My husband and I were looking forward to our retirement. We envisioned a ranch someplace cooler than our home town of Phoenix, Arizona.
Our list of requirements was short: cooler than the desert, water availability, and some flat land on which to build. Three years later we found a fifty-four acre parcel in Mohave County in Arizona. The Big Sandy Aquifer would provide plenty of ground water, and living in the foothills of the Hualapai Mountains, the temperature would be cooler than Phoenix.
The downsides were few, but one was huge for a city girl. It would cost over $100,000 to run electricity to our property. A girl does need to blow dry her hair! My husband, Jim, explained we would put in solar and use a generator. What? Solar? Generator?
We had eight years before our dream of retirement would come true. Jim had a seasonal job which allowed him the freedom to come up in the winters and start building our dream home.
First, we drilled a well and had our septic system installed. I learned about perk tests, leach fields, and how to witch for ground water!
Next, Jim faced the challenge of designing our home. This would be the source of many disagreements, some of which included: how the home should be laid out, and how big my bathroom, closet, and bedroom should be. Jim is an all function kind of guy and he refers to me as all form or FOO FOO. Eventually we came up with a 1500 sq. ft. adobe style home of block construction. It’s a one bedroom, two bath, kitchen, and large living room area.
Jim is a mechanic by trade and his expertise is electrical systems. He also had some engineering courses in college, but has never worked in that field. When he told me his plan was to build this entire house by himself, I was a little skeptical, to say the least. I wanted to be supportive, but my “Are you nuts?” shattered some of my resolve.
This could be a very costly mistake! Jim was secure in the fact he could do it and assured me there would be no problems and that it would be fun. So the fun began.
Our footers were dug. Jim cut and wired rebar. Our slab was poured. It was time to lay block. A semi-truck brought the supply of block needed, plus massive amounts of rebar. I watched as a forklift unloaded pallet after pallet of blocks…..2,000 8x8x16 blocks. “This should make a great start,” Jim told me. I shut my eyes and said a silent prayer.
For eight years, Jim would work on our retirement home and every weekend I drove up from Phoenix. We had an eighteen ft. trailer that Jim lived in during those winter months. While Jim lived here alone, he learned to respect the ruggedness of this land and the dangers of the outdoor.
He gathered wood and built a camp fire in the evenings to cook his dinner. He was completely in love with our place. At night, in our trailer, the coyotes would howl and Jim would smile and say, “The coyotes are playing tonight!” and I would rush to make sure our door was locked. Secretly, at the time, I was glad I only had to stay one night and then back to the city I would go.
Coming back on weekends I can tell you, it was always a thrill to see the progress on our home. Our walls would be higher and, a door or window would be framed. True to his word, Jim finished the structure of the house. Thanks to some friends’ knowledge and help, our trusses and roof were put into place. Jim moved indoors with a camp stove and a small gas fridge from the trailer.
Plumbing, wiring, insulation, and framing the rooms would be our next step. One weekend I came up and Jim had drawn lines on the cement floor showing where all the rooms, closets and appliances would be placed.
Let the arguments begin! I tried to be reasonable, “This is not big enough, that cannot go there, and the size of this closet is a joke!” Finally, to get a few concessions, I had to go with the, “If you want me to live here…….” Compromises were made and redrawn lines and notes were final, until they needed to be changed again, and again!
All was well when Big Bertha became a member of our family. She is a Chinese diesel generator. I love Big Bertha as she will run any and all of my everyday needs, such as blow dryers, curling irons, and evaporative coolers.
The final job was setting up an “off the grid” electric system that produced enough energy to make me, I mean us, happy. At this point, our system is complete with a 900 watt solar panel, a 2500 watt inverter, a load controller and two air-x, 400 watt windmills, enough for 24/7 power.
We retired in June of 2009, and are living here full-time. We have a 1500 gallon water tank that we fill about once a week. We bought three chickens and I have learned there is a world of difference between grocery store eggs and eggs right out of the coop.
Even with my black thumb, I have grown carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, broccoli, and spinach. I have learned the hard way that any garden I expect to bear fruit must be built like Fort Knox. Mice, rabbits and pack rats are in abundance here. In the fall I am hoping to buy a couple of pigs and maybe a cow or two.
There are endless projects here and so many things to do and learn. We have neighbors that will be life long friends and there are miles of dirt roads to be explored and I look forward to checking out every one.
So in closing, I am not quite at Hillbilly status yet, though my children would disagree…….but I’m working on it!
