Woohoo!

Well, I've not put a fire in the Garden Level heater for about three weeks now which means NO HOT WATER. Yep, COLD showers. One actually gets used to it. The cold water doesn't dry out your skin and my skin feels softer - after the goosebumps go away. And one's face has NO pores after a cold shower. And it is absolutely amazing how little water and how quick a shower one can take when there's no hot water - quick wet down, woohoo, shut the water off, suds up, turn the water back on, woohoo, rinse. Done! Cool, crisp, and refreshed just like a York Peppermint Patty. So, The Husband took his first cold shower last week. He stopped on his way down state for work at Bob's Sheet Metal to get a couple of quotes on adding electric hot water. Why, yes, I am giggling at my Husband. I will get the particular details to you on element wattage and how it affects our electric production and usage. Of consideration, is our inverter. Husband is sleeping and snoring (too bad snoring doesn't produce power) but I believe that our inverter can handle 3500 or 4500 watts. I'll confirm or deny that when I can layout all the details for you. In the meantime, you are cordially invited to practice living off-grid by taking a cold shower. Woohoo!

How to offset your carbon footprint while mowing

OMG, aaah ha ha ha....snort, ha, ha, ha....OMG, Green Humor, baaah, ha, ha.... 

Let's Party!

Photo credit xedos4
photo source

Heavy sigh. (Sorry. Bear with me here for a little please.) Living off-grid, I keep an eye on the weather. It's really no big deal as I've lived out in the country for decades and have watched the weather and planned accordingly for the purpose of making hay and keeping my horse dry, cool or warm, fly-free, safe, and happy. So, I saw we had rain coming. You may recall from a previous post, The Secret Cabin was taking on water during our last rain. Now, I am as tired of cleaning up after everyone else's messes as you probably are hearing about it. I think The Husband should take my Lady Smith away for awhile. Probably my tow strap and Jeep too. And the fireplace toolset. Shit, anything held in an anger induced, white-knuckle grip can be used as a weapon. At least the stripes are vertical and slimming. Anyway, The Husband must own the heaviest ladder on the planet. I drug it out and around the cabin caulking the living daylights out of the over priced windows and doors that Dudenas Contracting butchered. They *ucked up the opening sizes in the concrete block foundation walls for the Garden Level windows and doors and had to hack the douglas fir trim off of them to get them to fit the openings. Then they put some crap 2x4's up around them. Then they did a half-butt (I'm really trying to watch my potty mouth here) job caulking. Yes, I realize caulking is a maintenance item that a homeowner should schedule once a year, however, I could tell there were spots that were never caulked. Another heavy sigh. Additionally, the crap 2x4's shrunk and twisted making new gaps. Like I said, I caulked the daylights out of every thing. It's not a big deal but The Husband was down state for his work week and I feared caulking myself to the cabin and being stuck there for two days until he got home from work. It was touch and go for a while there, but I'm proud to report that I neither got stuck to the cabin nor have a bright red caulk gun attached to my hand that I have to carry around wherever I go. Life is good. Then it rained the next day and The Secret Cabin began taking on water again. Time to move on to the next suspicious spot. There's a door on the Main Level above the leaking Garden Level door. The Husband is here and he's going to drag his heavy ladder out and caulk the daylights out of that door. In conclusion, I'm super bummed. We killed our piggy bank on this place and we've got this big FUBAR'd mess. The Husband keeps reassuring me that we can fix it. Um, shouldn't have to, beep-beep-beep over uncomplimentary pronoun referring to guilty contractor. Another heavy sigh. Did I mention I'm really, really bummed. (Now, the good part.) So, I've decided we should have a PARTY! Nothing like a BIG PARTY! to lift the spirits. Your's truly, back in the day, was a SUPER Secretary with a big, bright, blazing S on her blouse with a shiny cape fluttering in her wake as she dashed around at super human speeds in skirt, heels, and constantly running tights producing wheelbarrows full of proposals, scopes of work, specifications, and legal documents. In addition to working for architects, engineers, industrial contractors, and lawyers; I also worked for a meeting and convention planning company. While I don't think I'm planning an event for 2500 or calling Hollywood to hire a star (sorry), it is time to fall back on all those planning skills once again. The BIG PARTY! plans are to be part of SOLAR TOUR 2012! And the crowd goes WILD! I know. Exciting. I'm shooting for the moon here. I'll need to start the paperwork for the Wind Turbine project. In light of the starved piggy bank laying on it's back with it's little split hooved feet in the air, I will gratefully, humbly accept and appreciate (and advertise the heck out of) any wind turbine manufacturer that would like to help out with providing a turbine. (Come on, let's show everyone it works. You know you want to. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.) I want to raise the tower and turbine and bring the turbine on line during the tour. Squeal of OMG delight, how exciting is that?! Can't you just picture a crowd of people, all with hotdogs in hand, following the turbine going up and twirling as if they're watching a tennis match. Happy gasp! I plan on making a HUGE event out of it with select contractors and suppliers on site with local radio and news coverage. (No pushing, no shoving, just email me if you want in.) Additionally, this town is all about tourism. Beginning 2013, we will be part of that tourism opening our home for tours and talks on off-grid living and green building. I will also be available for speaking engagements at other locations. (We SO would have loved to talk to others living off-grid in prep for our off-grid adventure.) Stay tuned for details, your invite, and to save the date! La, la, la, let's get this party started.... (ooo, singing is NOT part of my skill set)

Reflections on Off-grid Living So Far

O, great Sun. 'Tis a beautiful thing to behold and recharge one's batteries. 

