The “house” we bought was really 3 small buildings cobbled together. The original house was 2 small rooms which had the 2 additions attached to it. Plywood siding, rolled paper roofing and plexiglass windows graced the outside, while the interior boasted fiber board walls, plywood floor, no staircase to the upper levels, a very small crawl space for a basement, a small gas stove, a wood stove and plank platform beds. All complete with pack rats and mice! 
We had our work cut out for us to make this place liveable! Fortunately, the previous owner left all kinds of tools, nuts, bolts, screws, nails, ladders, solar panels and batteries so we had some power for lights. There was even some food left there which came in handy when we were snowed in for those first 2 weeks!
The driveway to the house, descended a steep, winding hill. At the bottom, we had to turn around and back the rest of the way down where the road ended about 100 yards from the house. From there we walked down a steep dirt path, crossed a wooden bridge over the stream, then up again to the house. All of our future building materials would be hauled in by the two of us down this path. 
Thus began our many year odyssey creating our sweet little home by the musical creeks. We spent pretty much every day for 3 years doing both destruction and reconstruction. Work 6 days, shop for building materials the 7th. 
I did most of the design work, put in windows, did the trim, learned wiring, put up and taped the sheetrock, while Sky did all the fancy work, cabinets, built ins, etc. plus built the additions, constructed a staircase to the second floor, built a deck and put up the siding. We tore down and put up, moving from room to room as we got something finished.
I also decided I wanted a root cellar, so proceeded to hand dig/pick axe out a basement, moving dirt and rocks bucket by bucket!! I also dug out a space for a flower garden and built stone walls. I used the bathtub that was left here to create a pool in the middle of the garden.
Gardening
I come from a long line of flower and vegetable gardeners so proceeded to try to grow things as I usually did in New Hampshire. Wow, that sure didn’t work!!! Hail, rodents, desiccating wind, short growing season all added up to spending a lot of money on plants that didn’t grow well or just died. I remember the first summer where I had bought one tomato plant that I was going to grow in its pot. I had it set outside next to the garden where I was trying to grow some cold weather vegetables. The plant was coming along nicely when a horrendous thunderstorm rolled in. I watched in horror as my poor plant was shredded by the wind driven hail. I briefly thought of running out to save it but thought better of it as the lightning was hitting all around us. All of these disappointments in gardening led us, a few years later, to buy a Growing Dome greenhouse kit made here in Colorado. Since then we have added another dome and have grown our own food all year round since then. Now, I just laugh when it hails and the weather is bad or the deer come into the yard. My food is safe!!
Power
Living on solar power certainly has been a learning experience! We fried our first set of batteries which was an expensive lesson we don’t want to repeat! Our first set of panels we just set up in the yard on frames that Sky made but a tree fell on one of them during a wind storm which made us change that set up! We graduated to a bigger system that was installed on the hillside without any trees!
Water
The previous owner had set up a gravity feed water system from the creek with an outside hydrant. This, of course, was only useful in the warmer months and when the creek was flowing, but was great when it was working. Most of the time we get our water by dipping buckets into the creek. When the creek gets dry, we dig deeper holes and have never been without water. In the winter, we chop holes in the ice to find our wet stuff! We have a Berky filter in the house for our drinking water and use the unfiltered water for washing.
Waste
There is no septic system but a very nice outhouse. We used this year round for quite awhile and despite sticking to the frozen toilet seat in winter we really enjoyed it. We then went “modern” and made a toilet with a bucket inside. We use sawdust, kinda like a litter box, to cover the waste, then compost it ala the “Humanure Handbook”.
Heat
Heat is accomplished by that very handy wood stove that was left here. We collect, cut and split wood from the forest that is right out our back door. There is enough wood, already down, to last us a lifetime!
So, lots of chop wood, carry water around here! We live close to nature, with lots of wildlife, no people and a lot of peace and quiet. It has suited us well for the last 13 years!
Until next time…be fearless in creating your own paradise, no matter how strange it may seem to others.
Terra Lyn Joy 