In 1988 Dad built the little house and that was the first year we took all six of our kids and my sister and her two kids to visit over Spring break, the last week of March. We have gone there the same time every year (missing only one year) until we retired in 2007. My Mom lived alone in the house all of those years, usually coming to Idaho to stay with us in the summer. We were looking forward to spending a lot of the winters with Mom in Wikieup after we retired, but she ended up passing away in November 2004. We still enjoy spending time at her place in Wikieup , from several weeks to several months each year, although we miss her a ton!Because no one lives in Mom's house during most of the year, it usually takes us several days to get all of the varmints out and everything hooked up so we can use it. So, here is what it takes to get settled at "Netties Place."
If you have followed our BLOG for the last couple of years, you may remember that we worked for about two years in order to get a permit to put a gate in the access road that we used for years, and that ADOT had fenced in. Well, all of the liability of that gate being left open and cows getting out onto the State highway is ours. So, we keep it padlocked, along with a State padlock that they could use if they needed it. This year we had learned that someone had unbolted and actually lifted the gate off of the gate post to get in, and then left the gate open. We figured we would have a welding job to do, but the State had noticed it was open so they welded it shut and somehow, the chain ended up being locked with only their lock. So, when we got there this year, we couldn't get in. We ended up calling ADOT in Kingman, who got ahold of the office in Wikieup, and they came out and took their lock off and now the only lock on it is ours. We did thank them for welding the gate for us, so we didn't have to do it.
There are also a couple of water lines that come down the old road. They tend to "walk" across the road. Last year we had to continually push them back with our tires as we drove by so they would be out of the way. This year, as we walked up the road before starting up the hill with the Condo, the pipe was clear across the road so we couldn't get in. We ended up having to call the owners of the pipe to get them to come move it. The land changed owners the first of this year and we happen to know the manager quite well. We gave him a bad time because we had called him a couple of weeks before, asking him to check their pipes to see if we would be able to get up the road. We got him out of his hot tub to come help us!
So, we made it up the road to "Netties Place" This is the front gate that Terry and my brother Frank hung, but that we don't use much any more because the road is pretty washed out to get to it. But, with our 4-wheel-drive truck, we used it more this year. My mom used to use it most of the time.
This is the front of Mom's house. It has a circle drive and shows the carport that my Brother David and his friends helped her put up. We always put the log swing we all got for Mom one year for her birthday, and the picnic table under it when we are not there.
After we get all parked, the first thing we do is get the solar going (that David put up for Mom.) There are three panels on top of the roof with six batteries in a box on the porch. After using over six gallons of water to refill the batteries a couple of years ago, we have learned to totally unhook all of them when we leave, so that means we have to clean them and re-connect all of them to get the solar electricity working. It works fairly well during the day, while the sun shines, but the batteries are getting so old (10 years) that they will only hold the charge for a couple of hours after the sun goes down. And even in the daytime, we now have to use the generator to vacuum the floor or use any heating appliances (including hair dryers.) It is about time to get new batteries! 
One of the next things we do is try and get water into the house. Our neighbors have let us connect to their artisan well for the last couple of years. Because the land has new owners, we asked if we could still use the water. Since we didn't hear from them, we assumed it was still okay. This year the main line to the house had come apart in the driveway into the bottom of the property. So, we dug it all up and then ran it through a piece of metal pipe, which we then buried.
Then Terry hooked onto the well. We don't drink or cook with the artisan water, although some people do. A nice thing about it is that it is about 85 degrees and even hotter when the 1/4 mile of black pipe gets warmed up by the sun.
There is an outdoor shower that Frank built (in the right side of the structure in the middle of this picture) that we have used with water straight from the well and it is quite pleasantly warm. Before Mom had the option of hooking up to the neighbor's well, Dad got a large water tank and David and his friends came and helped put it up. If you look closely on the top of the left side of the structure in the middle of the picture, you can see it. She got a little running water into the house from gravity flow. Then David got her a pressure tank that helped with the pressure. Mom would take a small trailer with four 50-gallon drums to town or to the neighbors, fill them with water, and then bring them home, turn on the generator, and pump the water up into the water tank. She also did her laundry outside using an old electric wringer washing machine (using the generator to run it.)
