A Year in the Basin or Changing the Face of Arakis...

It's been an exciting year. 

We bought the property last August, spent our first three days camping out and building a pyramid in the desert in September, threw some stuff in the ditch this time last year, and drove up in the snow last November.

This Spring, we built a dome in the rain, dug up the driveway and threw a lot of dirt on the berm (and in our hair, clothes and all over the place.)

We got tired, dirty and frustrated, our stuff got trashed by cows, and we got a culvert put in so we could put our car on the property and not park on the road.  We got botanical cells put in for plants, started a bathroom, met a few neighbors and got a lot of strange looks while we were at it.

We learned a lot, planned a lot, came up with new ideas and new plans, made some discoveries and got distracted by shiny things.

We tore down the pyramid (it was falling down anyway), got sunburned, cursed the cows and marveled at the sunset.

Our biggest successes were getting the dome up and the driveway cleared.  We also had the brilliant idea of combining earthbag technology with papercrete for building.  FTW.

Highs: Shish kabobs over the firepit, sleeping in the Kamping Kabin #2 (and the hot showers) at the Rawlins KOA. (Shout out here to Jim and Marilyn)  Also in Rawlins: Rose's Lariat, Anongs Thai, Discount Grocery, Nothing to Wine About, A&B Surplus (for all your camoflage needs!), City Market, McDonalds and Pizza Hut.  Also Mulberrys!

Lows:  Dirt, cows, redneck teenagers, cows, bugs, mice in the dome, cows, wind, coyotes, long drives and limited time to actually devote to any one project.  There's so much to do, that it's hard to stay on task.  Gas mileage : P 

Mehs: Cactus Jack's / The Peppermill.  Nothing to write home about.  Same with China House.  We were just hungry.

Stuff to we still need to do:  Get the berm higher for more privacy.  Get the property surveyed.  Put up a fence around the Domestead.  Get the culvert up to road level.  Finish digging out the Domestead and the firepit.  Move the dome.  Build a Hexapod to sleep in.  Build an outdoor shower.  Get some walls up on the bathroom.  Start the homedome.  Get some plants, build a garage etc... and the list goes on...

Can't wait until next Spring when we can go back up and see how everything (meaning the Dome) holds up over the winter and to get started on all the stuff that needs to get got or done.

We're still excited and are chomping at the bit to get back to it.