Chapter 1
One skill that I learned quickly during the early days of building Badboulder was helping make concrete in a wheelbarrow.
There had never been electricity on site and our local APS representative (a real jerk) assured us there might never be any as we probably wouldn't stay long. We could not apply for electricity until we had a foundation. David recalled making concrete as a kid with his dad back on the farm--without electricity. He bought and read some books. Knowledge is powerful; we made concrete.
A strong wheelbarrow, concrete hoe and shovel comprises the necessary equipment. Five shovelfuls of gravel, three of sand, one of Portland cement mixed with water is the formula. Next comes the physical activity; the products must be shoveled into the wheelbarrow, mixed with a hoe and poured in the desired place. Concrete is heavy and all that mixing with a hoe will not only provide concrete but also improve your muscle tone.
Our first efforts went into an eight by eight storage shed foundation needed to house our building tools (all manual or battery operated as there was no electricity for the likes of us. David tested the balance of sand gravel mix occurring naturally in our dry wash and found it suitable. We shoveled it into the wheelbarrow and pushed it to the site. This worked so well that we expanded the storage shed to a total of 192 square feet, all foundation concrete made from product from our wash.
Next, we started the guest house and were able to pour concrete for about two/thirds of the project from local sand and gravel. Then, we began to purchase dump truckloads which we've continued to do. All of our guest home, the storage shed, rose arbor and garage foundations are made of hand-mixed concrete.
We smiled a lot the day we acquired our old used Sears clunker of an electric concrete mixer. A local resident bought it to transport to Mexico to construct his own home then decided it wasn't the best idea he ever had and offered it up for sale. It's still clunking after spinning out tons of concrete and stucco for us.
Thus we began the process of making the incredible amount of concrete needed for the foundation of Badboulder's main house. It was during this phase of the building that I sat on a rattlesnake and lived to tell the story which I'll get around to in the next chapter. Enough of this concrete making history--I'm going to bake a fresh plum tart.
Oh yes, the APS guy retired back to Kentucky a year later. We're still here buying electricity and making concrete.
FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Yup, it's me, I'm the guy who gets up at 5:30 in the morning and mixes concrete with my sweet Badboulderlady. She's going to tell you that it is dangerous business building a house here in the middle of Arizona. Fighting off rattlesnakes, dodging lightening bolts, living among scorpions, tarantulas, ants, bees, wasps, hornets, ugly rhino beetles, and noseeums. Oh! Ouch! Hey, Badboulderlady, what do you have for this bite? Don't know what bit me. Maybe a big shot of Old Granddad? If it don't work, at least I will die happy. Okay, well, maybe I'll see you all next time. More Old Granddad, please. Oh, that really hurts.
a parting shot from bbman: never loan your car to anyone.
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