**The Reality of Off-Grid Living: What You Need to Know Before Moving to the Mesa**
In recent years, we’ve seen many people move out here with dreams of living off-grid. The land is cheap, and the idea of self-sustained living is appealing. Many come with plans to farm, plant trees, and cultivate gardens. While not impossible, the reality is far more challenging than most expect—it requires a significant amount of money and resources.
We, too, had hopes of planting gardens and creating a more sustainable environment with trees and flowers. However, we quickly realized that water is the biggest challenge. On this end of the mesa, we simply don’t get enough rain to rely on rainwater harvesting. The soil is incredibly arid, and the intense sun scorches everything in its path. Then, there are the relentless winds. You’ll quickly get accustomed to the taste of sand and how it invades every crack, crevice, and structure you build.
Drilling a well is prohibitively expensive, and while hauling water is a cheaper option, it takes a heavy toll on your vehicle and trailer. Unfortunately, there are currently no local water delivery services, though that may change in the near future.
Living off-grid here also means preparing for extreme weather conditions. Winters can drop to the teens or even single digits at night, while summers bring triple-digit heat. A solid, well-built structure is essential—tents simply won’t hold up to the harsh environment.
Off-grid living on the mesa can be rewarding, but it’s not for the faint of heart. You must be prepared for the extremes and fully understand the challenges that come with this lifestyle.
** Advocatus Diaboli and the Grim Leafer Band : Show Update and Rehearsal Reflections**
Good Wednesday morning! The temperatures here have been quite pleasant, which makes it easier to focus on rehearsals. Yesterday, we spent most of the day in the studio, working on some new material and fine-tuning the animatronics. Of course, life brought its usual interruptions, making it a longer-than-expected session—over 4 hours of rehearsing!
I’ve always enjoyed rehearsals, even when they run long. We’re constantly pushing the show to the next level, not just musically but in terms of performance, timing, and the overall atmosphere. Each rehearsal brings us closer to enhancing every aspect of the show, from our song list to how the animatronics interact. We’re particularly excited to introduce a couple of new songs to our set in the upcoming performances, blending parody, original pieces, and our unique band dynamic.
**Upcoming Shows:** – Oct 12: * October Music in the Desert * at Ka-Hoon Campground and Event Center – Oct 18: * Halloween Hootenanny * at Ka-Hoon Campground and Event Center – Oct 19: * Advocatus Diaboli & The Grim Leafer Band * at Tractor Brewing Company – Westside – Oct 32 “Nov 1”: * Halloween Dance of the Dead at Red Gorilla Studios * at Red Gorilla Studios LLC
### Discover the Power of Collaboration at Albuquerque Live Music United
Yesterday, we made our way to Albuquerque for the monthly meeting of **Albuquerque Live Music United**. This was our second time attending, and we can confidently say it has been an enriching experience! The atmosphere was vibrant, filled with talented musicians, valuable information, and a supportive community.
The essence of this gathering is collaboration over competition. Musicians, venues, and music lovers come together to share insights, foster relationships, and promote each other’s work. It’s a refreshing reminder of the strength found in unity within the music scene.
If you’re a musician, whether professional or just starting out, a venue owner, a music enthusiast, or a business that supports local music, we highly recommend you check it out. The connections and opportunities you’ll find are invaluable!
A special shoutout to the incredible bands that are part of this community, including: – **505 Outlaw** – **Doug Muchmore** – **Z Humble** – **Seven of Nine** – **Last Minute Band** – **Dead Man’s Hand** – **Isaic Duran Music** – **The Adjacents** – **Big Treble** – **Cosmic Blue**
Thank you to **Post 49** for hosting this fantastic event and to **Tammy** for all her hard work in organizing everything. Together, we can create a thriving music scene in Albuquerque!
Thought I’d share a quick video of the cattle paying us a visit this morning and having to chase them away from the RVs. Watch how “difficult” it is to drive them off (said sarcastically)!
This morning, we woke up to find the solar power out, which was strange since we had a full day of sun yesterday. As I lay in bed, my mind raced with possible reasons. My first thought was that maybe we’d forgotten to turn off the PA after rehearsal with the animatronics. That thing pulls about 3,000 watts, and we’ve accidentally left it on a few times before. But I distinctly remembered us shutting it down, so that couldn’t be it. The next thought, which I dreaded, was that something might be wrong with the solar system itself.
Eventually, I gave in and got up, mostly because the dogs decided it was time. Vibria was already calling from her box, ready to start the day. After letting the dogs out, I usually throw in a bit of fetch, fill up their water, and inevitably annoy them by going inside to make coffee. But not today. Today, I was on a mission to figure out what happened with the solar.
