1st moon: October 25, 1999. This is the day we arrived. After finalizing the arrangements regarding our temporary rental location, we drove out to the land about 7 p.m. The full moon was hanging over the Chiricahua mountains as we headed southeast from Pearce towards our 40 acres. This moon represented the culmination of a two-year process of preparing for the move and actually moving to Southeast Arizona. In December of 1997 we looked for land in Southwest New Mexico (too cold for us) and southeast Arizona. In December of 1998, we came back and actually bought some land in the Sulphur Springs Valley of Arizona, 50 miles north of Mexico and 50 miles east of New Mexico. Ten months later we actually made the move. By the time we arrived, the only improvement on the land was the septic tank. Many people asked us why we moved to Arizona. Paul grew up in the west (Nevada) and had been in exile in the east (Virginia) for over 25 years and wanted to get back to his western homeland. Beth wanted to live in a warmer place than Virginia and have lots of animals. So we moved to a warm part of the west to start a ranch.

2nd moon: November 23, 1999. We have made some progress. This moon finds us with the 4 corner posts of the fence in place and our utility building foundation, walls, and roof vigas in place. A young puppy has joined the family.

3rd moon: December 22, 1999. We now have a well drilled, a gate for our future fence in place, and a partially finished roof on the utility building. This time the full moon was exceptionally large as it rose from behind the Chiricahua mountains, as it occurred at a time (winter solstice) when the northern part of the earth was tilted furthest toward the full moon and the moon was at the low point (perigee) of its orbit around the earth.

4th moon: January 20, 2000. Before putting in the solar panel and its sun-tracking mount to power the submersible well pump, we decided it would be best to put a small sixty by sixty foot fence around the well area to keep the cows out. They like to rub up against anything solid to scratch their hides. We don't want them anywhere near those solar panels. Since the main mile-long fence is only about 3% complete, we made the inner fence and proceeded to put up the panels. They track the sun very well using a very simple but ingenious combination of partially-shaded side canisters filled with a freon-like subtance that migrates from side to side when heated by the sun. About the time we finished installing the panels, we realized we had not seen the cows for a while. It seems they have been sent to market after spending the summer fattening themselves on our grass and that of the neighboring unfenced 40-acre parcels. We probably won't have any cows again until July 4th, when the monsoon rains start. Certainly by that time (we hope) the main fence will be complete.

The cows did one final bit of damage before they left. We bought a live Christmas tree for our rental quarters this year so that we could plant it alongside our driveway. Beth had located and blazed a path for the driveway early in January. It is a zig-zag affair about 600 feet in length leading to the house site at the center of the parcel. At the "zag" corner on the way in, Beth and Paul dug a hole and planted the Alderica Pine tree. Paul put up some steel fence posts around it and and wrapped chicken wire around them to keep the critters away. A few days later on his daily watering chore, Paul noticed that the chicken wire was badly deformed. It seems the cows had bulled their way up against the wire and pushed until one or more of them could stretch their neck over to the top of the tree. They had bitten off the top 4 inches of the main body of the tree. Since that is the part that grows upward, our tree will be handicapped in its efforts to grow taller. A consultation with Greg, the local tree expert resulted in a plan to let one of the upper side branches assume the role of leading the tree upward by pruning away the smaller side branches at that level once a leader branch has revealed itself. The fence was re-shaped and surrounded with a steel buffer constructed from T-posts wired together to form a cow barricade.

