UPDATE: I had a gentleman come by and look at my Ranger. He is going to purchase it. Use it as a down payment on another he has and I shall make some small payments to him. Basically the same vehicle. One year newer and Silver.
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label winter. Show all posts
Sunday, December 21, 2014
Stupid County does not plow roads !
On my way back from Denver last Sunday morning (enroute to help a guy set up his Off-Grid Solar system) I crested a hill at 25mph. Driving very cautiously in 4 wheel drive. Coming down the other side the rear end slid out and the truck came down the road sideways. The front end finally turned back to the correct direction I was going, but only long enough to drive me into the ravine, through several 4" thick trees, a metal post/sign, and all came to a stop when I cut a 40ft tall aspen (12inch thick) in half. Luckily, I walked away unscathed. The truck is dead. Hopefully I can find another similar so It can be used for parts (more valuable) than selling it as scrap. :-/
UPDATE: I had a gentleman come by and look at my Ranger. He is going to purchase it. Use it as a down payment on another he has and I shall make some small payments to him. Basically the same vehicle. One year newer and Silver.
UPDATE: I had a gentleman come by and look at my Ranger. He is going to purchase it. Use it as a down payment on another he has and I shall make some small payments to him. Basically the same vehicle. One year newer and Silver.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Wintry Updates.
Heart beating, warm, and surviving. Life is certainly on the up-swing, folks! In the last 6 weeks, I have managed to find a new, loving relationship, purchased a mountain 4x4 truck, and even start a part time job for coffee money. (Plus a few bucks to finish cabin, check out the city on occasion, also eventually start that boat!)
Hopefully all of you are prepared for a nice winter season. What have you managed to accomplish lately? Have you attained your yearly goals and ready for a new year of additional ones? :) I am curious whether you all set goals for yourself each year to gauge what direction you are moving towards.
- Cloud
Hopefully all of you are prepared for a nice winter season. What have you managed to accomplish lately? Have you attained your yearly goals and ready for a new year of additional ones? :) I am curious whether you all set goals for yourself each year to gauge what direction you are moving towards.
- Cloud
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| Hanging out with Mr. P |
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Hmm. That is not right...
I do not know about all of you, but I am beginning to consider it Winter.
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| 68F Indoors | 0F outdoors |
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Holy Moly.... Last night was cold!
What started out as a pleasant day to build a fence on the 11th. Suddenly, the 12th comes by (ok. ok. So it came its normal 24 hrs later. : P ) and drops the temperature 30 degrees. Most of the day was hovering around 45F/7C. Evening was barely above freezing. Woke up this morning, checked the thermometer, states that last night low was 26F/-3C. Yuck. We managed to get our first snow about two weeks earlier than last year. This year was the 10th. Last year was the 22nd.
Happily today is much warmer. Plenty of sun shine to charge the batteries. (Used quite a bit of their capacity last night with the space heater. I'm holding off as long as possible with starting a first fire for the year. ) Should get up to 70 or so.
Took yesterday off. I wasn't feeling building a fence with such temps and overcast. Project for today involves painting the bottom 2ft worth of the cedar 6x6 posts that will be buried in the ground. Preventing a bit of rot over the long run. They are cedar, so should fair well already, but doesn't hurt to give it a boost. If I had access to a bit of Roof Tar, I would use that, but at the moment, on hand it is a 5 gallon pale of thick Behr paint. Angle cut the tops of the posts to shed water. Square. Plumb. Get the heights all leveled out amongst themselves. Then attach the 2x8 cedar boards at either 3 or 4 ft between each post.
Here is a video of what I managed to accomplish on the 10th :
Happily today is much warmer. Plenty of sun shine to charge the batteries. (Used quite a bit of their capacity last night with the space heater. I'm holding off as long as possible with starting a first fire for the year. ) Should get up to 70 or so.
Took yesterday off. I wasn't feeling building a fence with such temps and overcast. Project for today involves painting the bottom 2ft worth of the cedar 6x6 posts that will be buried in the ground. Preventing a bit of rot over the long run. They are cedar, so should fair well already, but doesn't hurt to give it a boost. If I had access to a bit of Roof Tar, I would use that, but at the moment, on hand it is a 5 gallon pale of thick Behr paint. Angle cut the tops of the posts to shed water. Square. Plumb. Get the heights all leveled out amongst themselves. Then attach the 2x8 cedar boards at either 3 or 4 ft between each post.
Here is a video of what I managed to accomplish on the 10th :
 |
| These are my Amish lifting suspenders. I bench Amish in them. |
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Clocks Ticking
Today I am more old than yesterday. That is all. :) Hope you all are having a great winter!
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| Rainbows and Glitter |
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| Camping in IA during Tornados |
 |
| Creating a Foundation |
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| Life in 2006 Before Moving about the US |
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Just a peaceful evening.
Side tracked by youtube videos on Gardening and greenhouses... It was 10:30pm and I needed to get a few logs for the fire. Open the door and what do I see??
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| Surprise. Surprise. |
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| Guess it had been snowing for a bit. |
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| Natures subtle way of sealing possible air gaps |
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| Off to collect a few logs! Still Snowing. |
Monday, January 27, 2014
A million gallons of water.
Afternoon Everyone. : )
I have been gone for a bit again. Mainly just surviving and enjoy life up here. While today is a bit chilly (17F), most days have been warm and sunny. 30s and up. Even the lows lately have been pleasant. (Teens and up)
My solar system is really holding up. It produces more than I need. The weather to date has mostly been sunny/spotty cloud days. Today marks the third time I have seen it Cloudy a few days in a row.
A few weeks ago, I spent all evening watching movies on Netflix with the 42in HDTv. So, was using some power. On the computer there is an app that shows all the data for the solar system. I use it to monitor how much I am using in relation to its charging (During the day). Well, the previous day I sort of used a lot of juice and didn't entirely have enough sunlight outside to charge it fully...
OK. Let me start again. I only use about 20% of what is available from the system. Say, 2KWh a day. 2000 watts. That is the same size as my entire array but when you factor in multiple hours of daylight you begin to see that I am 'wasting' sunlight by not using it. A few weeks back, my neighbor, Judy, gave me an Electric heater. One of those oil filled types. During the day, I let the sun warm the house through the south exposed glass. It does a beautiful job. However, it does take a bit of time to get it all going after a chilly night. So, there is a few options to speed it along. I can either just wear a light sweater and let it gradually come up through the 50s and into the 60s throughout the day naturally or I can burn wood. Burning a single box full of willow will heat the place enough to get it into the 60s (starting in the high 40s (Small house has little mass to hold the heat regardless of insulation) when I wake up) and allows the sun to hold it there for the day.
Another great idea is when it is sunny outside, battery full, turn on the electric heater (1500Watts) and the fan behind it to blow it around. Works out great. First time I did that, I went out for a few hours with the neighbor to do laundry and grocery shop in town. Came back and it was 80F inside. Yuck. I also managed to 'use' 8kwh worth of juice instead of the normal 2. Plus, had a full battery to enjoy for the evening (5kwh worth). Over the next few days I continued to use the heater. The average usage (in kwh) proceeded to shoot up. I was a happy clam. I was using all of that 'wasted' available electricity. Plus, there was no longer a need to burn wood to heat the house in the mornings. Saving it for the evening. Greatly extending my stockpile of willow in the creek on the northern portion of the property.
