Developing the property

We're still in Season 1, which is winter of 2009.
 (side-note: the seasons here run the opposite of most places. We can start coming out in late September which is barely tolerable at 100 degrees plus during the day and 80's at night, and keep coming out through most of May)
No firm plans had developed yet for building a home, so most time was spent either relaxing, hiking, playing games or working on the land itself. First we needed a firepit and I had heard that an old washing machine drum made a great one due to the small holes allowing a natural draft. So I scored one, dug a hole about 2-3 feet deep and lines the bottom with small to medium sized rocks. The metal drum went on top of those and then I filled in around the sides with more rocks of the same size to allow for air movement. The hole was backfilled with sand and then I dragged some larger rocks down from the hill to make a surrounding hearth of sorts. Boy does this thing do fires! Easy to start, draws great and s tough to even put out when you're done!

So then we found an addictive activity to spend the hours which seems to be a popular desert hobby: building rock paths ...... did I mention that half of our property is mountain? So we have an abundance of rocks. Large, small, medium, we got 'em..... anybody needs rocks, let me know!

Next up was water, which as we know is critically important in the desert. So with access to a well not far away we started digging and running pipe. well it didn't seem all that far until a couple days of digging.... Some of the digging was sand and very easy, some was rocks and a bit more difficult - we had ibuprofen standing by and it was welcome! The missus was areal trooper and did her share of the backbreaking work...

You'll notice the small shed I built in the background which is where the shower is going to go, came across an old tub, got a small flash heater, a tank of propane and voila! Dead Ocotillo stalks for a privacy screen and there isn't a nicer shower in the world!