So, Bheki, how'd that whole off-grid thing go this past Winter? I see you're still alive.

Well, I'm glad you asked. Once the weather broke and I stopped building up to six fires a day (four - six on the really bitter, windy days - in the cabin and one or two in the Garden Shed), I realized just how exhausted I was and I took a nap every day for two weeks. Overall, because of our lovely contractors and the building inspector, we are no where near meeting code for energy efficiency. We have major drafts to tend to. Even with the wind blowing through the cabin, the heaters did a VERY good job heating the cabin. I estimate that I can cut the fires down to one a day on each level when the draft issues have been taken care of. Seeing how we were ripped off by contractors and codes weren't enforced, I'm not sure when funds will be available for that. Heating the cabin and hot water with wood was work but it felt like worthy work. With heaters on two levels, I believe I am up to any Stair Master challenge. In medieval times, I'd get a piece of armor thrown down at my feet. I'm not liking the image of spandex being thrown at me. I lost over twenty pounds and my arms are starting to look like they did before middle age spread set in. For these reasons, I have deduced that wood heat is healthy heat. That being said I would have liked more hot water. We were not producing enough hot water to run both the in-floor heat on the front porch and bathroom AND for hot showers and dish washing. We had enough hot water for showers. That's it. Now that the weather is warm enough, I'd rather not put a fire in the Garden (Lower) Level heater to make hot water for showers. We knew that we'd have to think of something else for making hot water in the Summer but there was too much going on for me to even think about it. I also would like more hot water for dish washing. I wear gloves so I can wash dishes in cold water. There's a balancing act when putting together an off-grid system. You have to balance needs and budget. You also have to start somewhere and build from there. There will be tweaking. The Husband sometimes gets a little down on himself because everything isn't PERFECT. The Husband, being the luckiest man there is, fortunately is married to someone who understands Rome was not built in a day. Besides, Rome eventually fell. Or at least crumbled over time. In looking at the hot water issue, we also need to keep in mind that we're looking for a source of hot water for a short period of time - from approximately June to September. Can we really justify the cost of a solar hot water system for those few months? I do not think so. Sometimes, I think The Husband has visions of PV Arrays lined up like little soldiers across our entire 30 acre clearing. Sigh. Now, we are reaching float around 10:30 in the morning. Could we power a small, electric hot water heater? We wouldn't have to run it all the time. We're looking into it. If we had a wind turbine, could we then run the electric hot water heater for showers and dish washing in the Winter too, thereby enabling us to use the hot water from the wood heat to heat the front porch and bathroom in-floor heating? Right about now an outdoor, wood fired hot tub is sounding real good. When you're putting together your system, keep in mind that you are using more power than you think. We underestimated our usage and forgot to figure in what the inverter uses. If you glean nothing from my ramblings, heed this: PAD YOUR USAGE NUMBERS. THEN, PAD THEM AGAIN. Granted, you are going to have to balance those numbers with your piggy bank. That concludes my heat and hot water report.

On to electricity. The generator is heavy. And, boo, it's gas powered. I think by now I probably would be wasting my time trying to hide the fact that at times I have quite an imagination. There seemed to be far too many days I was running around the cabin like Scottie in the Engine Room of the SS Enterprise, poking at the Hyper Drives. Wind turbine. Engage. Powie. Zoom. In reality, remember we unplugged the watt sucking frig, so yes, we need more power. We always planned to add a turbine. However, there's nothing left in our piggy bank but construction dust and bills. Solar power is really fascinating though. If it didn't waste power, I'd probably still be standing by the light switch marveling that solar power works with each flick on and off of said light switch. Cool. Look at that. Very cool. Again, the array and the batteries all need to be balanced with budget and space. You've got to have a place for your battery bank. Also, there are theories on batteries. We're reading that batteries like to be stirred vigorously. By that I mean, running a bunch of juice into the batteries hard and fast to stir all those little things that were in those drawings in our science books in school. Otherwise, again theory, the batteries will not hold their charge as well and shortened battery life is eminent. Which could mean, that you don't necessarily want all the batteries in the world in your basement even if you had the money and the space.   Bottom line on the electricity, definitely glad we did it and looking forward to adding on to the system. On to the Laundry Department. Things went well in the Laundry Department. I always had clean clothes. I love my wash machine and my drying rack. The Culinary Department Report. This is something that I feel needs a lot of work. Like I've already said, the watt sucking frig needs to be able to stay plugged in all Winter. I don't like chicken in the crock pot. To me, the texture is icky. No one wants to eat anything described as icky. Not even the feLIONs. The fattier cuts of meat in the crock pot - definitely worth the power it takes to cook it. I am hoping to have this down to a science by the time Winter rolls around again. My goal is to have the kitchen completely organized for culinary success and to know exactly the best way to cook something so it tastes good and uses the power available efficiently.

