Terlingua Chili Cookoff

Terlingua is well known, in certain circles, for two things, Carrol Shelby's Terlingua Race Team and the Terlingua chili cookoffs. (You can find Terlingua Chili on the menu at Chili's Restaurants.). The latter started in 1967 and Carroll Shelby was part of both. For some reason there are now two cookoffs that happen the first weekend in November, The Original Terlingua Chili Cookoff and the Terlingua International Chili Cookoff. From what I've read, the original group broke off into three groups.

We've been curious about the types of vendors that are at an event that brings 10,000 people to a small section of a large county whose overall population is only about 9,000. We'd wondered if there might be a niche there we could fill, making and selling something at the event(s). Turns out, the answer is no. There were just a couple of token vendors, mainly selling food. We saw a couple of folks selling hats (a necessity out in the desert sun), a local guy selling jewelry and a tent of women's halter tops made from handkerchieves. That was it. The crowd was there to party. Folks came from all over in their RVs, pulling ATVs or golf carts behind them. We saw these rolling down Texas 118 for the past week and wondered why. Once we got to the grounds, we understood. There are acres of campers. It's a long walk to the cooking area or the beer tents, so people drive their ATVs from one end to the other.

As I understand it, there is music each night, but we didn't stay. The level of inebriation that was building made me want to be off the roads well before the party got rolling. I'm told that the police don't give any slack where moving violations are concerned and we saw two people pulled over as we drove home.

We got home to clouds, wind and a large thunderhead forming east of us. Within an hour, we had a nice rain, sans lightning, which the dogs and I appreciated. After dinner Dave and I watched an Alfred Hitchcock movie from the disk we have. It was a silent film, The Manxman. I'm really liking our movie nights, snuggled together with the computer with the desert outside.

 

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Grey

The day is very grey - and windy. Not just breezy like last evening, but windy. It's 60 degrees in the camper at 4:37 p.m. Dave and I are each buried under layers of covers, trying to stay warm. Don't I live in the desert?

Today we picked up two transportable tanks for water. We filled one with the non-potable water from the Ranch Office. We are going to flush out our grey water system with some of the water. We also need to test our plumbing repairs and see if there are any leaks in the system that are not readily visible. We thought we'd do that today, but it's just too cold outside.

Instead we crawled under the covers and read until we were ready for dinner. Then, we loaded the dogs into my car and headed down to Study Butte for food - cheeseburger for Dave and chicken fried steak for me.

Then to bed, bundled within sweatpants, socks, a t-shirt, a lined flannel shirt, a quilted flannel shirt, sheet, two quilts, sleeping bag and a wool blanket. It got down to 51 degrees in the camper overnight, but I stayed warm.

 

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To fry or not to fry

I keep going back and forth between feeling good and feeling blah.

I sleep well and have a good day one day and the next I have very broken sleep and have a blah day. It's tiresome.

Today we worked on the attachment for the solar panels and what the solar pantry would be. We decided we really can't afford much, so Dave's just going to build a 2' x 4' x 4' wafer board box for the components. Then we'll keep our eyes open for a used, and hopefully non-working, upright freezer to turn into the solar pantry.

Tomorrow we're going to Ft. Stockton to check it out. They have a Walmart. I can't believe I'm fantasizing about shopping at Walmart! Selection and lower prices, that's what's got me excited.

Most days we drive to the Terlingua Ranch Lodge to shower. Tonight we were driving back we saw a brilliant meteor! It burned yellow to green as it either skimmed or penetrated Earth's atmosphere. It was spectacular.

Today I learned that I should NOT try to deep fry in the camper, at least not with my current cookware. I was attempting Navajo Fry bread from a mix I purchased in Cheyenne. I'd always thought it was fied in a skillet. Nope, deep fried. i have a thin bottomed pan and the oil smoked terribly, quickly filling the place with an awful stench and thick smoke. Happily, opening the windows rapidly cleared the smoke, but the smell lingers...

I still haven't figured out photos with this app. I thought I'd gotten one in, but I don't know how and I can't do it again. Grrrr.

 

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Testing!

I have a single bar of cell signal tonight at home, so I'm trying a tiny post.

It's dusk and a cool breeze is blowing across the desert. The moon is a waxing gibbous. Out here, during a first quarter through full moon, I feel like I'm i. One of Remington's night paintings. The color of the landscape and the strong shadows. It's amazing out here.

Test Post with Ipad

I haven't posted much since the move because I always forget to bring my computer when I go to the internet and I haven't had a good program for the ipad. So, this is a test. If it works, I'll try to blog more at home and then just upload when I go find the wireless.