Side note: I have been using the willow since Sep 22, 2013 when I moved in. Aside from the occasional bits of 'real' wood I've had over the last few months. Still, there is more to be harvested in the creek. I find it amazing. :)
The electric heater... Many people tell you, you cannot use resistive heating appliances on Off-grid systems. It uses too much juice! What are you, Stupid?? HAH!
Problem is, those people either use a lot of power to begin with and do no have much available for extra or simply have smaller systems than mine.
My first idea still is to create a gazebo with glass walls and dump the excess electricity into a hot tub, but, until that gets going I might as well use it to heat the place up. :)
So, a few weeks ago, I left the heater on all day. It was a Tuesday, so I went out on my usual boys lunch date out with my friend up the street. This time, Instead of returning after a few hours, I spent some time at his place. Came back a little after 3pm, which is around the time the sun falls behind the mountain range and the solar output drops to next to nothing.
Hmm. I messed up. See, that day happened to be a "Spotty Cloud" sort of day. Clouds would cover the sun, then it would blow off, intense sun would hit the panels then shoot 40 amps into the battery, but another cloud would come say hello, get in the way, impede those 40 amps actually getting into the battery... and so on. Well. I used 5-6kwh that day and the battery was only charged up to 3/4ths or less. Probably less.
It is difficult to determine State of Charge based on voltage. I still need to purchase an Amp-hour counter.
That night I settled in. Proceeded to fire up netflix. Carry on watching movie after movie on the big screen.
Oops. Looking at the computer app. My voltage dropped to 46!! I have a 48 volt system. It is actually 54v when fully charged. The cells (16 of them.) have to each be above 2.5 volts and less than 3.65v. Otherwise you over charged them or over-discharged them.
I am not using lead acid batteries. Practically everyone uses them. I do not. They are heavy. You cannot routinely use more than 50% of their capacity if you want any sort of life out of them. Plus they produce hydrogen gas. Meh.
I use LiFePo4 (Lithium) batteries. The stuff they use in creating electric cars. My entire 5Kwh bank is 150lbs. Each cell is about 10. They do not gas. They can be discharged 80% daily and still have over 3000 cycles. You can just let them sit and they will not self discharge over time.
I love them, but they are expensive.
What you have to do is balance them. So the minor difference in capacity of each cell doesn't have you over discharge or charge one cell amongst the others.
I did that around 7 months ago when I first set it all up. However, I must have not done it perfectly.
That 46v I saw. Meant that when I took a volt meter to each battery, most were 2.8v but one was 1.7!!! EEKs
I completely shut the system down. It was midnight. Then went to bed. Hoping that my poor battery would come back. Remember we arent supposed to bring it lower than 2.5!
Woke up. Feeling better. The cell recovered to 2.2. Good sign.
I proceeded to spend the next two days (willingly) without power other than my solar powered lamp. With a volt meter I lined up the cells with the highest voltage to the lowest. 16 in a row. Then took number 16 and connected it to number 1. Positive with positive. Negative with negative. Then 15 with 2. 14 with 3. 13 with 2. So on and so forth. Thus averaging out the voltages. The high ones would slowly bring up the lower ones. After 30 minutes. I would take them all apart. Re-order them based on voltage. Then do it again. Again. Again. Again. At night. I would let them rest. Not connected to anything. Slowly the voltages averaged out. Nothing more than a few milivolts apart.
When I woke up the next day. I would do it again. (The voltages change over time as they rest and bounce back). After two days of messing with them (I could have just charged the one low cell and been back up the next morning but decided to really go at it) I had them all within 4 millivolts. It was spectacular! (0.004) (Hence one cell would be 3.333 and another 3.337)
Then I hooked them all back up and let the precious sun, bake the heck out of them. :)
It has been weeks since that incident. I keep checking them with the voltmeter. In the morning before they charge (hence at rest), while they are really getting charged up, and at night when they are resting after charge.
The voltages range between 2mv and 10mv difference. Cell #6 is still happy as ever.
I'm elated. The batteries are so tightly in tune that I will never have to re-balance them again for the life of the bank. :)
(The funny thing with batteries. When you get them new, they are not fully developed. It takes a few cycles before their capacity is fully established. So, those balanced differences change a bit, but over time, they grow tighter together, fluctuating much less. )
I haven't been using the Electric heater much lately. Although I could. I'm just happy as I am. The house has been warm. Sun doing its thing.
Today is a chilly one. 15F outside. Normally its the 30s-40s. I have a fire going. 75F inside. A window is cracked open for fresh air as the firebox consumes its little inferno.
I've been using pine logs lately. It has been a couple weeks since I've had to go into the creek.
Oh, how easy it is to burn logs. Rarely having to get up to add more to keep the fire going. The house gets unbearably hot. I have to fully open a window and shut the damper on the firebox in order to keep it 78-80F inside. Sometimes, depending on the outside night temperature, I may even open the door a little while! But. Life is cozy.
I am a happy man.
What about water? :) Oh, that. I have been lucky that my neighbor lets me tag along with her to get some. She has a well to her house but for drinking water she prefers to go fill up at this free artesian well down the way. It is just this spigot that comes out of the ground with naturally flowing, beautiful water. Many people around the area use it for the free water. I fill up several 6 gallon buckets and good for a few weeks.
My long term solution for water. Rain. I am starting to love mathematics. Since building and determining everything, I have 're-learned' all the geometry and algebraic formulas from years ago. There was the time I wanted to figure out the exact volume of my building, even with the triangular ceiling portion in order to figure out how many btu/hr was needed to keep it 70F inside when -20F outside. (It made me much more comfortable knowing it was possible and quite easy to do with wood) Now with water.
The mathematics goes as such. For each Inch of rainfall, on a hundred square foot 'roof' (10x10) you can collect 60 gallons. Or 60% (.6) So, from that, you can determine how many inches of precipitation your area gets a year on average. Determine what you need in gallons a year to live your lifestyle, and poof, you find out how large a roof you need plus a cistern to hold it. (water generally comes in seasons so you need to hold it in large quantities to average out the year)
For me, just showering, food, drinking, etc my tiny house of 200SF roof area can get me by as soon as I hook up gutters to it, plus purchase a 1500 gallon cistern. So far I use about 1500 gallons a year.
BUT. Here is the fun part about math. Take it to the extremes!
I have 2.88 acres. That is 125,450 SF (about 44k per acre) If I put a liner over everything, pea gravel on top and sloped it all to a giant lake cistern.... with 13 inches of rain (although another website says we are closer to 16)
125,450
x .6
= 75,271 gallons per inch
x 13in
= 978,531 gallons collected (13in annual)
Guess I am a water millionaire! What are you going to do with your millions??
Be safe everyone!
Ps. I've been pondering building some earthen/cob with lime plaster structures on the property. Plenty of ideas are running through my head as winter carries on. ;)
I have been gone for a bit again. Mainly just surviving and enjoy life up here. While today is a bit chilly (17F), most days have been warm and sunny. 30s and up. Even the lows lately have been pleasant. (Teens and up)
My solar system is really holding up. It produces more than I need. The weather to date has mostly been sunny/spotty cloud days. Today marks the third time I have seen it Cloudy a few days in a row.
A few weeks ago, I spent all evening watching movies on Netflix with the 42in HDTv. So, was using some power. On the computer there is an app that shows all the data for the solar system. I use it to monitor how much I am using in relation to its charging (During the day). Well, the previous day I sort of used a lot of juice and didn't entirely have enough sunlight outside to charge it fully...