Since we now had the small inner fence up around the well, we decided to plant some onion sets to see what kind of critters other than cows we would have to be prepared to defend our future garden against. Paul set out a row of about 12 onion plants inside the fence. For a few days all was well. Then one plant lost its top. The next day another one was bitten off. This continued until all 12 were severely shortened. It seems that a nearby mesquite tree hosts some sort of rodent burrow beneath it, perhaps that of a kangaroo rat. Looks like we will have to have a no-rodents-allowed policy on the 40 acres. Their burrows result in large mounds. If you step on a mound it will cave in, presenting the danger of broken legs for humans and animals. The rodent burrows also house a particularly nasty insect known as the kissing bug. It comes up out of the burrows in May and June looking for a creature to suck blood from. It does not hesitate to find a sleeping human face and extract blood from it, thus the name kissing bug. The bite results in some swelling, and if the bug happens to defecate while sucking blood, it is possible for the sleeping victim to rub that material into the wound, resulting in a risk of Chagas Disease. In addition, there is the Hanta Virus to consider. Although we are several hundred miles from the Hanta virus outbreak site in the 4 corners area, that is an additional reason to ecercise extreme prejudice against our burrowing rodents. So our developing no-rodents-allowed policy will have more than one benefit. Paul is beginning to realize the extent of the Biblical admonition to "exercise dominion over the land and all the creatures thereof".

We are actually going to have to review each plant and animal currently occupying the land and make a decision as to whether it stays or goes. We have a good number of mesquite trees on the land. We have seen some nearby areas where the mesquite trees have taken over the land, forming an impenetrable forest. To avoid this fate for our parcel, we have decided to eradicate any new mesquite plants that dare to poke up above the surface in certain areas of our land.

The roof of the Las Vigas Building is now complete. It is white so as to reflect the summer sunlight. The process of building the roof was as follows: We first installed a ceiling of knotty pine over the top of the vigas, leaving them exposed. We then built a frame for the roof deck above the ceiling. A slight slope was built into the roof by using different sized lumber for different areas. The north and south ends got 2x10 boards, while the center got 2 x 6 boards, with 2x8 boards in between. Combined with the 3-inch westerly downslope we used when placing the vigas, this all results in a roof that drains toward the center of the western side, where we stategically placed a drain hole in the parapet during construction. The actual roof deck above the frame was made from Oriented Strand Board, the modern high-tech replacement for plywood. The OSB was sealed at the edges with paintable caulking and a layer of roof sealer was applied by Darrell of Swisshelm builders, assisted by Frank. They then applied a layer of special roofing fabric followed by two layers of white roof surface paint. This roofing material extends up and over the parapet, also sealing it against invasion of water which could freeze and force apart the polystyrene forms from the concrete core. You have to climb a ladder to look up and see our beautiful roof, but it is worth the climb. There are two skylights to let the sunshine into the interior of the Las Vigas Building.

We are still wrestling with the design for the ranch house. We are trying to incorporate a south-side greenhouse, an interior patio, an exterior patio, and building materials that will be affordable and environmentally friendly.

In early January, Paul was elected to the Board of Directors of the local community association, the Sunizona Ash Creek Association.

5th moon: February 19, 2000. During this moon we began to plan for leaving our rented duplex 16 miles away from the land and actually moving out to live on the land. We are wasting a lot of time and gasoline commuting out to the land each day to work, not to mention the $500 a month plus utilities we are spending on the rental. The minimum requirements for moving are that we have some sort of dwelling and our basic support system of water, electricity, and telephone lines in place. We have decided to buy a travel trailer to live in while we are building the house. The phone company has been requested to install 4 lines into the Las Vigas building. The components for the solar-powered well pump are on the way. We will need to get the concrete floor poured in the Las Vigas building so the batteries for our solar electric system will have a home. The water pressure tank will also reside there.

The board of Directors of the Sunizona Ash Creek Association elected Paul in late January to serve as President for the year.

6th moon: March 19, 2000. This month we purchased a 31-foot Shasta travel trailer. It is now parked in the front yard of the duplex awaiting a tow out to the land. The solar submersible pump is now operating. It pumps about a thousand gallons a day and uses a 1000-gallon tank for storage. The surplus water is sent over to a pond we have created with a borrowed backhoe.