 

This photo is also a test. It's one of out lights in the trailer. We use the light portion of solar path lights (that have an on/off switch and then place a frosted cup over the LED bulb to act as a diffuser. It works quite nicely.

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Not Moving at the Speed of Crazy

I'm back from Brazil - or Brasil as they spell it.

We're moving along, slowly, on the homestead at El Rancho Cuca Mongrel.  We've (by we've, I mean Dave's) put tile onto the floor in the camper.  We got a phone hooked up at the ped, so while I was gone, Dave would walk up to the phone box with a chair and the dogs, plug in the phone and wait for me to call via Skype.  My wifi in the hotel was spotty, so our conversations were intermittent  but it's still amazing that I could talk with him from 5000 miles away.  He also repaired some of the plumbing in the trailer.  The cold water is done, but the hot water still needs to be completed.  Everything here can take awhile. Trips to the hardware store become at least a 1/2 day project, so we try to combine them with other errands.

The composting toilet has arrived.  We're in the process of putting that in.  I think we're going to move the camper first.  More on that another day.  We ran a phone extension line from the box to the camper.  Dave dug a trench in the road so we could bury the line.  When we finally get power, then the phone company will run a real line, but for now, at least we have a phone handy.  We had to run 250 feet of line. It's amazing we still have a dial tone after all that way!

Dave digging the trench for the phone line

We also ordered an office/solar closet.  A few miles from us there's a pre-built building dealer - Derksen Portable Buildings.  We're getting a small - 10' x 16' building that will house a small office for me, some storage and the solar electronics.  It should arrive in 3 weeks.  The company will place and level it for us.  Then we need to finish it - insulating, running power, wall sheathing and a floor treatment.  I'm excited for it.  It will be nice to have a place to work.  All I need now is internet.

Blogging, at least until we get internet, will probably be a weekly thing for me.  If I could easily blog from the ipad, I think I would do it more often, but there is not yet an Ipad app.  Go figure.  

We had rain for the past 36 hours or so.  Really, for almost all of those hours.  My rain gauge was listing, so I know it's not accurate, but it read 1.5"  I think we probably got more.  The night it started, Thursday, we'd come to the lodge area to shower and do laundry.  The rain started while we were here.  The drive home was through several areas of flooding on the road.  The deepest was only a foot, but many small boulders were washed onto the road.  It took me a few tries to get the Xterra lined up so that I ran the least chance of damaging my brand new tires or scraping something on the undercarriage if a rock spit out as I drove over it.  

Morning after the rain

Not Gone

Just gone. I'm currently in Sao Paulo. Brasil for work. Silly me, I thought I'd be blogging at night, but I'm just too darn busy and the hotel internet has been intermittent.

I miss home. Only there two weeks before I had to leave. I can't wait to get back, which I do on Sept. 22.

Wildlife

The past two days I've seen lots of wildlife, more than I've seen in all of our trips down here combined - apparently it's because of the lovely rain that has been happening.

Two nights ago we met Michael Huston, a biologist from the University of Texas who was out here for three days with a student, doing an insect survey.  He told us that the night after our 7/10" of rain they had the heaviest haul of insects of anywhere they'd been in West Texas. We noticed those insects all over our Nooks as we tried to read that night.  

The next morning (yesterday) I saw a deer crossing our road. Along Terlingua Ranch Road I saw two different families of javelina, one with tiny babies and families of quail, also with tiny babies.  Then on my way home from my "office" at the Bad Rabbit Cafe, I saw a single javelina, a road runner and finally, my first rattlesnake, coiled on the road near our place. I backed up and took its picture then moved on, it didn't move a muscle during the whole time.  Many folks here shoot rattlesnakes onsite, I chose not to.  If it was by the trailer, I may have, I don't know. Then, this morning I on the way back to my "office" I saw a coyote.

Our walk last night was with more caution that we've shown in the past. (Not that we are reckless.) We walk with long sticks and we each carry a knife, but the dogs have nothing to protect them. Henry walks on-leash because he won't listen unless he wants to. The other three we kept close. I know that just seeing a snake doesn't mean there are any more of them than if we don't see them, but just like if you have a near car accident you tend to be more vigilant, so were we in regards to snakes.

Rain!

The past two nights we've had rain! 7/10 of an inch Friday night and 2/10 last night. (According to my plastic rain gauge.). Friday night was a good storm, thunder, lightning, wind. The trailer didn't rock or leak, so I'm happy about that!

Today was partly cloudly and relatively cool. We spent the day reorganizing the cargo trailer. Now all my office stuff is near the front door and the tools are accessable from the back door. There's still much to do in the trailer and I must work next week. Then, I leave for Brazil the following Monday for work - for 24 days. I'm already looking forward to coming home.