The other thing I want to address is this: All you can do is try. Go ahead and dream big. Plan YOUR ideal system for YOUR NEEDS and GOALS. Then jump in and get started. Live with what you start with. You're going to learn a lot. I know you thought you were going to die during High School Science class but this is far more interesting.  You're also going to have to protect yourself a little from negativity and nay-sayers by reserving any real discussions about off-grid living to those that are supportive of this life style. I'm beginning to suspect the large quantities of pesticides in our food causes eye rolling and quite possibly stupidity. We live in a society where individuals tend to be petty, judgmental, jealous, gossipy, and do NOT like any body or any thing different than what they themselves and/or the rest of the "collective" (society) are doing. I do NOT know how doing my own thing is so offensive. I'm just trying to get my usage to match up with what I make. I don't know why others feel offended because I don't do what they're doing. As long as no one is committing acts of cruelty and/or destruction, I really don't give a hoot what anyone else does. GO FOR IT! If you really feel you can't do anything right now because of your life situation, there are things you can do. PRACTICE. EDUCATE. DREAM AND PLAN. TRACK YOUR USAGE. PRACTICE SOME MORE. Whatever size system you want, figure that out, then spend a day living within that wattage budget. Then try it again for another day. And again. Yeah, fake it til you make it and bank what you'll save on your utility bill. There's no reason you can't look around right now and shut things off that are running that aren't being used. Mike nearly broke out in a sweat when he was recently at his brother's house and there was a row of desk top computers all lined up and running and no one was even in the room. Yet, he ridiculed our off-grid decision because he felt the bottom line cost of the system taking 15 years for payback was not a wise financial decision. I get confused real easy because I've written lots of checks to the utility company and there was NEVER a payback or break even point with them - period. The guy down the road told me his electric bill is $200 a month for a household of two and he has a TV running in every room basically 24/7. Meanwhile, he's rolling his eyes and foofing at us because of the off-grid thing. Just be aware that if you talk to other people about what you're doing or they see what you're doing, you could run into some attitude on a day you don't need their negativity or gossipy pettiness. There are others who are genuinely interested. One suggestion is to know who is in your corner and spend your time there. Meanwhile, go for it and let the eyeballs roll. And I say that even after I've actually lived off-grid.

Kicking back for the Summer

About two weeks ago, we kicked back the angle of the PV array (refer to blog header photo for former angle) to catch more sun both earlier and later in the day. We're usually floating by 10:30 in the morning. Summertime and the living is easy.

Numbers, please!

Your's truly in the middle.

Running my pattern. Notice everyone else standing in line waiting her turn also.

Nailing the pattern. Note number on my back.

Bonus pic. Okay, I'm indulging myself. This horse was AWESOME and I just wanted to include another picture of him. His stable name was Jag as in the expensive sports car. Oh, and no, I'm not telling you how long ago. Was I any good?

I look back on my life and think I was lucky to have rode such good horses.

Back in the day, your's truly, showed horses. I don't show anymore, I just feel every single second that I did. Every single second in the ring that I stood at attention, which for the larger shows could mean 45 minutes, dressed from head to toe in hat, long sleeves, pants, and boots in the summer at the other end of the lead from an 1100 pound, hooved beast that would rather be grazing. At the end of the showmanship class, the ring stewart or announcer would ask, "NUMBERS, PLEASE!" That was the exhibitors' directive to turn your back to the judge so he/she could see the number on your back for the purpose of placing the class. Time has changed the way they run the classes. There's no more standing in the ring while each person runs his/her pattern. An exhibitor enters the ring one at a time, runs the pattern, and then exits the ring. Schew, you can go relax. After everyone is done running his/her pattern, all the horses are brought back into the ring and lined up for a brief inspection so you don't have to stand there at attention forever. Time has changed the meaning of "Numbers, please" for me too. Instead of the exhibitor number on my back, it's watts and amps and volts, oh my! Keeping in mind that our items have not been plugged into a watt meter for accuracy, the inverter uses 24 watts, the circulation pump for hot water through the Garden Level masonry heater is using 18 watts, the Telular (our phone thingie) is about 12 watts, the Apple router (wireless network hub) is about 12 watts, and the Wilson amplifier (to boost our signal for the phone thingie) is about 12 watts. It'll be interesting to see how these numbers compare when we get a watt meter and measure them. When we unplug any of the three electronics (Telular, Apple, Wilson), the inverter shows .1Kw less, which could be from 10-19 watts. If we idle at 80 watts, then we are using 1920 watts/day just idling.  The watt sucking frig is rated at 1296 watts/day. If you do some really rough calculations, we need (roughly) 3 hours of sun per day to take care of our idling loads with the watt sucking frig plugged in. Or, if we have 3 days worth of backup power (battery supplied power), we need 9 hours to recharge the batteries if we go 3 days without sun. Uh, after all that I'm not sure which "Numbers, please" is easier. 

Just 'cuz

Photo by previous owner of cabin in ad on internet in 2006.

