Our land has always had a beaver pond. When we first bought the property back in 1988 there were active beavers. Something happened, not sure just what, but the beavers abandoned the pond and over the years it has actually started to silt over into more like a boggy meadow on one end. It's been that way a very long time.

We were shocked to hike down there this past trip to find it occupied again -- big time. Our little pond has tripled in size and we can longer reach it easily. The beavers had "beavered" away at tons of aspens. Chewed off stumps were everywhere. We now have a clearing where once stood an aspen forest. 

All that destruction to build this huge hotel of a beaver hut:

And this double dam:

In this photo taken from the beaver hut side of the pond you can see the clearing that's been made by taking out so many trees. It used to be solid aspen trees.

See that tree hanging over the pond on the end? The fourth photo down (above) is that same tree. Someone didn't have their engineering degree yet I guess because it obviously fell the wrong way. A waste of a good tree. A BIG tree.

Here's another example of bad engineering. This tree is almost there. But not quite!

It ended up resting on other trees. Pretty amazing. I am thinking that over the winter either the snow or wind will finally take it down. I bet that beaver was pretty frustrated after all that work!

I am glad we have beavers again but I wish they weren't quite so descrutive! I hope after all this work that they stay awhile and don't abandon it yet again! 

At first, it may seem to you that this post is about getting mail at the cabin. It is, but it is also about establishing legal residency in Colorado, and having a way to prove it. This is likely to be the first post in a series on this topic.

Here is the story (as we currently understand it): while we have a legal address in Colorado (it is 100 Hidden Meadows Lane, Red Feather Lakes, CO, 80545), there is no mail service to this address. 

Truth is, Red Feather Lakes is only a few miles away "as the crow flies", but anywhere from two hours to four hours to drive there depending upon the season and which roads are open. 

So, mail sent to our legal address will be returned. Or, so the story goes.

Most residents of the area establish an alternate mailing address using the Laramie, WY post office. The process is simple, although we have yet to test it: plant a mail box next to others located at the Wooden Shoe Ranch (which is about 5 miles into Wyoming). Place a letter in that mail box addressed to the Post Master of the Laramie, Wyoming post office. In that letter, ask that mail addressed to "100 Hidden Meadows Ln, Sand Creek Park CO, Laramie, WY, 87020" be delivered to this mail box. And, according to the story from neighbors, junk mail will start arriving within days.

This seems like a reasonable solution. We only have to drive 10 or 11 miles to send and get mail. (By the way, when the roads are open UPS will deliver to our door!)

There are serious problems with this strategy though, and to learn what they are, click through to "More ..."

More...

Oscar did the requested excavations at the cabin site last week.

This shows the 24' x 24' site for our new barn/storage shed/workshop/garage (truly, a multi-purpose building). The building is 20' wide and 14' deep, and will sit about 6' back in this space. This was excavated slightly above the driveway grade. David, who took these photos for us, is standing on the driveway. This is looking Southeast. I'll need to drag the downed trees away and clean up the boundary some, but that is a chore for another day.

If you turn 180° to look across the driveway to the Northwest, you can see where Oscar put all the dirt he took out of the barn site.

It was used to create some additional space for parking and turn-arounds. 

The ground here is mostly decomposed granite. That is a perfect base because it is like rough gravel. It packs into a very hard surface that does not get very muddy when wet.

Turning just a bit more to the North, here is a shot down the driveway to the cabin.

There is a spot, just to the right of this picture where we had some ground removed to create a larger flat spot next to an existing shed. We'll store fire wood there. I'll build a cover in that area and we will be able to store about 4 cords of wood close to the cabin door and in a sheltered spot. If you walk toward the cabin, you see the final excavation.

This spot already existed as a parking spot, but the width has been doubled. That small split rail fence is there to keep anyone from driving on top of the septic tank. And, the parking slot was just about as wide as the fence. This is where we plan to put our travel trailer--not only for parking/storing it, but also to serve as a guest bedroom when you come to visit. We'll back into this space, keeping the left side of the trailer to the cabin-side of this space (right side in the photo). That way, the door will open toward the meadow.

All this is just another step in the process of preparing the cabin for year-around living. Grass should start to fill in soon to further, and it will look great in a few months.

There is no public utility providing electricity to Sand Creek Park. And, according to the local rural electric utility, there never will be. So, we are truly "off the grid" and must produce our own power.