OK. Let me start again. I only use about 20% of what is available from the system. Say, 2KWh a day. 2000 watts. That is the same size as my entire array but when you factor in multiple hours of daylight you begin to see that I am 'wasting' sunlight by not using it. A few weeks back, my neighbor, Judy, gave me an Electric heater. One of those oil filled types. During the day, I let the sun warm the house through the south exposed glass. It does a beautiful job. However, it does take a bit of time to get it all going after a chilly night. So, there is a few options to speed it along. I can either just wear a light sweater and let it gradually come up through the 50s and into the 60s throughout the day naturally or I can burn wood. Burning a single box full of willow will heat the place enough to get it into the 60s (starting in the high 40s (Small house has little mass to hold the heat regardless of insulation) when I wake up) and allows the sun to hold it there for the day.
Another great idea is when it is sunny outside, battery full, turn on the electric heater (1500Watts) and the fan behind it to blow it around. Works out great. First time I did that, I went out for a few hours with the neighbor to do laundry and grocery shop in town. Came back and it was 80F inside. Yuck. I also managed to 'use' 8kwh worth of juice instead of the normal 2. Plus, had a full battery to enjoy for the evening (5kwh worth). Over the next few days I continued to use the heater. The average usage (in kwh) proceeded to shoot up. I was a happy clam. I was using all of that 'wasted' available electricity. Plus, there was no longer a need to burn wood to heat the house in the mornings. Saving it for the evening. Greatly extending my stockpile of willow in the creek on the northern portion of the property.
Side note: I have been using the willow since Sep 22, 2013 when I moved in. Aside from the occasional bits of 'real' wood I've had over the last few months. Still, there is more to be harvested in the creek. I find it amazing. :)
The electric heater... Many people tell you, you cannot use resistive heating appliances on Off-grid systems. It uses too much juice! What are you, Stupid?? HAH!
Problem is, those people either use a lot of power to begin with and do no have much available for extra or simply have smaller systems than mine.
My first idea still is to create a gazebo with glass walls and dump the excess electricity into a hot tub, but, until that gets going I might as well use it to heat the place up. :)
So, a few weeks ago, I left the heater on all day. It was a Tuesday, so I went out on my usual boys lunch date out with my friend up the street. This time, Instead of returning after a few hours, I spent some time at his place. Came back a little after 3pm, which is around the time the sun falls behind the mountain range and the solar output drops to next to nothing.
Hmm. I messed up. See, that day happened to be a "Spotty Cloud" sort of day. Clouds would cover the sun, then it would blow off, intense sun would hit the panels then shoot 40 amps into the battery, but another cloud would come say hello, get in the way, impede those 40 amps actually getting into the battery... and so on. Well. I used 5-6kwh that day and the battery was only charged up to 3/4ths or less. Probably less.
It is difficult to determine State of Charge based on voltage. I still need to purchase an Amp-hour counter.
That night I settled in. Proceeded to fire up netflix. Carry on watching movie after movie on the big screen.
Oops. Looking at the computer app. My voltage dropped to 46!! I have a 48 volt system. It is actually 54v when fully charged. The cells (16 of them.) have to each be above 2.5 volts and less than 3.65v. Otherwise you over charged them or over-discharged them.
I am not using lead acid batteries. Practically everyone uses them. I do not. They are heavy. You cannot routinely use more than 50% of their capacity if you want any sort of life out of them. Plus they produce hydrogen gas. Meh.
I use LiFePo4 (Lithium) batteries. The stuff they use in creating electric cars. My entire 5Kwh bank is 150lbs. Each cell is about 10. They do not gas. They can be discharged 80% daily and still have over 3000 cycles. You can just let them sit and they will not self discharge over time.
I love them, but they are expensive.
What you have to do is balance them. So the minor difference in capacity of each cell doesn't have you over discharge or charge one cell amongst the others.
I did that around 7 months ago when I first set it all up. However, I must have not done it perfectly.
That 46v I saw. Meant that when I took a volt meter to each battery, most were 2.8v but one was 1.7!!! EEKs
I completely shut the system down. It was midnight. Then went to bed. Hoping that my poor battery would come back. Remember we arent supposed to bring it lower than 2.5!
Woke up. Feeling better. The cell recovered to 2.2. Good sign.
I proceeded to spend the next two days (willingly) without power other than my solar powered lamp. With a volt meter I lined up the cells with the highest voltage to the lowest. 16 in a row. Then took number 16 and connected it to number 1. Positive with positive. Negative with negative. Then 15 with 2. 14 with 3. 13 with 2. So on and so forth. Thus averaging out the voltages. The high ones would slowly bring up the lower ones. After 30 minutes. I would take them all apart. Re-order them based on voltage. Then do it again. Again. Again. Again. At night. I would let them rest. Not connected to anything. Slowly the voltages averaged out. Nothing more than a few milivolts apart.
When I woke up the next day. I would do it again. (The voltages change over time as they rest and bounce back). After two days of messing with them (I could have just charged the one low cell and been back up the next morning but decided to really go at it) I had them all within 4 millivolts. It was spectacular! (0.004) (Hence one cell would be 3.333 and another 3.337)
Then I hooked them all back up and let the precious sun, bake the heck out of them. :)
It has been weeks since that incident. I keep checking them with the voltmeter. In the morning before they charge (hence at rest), while they are really getting charged up, and at night when they are resting after charge.
The voltages range between 2mv and 10mv difference. Cell #6 is still happy as ever.
I'm elated. The batteries are so tightly in tune that I will never have to re-balance them again for the life of the bank. :)
(The funny thing with batteries. When you get them new, they are not fully developed. It takes a few cycles before their capacity is fully established. So, those balanced differences change a bit, but over time, they grow tighter together, fluctuating much less. )
I haven't been using the Electric heater much lately. Although I could. I'm just happy as I am. The house has been warm. Sun doing its thing.
Today is a chilly one. 15F outside. Normally its the 30s-40s. I have a fire going. 75F inside. A window is cracked open for fresh air as the firebox consumes its little inferno.
I've been using pine logs lately. It has been a couple weeks since I've had to go into the creek.
Oh, how easy it is to burn logs. Rarely having to get up to add more to keep the fire going. The house gets unbearably hot. I have to fully open a window and shut the damper on the firebox in order to keep it 78-80F inside. Sometimes, depending on the outside night temperature, I may even open the door a little while! But. Life is cozy.
I am a happy man.
What about water? :) Oh, that. I have been lucky that my neighbor lets me tag along with her to get some. She has a well to her house but for drinking water she prefers to go fill up at this free artesian well down the way. It is just this spigot that comes out of the ground with naturally flowing, beautiful water. Many people around the area use it for the free water. I fill up several 6 gallon buckets and good for a few weeks.
My long term solution for water. Rain. I am starting to love mathematics. Since building and determining everything, I have 're-learned' all the geometry and algebraic formulas from years ago. There was the time I wanted to figure out the exact volume of my building, even with the triangular ceiling portion in order to figure out how many btu/hr was needed to keep it 70F inside when -20F outside. (It made me much more comfortable knowing it was possible and quite easy to do with wood) Now with water.