In posts past, I’ve stated that living off-grid is something that The Husband and I have always wanted to do. Well that’s about as telling as “just ‘cuz.” So, as things have been shifting, unfolding, revealing, I’m finding myself again, after, in hindsight, what feels like a decade of bumping around in the dark. Like the dark moon, I was non existent to outside eyes but I was still there. On the inside I felt lost in an endless damp forest shrouded in pockets of thick, heavy air. Introspection. A seed growing that was planted long ago. Waaaay back to my Senior year in high school, I was asked for the Senior Edition of the school newspaper where I saw myself in the future. I quipped off-handedly,“living on a deserted island.” Little did I know I’d actually end up there - kind of. The Keweenaw is a sparsely populated peninsula. Close enough. I have arrived! And then there’s THE BIG DREAM. THE DREAM of all dreams that everyone wants. Okay, not EVERY one, just this some ONE. To be a writer. Well, if it’s THE REALLY BIG DREAM, then it’s a writer in an off-grid cabin in the woods. All tucked away in secret, mystery, and unconnected from the rest of the world. Surrounded by calm, quiet, serenity. Fingers, smeared with purple ink from a favorite yet cheap Pilot Pentel, gripping a steaming cup of rich, hot chocolate. The kind made with real whole milk and chocolate shavings, not the powder. With towering, weightless clouds of whipped cream spilling over the cup’s rim. And sprinkles. Don’t forget the artificial weird green colored, mint flavored sprinkles. Spending the day with hair that looks more like a bird's nest than hair. Donning star and moon printed flannel pajamas and robe seated at a desk in front of a roaring fire. Surrounded by crumpled wads of paper strewn on the floor. A stack of notebook paper on the desk top denoting successful writing attempts. It’s just what I dreamed of. Since as far back as I can remember. My romanticized, made for TV version of the life I wanted. Just ‘cuz. In reality, off-grid living requires a little more work than what hanging around in pajamas allows. But reality has revealed the unexpected rewards and effects of that work. There’s the sense of accomplishment. The realizing that I CAN do it. If I can make my own power, I can grow my own food. (Which is next.) If I can grow my own food, I can being a writer. Just chasing my dreams, just ‘cuz.

Another episode of

Adventures in Cooking, cooking, cooking, cooking, cooking (read as echo trailing off).

In previous episodes, we've darned near drained our batteries running the crock pot all night, on another occasion, successfully hard boiled eggs in said crock pot, learned NOT to turn the microwave on at the precise moment the water pump kicks on while the refrigerator is running when The Husband just happens to turn the key on the generator. In today's exciting episode, we make like an arsonist and douse the front porch in denatured alcohol in an effort to experiment in the kitchen with basically a glorified Bunsen burner.

The perfect opportunity to test drive a new kitchen gadget presented itself when we had a Winter storm over the weekend. The batteries were running a little low so I did not want to use any electricity to cook.

First, let's talk about the denatured alcohol part. Do the words terrific mess mean anything to anyone. Well, at least the alcohol pretty much evaporates after you sop up the majority of the puddles with paper towels. In hindsight, of course. Rule #1 Do NOT purchase the gallon size container of denatured alcohol UNLESS you have a turkey baster to syphon the alcohol out of the giant, too big for girl-y hands, container. That's it. Just that one rule, but VERY important. I'd say critical even.

Next, here it is. The big reveal of the glorified Bunsen burner. Commercial time. Just kidding. I present to you....

The CookMate Safe-Flame Alcohol Stove, Model 1600, sporting All-Clad's stainless steel petite braiser. Oooo, shiny, shiny. We got this stove from Jamestown Distributors  They are a "wholesale marine and building supplies" outfit. The Husband also got a gizmo for the jumble of stuff that is our phone.

And,

Ta da, it worked. Nothing fancy. Just some browned ground turkey with garlic, oregano, and organic spinach with a side of raw organic baby carrots and organic apple blackberry sauce.

I like this little cooking gadget. You will need to decide the economics for yourself. The denatured alcohol is really a little expensive especially for dousing the front porch. I will definitely pick up a turkey baster and more denatured alcohol the next time I'm out and about so I can use my little Bunsen burner stove thingie again especially on a day with low batteries. Oh, and you will also want to get the long, giant matches. Watch when you strike it though. A spark flew and landed on my counter top and made a tiny burn mark. Which leads me to one last caution. Do be mindful of the flammables. Note that I slopped the alcohol around on the porch away from the kitchen and where I was going to be striking the match and using the stove. Bon appetite even if the sun isn't shinning.

