Holy crap its windy!!

We've had 70 mph gusts out of the west today....no storm! If your reading this from Fort Worth, you'll be receiving a part of west Texas tomorrow. It's dusty as hell heading east!

We are at 6120 feet and the winds are ripping through the valleys and over the tops of the mountains. The power lines are whistling and dancing around. No power outages yet. I think it's going to calm down in the morning.

I've got a couple of unusual cloud formation pics I'll post tomorrow. The wind lifts over the mountain tops and condense. They are really cool looking.

I'm going to bed. The Cowboys wore me out. :) 

Well it's been a fun weekend. I drank Captain Morgan and Coke most of the weekend. :)

We went to the neighbors house for green chili stew and beans tonight. It was sooo good! I'm gonna make it when I get home. 

Got to get up at 5:30 to go to Monahans in the morning. Should be back home by noon.


I took a pic of the moon rising this evening. Tomorrow, I'll try for a better shot. It's way over exposed but you can see stars.

The Rangers did it!!!

I never thought I'd see the day! Now...if we can only work on those freakin Cowboys!!

Well, I finished one house today. No brick...all siding! Did I mention how much I hate to paint?
It sucks!

I'm really home sick and miss my girls. I'm thinking about going home in the next few days to a week.
The work is here for sure, you've just got to go get it. It won't come to you.
I feel like I'm chasing a premature dream. It's just bad timing. When Riley gets older and when Shauna is in a better position to take time off, that's when I'll go full time down here.

There is so much I miss. Volleyball games, laughing with Shauna, chasing Riley around the house, playing with Moose.

I'm still going forward with building here. I was hoping to get it done sooner being down here full time.
I may end up coming back to do some jobs I get, but only for a week at time. My home is in Fort Worth until the time is right.

I had to stop and take a sunrise pic on my way to work. Of course, you never quite capture the true beauty on camera. You need to see it for yourself. 

Well...I finally slept good last night....thanks to Lunesta. :)

I finished one paint job today. It was already half way done so it didn't take too long.
I had to to replace two tub stems today. The handle was stripped and it rounded the stem ends.

The weather was so nice today! The humidity was around 20% all day with a steady breeze.
I don't think it got above 72. Nice and cool in the shade.

I went to Lupita's for lunch and had some killer brisket tacos. I love this place.
They have great cheeseburgers and curly fries too.
Oh yea...they make their own lemonade. It's tart with the right amount of sugar.
Not too sweet. It's the best I've ever had.

I really hope you guys come down. I have so much to show you.

Here are some more pics for today.

This was the sunrise this morning going east on 166. You can barely see it, but there was a fog bank down low in front of the mountain. When you have beautiful scenery, I don't mind getting up early.

This cloud was forming on top of Blue Mountain. 

This is for Josh and Dad. I know how much you like snakes. He was laying on the main road coming into the resort. I'm relieved now that I don't have to buy a magnum cylinder for my Ruger single six.

.22 longs loaded with rat shot do the trick. I was worried it wouldn't be enough to kill em. One shot to the back of the head did fine. 

                                        

   

I made it!

First day working in town. The broken water pipe was an easy fix. It took longer digging the hole than it did fixing it. There is an old tree next to the water line, so digging sucked because of the roots!

I saw the inside of a swamp cooler for the first time today. I was worried they were going to be hard to work on but they are SUPER easy. There's nothing to them at all.
I had to winterize the office unit so that meant sealing up the unit and draining the water.
Then I went to one of the rent houses and plumbed in a gas line for an oven and fixed a closet door.
I was done by 3 today, but I had to get up at 6:30 this morning.

I've had a real hard time sleeping lately. I lay here and my mind runs at the speed of light, thinking about everything I've got going on. I still think I'm going crazy or something. I've even tried Scotch and water before bed. Nothing! Just a freakin headache!
Maybe I didn't drink enough. :)
Tonight, is a Lunesta night!! I can't run on 4 or 5 hours of sleep anymore. I'm exhausted!

I took a few more pics today. Nothing cool to look at...just my day. :)

Tomorrow, I start painting those three houses. I wanted to use my spray rig but they want me to roll!!
Oh well...I'm paid by the hour.
I have an electric heater to fix this weekend so that should be easy money. Sounds like a limit switch or fuse link by the symptoms.

Heading to bed early. See ya tomorrow!

Busted pipe

All done! 

My maintenance shop when I work for the real estate company

I followed a jack rabbit for a half mile down the road this morning. He wouldn't get out of the way!

I guess he ran out of gas so he took the first exit. He thought I couldn't see him. Notice the crouch and his ears are way back. Low profile. He didn't move an inch. 

 Here is another view of my property. Click pic to see hi rez. 