The mathematics goes as such. For each Inch of rainfall, on a hundred square foot 'roof' (10x10) you can collect 60 gallons. Or 60% (.6) So, from that, you can determine how many inches of precipitation your area gets a year on average. Determine what you need in gallons a year to live your lifestyle, and poof, you find out how large a roof you need plus a cistern to hold it. (water generally comes in seasons so you need to hold it in large quantities to average out the year)
For me, just showering, food, drinking, etc my tiny house of 200SF roof area can get me by as soon as I hook up gutters to it, plus purchase a 1500 gallon cistern. So far I use about 1500 gallons a year.
BUT. Here is the fun part about math. Take it to the extremes!
I have 2.88 acres. That is 125,450 SF (about 44k per acre) If I put a liner over everything, pea gravel on top and sloped it all to a giant lake cistern.... with 13 inches of rain (although another website says we are closer to 16)
125,450
x .6
= 75,271 gallons per inch
x 13in
= 978,531 gallons collected (13in annual)
Guess I am a water millionaire! What are you going to do with your millions??
Be safe everyone!
Ps. I've been pondering building some earthen/cob with lime plaster structures on the property. Plenty of ideas are running through my head as winter carries on. ;)
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| Meh. Not a happy indoor Temp. Crack a Window! |
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| My new pretty stack of wood for $70. 3/4Cord |
 |
| Did some moving around. The Power Center. |
Saturday, November 30, 2013
The Neighbors - Catching up. Domestics, Holidays, Surviving the big storm.
Good evening, Everyone!
It is my warmest hope that you all enjoyed your Holiday this past Thursday. Those of you outside the US, an equally warm hope it was a damn good simple Thursday.
I have been in Colorado for five months now. None of my family is here, however, in that time, I have made quite a few friends. Years ago, I used to be quite shy. Over the years, mainly through having to deal with them via Aviation, I have developed a more open and out-going/friendly disposition.
It surprises me the amount of people I have met in such a short time here. It isn't all my own doing. Namely just having a huge blue solar array attracts people. From there, it is up to me to figure out what to do with them all! haha.
I happen to have a very nice neighbor behind me. She invited me over for Thanksgiving. It was her, a couple of her long time friends, and myself. Quite nice. Even managed to find things to eat. Mash, brussels, cranberry, corn etc. A nice brew and even a cup of tea to wind down.
So, what have I been up to this week?
This week involved a very large winter storm that passed across the US. Starting on Wed/Thursday. Overcast. Snowing daily. A foot or so by the end of it all. Teen temperatures. It was nearly a week without seeing the sun, even for a peek. It doesn't typically do that here.
It all became a very good run on the Solar System. Through it all, the lights never turned off. I still was able to use the kettle. Each day, although not sunny, still managed to put a kilowatt or two into the battery to compensate for the previous evening usage.
The system is sized right for my usage.
It has been a while since doing laundry. Decided to tackle that while stuck indoors. Filled up a large tot with clean, powdery snow. (Packed down well to make a decent amount of water) The idea was to use snow instead of the potable water jugs. Overall saving me 10-15 gallons of water. One tot was used to wash everything while another was used to rinse them out. Wringing out the excess water between switching buckets of course. The Deck structure was put to great use. Even in sub frozen temperatures outside, clothing still manages to dry in the sun and light wind breezes. I was surprised at how effective it actually is. Plus, the clothing smells great. Aside from wringing out the clothes, it was a theraputic process.
If I was to purchase a wringer, the process would be easy-peasy. Saving me from having to eventually figure out hooking up a machine. Plus the water savings. Any ideas on a clothes wringer? Manual crank type stuff?
What else.... Ah. Got it! Today was finally warm enough (in the 40's) to cut out a hole in the house, install the remaining window, and caulk it sealed. Now I have what looks like a decent little cozy home. :)
It is all coming together!
Over the last week, laundry was done, holidays were had, windows installed, and the remaining bits of insulation put up into the ceiling. Hmm, I'm finding a nice equilibrium here. Things are coming along.
Two great things happened today. An additional window. The other was the postman showing up with my Tea order from UK! Weee.
Now lets get on to something more interesting... PICTURES.
It is my warmest hope that you all enjoyed your Holiday this past Thursday. Those of you outside the US, an equally warm hope it was a damn good simple Thursday.
I have been in Colorado for five months now. None of my family is here, however, in that time, I have made quite a few friends. Years ago, I used to be quite shy. Over the years, mainly through having to deal with them via Aviation, I have developed a more open and out-going/friendly disposition.
It surprises me the amount of people I have met in such a short time here. It isn't all my own doing. Namely just having a huge blue solar array attracts people. From there, it is up to me to figure out what to do with them all! haha.
I happen to have a very nice neighbor behind me. She invited me over for Thanksgiving. It was her, a couple of her long time friends, and myself. Quite nice. Even managed to find things to eat. Mash, brussels, cranberry, corn etc. A nice brew and even a cup of tea to wind down.
So, what have I been up to this week?
This week involved a very large winter storm that passed across the US. Starting on Wed/Thursday. Overcast. Snowing daily. A foot or so by the end of it all. Teen temperatures. It was nearly a week without seeing the sun, even for a peek. It doesn't typically do that here.
It all became a very good run on the Solar System. Through it all, the lights never turned off. I still was able to use the kettle. Each day, although not sunny, still managed to put a kilowatt or two into the battery to compensate for the previous evening usage.
The system is sized right for my usage.
It has been a while since doing laundry. Decided to tackle that while stuck indoors. Filled up a large tot with clean, powdery snow. (Packed down well to make a decent amount of water) The idea was to use snow instead of the potable water jugs. Overall saving me 10-15 gallons of water. One tot was used to wash everything while another was used to rinse them out. Wringing out the excess water between switching buckets of course. The Deck structure was put to great use. Even in sub frozen temperatures outside, clothing still manages to dry in the sun and light wind breezes. I was surprised at how effective it actually is. Plus, the clothing smells great. Aside from wringing out the clothes, it was a theraputic process.
If I was to purchase a wringer, the process would be easy-peasy. Saving me from having to eventually figure out hooking up a machine. Plus the water savings. Any ideas on a clothes wringer? Manual crank type stuff?
What else.... Ah. Got it! Today was finally warm enough (in the 40's) to cut out a hole in the house, install the remaining window, and caulk it sealed. Now I have what looks like a decent little cozy home. :)
It is all coming together!
Over the last week, laundry was done, holidays were had, windows installed, and the remaining bits of insulation put up into the ceiling. Hmm, I'm finding a nice equilibrium here. Things are coming along.
Two great things happened today. An additional window. The other was the postman showing up with my Tea order from UK! Weee.
Now lets get on to something more interesting... PICTURES.
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| Marked out where to Cut the Siding. |
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| Window Cavity cut out. |
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| Dry Fit before caulking. |
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| The visuals are coming along. |
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| The neighbors, Horse and Cow. |
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| About two days worth of Heat. Black willow. Creek bed. |
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| My order of tea finally arrived from the UK! |
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| Snow Finally melting off. |
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
An evening of Snow, but I Have another Window.
The forecast is for it to snow this evening and continue through until late tomorrow morning. According to the weather channel... my area is to get 8-12inches? Sounds nice enough. :D However, In order to watch it, before I would have to either stand outside or leave the door open. Ok, unless I wanted to stand on a ladder and look out the stain-glass window.
The two remaining windows arrived on Tuesday. Managed to install one of them this afternoon before it became too cold. Caulking doesn't like to cure below 40F. :) I might as well oblige it.