A brief moment of identity theft

Moving to a little cabin in the woods and cutting our strings from the utility grid has had a domino effect on other parts of our lives. The past two years has been like little grains of sand rolling and shifting as each footstep sinks into a sun warmed beach during a stroll along the lake. Shifting. Adjusting. Changing. I believe that we’re here on this Earth to learn from each other. I’m not saying I’m right but this is what gives my life a little bit of meaning. Maybe one person will grow a row to share with the community food bank. Maybe someone else will raise a family. Someone else, create beauty through words, art, architecture. I’ve tried to share our journey. Maybe in some small way one person will benefit. The other day I discovered a place on the internet where someone posted the recanting of our experience with our first general contractor, which we all remember was not a moment of strolling along a beach. This “identity thief” went as far as impersonating my writing and speech style, however, they went too far and crossed a line and shed The Husband and I in a bad light. The alleged “identity thief” divulged a medical condition of one person involved and referred to the workmen as drug addicts. First, I would never divulge someone else’s medical condition. NOT cool. That is something very, very personal and no one else’s business. I have my own issues and I feel VERY strongly about this. Secondly, I did NOT look down my nose at the workmen and EVER even think they were drug addicts. Yes, I wanted more quality work faster from these guys. The fact I had high expectations from the crew should say something. However, we needed the owner of the company out here to help all of us and we never got that help and we - me and the workmen - were all frustrated with the job. The owner of the company was NOT listening to me and I get very frustrated when I can't get through to someone. We’re all human beings and human beings make mistakes. Yes, this includes me too, unfortunately. Overall, we think the cabin looks beautiful and we’re happy with the way it looks. There are parts of the cabin/project that we can look at and say, “you know, Ben did a really good job on that wall”; or, “Bez really has a lot of patience to be able to do what he did on that gable end”, or, "It's a miracle that's plumb, there's some kind of optical illusion thing going on with the elevation - I saw Murph check, check, and recheck that - he did got it spot on", or, “Man, Eric and Jake, rocked that South wall, looks like something in a magazine of fancy schmancy homes.”  I relish those memories. There are other parts, a lot of them, that after all that time and effort, we still have work to do to get it right. A lot of work to do. It’s disappointing. But our biggest disappointment has been what comes after we’re all human. That’s standing up and making things right. At least try. It’s harder for me to accept that I have been failed in that human area by another human. My feelings actually get hurt and this “identity theft” moment was no different. In addition to this person signing this post Mike and Becky (which is not how I spell my name by the way), they used gordongecko as the screen name. Gordon Gekko was a character in a movie that is (in)famous for his, “Greed is good” declaration. I am hurt and offended that someone would think that The Husband and I are greedy. Are we greedy because we’ve gone for our dreams? Or do you think it’s greedy because YOU doN’T have the COURAGE to go for your dreams? It’s fairly easy to deduce that one who would take this unwelcomed and unappreciated liberty to impersonate us and sign our names to something we didn’t write, sadly, lacks courage in general. Life takes courage. Your knees can be knocking; you try anyway; that's courage. We feel violated, betrayed, misrepresented, and misunderstood. I posted a “Hey gordongecko, your experience sounds freakishly like ours....” message. This was enough to get the post of gordongecko, the “identity thief,” removed along with the one I posted and some other posting that went too far.  Now, I am reconsidering the future of this blog, my facebook page, my tweeting, and even my face to face communications. While I still think we’re all here to learn from each other, I don’t like what I’ve been learning lately. Perhaps WHY? I’m here is shifting too. We make our own electricity, heat, and hot water. Yes, it’s hard work and it’s challenging for me. Heck, it’s even knocked over twenty pounds off my carcass and I’m well on my way to having arms like Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2 (I think that’s the right one). But when I turn on a light switch, watch the feLIONs nap in front of the heater, or wash the dishes in hot soapy water, I feel like I’m five years old again proudly showing off my macaroni and glitter masterpiece, “Look what I did!” There is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. Now, I just need to decide whether or not I’m going to take my sand bucket and shovel and stomp off and go play by myself and not in cyber space. 

A Carbon Footprint Step in the...

lighter and righter direction.

Photo credit Toyota's website

Back in the dark, dusty, musty corners of our brains was this niggling, unrestful feeling regarding our hideous gasoline consumption with our "fleet." Both The Husband and I had Jeep Wranglers. We love everything about our Jeeps except for the gas mileage. Here at The Secret Cabin, we're not far from town and I can get down the driveway (basically, a two-track or logging road, picture an old, wagon wheel rutted trail of tears) when it's at its ugliest. However, The Man, aka Cheap Geek in a Jeep, our version of Geek Squad/Nerd Herd seeing how he fixes the computers of all those he works with and knows for cookies, iTunes cards, pizza, etc., darned near depleted this country's fossil fuel reserves. So, he rented a Toyota Prius from Labadie Auto Company, Bay City, near Saginaw, Michigan on his most recent trip home from work. (The Man still has roughly 312 working days until retirement. Not that we're counting.) This is terrible so brace yourself. No, it's too embarrassing. Okay. It was cheaper to rent the Prius and put a tank of gas in it and drive it all the way through lower Michigan, over the lake and through the woods, than it would have been for The Man to drive the Jeep home. Pause for shock and gasps horror. A Prius payment plus gas on the Prius is actually a vast improvement in our monthly budget. And it meets our other environmental/life style goals. That's the bottom $ line. Now, for the super duper interesting part. The car is really fascinating. I'm still trying to compute all the stuff this automobile does. Let's start with getting into the car. No key. Correct. The car detects the little electric box thingie on a key ring while it's still in your pocket and when you grab the door handle and pull, it let's you in. There is a button to push to start the car. There's a display in the dash and if you want to access some other information it looks like a freaking hologram over the display in the background. I can't drive The Space Ship Prius yet because I'm too busy watching the little display that shows me that I'm, get this, NOT USING GASOLINE, to motor on down the road. What?! Eventually, I'll get used to the idea and I'll be able to drive The SS Prius but for now I'm awestruck while watching the little arrows in the display showing me that now that we're speeding along, the gas engine is charging the electronics. IT'S FREAKING MAKING IT'S OWN POWER. OMG, duct tape my solar power generating loving butt down to my seat! So, The Cheap Geek in a Jeep, traded in his Jeep with my assuring him that he can borrow mine (for short trips and if he bribes me with flowers and/or candy). Everyone at Labadie was super nice so don't be afraid to stop in if your looking for your own SS Prius. Or, Mike's Jeep is still there for at least week if you're just looking for a weekend "swamper". It's stock, has a nice stereo and ready to hang out in someone's shop to rock it out with some after market "jewelry" and go play. Super solid and clean body. Still running like there's no tomorrow. If you've always wanted a weekend 4x4 but perhaps your better half always says "NO!", this may be your chance as it has high miles on the odometer but the price will probably be right. Check with our salesperson, Brach Marker 866.597.0416. In the meantime, don't hate us because we're getting 50 mpg!