The two observatories I painted yesterday. I should have done a before pic. They were dingy gray.



PICS!!

Another day at the dump from 9 - 12. We filled up the big container today and just about filled up the scrap metal trailer for the fourth time. Since I'm the "young" guy, I got to move all the appliances.
My back is a little sore.

After lunch today, I painted two observatories and a metal shed. I used my spray rig so it only took a couple of hours. But the most important thing is.....it paid good and it was just down the road. :)
I was going to take my camera but I forgot it. He has a cool setup in one of the domes.
I'll be back to his house soon, so I'll be sure to get pics of his equipment.

Got to be in town at 8 am to fix a main water line at a rent house. Should me a muddy day tomorrow.

Anyone watching the Rangers? I really hope they smoke the freakin Yankees like they did last night!!

Always cool critters out here

Two grumpy men and a cool dog.

Joe on left and Bob on right.

 I thought this was funny. See the sign in the background?

 Hitch 4-wheeling in the Rubicon.

 I lost me bed.

 More customers



I volunteered at the resort dump today. Today and tomorrow are free dump days. I spent the morning unloading trailers.
I met several new local people. It's all about trust down here.
You can advertise all you want out here, but until people know and trust you, you won't have much work.
Everyone knows everyone or is somehow related.
So volunteering is a good way to meet people.

I went to town today and talked with a Real Estate broker. He wants me to come in Wednesday morning to fix a broken water pipe. He has a 2 page list of stuff that needs to be done on his rentals.
They have about 40 in Fort Davis, Marfa and Alpine. I super excited about this!

Hopefully I'll be home for a week soon. I miss my girls sooo much!!!

No pics today. I'll be posting more soon. It's been all business and no time for fun.

I'm back in Fort Davis!!

I'm glad I'm back, but I REALLY miss my family already. I hope I'm doing the right thing. I don't know anymore. I think I'm having a midlife crisis or just flat ass going crazy.

I can't believe this week is gone already. I barely had a chance to see my girls.

Anyway, I've got business cards and Monday I plan on hammering the towns again. I need to make some money.

I'm still undecided on where to live. I'm sure Bob is ready for me to go. He's been single for 20+ years.
 
We've got to get the trailer loaded with construction trash tomorrow. Free dump day in the resort Monday.

Sorry I haven't updated...

But I'm HOME! :)

I need to load more tools and see my family. Riley turns 13 Wednesday and I want to see her kick butt Thursday. She has a Volleyball game.

I'll be back in Fort Davis on Saturday 10/16 til the end of November.
If anyone wants to come down, just let me know. Free room!

TGIF!!

My old ass is wore out from that fence job. It's done and I got paid!!

I had a Realtor call me today and they need three rent houses painted and some other inside repairs done.
I should be starting on that in a week or so.

I haven't decided on my housing situation yet. If I can manage to do most of my work in Fort Davis, I'll probably move to the old house in the resort. If most of my work ends up in Alpine, I'll go there. I'm not doing the driving thing here to go to work.

I don't like Alpine as much as Fort Davis. It's a college town with quite a few punk ass kids.
Fort Davis is a slow paced, easy going small town.
Yes...we have REAL cowboys out here. Not the wannabes like in Fort Worth.
Those douche bags have never touched a horse in their life.
I went into Murphy's pizza the other day and four dusty guys walked in with boots and spurs on. Not because they thought they looked cool, but because they are real cowboys working 500,000 acre ranches.

One more thing. As most of you know, I despise country music. Out here it's tolerable because it kinda fits.
I can't wait for you guys to come see me. You'll understand why I left the big city.

Sorry...no pics today. I'm tired and we didn't have any excitement at work today.
I'm sleeping late tomorrow. I'll post more tomorrow.

I'm coming home Sunday morning early and leaving to come back Friday the 15th.

First day at work!!

It is a fence job for the City of Alpine Water and Sewer. They're having 60,000 KW solar array installed.
Its going to power the facility so we were there to build a fence a fence to keep animals and people out.

My back is a little sore and I was covered in dust, but it was a cool experience. I worked with 2 - 19 year old kids. They were really cool but I had to keep on their butts. They like to sit too much and that was the reason I was hired.

Kevin, my boss warned me about them. Out here, you take what you can get for help because labor is hard to find down here. We'd be screwed if he got rid of them.  The owner was gone for several hours so I was running the show on my first day. I worked right beside them, but when it came time to mix concrete for fence posts, I took a break. :) 

I'm not sure how long I'm gonna be able to help him. I had to leave at 6:30 to get there by 8 am!!
It's NOT traffic out here...just distance. 30 mins to get out of the resort on steep dirt roads and 13 miles down 166 to 17 and 23 miles to Alpine. You should have seen the sunrise though!!! BEAUTIFUL!

