Sage Suede Shoes, part 1

I'm in Questa, out of Taos! Taos Telecom installed my Wild Blue dish yesterday and I finally got back online. Embarrassing how much I miss the net, the web... I'm caught!

One-half mile of Llano Rd, and "My Road" are both covered in semi-permanent packed snow/ice:

Llano Rd (left) and "My Rd."

Many many simple needs have creative solutions. Today I joined the Northside Spa in Taos, for occasional deep hygiene, and steam!

My outhouse (indoor plumbing is still far down the road) doesn't have a hole (or a roof [coming tomorrow]) - It's rigged like portable camp toilet, cash and carry:

Washing dishes now involves carrying water from

the outdoor hydrant (good water pressure!),

boiling water on a campstove,
dipping water from a white plastic bucket,
and when I rinse, the water drains into another white plastic bucket...

I think you pretty much have to be a bachelor to live like this - but it's not bad, and getting better...

I've just unloaded the camera -
Stay tuned, if you care to see pix of my ascent out of Taos, into chaos...

Curtains!
Heat retention and privacy...

We've replaced the 4 smallwindows we removed -
and taped them, on the inside - they're double paned.
When the addition is finished, the lower row will be indoors,
with no windows, and these guys will be part of the new addition:
Browser the cat has his personal entrance about 10 feet above the ground:
Here, still under construction...

almost done - Browser's already gotten the hang of it.
The indoor part of the catwalk is almost done, too:
He didn't have much interest in the wooden ladder at first:
Oh, NOW you like the ladder...

More excitement coming soon - Wood for the ger deck arrives tomorrow!
Stay tuned for one more installment of
Sage Suede Shoes.

Also waiting in the wings:
a long-lost cousin, and a long lost friend with new wife from Mongolia!