Bad Blogger

120 gallon Propane tank being delivered kept the container livable over the winter, and vost about $450 for the season.

Im alive and in good health, and should get a F for keeping everyone up to date, so I do apologize.  The truth of the matter is I pretty much hibernated for the winter, and my nest egg got depleted a little bit, so went into survival mode just paying for the basics. 

The good news is winter is well over, and starting tomorrow I have once again become gainfully employed. Well part time at least don't wanna rush back into the work force to fast. So hopefully I can get going on some more long anticipated projects, and keep you all up to date!

 Direct vent furnace. Uses a lot more propane, but doesnt burn the oxygen on the inside of the container which is rather important in a tight space!

 30000 btu furnace

 Lesson learned burned barrels will ignite until the paint is burnt off

 Ginger is good too! She has even found herself a boyfriend down the road who comes up for the occasional visit

Still a rabbit chasing maniac.

So all has been well in the container home kept me warm and dry over the winter, well mostly dry there is a bit of a condensation issue, which is at the top of the list of my projects.

Thanks for visiting!

Good Day! 

Instant hot water

 Long over due update. Things have been a lil slow out on the Mesa. Mostly hiking, and happy hours. Until recently when I realized old man winter was creeping in fast.

Finally got around to installing the tankless hot water heater, which required cutting another 5 inch hole in the roof to vent this thing. 80000 btu puts off a lot of carbon dioxide, and even after all the holes I've cut into the container its still pretty air tight, so Ive been figuring out ways to get some make up air into it.

 Hole cut, and double walled duct installed (B Vent). Not the ducting recommended for the unit due to possible corrosion overtime, but the recommended duct cost 220 smackers for 4 ft section, and this piece cost $14, so even if it needs replaced every few years its worth my time.

Vented out the roof originally planned on venting out the side of the container, but figured out that was not a option after I already had water lines installed. Was lucky enough to have just enough space between the panels. 

Gingy licking her chops after stealing a piece of chicken. I will be updating with more of my winter projects very soon :)

Thanks for visiting!

Good Day!

Spigot

 Finally after many months of living outta buckets and gallon jugs. I finally got running water in the home. The maze of hot and cold water lines has been run through the interior walls, which worked out great lot less worry of the pipes freezing this winter. The outdoor spigot will make watering the future garden much easier, the current experiment in gardening hasn't turned out so well :). Too much time building the home and not paying attention to the plants is my excuse for now. Heres a few more pics.....

Solar on the container home!

All is good on the homestead. Been busy running wires, and constantly thinking, and making changes to the next project. Want everything to be in order before the interior walls go up. Also started growing started a few experiments growing potatoes and onions. Will get to that later.

Installed 3 260 watt panels on the roof which on a good day produce about 50 amps of juice. Heres a few more pics of the rest of the system

White

Yup its true! Large steel containers get extremely hot! Even thick insulation has troubles fighting off them temps, so decided to paint the whole container the same elastomeric paint that I painted the roof with.

Moving along

 Ignore the mess. For the passed 2 weeks families been up from Tucson and the containers been used as guest house a kitchen, and storage for vast amounts of building supplies that slowly disappear into the structure then get replenished after frequent trips to home depot. Picture above is of the front wall.

Windows

In the very early stages of the build I had no plans of windows just small tube skylights, but after much consideration I believe I would have gone bananas not being able to peer outside at the approaching storm.

 Days of scouring the internet for the perfect window for the container I came up with nothing. All were far to big, and the ones that were small enough were pretty flimsy. Eventually figured just build my own.

Front Porch

In the original design the first 8ft were gonna be used as a shed/storage area, but after many nights of enjoying a few cold ones out there, its been determined it works much better as a front porch for now, and it does face west to enjoy some wonderful Arizona sunsets.

Now I just gotta figure out what to do with the other 256 square feet, which is smaller then then most folks family rooms. However it's still about four times larger then what I am accustomed too. Plenty more then what I need.

Ginger wondering why the hikes have took such a dramatic decline.

Thanks for visiting! Good Day!

Getting Jacked

 Been pondering for quite sometime. Just how does one lift up on 8500 pound 40ft  steel beast? Turns out was a piece of cake. Dig a hole insert jack, and up it went. Throw a couple concrete blocks under the corners Viola! Perfectly level shipping container all inside of about 10 minutes. Yes that is Gingys nose consuming the lower left portion of the picture. Heres a few more pics.....

Framing it up!

 Walls are finally framed up, and turned out pretty good! Considering my carpentry skills were pretty much non existent, but have been rapidly improving day by day. All those little black spots is where I've wire brushed some very minor surface rust, then applied a rust converting primer. Heres a few more pics....

