Roger's Looms/Offgridlife.com

  

 This is our Arizona homestead, or goat farm, that we moved to in late January, 2004. We brought all our belongings and all the critters in two trips from Oregon.  Our 61 acres are located in the middle of the Aquarius Mountains about 40 mile southeast of Kingman.  The land around us is still a working cattle ranch, and one still sees the cattle grazing on the hillsides.  The property is between 4300 and 4800 feet elevation, so it snows some in the winter, and is about 8 - 10 degrees cooler in the summer than Kingman, as much as 20 degrees cooler than Laughlin.
  
          
      We are 8 miles from the pavement, and just as far from the nearest electricity and telephone lines. That's where I came up with 'offgridlife' for a domain name.  If I wanted to be totally 'off the grid', I guess I wouldn't have a website at all.  Electrical power is provided by the wind turbine I built from components I found on the internet, 4 solar panels, and a small engine powered alternator or a 110vac generator and 40 amp battery charger.   These various 12vdc power sources charge the storage batteries.  An inverter then provides 120v ac to the house, 24/7 or less.  The main reason I turn off the inverter is to have interference-free radio at night.  If I want to go back to using the chest freezer, I could have it powered off at night.   The phone is cellular, and the tv and internet come via satellite. A big part of living off the electric grid is simply using less electricity.  LED lights are very effecient.  Propane is used here for heating water (actually done by the sun in the sunny season), refrigeration, and cooking.  Wood is used for heating in the cold season.  The electric power system I have gives all the power needed for lights, internet, TV, radio, etc.  Any additional usage not provided by solar or wind is inexpensive and is adjusted to actual need.  An air conditioner can be used for several days in the summer, powered by a propane generator because it requires more than the battery/inverter system can handle.  In other words, we have all the electricity we want or need.
                                                               
     This place  has a very good well with underground water pipes from the well to the house and the storage tanks on the hill.  The water does not freeze up in the winter even down to low teens. A lot of work has been done to get this house ready for independent living.  rogerslooms@msn.com  The next link in the text below goes to pages that chronicle the house building.  It might be considered a large cabin.  It is well insulated, with 6" walls.  There are 16 acres fenced, a 9 and a 7 acre area plus the 1/2 acre yard fencing.  Now in April, 2012 there is so much grass I need a lawnmower.  Big Sissy the Great Pyrenees is having purebred pups next week, so I borrowed some goats to have here so the LGD puppies can start out around livestock.  I am no longer looking to sell.  Puppies, not the land.

      After living in an RV for several years, I built a house and now have it is mostly finished inside and out. Part of the delay in building the house was the unusual rainy weather  for about 5 months that made the roads like creeks. There are now 16 acres fenced, which kept the goats and dogs in,  and the open range cattle out. Looking back on the fencing, it was quite an accomplishment , considering the rocky ground.   I am about done with having livestock to keep me on the farm.  It was an experiment that I enjoyed but wasn't the ticket for making everyone happy in the long run  The angora goats now have other homes.  I am now back to having just one canine animal to care for as I go into my next phase of experiences.  I started taking big Sissy the Great Pyrenees to the vet for her rattlesnake vaccine, at first it was a fight. Now she insists going with me every time and does well on a leash.

    We discovered a spring on our property that provided us water off and on until we had our well drilled.  It is a very good well, with water at the 50 ft. level.  I don't have the garden that I used to grow in temperate Oregon, but now have 16 fruit trees on an automatic watering system.  This website is just remnants of what it was when the 'homestead' here was going to be a joint effort.   I now have put back up a page showing the house building, etc.  

Roger's Looms

    Formerly Hideaway Homestead, I continue to experiment with designs for triangle, square, and rectangle looms.  These looms are primarily for continuous strand weaving, but can be warped and woven like harness or tapestry looms, except weft spacing is determined by the side pin spacing.  It does result in even sides.

    I have developed a formula for setting up a rectangle loom for continuous strand weaving that provides a singular final weaving path.  This ideal ratio between the width and length of a rectangle pin frame loom can be set up for any weaving continuous strand weaving method.   I have been experimenting with continuous strand weaving and have come up with a good way to weave on rectangle looms, my right-return method.  The left return method also produces great weaving.  Look at the Rectangle Loom page for products and DIY tips.

My Hideaway branded looms can morph into any of these  geometric shapes.  So if you get a Hideaway triangle loom, you already have most of a Hideaway rectangle loom, as the side rails of the Hideaway triangle are identical to the side rails of a Hideaway modular rectangle loom.  This is still under development as I improve on the design.
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Taking a scarf off a Hideaway modular rectangle loom.

    My Etsy shop has all my looms listed for sale that I have completed.  www.etsy.com/shop/RogersLooms