This is the front, south facing side of the house.
Although the concept of moving wasn't pleasant, you do what you have to do sometimes... so I started house hunting in mid January, which up here in the mountains isn't a good time for house hunting, but oh well... I knew I'd never find a place as secluded as this one, but in the end I found a nice 3.6 acre mining claim surrounded on 3 sides by national forest. It's about 7 miles south of the Ranch, so things like my phone numbers and PO Box didn't need to change at all.
It's in a small neighborhood of 3 houses, and that's as built up as it can ever get. The entire ara was off-grid until the most recent house (my immediate neighbor) was built 5 years ago. They ran power up the road, and the previous owners of my house used the opportunity to run grid power to the cabin. The original cabin on this property burnt down over Labour Day weekend in 1989, and was rebuilt by the owner, a general contractor, in 1990.
This is the front, south facing side of the house.
This is the north side of the house. A snow drift lasted into May on
this dark side of the yard.
This is the view looking due west towards Rollins Pass. In the
distance is the Continental Divide. At the base of those mountains is
Arapahoe Lakes.
I spent a few weeks working on the house before I moved in, doing
things like wiring cat 5e and 5 phones lines to where I needed it, and
some plumbing and heating work. At one point all we had in the house
was this table, a chair, and the boom box.
Eventually we brought over a small sofa. This is my daughter Deja
hanging out without much to do. Saved by the Gameboy...
It was literaly 60F and sunny when I hung the laundry... but sometimes
the weather changes real fast here in Colorado. I had to wait a week
before my clothes line melted out of this spring storm.
The main part of my office. A Sun Solaris workstation, an HP Linux
machine, and a MacOSX machine. I've got a T1 run to the living room.
This is the living room, looking into the kitchen and dining
area. The main floor is very open. but it's easier to heat that
way. In the back is a propane fireplace added before moving in for
backup heat.
This is a closer view of the dining area and the new propane backup
heater.
This is my son's room, with his model building table.
This is the main wall going upstairs. It had way too much white
drywall for my tastes, and I needed someplace for all my posters
anyway...
This is the main server for my domains, and also my daughter's
office upstairs on the loft. Her web site is here
Looking the other way upstairs, is the bathroom door, books, and a
cozy place to read.
This picture is taken across the valley, my place is on top of the
hill in the foreground.
This is looking due west from the residential part of Rollinsville,
looking at the hilltop where my house is. It's the second bump up,
with the South Boulder Creek flowing through the valley.