Hello Steemian Friends! I am back with phase 4 of our off-grid life style. I feel truly blessed that we are on this journey of living off the grid! It's very exciting...and also very challenging. New Mexico is so beautiful you just want to live naturally. In order to live off the grid you MUST be very independent. Living this life style is living without any dependence on the government and society. Going off-grid is a huge life style change and it's a much simpler way of life.
Our home if finally set in place on the concrete pad and we decided to have concrete block foundation put around our home. I wanted it to look more like a permanent home and I didn't want to deal with under skirting since it's so windy here. Concrete block is also less maintenance. Less maintenance is exactly the reason we decided to go with concrete porches also. Having a wood deck requires pressure washing, waterproofing and staining. That's a lot of extra maintenance. Living off the grid is work so I thought it best to eliminate extra chores when possible. After all, we need time to travel, time to create art and to just enjoy life :-)
The images above are of the construction crew digging the footer and adding block for our front porch. I forgot how many steps there are to prepare for concrete. The front porch is already for the crew to add re-bar. The size of our front porch is going to be 6'x34' and it will be covered.
The images above are of the crew digging the footer and laying block for our back porch. The back porch will be 10'x34' and it will also be covered. I can't wait to sit on the porch and photograph the sunsets and star trails. Hoping to photograph a few lightning storms too.
The above image if of our cistern. It's finally all in...we just need to add water.
The above image is Frankie and Mint filling up one of our tanks with water. The well will come later!
This image is of Berto hooking our house up to the septic system. Things are finally starting to come together. Starting to breath a sigh of relief.
The images above are of my little Yorkie, Josie sleeping in the truck. She loves to travel. Her happy place is in the truck in her dog bed. We are on our way to Biloxi, Mississippi to meet our driver and pick up the uHaul truck. It's finally time to get all our furniture and belongings moved to Taos, New Mexico!
Once we arrive on the Gulf Coast we are confronted with a tropical storm. Last tropical storm we have to deal with...we hope.
After confirming with the moving company three times, they still didn't show up. So our driver, Frankie, three of the kids and myself load the truck. This was not the way I had planned it. Once we got the truck to Taos, I decided to put everything in our home instead of in storage. Having our 40x50 building built was our plan once we moved the furniture and belongings to New Mexico. Sometimes you have to improvise when all of your best laid plans go awry. We also got to unload the truck. I am never moving again! How many times have you said that?
Now that all the hard work of moving is behind us, we decided to go have a relaxing day at the Rio Grand Gorge. The first image is of Frankie just sitting on the rocks. The second image is of the gorge. After the gorge we went to a camping area so Josie and the kids could play in the water.
The images above is Josie playing in the grass, she really misses grass. I really think she is annoyed at the sage brush and cactus. The next image is the camping area where we went so the kids and Josie could play in the water and cool off. The last image is on our way home. Josie really wanted Frankie to share his icy cold drink.
The last two weeks have been a hurry up and wait. No one feels the need to get anything done in a timely manner. We are new here in New Mexico and every state does things differently. We have to put our trust in the people that we hire to do the construction work for us. I am the type of person that just wants to get things done and out of the way. This has not been the case with getting all off-grid home up and running. I know in the end it will be worth all the aggravation. Hoping the next couple of weeks we get a lot done! Here's to thinking positive!
I hope you enjoy being on this journey with me. Until next time...
Have a great week!
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