Our windy hesitation

In the Spring/Summer of 2009, while The Husband and I were knee deep in construction/remodeling BS, we looked at each other and said, "I hope all this stuff really works." I get queasy just reminiscing that conversation. Luckily, the systems all work. So far. However, it's the recanting of others' experiences with turbines that has us hesitant on laying down our hard earned money for wind power. I wasn't able to "borrow" the pictures off ebay and I don't know how long they'll let this stay up but there's some pictures worthy of clicking on the link.

Broken Bergey on ebay.co.uk

The text on ebay reads:

For Sale,

Bergey XL1 ‘wind turbine’. Over 16000 hours downtime. Free spare blades (2sets) - all cracked at root like the originals. Both sliprings  in an advanced state of corrosion. 100% effective overload protection has been provided by brushes fusing. Latest value-engineering design utilises rainwater to cool alternator. Tail mechanism offers additional protection against reliable operation and increased rainwater ingress by prolonged furling, even on sites with little turbulence. Only 3000 run hours in 3 years.

Great windpower project. Only requires new nose-cone, new sliprings, new brushes, new blades, weatherproof nacelle, new hub design and build, welding work on tail-pivot, balancing, reassembly and test. Nice tailfin included. What could possibly go wrong?

Can provide our own in-house test certificates on any envelope and in a crayon colour of your choice.

Buy it now at 3 quid a kilo, plus delivery or cash on collection.

Free old radiator and broken gutter, too.

Collection only from Newcastle or North Pennines area. Time it right and maybe have time for a cuppa and a chat about real renewable energy projects in the area...

Return policy: Cut the stator windings with a chisel and punch them out. Ward Bros are offering a decent price on copper, and they'll take the ferrous stuff off your hands at the same time. You'll have enough for a pint and a butty at the Cumberland Arms up the road.

Seller added:

 If you want me to ship this item, then:
1) You are definately getting the radiator, like it or not, and,
2) 'delivery' will include the botheration of waiting in for your courier and the unnecessary work of packing this awkward lot up as though it might actually suffer from damage in transit, and,
3) We'll be painfully slow, as two sets of  'blades' are at Ninebanks and the others are at the university farm.
You have been warned.

Later, seller added:


Sorry, only 2 sets of 'blades' left. They have tidied up at the farm and skipped the third set.
I'll pick up the others this week, so it is all together here in Newcastle soon after the end of the Auction.

Back to Bheki. Whoa. So, my question is, why is this gentleman stuck with this piece of crap that he paid a lot of money for when Bergey has a 5 year warranty? Is Bergey not standing behind their small, residential turbines? Homeowners are, afterall, a one shot sale. It's not like a homeowner is a municipality and going to buy more. Is the technology just not there? Is it cost prohibitive (company can't make a killing) to produce an end user turbine that truly functions? Then what about the old farm windmills that keep going after decades? I would really like to have wind power. I need some wind power but I also need it to work and do the job it's marketed to allegedly do. Our estimates are running $10-15,000 for the entire wind installation project. The Husband's mind starts to spin with technical details: Bergey handles the wind via furling; Kestrel pitches; Jacobs are decades old, rebuilt, and still out in the field performing; if we can find one, they're still out of our price range; how do we tie in a Jacobs with the controllers and inverters....Yeah, our brains are spinning but what we need is a turbine that spins and does it's job. When you hear about experiences like this, and there are plenty of them, makes you wonder if there is such a thing and definitely makes you hesitate to plunk down $10-15,000.

