I dozed off and on most of the 4.5hr flight.

Grabbed a coffee in the airport to figure out where in Phoenix I should stop to eat.  I chose “La Santisima”, a mexican restaraunt with a number of options that fit into my dietary objectives (less the fried chips I chowed down).  Good choice.  I will definitely return as opportunities permit.

Oh yea, in case you were wondering, I got out of the airport parking garage without any significant damage to truck or low hanging pipes/conduit in the structure.

Since I missed my usual shopping day in Douglas, I took advantage of the health food stores in Tucson.  Also stopped to get some dog food for Sasha as I knew she would be out before my next trip to Douglas and grabbed another coffee for myself.

Since I forgot to bring the cooler, I waited until Wilcox (only ~90min from home) to stop and get my soy milk and look for frozen fruit.  I didn’t like their selection of frozen fruit so I just got soymilk and some cash.

I finally broke down and bought some tamales from the ladies selling them in the Safeway parking lot in Wilcox (they have been there selling them all three times I’ve been there.  They asked me red or green chilies.  Not knowing which would be more mild, I responded asking for “mild” .  The look I got told me that “mild” was not an english word they were familiar with, so I followed up with “no caliente” which means “not hot”.  They discussed between themselves which to give me then handed me a bag and I paid for them.

I am sooo glad I had the foresight to grab a cold bottle of water in the store.  I just wish it was more effective.  I now know what they were discussing.  Which was was “less hot”.  Oiy.  No problem staying a wake while driving when your mouth is on fire.  Estupido gringo… Fire in mouth is out, let’s eat another.

Sasha was happy to see me of course.  It was a nearly a full moon out so I could comfortably take her to the dog run without the aid of a flashlight.

It was around 2AM eastern time when I finally settled into bed.

I spent Saturday morning on the computer while waiting for Karen and Bob to arrive from Bisbee.  We went to the clubhouse to sit and chat about building permit requirements and various construction topics.  After a bit we headed out to the property so they could see the property and get an idea in person what I had presented on paper in terms of terrain and building site.

We pause for a very tasty lunch between sandwich makings and apples and what I had brought – various dried fruit.  Sadly mother nature decided it was time to rain as we were finishing lunch so we said rather hurried goodbyes before they departed to head back to Bisbee.  Hopefully the next time they come up, we will have some shade and shelter so we can sit and visit comfortably for a bit longer.  None-the-less, I am grateful they made the drive to come visit.

Getting rained out, I decided to retire to the trailer for the rest of the day.  Talked on the phone for a bit, then started work on a new floor plan for the house.  While on the airplane out to PA, I was rereading my earth bag building book and was reminded of a number of construction requirements for a rectangular building which I had forgotten to include and was concerned that it would be difficult to include them in an aesthetically pleasing manner.  I might revisit it, but for now, I’m changing gears to build a circular home.  Certainly a challenge when using conventional building methods, but I’m not using conventional building methods and the shape of arcs and arches provide a lot more structural support than does a straight line.  That said, Saturday evening was spent redoing the floor plan to remap the basic rectangular floor plan into a circular one.  For the most part, the conceptual remapping was not to difficult.  Putting certain aspects of it into electronic format has proved a bit challenging thus far.  I took the floor plan development as far as I dare given how tired I was, then turned in for the night.

Sunday, I made the mistake of starting the morning off watching youtube. I had fallen behind on a few of my channels and I wanted to try to get caught up on at least “mylittlehomestead”.  I love that channel.  Watching it, gave me inspiration on the roof design for the new circular floor plan as well as options on how I might chose to finish off the inside of it.  Around noon local time I decided I had better get over to the property to get another coat of urethane on that seat.

I got the work on the seat done, then walked the property and picked 8 – 12 prickly pears.

Back at the park after doing dishes, I singed all the prickers on the prickly pears off using the stove in the camper, then went and picked a bowl full of grapes from the grape vines at the club house.  Made myself some dinner, and started on the blog.

Before I turn in for the night, I’ll be washing the grapes and throwing them in the fridge for tomorrow.

You are now up to date.

Unless there are major updates to be shared during the week, I’m guessing the next update will be Friday evening.

Night all!