ArizonaRanch

  More Phone Testing for the Ranch by rdpecken on Apr.23, 2010, under Communications Because the Littlehouse is located far up in the valley that surrounds our ranch, we have had trouble getting cell phone service near the house.  We have tried 3 different Sprint phones (our home carrier), 3 different Nextel phones, 1 AT&T phone, 1 T-Mobile phone and even a GlobalStar Satellite Phone and an Iridium Satellite Phone. Of course, the Iridium phone is the only one that worked flawlessly.  But at a cost of $1.00 per minute of talk time, it’s a little pricey.  The GlobalStar Satellite network has issues, and was not reliable when we were testing it. All of the other phones pretty much work the same.  We can receive and make calls down near the road on the west end of the property, but once we head up toward the house by more than about 100 yards, we lose all reception, and cannot make calls.  The Nextel phones are the best of the lot, as they work on a lower fre

  April 2010 Ranch Visit by rdpecken on Apr.23, 2010, under Seasons We didn’t do a lot of recreational stuff during our visit this April, as we only had a couple of days and wanted to get the plumbing finished. We did go for a little hike while I was testing out another cellphone for the Ranch. While we were out hiking, Remy (our dog) found a deer skull from a relatively fresh kill.  We’re guessing coyote or mountain lion made the kill, as hunters would have taken the head with them to prove their deer was a buck.  Also, this was a pretty small deer. Deer Skull Anyway, being earily facinated with dead animals (I had a dissection kit when I was in 6th grade), I picked up the skull with the intention of bringing it home for the gradkids to look at.  It was still not fully dried/bleached out, so I put it on an anthill for picking.  If some wild animal doesn’t drag it off, maybe it will be a nice bleach-white by the end of the summer.

  Fresh Water Plumbing for the Littlehouse (Con’t 2) by rdpecken on Apr.23, 2010, under Plumbing We went up to the ranch on April 16th for a few days to finish up the fresh water plumbing for the LittleHouse. We plumbed up some 3/4″ PVC in the ground box to create a system of valves that let us select fresh water from the tank, or an antifreeze solution for winterizing the plumbing in the house. Inlet Plumbing The top valve in the picture controls flow of fresh water from the tank to the pressure pump. The bottom valve controls flow of RV antifreeze solution from a container to the pump. The pump pressurized side feeds the house out through the left side to the 3/4″ pex pipe. The 1/2″ pex pipe is just a protective jacket for the power wires for the pressure pump. We also installed the sillcock assemblies for the hose bibs on the East and West ends of the house.  I forgot to take pictures, but here is a diagram of what they are. Hose Bib Sillcock So basically, it