Of course, soon after we get to "Netties Place," we need to chase all of the varmints out of the outhouse and get it sanitized, so I usually get busy on it while Terry gets the electricity and water going and the propane turned on. I try to tell my daughters-in-law and grandkids that the outhouse is as clean as the inside facilities, but I can't ever seem to convince them of that! Where else can you sit and look at the stars at night, or watch the lizards, rabbits, and cactus while taking care of bodily functions!
Once the solar is up and going, we head into the house to light the propane fridge and hot water heater, uncover furniture, vacuum floors, dust, and set out mouse traps. We usually don't have too much of a mouse problem because we put out lots of mouse bait when we leave each time.
Now that the house is all cleaned up and ready to be lived in, I will give you a tour. None of my brothers have seen it since they were there after our Mom died, so I thought they might enjoy seeing it again. This is the living room. Mom got this little propane heater that replaced a wood stove, but she only got to use it a couple of months before she died. 
This hutch was Mom's pride and joy. All of us kids got together and had our neighbor make it for her when they lived in Emmett, on her birthday or Mother's Day, I can't remember which. They took it to Arizona with them and we helped move it up to her little house from the trailer they lived in when they first moved to Arizona. The trailer ended up burning down and we were sure glad we had moved the hutch. For Christmas one year, six of us kids each bought Mom a dinning chair and we had them shipped to Wikieup. Before then, Mom used folding chairs with her dinning table.
The first year we went to visit Mom and Dad in Wikieup, the house was just finished and there were no cupboards, and not even a sink in the kitchen. Then she got a sink and used crates for cupboards. It took her a couple of years before she was able to have someone come in and build her cupboards. The old stove is propane and it cooks so good (depending on who the cook is) and half of the top of it is a big grill. It makes the best pancakes! We keep the kitchen stocked with enough of Mom's dishes, pots and pans, and other kitchen items, that we never have to bring anything else to use it. 
This is Mom's room. The furniture used to belong to her Mom. The little pink sewing basket on the nightstand is one I can remember her having when I was a young girl. It still has the bottle of buttons in it and a pincushion that I made for her many years ago!
This is the guest bedroom. It is much cooler than Mom's room because it has two windows and when they are both open, there is usually a nice breeze at night. Most all of us kids and lots of our kids have stayed in this room!
Mom was proud of her bathroom, even if we could only use the toilet in the middle of the night and for emergencies. Several projects completed this bathroom. We helped her put the liner around the tub so she could have a shower and David put in the sink. At one time, before she had the running water and a hot water heater, we would heat two big pots of water on the stove, take them into the bathroom, and by adding cold water to the hot water, about four people could have a "drinking glass" bath. (You mix cold and hot water and then dump a glass or two over your head and body to get wet, while standing or sitting in the bathtub. Then you would soap up and then dump several more over you to rinse off.) It worked great! 
Well, after we get everything hooked up and going and everything clean, we get to set down to a great meal at "Nettie's Place."
There are always projects to do whenever we go to Wikieup. This past year, the wind finally blew down Mom's chicken coop. It was a little building for them to roost in and to lay their eggs in. It had a long run outside, covered with chicken wire. Mom always kept them in there at night and when she was gone so the coyotes and javelinas wouldn't get them. So, Terry finished tearing it apart so it wouldn't fall into the metal storage shed next to it (that my brother Mike and we built,) rolled up the wire, and piled all of the wood on the burning pile.
We did some "unprofessional" landscaping a couple of years ago, so each year it is a job to get all of the weeds out of the rocks. This year we put some sterilant on it that will hopefully do a better job of keeping the weeds from growing for a year. We will see how it works when we get there next year.
It looks pretty nice when we get the weeds all pulled and the swing and picnic table set out.
There were quite a few blooms on Mom's cactus along the front of the house this year.
After Mom died in November 2004, my brothers, sister, and myself went to Wikieup and went through all of her things. We filled this garbage trailer (built by Frank) at that time and it has never been emptied. The tires all rotted off, so this year we went and bought some new old tires and we were able to get rid of most of the garbage in it, finally. It will be a nice trailer to use around the place.
The wind also blew off some of the lattice that is around the porch, thus another project. Mom had several climbing rose bushes that grew up the lattice. Now that no one lives here for most of the year, the rose bushes have all died. But the lattice still creates a little shade on the porch.