Our homestead

Made it to Terlingua

But it took much longer and I'm much more tired than I imagined.

We left Cheyenne on Thursday about 1:00 and spent that night, as I mentioned, in a KOA cabin in Raton. We got to my folks house east of ABQ Friday around 2:00 p.m. We rested and visited until Tuesday. I'll post about the great experience of Tinkertown later.

This morning, Tuesday, we headed out for the drive to Terlingua. We stopped for gas at Clines Corners, east of ABQ on I-40. After leaving Clines Corners, my car started behaving oddly, lurching like it's power was momentarily cut. This happened repeatedly, about 3 seconds apart. We thought that it was bad gas, and topped off the tank in Roswell. No change. We began considering a plugged fuel filter or a computer failure. On we drove to Carlsbad, where we were going to briefly meet up with my sister. Along the way we put dri-gas and fuel injector cleaner in my tank. Still no difference. Dave drove my car to experience the problem. While he was driving he felt the one of the trailer brakes lock up.

I called the dealership that had done the 100,000 mile service on my car. They confirmed that the fuel pump had been changed and reminded me that a computer problem would register a check engine light.

After many more miles of a bucking car, Dave saw the trailer brakes lock up and leave a skid. We were dumbfounded, since we'd disconnected the trailer power from my car. It occurred to me to phone the RV place in Cheyenne that installed the brake controller. The man I spoke to knew instantly what the trouble was - there's a battery on the trailer with an emergency switch that is to come on if the trailer cuts loose from car. If that happens the brakes come on to keep the trailer from going on down the road.  I disconnected that battery and five minutes later, no more issues!

We arrived at the property about 8:30 p.m. Eleven hours after leaving my folks' house and very, very tired.  (But, as we discovered the next day, with a flat tire.)

The first (of many, I'm sure) flat tire.  A long spine punctured it.  

Tired

Finally made it out if Cheyenne. Wanted to make it to Albuquerque, but we left late and are very tired, so we stopped for the night in Raton - at the KOA - they are great for those traveling with dogs. A cabin is very reasonably priced and there is no charge for the dogs. Tomorrow to ABQ for a few days at my folks house and then on to Terlingua!

Packing, Packing and More Packing

We're down to 3 more days before we move on down South.  I'm much further behind than I'd hoped to be, but that really doesn't surprise me.  


Part of my income is derived from sewing.  I make educational costumes for the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (and anyone else who would like some.)  

T-bone steak costume for school assembly program

Duck costume for school assembly program

Consequently, my sewing area is very important to me.  Packing it up was difficult.  I had to sort through my supplies, deciding what I might need in the short term versus what I'd be willing to drive 20 hours each way to fetch.  Dave reminded me that I'll be back this way at Thanksgiving, so that made it a bit easier, but I still had a lot of thinking to do.  Not only for the sewing room, but also for my office.  Which supplies do I have to have?  Which parts of the exhibit development do I need to have hard copies of?  I've spent many more days in these areas of packing than I'd planned.  I secretly hoped to be leaving tomorrow, but I was pretty sure that we'd take the full extra week.  And we will be.  


Our flatbed trailer is all ready to take the motorcycles.  I'm very pleased with the set-up Dave has created.  We have e-track running down the sides and center of the trailer with the wheel chocks between and our tool box at the front.  I'll be towing this trailer.  I sure hope my little motor will handle it.  

A Solar System in a Truck!

and, as my brother noted, it did feel a little bumpy.


Monday my dear darling husband drove from Cheyenne to the western slopes of Colorado to purchase our new solar power system.  I'm so excited to start generating our own electricity!  We went to Colorado Solar Inc. in New Castle, Colorado.  Their website had helped us get an idea of the system we would need, then a couple of phone calls and emails nailed it down a bit more.  And finally, Dave spent four hours with them at their shop to tweak the system to meet our needs and be expandable.  It took a little over a tank of gas in his truck, but it was worth the drive. (And that was cheaper than shipping.) He got our parts, plus drawings and information as well as started a relationship with people who will be more than happy to give phone support as he's installing it.  We even got some older style supports for the panels for a song!  (And if you've ever heard Dave sing, you know that's an amazing price!)

He made it home by 10:00 p.m.  All in all a good trip. 

It might not look like much now, but just wait.

This same day I heard on NPR the reports of the enormous power outages in India.  The next day I saw a post that power would be out in South Brewster County (where we are moving) the next morning.  It made me doubly happy to have a solar system in the back of our truck.

Slowly

and hopefully - but surely.


