Progress Pics!

 Curly is now big enough to go frolic freely in the pasture with the other cows!

She was dancing and rolling in the hay stacks.

 This is the decking.  One side is painted with this thick decking paint that is made with sand that makes a hard water proof coating on it.  More will be done on this side as we go.

 Beginning floor framing.  The large square in the middle will have the decking cut out. It will eventually be a drop down box in the floor.  So the floor will have a door and we'll have extra storage in the floor.

All of this is bolted down to the trailer too.

This area is in the front.  We're planning on a murphy bed in this spot eventually.  It will be the bed/living/dining area.  We visited a murphy bed store for ideas.  I saw some pretty nifty things that we may incorporate when we build it.

Though they do not come with us during our day trips, it seemed our pups were pooped this weekend too.

Let sleeping dogs lie, hehe.

Purple Peanut getting the love

Here she is as we began to put on the rust converter/primer.

You can kind of see what it does on the front end.

Our new axels that carry more tons!

New bigger tires and leaf springs.

Our friends are taking the old axels, tires, springs, etc.

He may make some sort of trailer for use around the farm.

We changed out all of the parts and connected up the brakes and made sure they worked.

This is all being done with the help of our friend.

He is a godsend with his knowledge, versatile supply of tools, and his willingness to "play" with us while creating the Peanut.

Since these photos, we have also painted with a "rustoleum" type metal paint.

I will have to get new pics this weekend.

By the time we got done this past weekend, the sun was going down and my feet and hands were frozen puppies!

We went in and enjoyed a little music and refreshment in front of their fire.

We are still waiting for the new stands to come in.

Three of ours are busted.

We're happy though because we are getting closer and closer to the really fun part!

And as usual, Curly says "Hi!"

She's chowing like a champ now!

I love getting to play with her and feed her.

Killing It

We banged it out yesterday.

We left the top strip because we were scared the whole thing would collapse before we came back next weekend.

The frame is so shoddy and rotted out.

Ya know what's on the roof?

Just cloth, yep, that's right, not even canvas, just cloth.

Weird, but whatever.

We'll have it all down next weekend.

Plus, other exciting news, El Sammy Beasto got a 1979 GMC doolie truck.

It's a beast, but will be sure to be able to tow this sucker when we're finished.

We're trying to decide on some basics so that I can draw more plans and get better materials lists going.  We're thinking a murphy bed.  Just an idea but it would give us so much more space during the days!  I actually took out a Sharpie and drew outlines on the floor to give us ideas of space with what we do have planned so far.  It's nice to walk around and "see" what space and storage will somewhat look like, even if it is just in black marker lines.

But here's what we did this weekend (just Saturday).

This is what all of that aluminum siding looks like taken down and after I have folded and stompted it.

Off to the recycle center again tomorrow.

We're hoping to give away the 3 windows that actually have glass left in them to whoever needs them.

 

 Stripped.

 Close up.

There it is, skeleton, future Purple Peanut.

Afterwards, we hung out with our friends who own this awesome place.

El Sammy Beasto got taken on a tour, where there was an old, stone, falling down building that was a Pony Express Stop, a ravine where horse smugglers used to hide the horses, and a few other cool sites.  I'm going next time!

We sat, had a brew, and I got to feed Curly!

She's awesome and does the happy calf dance, much like a ferret who does the happy ferret dance!

Right now, she's about the size of our German Shepherd, and she's only 2 weeks old!

She did wind up slobbering all over the front of my shirt while we were snuggling.

What a love muffin!

Then, all four of us headed up the road to a going away party.

Another friend of ours also lives down that way.  We ran down to her basement, jumped in the shower and changed before the festivities.  I gorged on grilled stuff and a few Oktoberfest brews.  Lucky for me, El Sammy Beasto was DD.  Nice change for me, haha!

Weekend pics.

Curly headbutting me and looking for her bottle.

 

Sam was next for her affection.

 

Finally, Momma Kay.  Kay is Curly's "mom."  Her cow momma didn't want her and tried to kill her, so she's been adopted by her human caretakers.

 

This is one of our babies, Heidi.  This is at our house, just chillin'.

 

One of the weekend visitors, one of the barn kitties.

 

 Now, some pics of the trailer.

Sitting against the barn.

This is where we were when we got there this past weekend.

  

And this is what we were doing this past weekend.

I brought that aluminum to the recycle center.

Got a little cash and found out that they will also take all of the electrical wiring, and tons of other stuff.  So, I guess after every weekend, I'll be making trips with truckloads to the recycle yard too!

Weekend in Pictures

We spent the weekend down at our friend's property working on the Purple Peanut.

We drove down and back home everyday this long weekend.

I am loving it down there.

It reminds me of my youth and how I spent every weekend with my parents on their country property.

