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| Raising solar panel pole |
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| Tom Turkey treed |
Then: More of June 2010
With the improved weather, the last week of June was a busy one. JB was finally able to build the horseshoe pits we had been planning. I had painted the wood at the same time I painted the wash station by the outhouse. With all our measuring, they still turned out caddiwampus. They look like they were situated by two blind, old people. . . Too late to move now. JB had already filled them with the sand he brought up.
On June 29, JB picked up the pole for the solar panels that he had ordered from a local metal shop. Oh my gawd, that thing is huge and heavy! Somehow we got it off the trailer and rolled over to where we will install it. We dug a three foot hole to place it in the next day. On the 30th, Mike came up to spend the day while RJ worked on his cabin. We handed the camera to Mike as we went about setting the pole in concrete. He took pictures for posterity, and did a very good job of it. (See photo above.)
That afternoon JB and Mike played Magic Cards, or I should say that Mike is still teaching his Uncle JB how to play. RJ came up for dinner, and afterward the three of them played cards. It was a nice, relaxed ending to a busy month.
Now: July 26, 2011
Yesterday turned out to be much wetter than NOAA's forecast had indicated. JB went Down There, but without a trailer load of cardboard for recycle. Just too wet. He ordered the lumber for the deck to be delivered on Friday, and bought more tar paper and the cold tar. Also ran a few errands and picked up a few groceries.
While he was gone we had a four-hour deluge. I was out in it clearing the little drainage canals. When I got back inside, I added an item to the top of my "Must Buy" list: waterproof rain gear. My 30-year old, water-repellent jacket just doesn't cut it any more. I was soaked to the skin.
After that little escapade, I did wash and hung it inside. Then puttered around the house doing little things. Worked on my photographs for the last several months, especially making discs that I had promised for friends and family who had visited us. When it eventually stopped raining, the fog moved in. And as I've mentioned before, when the fog moves up the mountain, it also moves into my brain. Time for a nap, which I took after JB got back Up Here. No problems coming back up the road except one little slippy-slide on the steep part of our driveway, after all he does have a Jeep Wrangler.
JB pointed out a great article in the current Aug/Sept issue of Home Power Magazine written by a woman who has lived off-grid with her husband for 26 years. Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze is a monthly contributor for the magazine and this issue's article is entitled "Off Grid, Not Offline." She is definitely into techie toys, while we are not. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. JB just bought a Nook while he was on the other side of the mountains. It's like a Kindle, but less expensive and tied to Barnes and Noble, not Amazon. Also, he can borrow books from the library on it. I guess I'm being dragged into the digital/technology age whether I like it or not. At least I've stopped kicking and screaming. JB is also the one who got me to do on-line banking, and our son, Jake, is the one who got him to do it. Jake grew up in a completely different world than we did getting his first computer in the fourth grade.
The storm has passed and this morning is clear and beautiful. Perfect for working outside, which I'm sure we will do.
With the improved weather, the last week of June was a busy one. JB was finally able to build the horseshoe pits we had been planning. I had painted the wood at the same time I painted the wash station by the outhouse. With all our measuring, they still turned out caddiwampus. They look like they were situated by two blind, old people. . . Too late to move now. JB had already filled them with the sand he brought up.
On June 29, JB picked up the pole for the solar panels that he had ordered from a local metal shop. Oh my gawd, that thing is huge and heavy! Somehow we got it off the trailer and rolled over to where we will install it. We dug a three foot hole to place it in the next day. On the 30th, Mike came up to spend the day while RJ worked on his cabin. We handed the camera to Mike as we went about setting the pole in concrete. He took pictures for posterity, and did a very good job of it. (See photo above.)
That afternoon JB and Mike played Magic Cards, or I should say that Mike is still teaching his Uncle JB how to play. RJ came up for dinner, and afterward the three of them played cards. It was a nice, relaxed ending to a busy month.
Now: July 26, 2011
Yesterday turned out to be much wetter than NOAA's forecast had indicated. JB went Down There, but without a trailer load of cardboard for recycle. Just too wet. He ordered the lumber for the deck to be delivered on Friday, and bought more tar paper and the cold tar. Also ran a few errands and picked up a few groceries.
While he was gone we had a four-hour deluge. I was out in it clearing the little drainage canals. When I got back inside, I added an item to the top of my "Must Buy" list: waterproof rain gear. My 30-year old, water-repellent jacket just doesn't cut it any more. I was soaked to the skin.
After that little escapade, I did wash and hung it inside. Then puttered around the house doing little things. Worked on my photographs for the last several months, especially making discs that I had promised for friends and family who had visited us. When it eventually stopped raining, the fog moved in. And as I've mentioned before, when the fog moves up the mountain, it also moves into my brain. Time for a nap, which I took after JB got back Up Here. No problems coming back up the road except one little slippy-slide on the steep part of our driveway, after all he does have a Jeep Wrangler.
JB pointed out a great article in the current Aug/Sept issue of Home Power Magazine written by a woman who has lived off-grid with her husband for 26 years. Kathleen Jarschke-Schultze is a monthly contributor for the magazine and this issue's article is entitled "Off Grid, Not Offline." She is definitely into techie toys, while we are not. Well, maybe I shouldn't say that. JB just bought a Nook while he was on the other side of the mountains. It's like a Kindle, but less expensive and tied to Barnes and Noble, not Amazon. Also, he can borrow books from the library on it. I guess I'm being dragged into the digital/technology age whether I like it or not. At least I've stopped kicking and screaming. JB is also the one who got me to do on-line banking, and our son, Jake, is the one who got him to do it. Jake grew up in a completely different world than we did getting his first computer in the fourth grade.
The storm has passed and this morning is clear and beautiful. Perfect for working outside, which I'm sure we will do.
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