Crock pot incident near miss

Pork loin roast with potatoes and artichokes

Obviously, oh so painfully, embarrassingly, obviously, I'm learning as we go along here. After narrowly escaping a crock pot induced need to get the generator out incident, I will NOT be running the crock pot all night. Ever again. Here's the deal. We've got animals. Animals do great when kept on a schedule. By great I mean lower stress, excellent health, lower vet bills, less clawing, and less tearing the barn down when the service is slow. Sometimes, it feels like there's so much to do NOW, before someone tears the barn down or rips my legs into bloody ribbons of flesh, that I just do the chores and take care of the animals and the cranium leaves the body to fend for itself. Craniums do that. They go off on little daydream vacations. Usually, about that time something goes, "WHAM!" Or in our case, whirls in slow motion to a stop and then an alarm goes off. By the time I finished chores and got around to pretending (humming, opening and closing the cupboards and watt sucking refrigerator a lot, using every measure spoon ever manufactured, and using a quantity of herbs that at the very least required an entire acre of ground to grow) I can cook, it was late afternoon. That meant the crock pot got started cooking late and was plugged in when darkness fell. In fact, it ran over night, all night. Luckily, we had just enough sun the following two days to eek by. I went into my normal "def con shut as much down as I could" mode. Today, it's super sunny and we're floating and I've got everything back on full blast. In conclusion, throw the cranium in gear, any gear is better than none, check the weather, weather permitting, pretend to know how to cook and do all the prep work in the afternoon while the sun is shining. Then, get up the next morning about 15 minutes earlier than usual and throw the bowl of food prepared the day before into the crock pot, plug it in and it should be done by the time the sun slips back below the tree tops. Also, now I know that I need to menu plan for the week not only with the coupons and store specials fliers but with the weather in mind. Yes, still learning as we go. Obviously.

Ut oh, clouds and snow

Everything was just sunshine and roses with temperatures hitting 40 for two days in a row. Forty degrees outside and the porch warmed up to 60 degrees. I was concerned about food safety so I plugged in the watt sucking frig and filled it with about $100 worth of food. Cue the clouds and snow. Sigh. I did not feel like heaving the generator out. Could I make it? I pulled the plug on the wireless hub, my notebook sat drained and unused, and the iPad flashed it's low battery notification. I also put the watt sucking frig on vacation mode. (I think it doesn't run it's defrost/dehumidifier when it's in vacation mode. We couldn't really find anything in the manual and the outsourced to another country, barely english speaking customer service person didn't know a darned thing about the frig.) What's that? Waaa-waaa wind to a stop? I still needed to cook for myself.  I went ahead and used the masonry heater to cook. The heater was too hot at lunch time, but it was cool enough for an early dinner. It only took about 30 minutes to cook three skinless, boneless chicken breasts with olive oil and rosemary. In the pictures, I had pulled the chicken apart with a fork to check for doneness. This was the first time I used a dutch oven and the third time I've cooked in the masonry heater. This is Lodge's size 8 dutch oven.

I even followed the directions and put coals on top.

Done, but not over done.

Yeah, needs a salad but they didn't have any organic spinach at the store that wasn't past it's expiration date. I ate the organic baby carrots raw for some crunch. Pretty good if I do say so myself.

We made it through the night and into this afternoon without having to haul out the generator. The sun is blazing, everything is plugged in, recharging, off vacation mode, and the system is floating. Sunshine and roses! Well, maybe not roses---yet.

Oops, forgot the Inverter

The Inverter also uses power as part of that "idling." I will have to put together a list of loads, running duration of said loads and watt usage. Who knows when I will get to that so for now just know that the inverter is burning daylight. Better daylight than oil. Nya, nya, raspberries, oil companies.

Idling at 80 Watts

I wanted to go into a little more detail on a Tweet I did today. We had clouds and blowing snow. Even with the cloud cover we managed to make the same amount of power that the Cabin uses just what I call "idling." Like a car, only different. Watts instead of rpms. The Cabin "idles" at about 80 Watts. The Inverter does not read 80 Watts and never move. The well pump will kick on and it'll go up. The sump pump that drains the sink and wash machine will kick on and it'll go up again. We made enough power to cover those temporary increased power loads today too. That 80 Watts is for the pump that pumps the water through the Garden Level masonry heater/boiler loop and the "telecommunication gizmos." Technically, you can't get a cell phone signal here. We did not run phone lines back from the road to the cabin. So, The Husband has gizmos and we have a cell phone signal. The wireless network hub is also part of the "gizmos." When the light (sun) level goes too low, the Charge Controllers shut down and go into Standby mode. This is when I start draining the batteries. I will be draining the batteries some tonight with lights and running the water for dishes and toilet flushing. I make sure the voltage in the batteries is enough to get me through the night. The system will not let me run it too low. An alarm will go off. The forecast for tomorrow is calling for some sun. Same for Tuesday. This is good news because it means I won't have to muscle the generator out of the Cabin. It is kind of weird to have to plug in your house. Yeah, like a giant RV that idles at 80 Watts.

We're f-l-o-a-t-i-n-g

We did make it to solar float (fully charged via the sun) on the 12th. Mid-afternoon, the System Control Panel II showed that we were in absorption charging phase. The sun was blasting away. The Husband and I were giddy at the prospect of hitting solar float. We kept checking the system status. At one point during the absorption charging phase and the umpteenth time we checked our status, the Charge Controllers were only reading about 600 Watts. Huh? Head tilt. A brief silent moment of non-existent cerebral activity hung in the air and then as if the emergency broadcast system had gone off,  "QUICK, HIT THE GAS! PLUG EVERYTHING IN!" OMG! The Husband and I ran in different directions shouting to each other from opposite ends and different levels of the cabin, "Charge the computers! Where's your iPad! I need my jeans washed! I'm down in the Man Cave charging the flashlight batteries. Will you make lunch (run the microwave)?!" At one point, as I ran toward an outlet with my iPad, I noticed sunshine induced sleepy-eyed feLIONs looking rather annoyed that we disrupted their 16-hour nap. Yes, just a little jealous. Anyway, when the system is in absorption mode and getting close to floating, it throttles itself back. All that sun and we weren't using it. We we're burning daylight. Aw. Tsk. Tsk. So, we "hit the gas," so to speak, plugging the electronics in and running the washer and microwave. Now that we were putting more of a load on the system and the sun continued to blast away, the Charge Controllers read 1200 watts. Much better. Waste not; want not. We've hit solar float all week including today. We've had a few really warm days and even though we've backed off on the number of burns in the heaters and the cabin has cooled down and is comfortable, I've got to do burns in both heaters tonight. We've got a cold front moving in and with it some big, scary winds.