7th moon: April 19, 2000. The concrete floor is now installed in the utility building and all the basic components of the electrical system have arrived. Our friend Michael was passing through on his year-long drive around the United States. He hauled the trailer out to the land, helped Paul raise the wind turbine up on its "tower of power", and helped Paul get the inverter mounted on the wall and the battery bank connected and the first two AC circuits installed. We now have a working wind-powered electrical system. The solar component will be working soon. We have given 30 days notice that we will vacate the rented quarters by May 22. The windows have been installed in the utility building along with the door.

8th moon: May 19, 2000. On May 12th we started living in the travel trailer. On May 15th we began a week-long test period of operating Paul's business from the Las Vigas Building. Paul's friend Doug Patton stopped by to visit for a couple of days on his way to Santa Barbara from the Washington, D.C. area. He helped assemble one of the tracking mounts for a bank of four solar panels.

As of this moon, we have 256 watts of solar power online with another 256 watts almost online. The wind turbine has been surprisingly productive, allowing us to run the business while we were getting the solar components assembled. It produces 400 watts with a 28 mile per hour breeze. It spins day and night, whenever there is wind. Around here in the springtime, there is lots of wind.

The business operates on less than 240 watts using laptop computers to replace the old power-hungry desktop PCs.

9th moon: June 16, 2000. All of the solar panels for the power system are now in place and producing power. On a sunny, windy day we can get as much as 900 watts coming in to the battery bank.

In its final form, our electrical system consists of 512 watts of Unisolar 64 panels mounted on two zomeworks trackers. These 8 panels plus the Air 403 wind turbine feed power to our battery bank, which consists of 8 large Concorde AGM batteries. A Trace 4024 Inverter converts the DC power from the batteries into household current and from thier it is distributed to outlets and switches just like uptown.

We have two devices that run directly from the batteries at 24 volts. A ceiling fan in the viga building cools our fevered brows during hot afternoons and a diaphragm pump from Shur-flo pressurizes our water using an 80-gallon pressure tank.

Our well has its own electrical system: 4 Unisolar 64 solar panels on a zomeworks tracker coupled to a controller that runs the Sunrise submersible pump located 300 feet below the surface.

10th moon: July 15,2000. We poured a 12 foot by 32 foot concrete patio in front of the travel trailer. It certainly has improved the quality of life here at Buffalo Island Ranch. We immediately set up some chairs and a table out there along with a propane-powered barbeque and a misting device to cool the air. The stucco on the Las Vigas building is now finished. All that remains to be done there is to install the interior walls and the bathroom fixtures.

11th moon: August 14, 2000. Steady progress is being made on the fence. It is finished on the south side, the west side, and half of the north side. We are setting corner posts in the middle of the east side for a wide construction / truck entrance. We have installed our propane powered freezer for food storage.

We are about half way through the monsoon season now. Every afternoon it clouds up and gets muggy. Sometimes it even rains. We have had a pretty light dose of rain so far. July is usually good for six inches. We got two inches.

We have some small frogs that suddenly appear after every rainstorm. They are 4 inches long when stretched out (including legs) and noisy as a rock band. Sunday night Augfust 6 we had our second good rain of the Monsoon season and the trenches for the house foundation filled up with water and the frogs appeared magically from out of nowhere.

We shined a flashlight on one as he was floating in the trench and singing. He had his body all puffed up with air and he would force the air up into his throat, making a bubble in his throat as he made his very loud croak. Then he would immediately move the air from his throat back to his body in order to start the cycle all over again.

We also have toads. I have made a small river about 6 inches wide ("The River Jordan") that carries water from out duck pond out into the desert about 100 feet. We trickle water into the set of cascading kid swimming pools that constitute the duck pond during the day to provide water for the 5 ducks and 60 chickens. At night, there are about 100 toads in the river. They can grow almost to the size of a small fist. I caught a bunch of them the other night and threw them into the garden so they could eat our bugs.