It didn’t take long to crack the case. Somehow, the fridge had switched to using both electric and gas. That means it draws power from the batteries first before automatically switching to gas when the power runs out. To make things worse, the RV charging system had switched to boost mode, which draws extra power to charge the RV batteries faster. Running both the fridge and boost mode overnight drained the system. It’s fine during the day when the solar’s up and running, but overnight? Not so much.
With a sigh of relief, I realized nothing was broken. Now, we’re just waiting for the sun to come up and recharge the solar. It’s a bit cloudy this morning, so it may take longer than usual, but it only takes about an hour or two of full sun to get the batteries back to normal.
Meanwhile, the dogs got their morning playtime, barked at a camper stopping by to say hello, and are now back to napping. Vibria’s curled up at my feet, and we’re just waiting on that coffee to percolate.
Why do the cattle always feel the need to hang around the solar panels? Seriously, they have acres upon acres of land to graze on, but no… they have to gather right where they can cause the most trouble! Growing up on a dairy farm, I remember the cows roaming the yard freely, grazing peacefully among the flowers and plants. At least, that’s how I remember it—though my parents might have a different story! Maybe I was too young to notice the chaos they caused back then, but these guys? They’re determined to drive us to the loony bin.
Yet, despite the destruction, I can’t bring myself to put up a fence. The open views are just too beautiful. The cattle are welcome here—if only they’d stay away from the solar panels! It’s not even like there’s a buffet of grass around the solar setups. But still, they gather like it’s the hottest spot in town.
Even with all the havoc, watching these cattle brings me back to my childhood. Back then, it was Holsteins wandering the Minnesota fields, and now it’s these stubborn free-range fellows. Nostalgia sure has a funny way of making chaos feel a little less… chaotic.
Life with Vibria: Our New Puppy and Free-Range Cattle Adventures
It’s been three weeks since we brought Vibria home, and we think she’s around 11 weeks old now. While we don’t know her exact breed or how big she’ll get, we estimate she’ll grow to be around 10 to 15 lbs based on her current size. Vibria has a big personality and zero fear—she’s quite the confident little pup. Potty training her has been a bit more challenging than it was with Dreugan, but we’re adjusting. Having a small dog again has its learning curve!
Vibria is so tiny that she can easily slip through the fence in our yard, so we’ve set up her own little fenced area within the larger yard to give her a safe space to play and soak up the sun. When we’re outside supervising, she gets to run around in the bigger fenced-in areas and even outside them.
Life out here has its challenges, though—especially when it comes to the free-range cattle. They love to roam, and unfortunately, they have a habit of tearing up our solar lights and getting too close to the solar panels. To keep them away, we’ve set up motion detectors that trigger sounds and lights, but sometimes these deterrents aren’t as effective as we’d like. We could build a fence, but we love the wide-open views, so we usually just go out and herd them away ourselves when they get too close. While we enjoy watching the cattle, we could definitely do without the destruction. We tell them they’re welcome as long as they stay out of our areas—but they don’t seem to listen!
This past week has been tough for us with a lot of personal things happening. We don’t usually share much, but this has been particularly stressful, filled with drama and a lot of questioning.
One thing that keeps standing out is how much some people lack **respect**. A few days ago, a neighbor came over, and while we were outside, we saw a motorcyclist going down Powerline Rd, which is closed off and impassable. He reached the end, turned around, and instead of heading back the proper way, he cut right through our property, ignoring “No Trespassing” signs and us standing there.
When we shouted that he was on private property, he flipped us off and continued to the end of our driveway. He then turned back toward us, but when Brent and our neighbor started walking down the driveway, the motorcyclist finally turned and left.
Now, if he had simply stopped and said he was lost or thought it was a road, we would have gladly told him to go ahead. But he chose to be disrespectful, and for what? Respect really does go a long way, and I just don’t understand why it’s so hard for some people to show it.
Get ready for the spookiest event of the year—the **Halloween Hootenanny** at Ka-hoon Campground and Event Center! Running from **Wednesday, October 16th to Saturday, October 19th**, this exciting five-day Halloween celebration is perfect for all ages, filled with music, activities, and spine-tingling fun.
Here’s what you can expect:
🎃 **Wednesday, October 16th: Meet & Greet** – Arrive at the campground, set up your space, and meet fellow campers around a bonfire. Drumming and live music under the stars will kick off the festivities.
🎃 **Thursday, October 17th: Talent Show & Bonfire** – Show off your talents or enjoy performances from fellow campers. Stick around for a bonfire and scavenger hunt to complete the evening.
