Carport Update

Hey everyone, This last month has been challenging to say the least. It has been difficult to stay positive but we are doing our best.

Poor Dallas has been sick off and on. She seems to have a lot of stomach issues. We have taken her to the vet and they said it’s something that happens in older dogs. She took medicine and was good for a while but then seems to have gotten it again. When this happens she wakes up every hour during the night and has to be taken outside. It wasn’t so bad when it was warmer but now that it’s cold or it has been hard on her. She is 13 years old. I just feel so bad for her when it happens because I know it’s horrible for her. We call the vet again today and Brian went to pick her medicine up. Hopefully things will be OK again.

We noticed there was a wet spot on the road and it turned out to be a small leak in the waterline. Brian had to dig it up and luckily it was a somewhat easy fix.

Derek our neighbor came over and helped us install two additional batteries for our solar system. So once the carport is done we will be able to install more panels. We have 15 more on order. That will make things a lot nicer. Right now we are not able to keep up with our usage. After Derek and Brian finished installing the batteries, Derek was helping fill in some areas with the tractor and accidentally ran over the water spigot. They had to rush to the store and come back and fix that. I was in the middle of dishes when that happened. LOL

So the update is that we decided not to do wood for our carport. Steel/metal is the way to go. So we are ordering it but it will take four weeks for them to put it together and then we will have to go pick it up.

On a more positive note, Derek and Hannah gave us some things that they didn’t want anymore. One of the things was a son oven and I was so excited because I have been wanting one. Unfortunately there has been no sun in about a week. Very strange for Arizona! I think we are supposed to get some sun next week hopefully! They also gave us some fencing and metal roofing pieces. And a lot of glass bottles so I will have bottles for my bottle wall project I plan to do in the future.

We know some other people who live nearby and they are going to be moving. They gave us three big water catchment barrels and a bunch of large planters. These will come in handy. Very happy about these donations and very appreciative.

We also met some people who are going to be moving onto some land nearby. Their names are Bill and Yvonne. They are doing the same thing we are. Living in an RV and setting up solar. They also have a YouTube channel called The Upside of Downsizing. It has been awesome getting to know them and talking about future projects and how we can help each other.

We have also been looking into various building Types. Strawbale being one of them. We are talking about possibly building a small bathroom/outdoor shower for a test project.

There is a small bed and breakfast nearby called the Canello Project about 30 minutes from Sierra Vista Arizona and they have many structures that are built from strawbale. We are going to be spending the night there on Wednesday. We went on a tour there once before to see what they do there. Many awesome structures made from straw bales. They are said to be warm in the winter time and cool in the summer.

We are still not 100% sure what material our home will be built But leaning towards straw.

The weather is rainy today but mostly cloudy. I’m ready for some sunny weather!

Thanks for everyone who has continued to read this and for watching our videos. We haven’t been doing a lot of videos because we’ve had so many setbacks lately but there are many positives as well. Thanks y’all.