Speaking of wind, we got the spot in our yard picked out for the turbine without any threats of divorce from either party. The Husband did get prices from the Kestrel distributor. Taking into consideration the market analysis, The Husband and I came up with our asking price for our Ohio farm, again, without any threats of divorce or withholding dinner. Here's hoping our Ohio farm sells for our asking price so we can get our wind turbine. In the meantime, there's still details to work out and a lot of paperwork to get together for zoning. I will divulge the wind system details when they're worked out. Remember, we're tying the turbine into our existing system so the charge controllers (solar and the new wind), inverter, and batteries all have to play nice together. We don't want any, "Do you smell something hot" moments. 

Also of note, the driveway is this weird mess of a mix of sandy mud and what can only be described as gas station icy slushy drink. There's a really freaky, "please remain seated until the ride comes to a complete stop" spot in the driveway where I want to close my eyes as I drive through but that would be bad. It's narrow with an incline and decline and a sharp drop off into a ravine on each side. Now, imagine that sandy mud slushy on top. Yikes. As it is, I live in fear of breaking things. I don't know why. Well, maybe it's because I do have a bit of a destructive streak. The Husband is just the best. If there's ever anything we have to flatten, clear, or knock down, he lets me do it. Ah, love. Anyway, in situations like navigating the sandy mud slushy, I err on the side of slow and easy. I did lock the rear axle of the Jeep and "crawl" through the freaky spot. The Jeep remains unscathed. 

That's it for now.

Not Alone in the Trenches After All

Now we're talking/blogging off-gridders and future off-gridders. We've got a fellow off-gridder hanging out with us. Horray! Here's a comment I received in response to my From the Off-grid Trenches post. Excellent information that we can all use so I want to share it up front here.

From offgridcabin: "We've been using our generator quite frequently in the winter as well. We're on the line of the lake effect snow, ten miles to the South and there is sun. My Dad looked up the specifications on our Honda EU 3000 and found out that on "eco-throttle" we run at about 750 Watts, so when we charge our batteries before going to bed we'll cut the generator the instant we get to float, or if we're really sharp, just before float so we don't throwout any extra watts - plus in the evening we'll run about 250-300 watts between lights and TV so in the end we waste very little gas (other than AC to DC charging losses). During extended stays we re-gen every 3 days.

I've also been researching wind power and hope to post something on it soon."


Also, be sure to add offgridcabin to your list of blogs to follow. A father and son have built an off-grid cabin in the woods, also in the UP. Looks like they've been working super hard as their place is beautiful. They've got a real nice system going too. Good example for researching and putting a system together. 

Winter Off-Grid Living

Schew-y. It's The Secret Cabin Super Shape Up Plan. Bob and Jillian, of Biggest Loser fame, have nothing on off-grid living. I make roughly six fires a day. That includes the fires in the Garden Shed. I move any where from 100 to 150 pounds of firewood a day. That's up a flight of stairs. I figure by the end of Winter, I'll be able to really throw a punch or wrestle a mere man to the ground, tie him up, and hang him from the meat hooks on my Jeep. I'm just saying. We store the feLION supplies in the cabin so I'm always hauling bags of food, litter, and water to the Garden Shed. I scoop litter boxes twice a day. I walk down to the barn twice a day to take care of Diesel, Pumpkin, and the birds. That's a 400 foot trek each way. Sometimes through knee high drifts. I have to break ice out of all the buckets in the barn and refill twice a day. Beating on the buckets usually raises my spirits. I monitor the solar system, haul out the generator, fill it with gas, run it, and put it back away.

I have had to use our squeegee on a giant pole to clear the solar panels a few times so far this Winter.  I refer to that as my "Shuffleboard on the Aloha deck" activity. I keep an eye on the weather forecast and if something nasty is on it's way, I'll make sure I've got food for me. We've got another month's worth of groceries for the animals stashed. I usually run the tractor and clear the driveway once a week and go into town for groceries and to rent a movie or two to watch on my laptop. No TV right now. It's still at the other house. I'm not sure we'd get any reception or not. I wash a load of clothes every few days. I usually time it with running the generator and on a day I don't need a shower. Even though I wash laundry in cold/cold, the wash machine requires the cold water be 55 degrees so it will pull some hot water out of the boiler dropping the temperature in the boiler by 2 or 3 degrees. Usually, even if I run the wash machine, the boiler is still hot enough for a hot shower. Of course, when you wash laundry, you dry laundry. Here's my "dryer". It's set on high in this photo. You can kind of make it more up right to save floor space. I refer to that as the low setting.

I clean the cabin and collapse in a chair in front of the fire the remaining five minutes of my day. But remember, I still do nothing.