🎃 **Friday, October 18th: Creepy Camp Crawl & Live Concert** – **Campsite Decorations**: Transform your space into a haunted masterpiece and take part in the **Creepy Camp Crawl**. Share treats and Halloween spirit as you visit other decorated campsites. – **Main Event**: The much-anticipated **Advocatus Diaboli and Grim Leafer Band** will perform live. Plus, join the **costume parade** and enter the contest for a chance to win a one-year membership and exclusive merchandise!
🎃 **Friday Night Potluck & Movie** – End the day with a community potluck and a cozy Halloween movie under the stars.
The Halloween Hootenanny is an event you won’t want to miss. From spooky decorations to live music and family-friendly activities, it’s the ultimate Halloween getaway. **Get your tickets now** and check out the full schedule on our website!
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Looking for a unique Halloween experience? The **Halloween Hootenanny** has you covered with live performances, contests, and festive fun. Grab your spot today and make this Halloween one to remember!
Living out here on the West Mesa is beautiful and peaceful most of the time. However, like anywhere else, there’s an ugly side that recently became very apparent.
A few months ago, a neighbor, whom we’ve only met or spoken with a handful of times, sent us a text claiming he shot at our dog because it killed his chickens, and that we owed him for the damage. The odd part was, this text came early in the morning when all of our dogs were still inside with us. As many who’ve stayed at our campground know, our dogs are always inside at night, and we only let them out when we’re outside with them. We explained this to the neighbor, but he insisted it was our dog, claiming it ran off toward our place.
This neighbor lives about three-quarters of a mile away, so while it’s possible a dog could have headed in our direction, it didn’t mean it was ours. To settle the matter, I sent him a video of our dogs that morning. He, in turn, sent a video of the dog he shot at—a skinny black dog that looked nothing like ours. Despite clear evidence that the dog wasn’t ours, he grew angry, insisting it was.
Things escalated quickly. He took to social media, publicly bashing us with false claims, including accusations of us being Satanists, all because of a dog that wasn’t even ours. It was baffling. A friend, who didn’t like what was being said online, sent us screenshots of the posts. We confronted the neighbor about it, and his response was simply that we “deserved it.”
He went further, threatening to shoot any dog that came onto his property, even saying that if it was our dog, he’d hurt it and let it crawl home. We decided it was best to disengage and wished him well, hoping it would end there.
A few days later, we heard a gunshot, followed by the sound of a dog yelping. The next day, we checked our cameras and saw the same black dog—this time severely injured. We reached out to our community, asking if anyone had seen the dog, as it clearly needed medical attention. Sadly, a few days later, a neighbor found the dog dead. It had suffered a slow, painful death after being shot. It broke our hearts—regardless of whether it had killed chickens, no animal deserves to suffer like that.
The situation worsened over the weekend. Our close friends and neighbors, who have a Great Pyrenees named Ruby, reported her missing. Ruby was nursing six puppies, and tragically, all the pups died because she wasn’t there to care for them. We searched everywhere with no luck. Our friends, devastated, texted the same neighbor to ask if he’d seen Ruby. He didn’t respond at first. The next day, when asked directly if he had shot their dog, the neighbor finally admitted he had. He claimed Ruby had killed his pit bull, sending a photo of a freshly killed dog with its throat ripped out.
Our friends were shocked. Ruby had never shown aggression, and the wound didn’t seem consistent with what a Great Pyrenees would do. Their daughter, who works at a vet’s office, sent the photo to her boss. The vet believed the wound looked more like an attack from a spurred dog or one trained to fight, not Ruby. Plus, Ruby had been missing for three days, and the pit bull in the photo didn’t appear to have been dead that long.
Our friends tried to involve the sheriff’s office, but were told it was a civil matter. Fortunately, they contacted animal control, who confirmed that it was a criminal matter since these were working dogs and the state of New Mexico has free-roam laws. You can only shoot an animal if it’s actively causing harm, and it must be done humanely. Today, we’re waiting to see if the state police will get involved, as animal control says they should.
This same neighbor has shot his gun on other occasions, including once when we were walking down our driveway. Was it directed at us? We don’t know for sure. On one occasion, another neighbor reported the gunfire, and when the sheriff arrived, we told him we’d heard it too. Brent even yelled, “You missed us,” and the neighbor shot again. Yet, nothing was done—no investigation, no follow-up.
Now, with the sheriff’s office and state police seemingly unwilling to help or investigate these serious incidents, we are left wondering just how far this individual is willing to go. Is this a warning sign of more dangerous behavior to come? Why won’t the authorities step in before it’s too late?
Ka-Hoon Campground and Event Center 