We've decided to stay another week on the great windswept prairie that is Cheyenne.  Our original thought was to be out by the end of July, but my work load has been crazy so packing has been delayed.


I work from home.  A useful arrangement for someone planning to move out into the desert.  There isn't much of a call for a museum exhibits person out there.  We've been developing the latest incarnation of the exhibit I work on for the past year.  However, we are working with foreign governments, both for the objects and the tour, and we've had some delays.  The project has been squashed into the time period that I'd planned to be packing.


Packing...I've been finding it difficult.  We don't have much stuff here.  But the arrival of the hormone brain has had serious repercussions.  I can't hold a thought for more than a moment.  I've been experiencing some level of this since I was in my early 30s, but it seems to have hit very hard, all of a sudden.  The hot flashes are curious, I have to say.  I live in the arid west and have, save 3 and half years, since I was 12.  I'm not used to feeling sweaty.  Sweat just evaporates away here.  I used to teach gymnastics, I was active and even then I never felt particularly sweaty.  When the hot flash comes on, my upper lip sweats and then rapidly the flush moves across my upper torso, down my arms and quickly to my legs, leaving a thin film of perspiration.  I feel both hot and cold, especially if there is a breeze.  One moment I'm fine and the next I feel like I've just been moved in front of a VERY hot fire.  Then, a minute or so later, it's gone.  The stupid, however, seems to be sticking around.  Maybe that's partially because I'm not sleeping well.  Either way, it's been making packing, or rather sorting, rather slow.


Dave, however, has been making great strides in preparing for the trip.  The flatbed trailer is being adjusted to carry our motorcycles.  The chocks are on and the E-track is going on now.  The bikes will be secured to the trailer and I will tow it behind my cute little Xterra.  I'm a little concerned about Raton Pass, but....

Later this trailer will hold a water tank.  We will be doing catchment on the property, but until we get a good roof over our heads (with lots of square footage for collecting water) we'll be fetching water from town.

Making Our Own Electricity

Solar Electricity...

That's the route we've planned on taking when we finally get to our beautiful 20 acres in Terlingua Ranch.  Our property actually has power poles not far away, but we both really like the idea of being off the grid and not having power lines to impede our view.  (Plus, having just a few poles installed is VERY expensive.)  Neither of us are electrical geniuses, though we have family members who are very well versed.  (In fact, my brother-in-law like unit is a commercial electrician, licensed in Texas and he's done electrical work on the giant wind turbines.)  But, we need to understand and we wanted to have the system right from the start, so we decided to utilize a company in western Colorado to help us figure out our system.  The phone company in the Big Bend area requires a certain amount of storage capacity, and a system to supply it, before they will run the phone line.  (Yup, out in the middle of nowhere, we have a phone box, including, I'm told, fiber optic cable for our internet.)  Yesterday we got our quote.  We're hoping that tomorrow Dave will be able to drive to Glenwood Springs (ish) to pick it all up.  It's a system that will power us in the trailer, meet the phone companies requirements and be expandable for when we have the house built.  

In the meantime, we purchased a couple of smaller (tiny) units for charging electronics and batteries.  The first is a little cheapie unit from Harbor Freight.  A $15 battery charger.  So far I've charged 4 AA batteries in about 90 minutes.  I have yet to check the output with a volt meter, so we'll see how it really did.  The second thing we got is the Goal Zero 7 watt panel with battery charger/power pack.  I used it this morning to charge my Nook.  While the Nook wasn't so low on power that I was being told to charge it, it was pretty low and would probably need charging while I was reading tonight.  I was super happy to see the little amber light come on as soon as I plugged it into the panel!  (My husband called me a geeklette.)  Less than 3 hours later, I had a fully charged Nook!

Goal Zero charger and Nook soaking up the sun.

As if the Desert isn't Hot Enough

A little over a week ago I turned 47.

The next day the hot flashes started.

I thought I might be having a heart attack.

No, really.

I broke out in an odd sweat, the kind you get just before you throw up - but there was no nausea.  This happened several times, each lasting about 30 seconds to a minute.  I had no idea what was happening.  I secretly wondered if I was having a heart attack.  


The next day my sister-in-law came over.  She'd just ridden two hours on her motorcycle.  As she came into my kitchen she said, "Hot flashes in a motorcycle helmet are no fun."  That's when the epiphany came.  I was having hot flashes.  I've had other perimenopause symptoms for years, but this was new.  She said she had just begun experiencing the same symptoms and also had wondered if she was having a heart attack.


So, the hot flashes have started.  In two weeks, I'll be moving to the desert.  Perfect timing....

The bit of desert to which we are moving.