The forecast for the upcoming week is Teen temperatures at night. Plus more snow later in the week. I should be able to install the final window during the next day or two when it is at least 40 ish. ;-)
At the moment, I have a spare pillow case draped over the window, functioning as a curtain, until I can purchase some white sheer cloth. Allowing light to come into and heat the place but keep nosy viewers out.
Having the new window gives the place a different feel. Ehrm. I feel much more exposed? Having light and glass/scenery out of my peripheral view.
hah. These months of just being in an enclosed box/cave of sorts has my thinking skewed. I'll come around!
It is nice having an easily accessible view though!
The two remaining windows arrived on Tuesday. Managed to install one of them this afternoon before it became too cold. Caulking doesn't like to cure below 40F. :) I might as well oblige it.
The forecast for the upcoming week is Teen temperatures at night. Plus more snow later in the week. I should be able to install the final window during the next day or two when it is at least 40 ish. ;-)
At the moment, I have a spare pillow case draped over the window, functioning as a curtain, until I can purchase some white sheer cloth. Allowing light to come into and heat the place but keep nosy viewers out.
Having the new window gives the place a different feel. Ehrm. I feel much more exposed? Having light and glass/scenery out of my peripheral view.
hah. These months of just being in an enclosed box/cave of sorts has my thinking skewed. I'll come around!
It is nice having an easily accessible view though!
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| Window installed. One left to go. 2 feet wide, 3 feet tall. Need trim work for Door and Windows. |
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Friday, October 18, 2013
Merry Christmas, Everyone!
Scenes from 10am on a mountain top!
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| Front Door View |
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| Happy Steps. |
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| White Granite Mountain |
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| First Snow on the panels |
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Not Dead Yet.
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| Pea sized hail covering the entire mountain for a wicked T-Storm! |
Hello Everyone!
I am not dead yet. Forgive the massive delays here. I have been in mental contemplation mode for a while now. With the permits and the like, I've been somewhat put off. That is. I wish to comply, however, as I did not believe I was within the scope of them, I am a little miffed at having to draw up architectural plans for the Shed. Along with having to pay for engineering on my solar array posts.
Bleh.
This morning I have also learned that in the state of Colorado, when it comes to the season of freezing weather.... You cannot actually live in a tent even on your own land. Something due to the lack of heat. I was told that they come and haul you off to a homeless shelter for the evening.
SO....
Does this mean I need to purchase an RV/Trailer simply to set on my acreage to be visible for when the authorities drive by. Then assume Im staying in the RV and with its propane heat source... leave me be?
IDK.
This whole simple living is become quite complex.
Does this call for an additional, Bleh?
The Update :
I've resumed putting up 6x6 post beams onto the Storage Shed. The building needs to be 'dried-in' within the next few weeks before it starts to snow. It is already 40s at night.
BTW. Worry not everyone! Im NOT roughing it out here! The tent (REI - 4 person Kingdom) is filled with all my storage unit goodies. Coffee table, 42in tv, blue ray player and electric kettle.
I've learned over the last month of having solar electricity that I only use 2-3 KWH a day. It was much less in the beginning but now I watch a couple movies at night and use the kettle a lot throughout the day. :) Plus run the TV as a cd player (for building the shed) during the day.
Basically, I have such an overhead of available energy that Im no longer concerned about winter. The panels are already in a winter orientation.
Keep well everyone! Thanks for the concerns!
- Cloud
PS. My dating life is even looking up. :) Maybe this Colorado move for a simple life will work out. (On the days when I want to just give up on the whole idea of finishing everything and just live on a trailer, I realize that you all are counting on me to finish. So I can't. Plus. Im not interested in living on wheels. )
Monday, March 25, 2013
Mr. Pickles and I
Day : 153, ~ 53 to go.
While everyone is confused and miffed at the non spring, winter we are currently having.... Making it a pain for gardening which we all enjoy.... Im OK. It is just bad enough that I cannot do any flying work. Snow in pictures or low clouds... Instead. I get to re-meet my cat after all these months away.
I've had him around 10 years now. He's darn near my own child.
PS. Is everyone else getting a sudden up-tick in spam messages on the blog postings?
While everyone is confused and miffed at the non spring, winter we are currently having.... Making it a pain for gardening which we all enjoy.... Im OK. It is just bad enough that I cannot do any flying work. Snow in pictures or low clouds... Instead. I get to re-meet my cat after all these months away.
I've had him around 10 years now. He's darn near my own child.
PS. Is everyone else getting a sudden up-tick in spam messages on the blog postings?
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Brought to you by the letter 'C'
Whew!
It has been a wild last few days. One giant cross-country flight turned out to become a mid-west satellite photo of the letter 'C'.
Allow me to fill you all in: My coworker and I departed an airport just east of Mobile, Alabama on Friday. The plan was to relocate to Sandusky, Ohio there on lake Erie. According to my feelings of previous seasons, still quite early to be in the north for work... Apparently we finished off much of the south and have nothing left but to move northward. The prognostic charts for the weekend was showing a large section of snowy weather over much of Tennessee, Central Ohio and Kentucky. The furthest one could go directly north on Friday was the Huntsville, AL. Then sit for several days waiting for it to play out. Instead, we decided to fly west towards Little Rock, Arkansas. Spending the night in Pine Bluffs (just south of Little Rock). A fairly uneventful Friday relocation.
Saturday was fun. We wanted to fly east towards Evansville, Indiana via Cape Girardeau, MO. Lucky for us, I have on-board live weather/radar. The visibility went from amazing to rather crap. 5 miles or so. Strictly legal for visual flight is 3 miles, however, with 5 miles visibility in flight, its still difficult to see much. Remaining out of any cloud layers but still enjoying the occasional light snow blowing past. Cape Girardeau was our alternate if we couldn't make Evansville. Turns out we couldn't make Cape either because of low ceilings, snow, and visibility. Instead we flew north bound to a small place called Sparta, IN. Geesh was it blustery cold fueling our high wing airplanes! Brr.
Still further we ventured after checking out the radar on ground. Heading up past St Louis, MO. East towards Decatur, IL and beyond. Happily skirting south east of Champagne, IL airspace northbound.
Vermillion / Danville Airfield was becoming very difficult weather with low ceilings and not pleasant visibility. We broke off our direct route and ventured straight northbound along a railroad until the visibility went from 3-5 Miles to a much more pleasant 7. Along the way you could make out in the haze all the hundreds of various electric windmills turning beneath us. (I was nicely above them and purely legal.)
According to the ADSB radar there was a blob of snow precipitation north of us towards Lake Michigan, a corridor break in the middle, and then another to the south east. Lafayette which we were heading towards went down to 2 miles visibility from the snow. It looked horrific toward that direction. We opted to divert back north along a stretch of highway until following an intersecting one heading due east towards our destination of Logansport, IN.
The Ceilings started to lift a bit. Visibility increased substantially. The snow to the sides of us moved off into the distance. The destination grew large in front of us and a boring landing ensued. :)
Fun times!
My coworker walks up to my plane to inform me that we got a new work email. They are changing the destination from Sandusky, OH to Kentucky. Hmm. Back South. Where all the soup was. Turns out we flew that large 'C' for naught! HAH.
Today is Sunday, with it marking a lazy day of non-flying. The prog charts that called for snow in the center of the country became true. We are grounded for the day after having set up our tents in front of the FBO.
My record of 20F still stands. Only made it down to 25F, but it was a blustering wind 25F.
