It didn’t take long for the cisterns and small pond to fill up, so I expanded the puddle to a full-fledged pond. This will make a nice water feature in the front of the house and will further aid in providing irrigation to the orchard. The pond holds about another 4,000 gallons – yielding a
As everyone is suffering from post-election exhaustion here in the USA, we at Amber Oaks are focused on ways to distance ourselves from those who wish to rule us. I’m just about finished with our rainwater catchment system. Before we left Santa Fe, I scored three 1500gal direct burial cisterns for $2,400. That’s like waaay
We’re finally home! On Thanksgiving Day we made our final push to move into the house. It was an exhausting few weeks leading up to it, but we’re finally home. There is still plenty to do, only one bathroom, and the kitchen needs some finishing touches, but it’s livable. It will be much easier to
I’ve been avoiding this post for about 2 months now, but since I have to collect my thoughts before I go to court, I may as well do it here. Several months back, just before the drywall was installed, the air conditioner went out at the In-Law’s house (where we’re staying). I got to talking with the
You probably never give much thought to what’s behind the walls, but like our own bodies, that is where the life support system resides. It can be costly to fix after the walls are finished, it’s like undergoing bypass surgery – very invasive. Especially in this case, since we are spraying in foam insulation. Just about
You don’t think too much about stairways, but they’re a bit tricky to get right, and I have been thinking about and planning this stairway all week. There are several websites that will do the math for you so I bought the wood, grabbed my pencil and speed square and got to work – yeah, right.
Exceptional week at the ranch. Got the second story floor joists put up, and all the decking down. It wasn’t without its complications, however. I ordered the 20 engineered wooden I-beams from McCoy’s with specific instructions to group them into 5’s so that I could lift them with my tractor. When they got to the
Completed the installation of the septic system. Fortunately Williamson County concluded that my soil would support a gravity fed anaerobic system (without pumps or chemicals). I’m surprised at how big the drain field needed to be. It’s actually larger than the one we had in Santa Fe, and that was for 3 bathrooms and really
Yes, It has been a long time since I’ve published, but things have been progressing very slowly. The building was initially delayed due to severe rains in May here in Central Texas, so I started off at least a month behind where I had intended to be. Once construction got underway, there were several starts and
We’re all packed up and moved out. We made our final push on the 16th of June to vacate the house. It was had day of packing – trying to fit it all in the cattle trailer we borrowed from a friend. Unfortunately we didn’t have room for everything. Had to leave the sheep (3),
Water is fundamental to life, so when I we were choosing the property, it was one of the primary considerations for selections. I was told that the local water supply coop serviced the property – unfortunately that was not the complete story. Manville WSC did indeed have a service lines in the area. They had one
I have been struggling to get a contract together on my building. I spent a months with a fellow in Thorndale (Andrew Unnash) before he quit taking my calls, then several months with Meuller & Whirlwind getting the design right (while coincidentally looking for someone to erect it). My thought here was that at least