We won't live without the modern conveniences of running water, electric lights, Internet access, radio and occasional TV. So, it is necessary to rely on alternate and more renewable forms of energy. We can generate electricity three different ways:

1. Run a gasoline (or propane) powered generator. This is fine for emergencies or when supplemental power is needed beyond what we can provide otherwise. But, impractical and expensive for everyday use.

2. Use PV panels. "PV" stands for photovoltaic, and these panels turn sunlight into electrical power. A PV system provides DC or direct current power at lower voltages and must be turned into AC (alternating current) at 120 volts to conform to standard power for the above list of electrically powered items. This is done with something called an "inverter". (The word "converter" is used for the opposite--it turns AC power into DC power.) Our inverter is capable of delivering 2000 watts of power continuously, so we can never use more than that at any given time.

3. Wind. Wind can be used to power a generator which also creates DC electricity. This can also be converted to AC through the inverter and used to power the cabin.

Of course, we need electricity even when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing, so we have a bank of batteries to store extra power generated by the PV panels or wind turbine for later use.

So, our system and any typical off the grid electric system works something like this:

(Click More... for the rest of the article.)

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This visit to the cabin had several purposes:

1. Confirm this is really the place we want to retire to as soon as possible. 
2. Vacation. Have some "down time" and relax. Take it easy.
3. Projects to prepare for our move and full-time life at the cabin.

Check off number 1. There is no doubt.

We had to balance between #2 and #3. Even on vacation there is always a long list of chores and projects to do. The cabin requires maintenance, for example. Batteries need distilled water. Windows need washing. Etc. 

I thought we'd get more #3 projects done, but we got some big 'uns covered.

I wanted to get our mailbox installed at the Wooden Shoe Ranch. But, I could not find a mailbox mounting pole anywhere in Laramie. So, a neighbor has volunteered to install it while he does maintenance on a couple of existing mailboxes. The mailbox itself is ready, with our address labeled on the side and front. I've written a letter to the Laramie Postmaster asking for mail to be delivered to the box. We'll see.

Mailbox is ready for mail!

One small project was to repair the plumbing vents that have been broken by the snow. These have broken and been fixed before (making this fix more challenging). This time, I added some strapping to hold them vertical even with a large snow load pulling them over. I think this will work fine.

Maybe this strap will keep the snow from breaking the vent pipe.

Sam Burnham our "off the grid" power resource came by. She and her new apprentice John went over all the projects we have planned for her. We are going to add about 1500 watts of PV to our existing (800 watt) system. Lynne proposed a location for the solar panels (which is brilliant) and we confirmed it was an excellent location. So, those will be installed sometime this summer. 

We are also replacing our 13-year-old batteries. And, growing from 8 batteries to 12. Having twelve batteries will give us additional power during times when there is little sun or wind. But, they need the additional charging the new PV will give us. The new batteries will likely be installed at the same time as the new PV panels.

We will need to re-commission our wind turbine, too. We discussed it, located the tie-down points for the guy wires. Etc. But, that project will wait until we are here. No need to run a piece of mechanical equipment to generate electricity no one will use while the cabin is vacant.

We also discussed the installation of a propane powered generator. That was also a project for this summer, but due to the complications associated with selecting and installing a generator, that project is now "on hold" until we are here for a while.

The other big project we had on the list to help us prepare for full-time living is a new shed/garage to use for storage and a small "shop" for me. We selected a pre-built unit that is perfect for out needs at Rocky Mountain Barn in Ft. Collins. But, we won't actually order it and have it delivered until we are settled here. But, we did select a location and met with Oscar who is a full-timer up here and also an excavator. 

This is what our "barn" / shed / garage / workshop will look like. Except, I think we'll do a greenish stain instead of this reddish one. Also, there will be two doors on the front--the one you see which goes into the shop area and another where the window is for the ATV.

Oscar will do three excavations for us soon. Two are small, one is big. The big one is to excavate a 24' x 24' space for the shed (which is 20' wide by 14' deep). The two smaller projects are to level a spot for the travel trailer (a good place to put guests!), and to move some dirt to create a place for a wood shed.

I made measurements for the installation of a drain for a washer/dryer combo unit. Also, a commercial plumber with a cabin not too far from us dropped by and confirmed my plans. I think I can do the plumbing work in the future without too much problem.

So, while it feels like we did not do everything I planned to get us better prepared for living here, a few of the biggies will be done. We will be in great shape for solar power. And, we'll be ready to order and install our shed/garage and host visitors!