Only now, S and I have to find our perfect little wooded paradise.

 The sad part is that I neglected to take pictures of the Peanut at all!

Instead, in my breaks of demolition, I snapped photos of the cuteness of the country.

I'll have to remember to shoot it this coming weekend!

But here is the awesome-ness that was just a tad of this past long weekend.

Snapped this on our stop at the hardware store.

He just came in from the pasture to say "hey."

They have like 5 horses and a mule.

One of the barn kitties.  He was a super purr-machine and just hung around for pets and holding.

We did spot one of the older gals after she caught a wild baby bunny.

Even with all the cat food available, I guess their "wild" instincts still take hold!

This was one of the momma cows and her new baby.

They have miniature cows!

So freaking adorable.

We have decided to change the axels and tires once we have it stripped completely down.

This will give us more leeway in our plans, which I am changing once again, lol.

Hopefully, after next weekend, I will have more pictures....

including Peanut!

Well, Hello There

This is our Art/Life/Tiny Living/Bought a Trashed Trailer/Rebuild/Transition to Self-Sustainability/Gypsy Vardo Living/What In the Hell Did We Do Blog

This is going to be an Art Life Transition to Self-Sustainability Project.
If anyone would like to help, donate, give advice, just let us know!!

So if you made it that far, here's what's up.

If you have followed my previous blog, LaPetiteMort73, you may have come across my posts about wanting a mini-farm, poultry, tiny living, being off the grid and self-sustainable.

Of course, that blog has many other entries as well, including really selfish and materialistic wants.

Just to fill in, if you aren't aware, I grew up in the swamps of Louisiana, literally.

I mean, it was nothing to have an alligator in your front yard or step over Cotton-Mouth snakes while just leisurely walking about.  I mean, damn, I learned how to roller skate and ride a bike originally on an oyster shell driveway.

On a side note, I grew up with chickens all my life.  Yes, there were Copperheads wrapped around the cages trying to eat them & the eggs, but we had chickens!

Needless to say, those chickens were more pets.

We only ate the eggs, and our chickens died of old age.

Also, my parents composted and gardened.

We always had fresh veggies and sometimes fruit.

It just depended what they could grow each year.

It was always experimental.

Mom canned veggies, made preserves, cooked all the time while holding a full time job.

Dad, also held a hard labor full time job and gardened and built and did things self-sufficiently.

It's funny that I "hated" it all growing up.

You know, embarrassed about it.

I went to a Private, Catholic School.

I was, well, different.

It's funny now, because I still am.

Only, now, I've come to appreciate it......

and to learn from it.

I can completely appreciate all that my parents did and I've learned from them.

All I can say, is that El Sammy Beasto, never had such a childhood.

He grew up on the Wank.

That's the West Bank for you folks from Louisiana.

But he went to school in New Orleans,

the Big City, Yo!

He did not have quite as much experience in the "gardening/husbandry" field,

however, he did have a little more experience in the fishing area!

Though I spent a bit of time fishing in the Reserve Canal, Maurepaus area, his dad has a camp in Lafitte right on the freaking water!!!

Sweet.

So, when we moved up here, from our Third Story Condo in the Sky-y-a... 

on 17th Street Canal ~

El Sammy Beasto was kind of impressed with the shite I could grow in a desert like area (compared to Louisiana).

Since then, we both have discovered (Together) our love of Off-the-Grid-Living-Survivalist-Tactics stuff we have in common.

Thus began our infatuation of Tiny Living, Small House Love.

For the past few years we have followed many blogs about living with little, living simply, growing what you need, living off the land.....

We drool over websites,

we email each other tiny homes in awesome locales.

Well, this past weekend, what do you think happened - spontaneously?

El Sammy Beasto actually bid and won on trailers we've looked at for years.

Side Note:

After Katrina, we lived in a 70's Avion Silver Bullet for about 6 months.

We kept thinking about that.

We've looked and looked for vintage trailers.

Then, El Sammy Beasto found this site for the Emergency Response Studio Project made from a trashed FEMA trailer.

Of course this started our wheels turning.

Okay, back to the bid.

He won a bid for a trashed FEMA Trailer.

So, we're having hauled up here to be put on a friend's land.

Now, I'm going to start sketching out layouts, solar, wind, radiant heat, small cast iron stoves......

Oh the list goes on and on....

Also, the search for rural land that will let us live our dream.

Gypsy Vardo Style, Conceptual Art Style, Completely Self-Sufficient with no need for tapping into community water/electricity/gas.............?

The possibilities are endless, I tell you!

You can check out the Debris that Will Be the Purple Peanut at this link.....
http://purple-peanut.tumblr.com/

Oh and extra points if you know what Purple Peanut means!!!!