Another day towards my goal. Closer to being set free. Reuniting with the cat. Finally setting in motion lavish garden plans like the rest of you all!
Take care, everybody. Stay Warm.
133 Days in : 73 Left to Go.
P.S. We placed our tents close enough to get WiFi while bundled up inside warm sleeping bags. No point roughing it when you can still get netflix!
It has been a wild last few days. One giant cross-country flight turned out to become a mid-west satellite photo of the letter 'C'.
Allow me to fill you all in: My coworker and I departed an airport just east of Mobile, Alabama on Friday. The plan was to relocate to Sandusky, Ohio there on lake Erie. According to my feelings of previous seasons, still quite early to be in the north for work... Apparently we finished off much of the south and have nothing left but to move northward. The prognostic charts for the weekend was showing a large section of snowy weather over much of Tennessee, Central Ohio and Kentucky. The furthest one could go directly north on Friday was the Huntsville, AL. Then sit for several days waiting for it to play out. Instead, we decided to fly west towards Little Rock, Arkansas. Spending the night in Pine Bluffs (just south of Little Rock). A fairly uneventful Friday relocation.
Saturday was fun. We wanted to fly east towards Evansville, Indiana via Cape Girardeau, MO. Lucky for us, I have on-board live weather/radar. The visibility went from amazing to rather crap. 5 miles or so. Strictly legal for visual flight is 3 miles, however, with 5 miles visibility in flight, its still difficult to see much. Remaining out of any cloud layers but still enjoying the occasional light snow blowing past. Cape Girardeau was our alternate if we couldn't make Evansville. Turns out we couldn't make Cape either because of low ceilings, snow, and visibility. Instead we flew north bound to a small place called Sparta, IN. Geesh was it blustery cold fueling our high wing airplanes! Brr.
Still further we ventured after checking out the radar on ground. Heading up past St Louis, MO. East towards Decatur, IL and beyond. Happily skirting south east of Champagne, IL airspace northbound.
Vermillion / Danville Airfield was becoming very difficult weather with low ceilings and not pleasant visibility. We broke off our direct route and ventured straight northbound along a railroad until the visibility went from 3-5 Miles to a much more pleasant 7. Along the way you could make out in the haze all the hundreds of various electric windmills turning beneath us. (I was nicely above them and purely legal.)
According to the ADSB radar there was a blob of snow precipitation north of us towards Lake Michigan, a corridor break in the middle, and then another to the south east. Lafayette which we were heading towards went down to 2 miles visibility from the snow. It looked horrific toward that direction. We opted to divert back north along a stretch of highway until following an intersecting one heading due east towards our destination of Logansport, IN.
The Ceilings started to lift a bit. Visibility increased substantially. The snow to the sides of us moved off into the distance. The destination grew large in front of us and a boring landing ensued. :)
Fun times!
My coworker walks up to my plane to inform me that we got a new work email. They are changing the destination from Sandusky, OH to Kentucky. Hmm. Back South. Where all the soup was. Turns out we flew that large 'C' for naught! HAH.
Today is Sunday, with it marking a lazy day of non-flying. The prog charts that called for snow in the center of the country became true. We are grounded for the day after having set up our tents in front of the FBO.
My record of 20F still stands. Only made it down to 25F, but it was a blustering wind 25F.
Another day towards my goal. Closer to being set free. Reuniting with the cat. Finally setting in motion lavish garden plans like the rest of you all!
Take care, everybody. Stay Warm.
133 Days in : 73 Left to Go.
P.S. We placed our tents close enough to get WiFi while bundled up inside warm sleeping bags. No point roughing it when you can still get netflix!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Winter Living - How do I do it? (Gear)
The following is a post about my personal luxuries. I am not 'roughing-it'.
Eureeka Solitaire - Single Person Tent (or Two loving, cozy, little Peeps)
This 'minimalist-Bivyesque' style tent has held up surprisingly well. An $85 dollar purchase at Gander Mountain. It has so far withheld week long torrential down-pours in the Pittsburgh area. Sitting atop saturated sponge-like forest earth covered in leaves. While not marketed as a waterproof tent, the flooring has not had water pushing through. A light bit of water vapor/moisture has accumulated on the floor, but I attribute this to condensation. One caveate is that condensation does collect on the under of the rain fly above the no-seeum mesh. So far it has been a non issue. Merely unzip the top and rub a camp towel along the underside. The mesh keeps any drops from hitting you in the face for the most part. Not bad for a 'cheapy' tent. Condensation is a problem for nearly all tents in winter I gather.When it warms up, I've thought about purchasing a Hennessy Hammock - Asym Zip Hyperlite.
Therma-rest Prolight Regular Sleeping pad. R2.2 (old style)
This is my sleeping pad. In order to make a sleeping bag reach the marketed numbers it needs a few things. One is the sleeping pad otherwise all your body heat will simply soak into cold earth. The other parts are wearing head covering and thermals. The version I have is the older style red one. It is only R2.2. I believe the newer Orange style ones are R3. So far with my lowest temps of 20F it has kept me warm enough, although the newer style would be nice. For me, it was a clearance item at $35. Normally $70ish for the regular length in Orange.
REI - Radiant Zero Degree Sleeping Bag
In the first week of camping I went through several iterations of sleeping bags. I brought my 40F bag with me from home. When we decided to camp I humbly believed I could use that with multiple layers. Nope. I am quite the girl. Froze my bollocks off and had to change. I tried a wool blanket to supplement that I found at an Army-Navy store. Didn't work. It is now being used as wall-to-wall carpeting for when i roll off the pad, I do not freeze. Purchased another Zero bag from a company called Koeppen. It was plush, warm. Quite fantastic. However, it was huge! Stuffed in the sack it was as big as my torso. Plus it weighed 6lbs. Zee-ow! I sold that one to my co-worker and ended up finding this bag from REI. It is only 3.5lbs with a much smaller foot print. Have slept soundly ever since. The bag is nice, only sad thing is for me (vegetarian) it makes me cringe at being down. Nature simply designs a better product. Curses. Clearance find (nice to purchase gear out of season) at $140. Normally it ranges from $200-$250. Makes me happy.
Osprey Talon 44 Liter Backpack with internal Frame
As I've become more interested in Backpacking, I ended up with this pack. It is little larger than a standard rucksack. It fits far more weight than I wish to carry. The distribution of weight is nice. Comfortable. Now it is just realizing what to carry, what to leave back. Luxury versus do I really care to lug it around. So far with being able to leave things in the aircraft I am not at a lost for gear. In summer I believe I would have far less weight in it mainly pertaining to clothing weights and a lighter sleeping bag. This guy is a pretty penny at $150.
MSR Alpinist 2 person cookset
Here is my cookset. It is a neat little compact set for two. Two plate/bowls. Two Cups. A non stick pot, one larger. Lid with holes. I've cooked many delicious meals in it. Plus even popcorn. Toss the big pot directly on a bed of coals with your kernels in a little oil and poof. Within seconds its making loud noises. It is a bit large/heavy for more of an Ultra light or minimalist camper. The most noted aspect of it are the insulated mugs. They aren't a typical cylinder shape. It is more akin to a rhombus. It fits the curving of your hand much nicer. ;) Who doesn't like a good Rhombus. Purchased for around $100.