They also live out in the desert where there is no water, only the occasional rain puddle. They live underground until water appears. We have several that apparently live near the travel trailer and come out at night to eat bugs. The other night, we set a small flat battery-operated light on the ground between the trailer door and our concrete patio. Then we sat on the patio and watched the toads for about an hour as they ate all the bugs that were attracted to the light. We are easily entertained.

12th moon: September 13, 2000. Our friend Michael Roegner took another month out of his North American camping trip to come back to Cochise County and help us with the construction project. We re-established the travel trailer awning that was demolished by wind gusts. The awning material was replaced by 90% grade shade cloth, which is much lighter and not subject to so much wind pressure. We used the remains of the original awning material to wrap over our newly constructed Guinea Hen enclosure as a sun shade. (There are 19 Guineas along with 42 chickens and 3 ducks presently.)

We obtained a small wire welder machine and used it to construct a utility trailer that will be very useful for transporting building materials for the house.

We got the propane generator attached to the inverter so it can charge our batteries in case of any extended absence of wind and sun.

We got the bathroom fixtures and their copper water supply lines installed in the utility / office building, including an on-demand propane hot water heater. We now no longer have to take cold showers in the travel trailer.

We moved the Northeast fence corner post about 4 feet south to align it with the path of out northern fence line. We now have 3/4 of the fence completely finished and the other quarter has the top strand up.

Plans for the house are finally shaping up. It will be built on the pole barn model with the vertical poles consisting of steel well casing. These pipes, ranging in diameter from just under 3 inches to 8 inches, will hold up the roof and provide a place to fasten the walls. The house will be U-shaped, with the bottom of the U being about 68 feet of south-facing wall. The center of the U will be a patio. The upper wings of the U on the north side will be the library and the kitchen. The highest walls will surround the patio with the roof sloping downward and outward to the exterior walls and a covered exterior walkway.

The initial construction sequence, beginning October, 2000, is as follows:
1. Sink the poles into the ground.
2. Weld a steel form around the perimeter on the outside edge of the poles to enable us to pour a concrete slab.
3. Pour the slab after burying the electrical conduit and any plumbing, heating, and cooling pipes within its area.
4. Fasten Steel channels at the top of the poles to support the roof trusses.
5. Fabricate the roof trusses.
6. Apply walls and roof, possibly one room at a time.

Rattlesnake! Most of our snake tales are told in the Diamondback Rattler page and the the Mojave Rattler page, but I am including this one here for the benefit of those who don't want to browse through the entire site.

Our 4th rattler of the 2000 season appeared one evening as we were sitting around a bonfire with Michael. One of the dogs passed near it and it began sounding like a castanet. Michael grabbed a 10-foot solid steel bar and very accurately whacked it on the head with great force, undoubtedly accompanied by an adrenaline rush. It was a 3.5 foot Mojave Green Rattlesanke.

Paul cut off the head, leaving a bloody neck stump, and threw the head into the bonfire. He then sat back down in his chair in front of the fire, holding the body of the snake upside down suspended above the ground. What happened next may seem strange to those unfamiliar with the antics of dead rattlesnakes but it truly happened and is apparently common behavior for dead rattlers.

The dead snake began curling itself upward toward Paul's hand until it suddenly struck very viciously and very accurately at Paul's hand 3 separate times, leaving snake blood all over the hand from the bloody neck stump.

After that display of headless accuracy, we decided it must be dinnertime. So we took the snake's corpse over to the patio with us and dropped it into an open box at the corner of the patio while we proceeded to grill some chicken. The snake was determined not to allow us to do this in peace. It began winding around in the box, with its scaled skin making some pretty loud slithering noises.

Paul placed a light plastic lid over the box to quiet the thing down. Later, as we were eating, the cover lifted up, just like in a horror movie. The rattle-adorned tail of the snake's corpse emerged from under the plastic cover, then to our amazement, the corpse leveraged itself entirely out of the box and fell to the concrete where it continued to slither and disturb our meal.

It was a thrilling evening indeed.