I really need to find something in Fort Davis. This really was the reason I left stinky ass Fort Worth.
My cards will be ready soon! Thanks Shauna!!

I didn't have my DSLR today, so I used my cell phone for pics.

The big excitement for the day was boss man, (Kevin not me) was using the bobcat back scraping the lot and backed into an abandoned sewer treatment tank and rolled it on it's side in stinky ass water.
The weeds were sooo high we didn't even know it was there. No sign, no fence...nothing but 3' weeds and 4' of old crap water.

I got a pic at distance with my phone because the City workers were standing around and I didn't want to piss anyone off. I snapped one at the truck.

The big loader was pulling in at quitting time to pull the poor little bobcat out, so I didn't get anymore pics.

Going to bed! Gotta get up at 6 am!!!




                                     Nobody was hurt or got wet. He jumped out like Superman!

                                    Mack mixing concrete. See the city dog pound to the left??



Hump day!

Speaking of hump...I can't wait to get to see Shauna! :)
Anyway...enough of that.

I talked to Jarrett dirt and concrete this morning. I might be working for them. I'm going to call him when I get back from Fort Worth 10/18.

I spent the day in Alpine.
More resumes and applications. I spoke with a someone at the local hardware store and an A/C service company.
While I was at the hardware store, I bumped into a local handyman. I gave him my resume and he called me back to discuss my pay requirements. Then I talked to his wife. I guess she handles the business side.
He has a huge fence job coming up so hopefully he'll call.

As I was typing this he called. I've got to be in Alpine at 8 am!! YIPPEE!!

Here are some pics of my day. This country is just beautiful!!

Crotalus lepidus or Banded Rock Rattlesnake. Laying on the road coming up the mountain. It was getting cool and he was sunning. 

Coming into Fort Davis from Alpine on 118 west.

Looks like a Windows desktop picture.

Sunrays. I went to my quiet spot on the rock on my way home.

I was laying on the rock watching the clouds and the buzzards started circling. Look what else I caught in the top right corner. I didn't even see him until I got home and looked at the pics.

Another day on the town

Another day filling out applications and handing out resumes. I met some more great people. This town is full of them. Spoke with another real estate agent and a broker trying to round up business. I found another contractor in town and his help just moved back to Austin. Hopefully this will pan out.
Ate lunch at Murphy's pizza. They have the BEST pizza I've ever had!!

I took a drive up to the McDonald Observatory and spoke with them. I'm going to fill out an application online before I go to bed tonight. In the next few months, I'm going to volunteer at their star parties. This should be fun showing tourists the night sky. They have a 16" and a 22" telescope they use for star parties. Some of the locals bring their scopes for people to observe through too.
http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/visitors/programs/

HET - Hobby-Eberly Telescope

http://www.as.utexas.edu/mcdonald/het/het.html 

http://hetdex.org/

View from the 82" dome

On the way back home I decided to stop at the picnic area by the resort. I climbed on the rock and kicked back for a while. 

Met a friend while I was up there.

Country store in the resort. There is an old restored house behind the store I may move into.

There it is!! 1 bedroom 1 bath. See the water tank to the left. It's not a pool. :)

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to check the inside out. I was in it 2 years ago. Real nice and fixed up inside. And the only heat comes from a wood burining stove!! How freakin cool is that?? 

On my way back up to the cabin, this guy crossed the road.

The big day....job and house hunting!

Well I got up early this morning, printed off resumes and headed to town. I went into just about every shop in town talking to the locals. I'll bet I'm going to be the talk of the town in the morning. I filled out several applications from concrete work to hotel work. I don't care what I do for work down here. Side jobs are plenty down here.
I went to the Chamber of Commerce and spoke with two nice ladies. They were very helpful pointing me in the right direction.

Anyway, I found a place to live. It's here in the resort behind the general store. 1/1 furnished $450 a month! I'm going down tomorrow to check it out.

Check out the pics from today.

Click the pic for hi res.

 This guy was crossing the road this morning. 

Fall has arrived in Big Bend!



Made it!!!

I wanted to keep up with this blog daily, but it's been almost impossible. Once I get settled, I'll start posting daily.
These pics were from 9/29/10 on my way to Fort Davis.

Another lone tree. :)

I'm pretty sure I put a dent in the West Texas grasshopper population.

Now we go from cotton fields to an old western rugged feel. I love it!!!

No Ahmadinejad here...trust me these Coyboys would shoot him dead! 

Almost there!!

Coming down Highway 17

This is where you turn to get to DMR!!

Going up the mountain

Finally got there. This is a view from Bob's porch.

This will be the view from my back porch one day.

Bob's dog....Hitch. He is such a sweet dog!