When we went out to check Mom's cactus garden, we noticed that every barrel cactus (5) had been rooted up. The dirt was still a dark color, so we figured the javalinas had come in looking for grubs just a day or two before we got there.
We spent an afternoon standing them all back up and packing the dirt back around them, after giving them a good drink. I hope they all make it and are nice and healthy when we see them again.
Each year we would visit Mom, we would help her add a few new plants in her cactus garden. One year my Brother Ron and his family helped to clean out all of the old, dead cactus. It is pretty unique, with all of her "stuff" she has around in it. Most of the cactus just seem to survive on their own, with not much human attention. I guess that is the advantage of living in the desert.
Well, now "Nettie's Place" is ready for visitors. Our first (and only) visitors this year were Ron and Sharon, from Idaho. This is the first time they have been to Wikieup. They parked their moterhome at an RV Park in town. They were a bit leery about their little dog running around the desert with all of the rattlesnakes, so they opted not to park out by us. (I hadn't gotten to the weeds yet when this picture was taken!)
We found this lizard in an old sink in the cactus garden.
It was way different and bigger than any lizzard we had seen before. We really are not sure what kind he is. We let him go, hoping he would stick around so we could see him once in a while.
Terry kept trying to attrack the hummingbirds with his feeder, but he had too much competition from all of the new flowers on the cactus around the porch. They never did take to the feeder, even when he changed the color of the sugar water in it.
It was sure fun sitting out on the porch and watching the hummingbirds. I was reading a book once and one almost came and landed on it. They got pretty used to us being around.
There are always lots of lizzards around the house and they all get names like "Lizzy" and "Stubby" (he lost his tail somehow). We always like to see them. At least we didn't see any rattlesnakes around the house this year. But, one day we were sitting outside on the swing and saw two rats run out from under the back step. It is kind of unusual to see them in the daytime. Soon, we saw the tail of a big bull snake hanging out the other side of the step. We like bull snakes because they tend to keep the rat population down! We just left him alone to do his job!
We think this is the big lizzard we freed from the cactus garden. He liked to sunbathe on top of these old sawhorses. He never got too close to the house, that we ever saw anyways.
This is about the latest in the year that we have been to Wikieup. The desert was just about all bloomed out. We got to see flowers we hadn't seen before.
We had never seen the occatillo cactus turn red before. Usually, they are green and have red "flag" flowers on the tips of their branches.
All of the hedghogs were bloomed out in their brilliant purples.
This one of the largest century plants I have seen. It is in the spot where my Aunt and Uncle first had their trailer. I have always wanted to "transplant" it to Mom's cactus garden, but I haven't talked Terry into it yet!
We always saw lots of critters on our walks. We caught this hawk resting in a tree. We always saw lots of lizzards. Sometimes they would be buried in the sand and would run out right in front of us. I finally got to where I wouldn't squeal every time I almost stepped on one. We saw lots of jack rabbits and cottontail rabbits.
One day, Terry spotted this little horned toad. He was so cute. They are pretty easy to catch because they don't run nearly as fast as the other lizzards.
We wanted to take him home with us, but we don't have an aquarium or any good place to keep him in as a pet. So, we told him good-bye and let him go. I am sure the grandkids would have liked him.
Both Terry and I spend about the same amount of time outside, both wearing shorts, and he gets so much more tan than I do. When we see everyone in Idaho later this spring, they will all know that Terry has been in Arizona but will wonder where I have been spending my time! 
Well, it was getting close to time to head on down the road. Terry went and cut some of the spiny tree limbs away from the road to they wouldn't scrape the Condo as we took it out.
He also had to fill up some of the bigger ditches across the road that the water causes when it rains. Our pickup makes it fine up and down the road, but it is a little rough on the Condo.
It is always a little sad for us when we leave "Nettie's Place." Even with all of the work it takes to get it ready to live in, and all of the "projects" each year, it is one of the most quiet and peaceful places we stay and we always look forward to going back each year. Here we take one last look from the back porch before we leave. Hopefully, more of my family will find time to enjoy visiting it again someday.If you have made it to the bottom of this post, CONGRATULATIONS! It was one of my longer ones. Maybe you just looked at the pictures, and that is okay, too. I use this BLOG as my journal, so sometimes I get a little detailed. Thanks for coming along with us.
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