As for the actual cooking. I've used two systems. One is the Jetboil. An insulated mug that has a coil around the base to distribute heat. It is attached to a small iso-butane canister. Similar to those large generic coleman types just with a smaller fitting. The other is a Jogr screw-on that does the same thing but more minimalist. Both are lightweight. Pack well. As I move onto building the Off grid cabin I am thinking of purchasing a BioLite, blogged about earlier. A rocket stove that uses a thermo-electric conversion to turn twigs into electricity to run the fan (creating less smoke and high efficient burn) along with enough juice for a light or charging a phone etc.
According to an airport board member here in KY, "Any time you are sleeping on the ground, you are 'roughing-it'. " Perhaps he is correct. I do not mind though. :)
Eureeka Solitaire - Single Person Tent (or Two loving, cozy, little Peeps)
This 'minimalist-Bivyesque' style tent has held up surprisingly well. An $85 dollar purchase at Gander Mountain. It has so far withheld week long torrential down-pours in the Pittsburgh area. Sitting atop saturated sponge-like forest earth covered in leaves. While not marketed as a waterproof tent, the flooring has not had water pushing through. A light bit of water vapor/moisture has accumulated on the floor, but I attribute this to condensation. One caveate is that condensation does collect on the under of the rain fly above the no-seeum mesh. So far it has been a non issue. Merely unzip the top and rub a camp towel along the underside. The mesh keeps any drops from hitting you in the face for the most part. Not bad for a 'cheapy' tent. Condensation is a problem for nearly all tents in winter I gather.When it warms up, I've thought about purchasing a Hennessy Hammock - Asym Zip Hyperlite.
Therma-rest Prolight Regular Sleeping pad. R2.2 (old style)
This is my sleeping pad. In order to make a sleeping bag reach the marketed numbers it needs a few things. One is the sleeping pad otherwise all your body heat will simply soak into cold earth. The other parts are wearing head covering and thermals. The version I have is the older style red one. It is only R2.2. I believe the newer Orange style ones are R3. So far with my lowest temps of 20F it has kept me warm enough, although the newer style would be nice. For me, it was a clearance item at $35. Normally $70ish for the regular length in Orange.
REI - Radiant Zero Degree Sleeping Bag
In the first week of camping I went through several iterations of sleeping bags. I brought my 40F bag with me from home. When we decided to camp I humbly believed I could use that with multiple layers. Nope. I am quite the girl. Froze my bollocks off and had to change. I tried a wool blanket to supplement that I found at an Army-Navy store. Didn't work. It is now being used as wall-to-wall carpeting for when i roll off the pad, I do not freeze. Purchased another Zero bag from a company called Koeppen. It was plush, warm. Quite fantastic. However, it was huge! Stuffed in the sack it was as big as my torso. Plus it weighed 6lbs. Zee-ow! I sold that one to my co-worker and ended up finding this bag from REI. It is only 3.5lbs with a much smaller foot print. Have slept soundly ever since. The bag is nice, only sad thing is for me (vegetarian) it makes me cringe at being down. Nature simply designs a better product. Curses. Clearance find (nice to purchase gear out of season) at $140. Normally it ranges from $200-$250. Makes me happy.
Osprey Talon 44 Liter Backpack with internal Frame
As I've become more interested in Backpacking, I ended up with this pack. It is little larger than a standard rucksack. It fits far more weight than I wish to carry. The distribution of weight is nice. Comfortable. Now it is just realizing what to carry, what to leave back. Luxury versus do I really care to lug it around. So far with being able to leave things in the aircraft I am not at a lost for gear. In summer I believe I would have far less weight in it mainly pertaining to clothing weights and a lighter sleeping bag. This guy is a pretty penny at $150.
MSR Alpinist 2 person cookset
Here is my cookset. It is a neat little compact set for two. Two plate/bowls. Two Cups. A non stick pot, one larger. Lid with holes. I've cooked many delicious meals in it. Plus even popcorn. Toss the big pot directly on a bed of coals with your kernels in a little oil and poof. Within seconds its making loud noises. It is a bit large/heavy for more of an Ultra light or minimalist camper. The most noted aspect of it are the insulated mugs. They aren't a typical cylinder shape. It is more akin to a rhombus. It fits the curving of your hand much nicer. ;) Who doesn't like a good Rhombus. Purchased for around $100.
As for the actual cooking. I've used two systems. One is the Jetboil. An insulated mug that has a coil around the base to distribute heat. It is attached to a small iso-butane canister. Similar to those large generic coleman types just with a smaller fitting. The other is a Jogr screw-on that does the same thing but more minimalist. Both are lightweight. Pack well. As I move onto building the Off grid cabin I am thinking of purchasing a BioLite, blogged about earlier. A rocket stove that uses a thermo-electric conversion to turn twigs into electricity to run the fan (creating less smoke and high efficient burn) along with enough juice for a light or charging a phone etc.
According to an airport board member here in KY, "Any time you are sleeping on the ground, you are 'roughing-it'. " Perhaps he is correct. I do not mind though. :)
Thursday, January 10, 2013
#31 Camping For Goals Video
Don't forget to check out the other posting tonight if you haven't already. :)
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Minimalist Living
Night 17 :
Purchased an Osprey 44 liter Talon backpack at REI. Fast becoming a Backpacker. Living off the land should be comfortable after these 6 months on the road. No more shall I encounter the fear of being homeless. Rather, no longer shall I be in fear of the lack of a place to go. The world really does provide if you just open your mind to think about what it is providing you.
So far we have encountered a max low of 21F and a maximum of 'OMG' heavy rain. Still dry, warm, and fat happy ( Well, a skinny dude's version of it). Side note : I've noticed that I do not have to blow my nose at all these last few weeks due to all the abundant 'fresh' air.
Found another really cool camping/tiny house gadget online the other day. It is called a Biolite. Basically it is a rocket stove that has an internal thermo-electric converter. It converts the efficient, smokeless, wood fire's heat into electricity to power its internal fan and something external via USB. Quite a snazzy way to have a fire with forest twigs and electricity past sundown (Solar Photovoltaic).
Biolite Stove Website
Total Pack Size Minus Clothing ( ;) ) = 12lbs 11.9oz.
Purchased an Osprey 44 liter Talon backpack at REI. Fast becoming a Backpacker. Living off the land should be comfortable after these 6 months on the road. No more shall I encounter the fear of being homeless. Rather, no longer shall I be in fear of the lack of a place to go. The world really does provide if you just open your mind to think about what it is providing you.
So far we have encountered a max low of 21F and a maximum of 'OMG' heavy rain. Still dry, warm, and fat happy ( Well, a skinny dude's version of it). Side note : I've noticed that I do not have to blow my nose at all these last few weeks due to all the abundant 'fresh' air.
Found another really cool camping/tiny house gadget online the other day. It is called a Biolite. Basically it is a rocket stove that has an internal thermo-electric converter. It converts the efficient, smokeless, wood fire's heat into electricity to power its internal fan and something external via USB. Quite a snazzy way to have a fire with forest twigs and electricity past sundown (Solar Photovoltaic).
Biolite Stove Website
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| Camping in Luxury! |
| Tent | 41 |
| Pad | 16 |
| MSR Pots | 23.3 |
| Utensils | 1.3 |
| 0FSleeping Bag | 57 |
| Solar Light | 27.3 |
| Talon Backpack | 38 |
Total Pack Size Minus Clothing ( ;) ) = 12lbs 11.9oz.