Shipping Container Home

 Many months of contemplating between a shipping container, large shed/cabin , or a travel trailer. Obviously choose the container for a variety of reason's.

 Its super secure I realize nothing is impenetrable. Definitely take a pretty ambitious thief to break in.

Able to insulate it extremely well. Keep it a comfortable temp year round.

No quick moving grass fire will harm it. About the only kind of fires we get around here.

Add some stairs and you have a instant roof top patio!

Gonna be alot more work to install windows and such, but at the end of the day will be well worth it.

Heres a few more pics.....

My Last Hurrah! (For awhile atleast)

 2245 days ago I moved into the Turtle, and within the next couple of months I will be moving out. After many months of pondering, and thousand of hours of research. I've decided to hang up my nomad ways for a few years. To give homesteading a shot.

 Ultimate goal is too build a little off the grid cabin, that cost close to nothing to live in. Electric by solar. Water by catchment. Heat by wood. Eventually throw a few chickens, and a garden in the mix to cut down on the food bill a we bit. Would be nice to be completely self sufficient, but taco, and beer seeds are hard to come by.

I shall continue to post here with updates. Most of the techniques that are going to be used to build cabin will be useful for nomads as well.

My gypsy gene is sure to resurface again. When it does I will have myself a great little mountain retreat. Heres a few pics of my stay up in Madera Canyon before I left Tucson...

Vegging

Creative Cacti

 That title sums up my life for the last 3 months, and its been a good thing. Enjoyed a solid 3 months on The Mesa until a early November snowstorm made the decision for me to take the 4000 foot plunge down the mountain to more reasonable weather.

Cinder City

Still hanging out on the Mesa.Temps been hanging out in the upper 70's, so I'll probably be staying put for awhile yet. Done pulling all those pesky weeds. Took a bunch of pictures, but wasn't doing the property any justice. Decide to do  a video of a walk around instead. Here's what a few thousand smackers will get you in northern AZ.

And if youve been living under a rock we have rare Supermoon solar eclipse Sunday night.

Thanks for visiting! Good Day!

Weeds

 Was getting kinda chilly up at 9500ft, so decided to head back to the Mesa. Only to find my lofty mountain property had been completely overtaken by weeds! No Hoa's or pesky neighbors to tell me to get rid of them, but they are here, and driving me a little bit crazy. Plus it gives me something to do.

So for the past three weeks Gingers been chasing rabbits, and I been pulling, spraying, and burning away. After 26 gallons of spray, and 9 tanks of propane think its safe to say in the next week I should have won the war on weeds. Here's a few more pic's....

Ice Cave Hike

On a recent visit to the Reservoir. I lay awake listening to some teenagers talking about a magnificent Ice Cave they had discovered out in the forest. Figured the next morning I'd  take a hike out into the woods in search of this great cave. After about a 4 hour hike going cross country was time to throw in the towel, and decided to head back to camp.

Upon returning to camp I did some googling, and it turns out its a very popular hike in the area, which has some how eluded me for many years. Heres a few pic of the hike.....

The Forest Hermit

 The title pretty much sums up my life so far this summer. Found a great spot 9400ft, good internet, weathers been in the upper 60's, and almost no hassles from anyone. So figured why not stay a couple weeks, which turned into more like 7!

 Daily hikes have been about the most exciting part of my stay, and even those have been pretty uneventful for me at least. Ginger stirs up tons of critters. Sure beats a early morning commute! Heres a few more pics.........

10000ft

 More like 9500ft, but 10000 just sounds better. Off for a long Independence day hike! Here's a few more pics of my home for the last few weeks......

Los Burros Trail

Currently up at 9500 feet, but heres a hike I did a few weeks ago while at Los burros campground loop is 14 miles moderate inclines, and there is a shortcut if the whole loop is to long. Cutting the distance down to 9 miles.

 Mere minutes on the trail I ran across a man claiming he had just come across a wolf, then moments later another guy who had just seen a mountain lion chase down a elk. 

Couldn't help but think these two fellers were in cahoots trying to scare a green horn outta the forest. It almost worked, but got to thinking my drive into town is probably 10 times more deadly then a hike in the mountains. In the end I made it! Not without some aching feet. Heres a few more pics

Mountain Lake Lookout hike

Picture from the trail with tower barely visible. Trailhead leaves Los Burros Campground about a 7 mile hike unless your following me turned out to be about 11. Someone had knocked over the sign pointing the way dam vandals. Eventually ran into a group of ATV'ers who put me on the right track. Elevation gains about 550' . Heres a few more pics....