ron45
Greenlighter
Highs are mostly on the natch these days but once in a while……...
I spent the 60s in a touring rock band based in Malibu. We lived in Malibu Colony, [24/7 grad at the gate] And you got a call if someone showed up looking for you. I grew 7 foot tall grass trees in the yard. I woke up one morning and Jack Warden was slashing around in my crops with a tennis racket looking for his ball. There was a tennis court next-door. Life was and is good. We never were wealthy money wise but in every other way. Saw a book called mud space and spirit about hippies growing their own homes in N.M and Az. one day on some music buzz guy's coffee table. This was around 1970 or so. In the late seventies we moved up PCH to Trancas Canyon area and a neighbor who was an actor was friends with Debra Winger and her boy friend who had recently made a movie in Ruidoso NM called Casey's Shadow w/Walter Mathau.
During that shoot they bought some land outside of town, 20 acres on the national forrest boundary fairly steep ponderosa and jeffry pine forrest. During a conversation my neighbor suggested we could buy some of the 20 acres. We did. Moved there on a whim and were going to build there. But after living on the land all winter I knew it would be too expensive to excavate a pad to put the house on. It was a nebulous version of one story of Taos Pueblo.
Thick walls, trees for ceiling rafters, off grid, composting toilet and our own well. We only had an acre and a half there and whenever we'd go driving around out the the steep valley and ridges area the vistas made your psyche swell. So we began looking for another larger piece of land. We found our version of paradise on top of a mesa north and west a little of Ruidoso. This was open range land and about 60 percent cheaper per acre. It was also much more secluded. Actually it was in the middle of a ranch in an area with very little growth potential. The closest town had 24 residents. The population density was to die for.
My wife and I built the place with no permits and no loans 95% by our selves. Took 3 years to build the stem walls out of laid up sandstone and other native rock. We both had jobs an Ruidoso and live on the other land in a trailer while we build our place. She's the one with the real job. I worked as a ski instructor six days a week and loved it. We built all summer, she only worked on weekends but got paid for 40 hours. House was based on 25% of a circle with and 80 ft. arc facing south and a much smaller one facing north. It's all adobe walls. 14 inch exterior and 10 inches on all the interior walls. There is a round kiva ruin just back from the southern glass. It's walls and floor are rock, and 3 feet thick at the back. It's loosely based on the ones we saw at Chaco Canyon.
The floors are heated by solar heated water and all the southern glass. We also have an airtight wood burner.
We have never regretted the move or building our own place. My main criteria was nothing man made for 360 degrees and a great view, and exposed rock ledges. Mesa tops have plenty of those. Trees and sky. The biggest problem is wrong wing neighbors and an all day trip to a town with bagels and a music store. And now that I'm thinking of some cultivation projects…. I have a lot to loose if some one should object to my crops. Hell somebody's got to live here….. might as well be us. From our house at 7k feet our southern view is a 10k foot mountain covered with trees and snow on top.
Ron
I spent the 60s in a touring rock band based in Malibu. We lived in Malibu Colony, [24/7 grad at the gate] And you got a call if someone showed up looking for you. I grew 7 foot tall grass trees in the yard. I woke up one morning and Jack Warden was slashing around in my crops with a tennis racket looking for his ball. There was a tennis court next-door. Life was and is good. We never were wealthy money wise but in every other way. Saw a book called mud space and spirit about hippies growing their own homes in N.M and Az. one day on some music buzz guy's coffee table. This was around 1970 or so. In the late seventies we moved up PCH to Trancas Canyon area and a neighbor who was an actor was friends with Debra Winger and her boy friend who had recently made a movie in Ruidoso NM called Casey's Shadow w/Walter Mathau.
During that shoot they bought some land outside of town, 20 acres on the national forrest boundary fairly steep ponderosa and jeffry pine forrest. During a conversation my neighbor suggested we could buy some of the 20 acres. We did. Moved there on a whim and were going to build there. But after living on the land all winter I knew it would be too expensive to excavate a pad to put the house on. It was a nebulous version of one story of Taos Pueblo.
Thick walls, trees for ceiling rafters, off grid, composting toilet and our own well. We only had an acre and a half there and whenever we'd go driving around out the the steep valley and ridges area the vistas made your psyche swell. So we began looking for another larger piece of land. We found our version of paradise on top of a mesa north and west a little of Ruidoso. This was open range land and about 60 percent cheaper per acre. It was also much more secluded. Actually it was in the middle of a ranch in an area with very little growth potential. The closest town had 24 residents. The population density was to die for.
My wife and I built the place with no permits and no loans 95% by our selves. Took 3 years to build the stem walls out of laid up sandstone and other native rock. We both had jobs an Ruidoso and live on the other land in a trailer while we build our place. She's the one with the real job. I worked as a ski instructor six days a week and loved it. We built all summer, she only worked on weekends but got paid for 40 hours. House was based on 25% of a circle with and 80 ft. arc facing south and a much smaller one facing north. It's all adobe walls. 14 inch exterior and 10 inches on all the interior walls. There is a round kiva ruin just back from the southern glass. It's walls and floor are rock, and 3 feet thick at the back. It's loosely based on the ones we saw at Chaco Canyon.
The floors are heated by solar heated water and all the southern glass. We also have an airtight wood burner.
We have never regretted the move or building our own place. My main criteria was nothing man made for 360 degrees and a great view, and exposed rock ledges. Mesa tops have plenty of those. Trees and sky. The biggest problem is wrong wing neighbors and an all day trip to a town with bagels and a music store. And now that I'm thinking of some cultivation projects…. I have a lot to loose if some one should object to my crops. Hell somebody's got to live here….. might as well be us. From our house at 7k feet our southern view is a 10k foot mountain covered with trees and snow on top.
Ron