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| Not I, but could be, in early summer out looking for the perfect 'ACRE' |
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Super Rainy Tuesday
Quick jot down:
Yesterday was an experience in some pretty torrential rain weather. Only thing keeping the electronics and I out of the elements was the tiny Eureeka Solitaire tent. She held up fine, folks!
I've always enjoyed the sounds of rain or ridiculous thunder. It was all the more amazing to have it beating down against the outer nylon shell of a small tent. The is definite peace out in the heavily forested parts of PA.
It is a shame that such a beautiful landscaped state has to deal with the nat-gas industry. Several days ago, we noticed a sticker (Proud supported of Marcellus shale) on a convenience store door. I might have puked. IDK. I forget exactly. lol
Tonight marks day 10 of " living simply w/Electronic Bliss"
Tomorrow may be a good day to fly finally. Who knows. Today was supposed to be do-able as well. The forecast for the next 5 days post tomorrow shows lovely rain weather again.
Oh! Tonight is supposed to be another biter. Low of 26F. *shrugs* We made it through 21F.
Last evening we treated ourselves to a tasty Thai dinner. Nice little step up to camp eating. You know, bright lights and all?!
I'm actually looking forward to sleeping this evening. While we were out yesterday, I managed to pick up a different Zero degree bag that only weighs 3lbs 9oz!! A far cry from the 6lbs of the previous one I was using.
If I just backpack naked (IE dont pack clothing) I should manage to have all my gear under 15lbs.
Over and Out!
- Cloud : Base Camp Two
Yesterday was an experience in some pretty torrential rain weather. Only thing keeping the electronics and I out of the elements was the tiny Eureeka Solitaire tent. She held up fine, folks!
I've always enjoyed the sounds of rain or ridiculous thunder. It was all the more amazing to have it beating down against the outer nylon shell of a small tent. The is definite peace out in the heavily forested parts of PA.
It is a shame that such a beautiful landscaped state has to deal with the nat-gas industry. Several days ago, we noticed a sticker (Proud supported of Marcellus shale) on a convenience store door. I might have puked. IDK. I forget exactly. lol
Tonight marks day 10 of " living simply w/Electronic Bliss"
Tomorrow may be a good day to fly finally. Who knows. Today was supposed to be do-able as well. The forecast for the next 5 days post tomorrow shows lovely rain weather again.
Oh! Tonight is supposed to be another biter. Low of 26F. *shrugs* We made it through 21F.
Last evening we treated ourselves to a tasty Thai dinner. Nice little step up to camp eating. You know, bright lights and all?!
I'm actually looking forward to sleeping this evening. While we were out yesterday, I managed to pick up a different Zero degree bag that only weighs 3lbs 9oz!! A far cry from the 6lbs of the previous one I was using.
If I just backpack naked (IE dont pack clothing) I should manage to have all my gear under 15lbs.
Over and Out!
- Cloud : Base Camp Two
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Cloud Sock Hands
Night 4 :
Finally got our ducks in a row. Proper temp sleeping bags. Cooking is coming along nicely. Figured out entertainment.
Who knew you could just enjoy the warmth and a chair in the KOA laundry room. It re-affirms my belief that when the power goes out, it is lighting that makes the largest difference to people and their sense of well being. Life just shuts down otherwise.
Over the last few days we have gotten back to base came a little after 4 pm. We have had to scrounge the woods for dead-dry wood. Then fire up the JetBoil to make a cup of hot PG Tips (Brit tea - No point roughing it!). Make something for dinner. Then call it a night when it gets black. Rather, spend another hour packed in a zero sleeping bag while watching a streamed episode of Dexter. Check a few emails and then off to bed.
I've been waking up at sunrise lately. Surely, not my thing but when you go to bed at 9pm there is no other choice.
Tonight we made an amazing meal of sauteed stir fry veggies in enchilada sauce over a bed of instant mash potatoes. As camping goes... this was pretty stellar eats.
Oh, we also attempted popcorn. Surprised us both at how fast it went tossing the campware pot on a bed of hot coals.
Night everyone!
Finally got our ducks in a row. Proper temp sleeping bags. Cooking is coming along nicely. Figured out entertainment.
Who knew you could just enjoy the warmth and a chair in the KOA laundry room. It re-affirms my belief that when the power goes out, it is lighting that makes the largest difference to people and their sense of well being. Life just shuts down otherwise.
Over the last few days we have gotten back to base came a little after 4 pm. We have had to scrounge the woods for dead-dry wood. Then fire up the JetBoil to make a cup of hot PG Tips (Brit tea - No point roughing it!). Make something for dinner. Then call it a night when it gets black. Rather, spend another hour packed in a zero sleeping bag while watching a streamed episode of Dexter. Check a few emails and then off to bed.
I've been waking up at sunrise lately. Surely, not my thing but when you go to bed at 9pm there is no other choice.
Tonight we made an amazing meal of sauteed stir fry veggies in enchilada sauce over a bed of instant mash potatoes. As camping goes... this was pretty stellar eats.
Oh, we also attempted popcorn. Surprised us both at how fast it went tossing the campware pot on a bed of hot coals.
Night everyone!
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| Popcorn Wonder |
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| Enchilada Veggie Stir fry over a bed of Mash |
Monday, November 19, 2012
Highly Focused.
Greetings everyone.
I've been busy with Flying all over the US this past month. I've been aerial mapping in upstate NY, central Ohio, and now just south of Pittsburg, PA. This season is wild. I have been doing this for going on five seasons now. Taking last year off. In the previous years we did not fly all that much in this fall section of the season. It would always be something. Low clouds. Fog. Rain. Snow. Snow-maggedon. Not this year. Its been full flying day after day. It is soo warm still! Is it the same for all of you?? I just don't know. We humans tend to look at short windows of time. A few years here and there. Perhaps some of you with multi decades at it would know more, but these last few have baffled me. Working (aerial mapping) based off of no snow on the ground and leaves on the trees has made me notice all these little differences.
I used to stare out the window and look down to just enjoy the scenery. Now I find myself looking at possible places to put a Tiny house and a large food garden.
Actually, with this obsessed goal of mine for the upcoming year, I even look at various small structures such as sheds and Tool buildings with the idea of Scale and Utility.
Funny how your mind switches to what you want. When you want a certain car for example, you see it everywhere. When you wish to build a tiny house with Post and Beam Construction and straw bale walls (less than 500SF) you begin to observe architectural design in the old style buildings around you. How they are laid out. The designs of the windows. The roof-line. Even the mouldings around the frames.
Like I said. Obsessions.
Best wishes to you all on the upcoming holidays! I hope to have plenty more 'road' videos to come. Perhaps a nice series of aerial footage of possible acre purchase areas. Im really enjoying this southern PA area with its rolling hills and towns carved into the valleys between two mountains. Looking down to see people having built their happy homes on the tops with clearings in the trees.
One thing that makes me wonder though as I fly all over the US is this... why is city planning so horrible? I mean. Most homes are not orientated to use the southern sun exposure. C'mon people! Its darn near free energy. Heck, a huge portion of homes are even set up east-west. *Shakes head*
Anyhoot. Below is a great video recently updated from a youtube author I follow : concerning bio-intensive gardening.
I've been busy with Flying all over the US this past month. I've been aerial mapping in upstate NY, central Ohio, and now just south of Pittsburg, PA. This season is wild. I have been doing this for going on five seasons now. Taking last year off. In the previous years we did not fly all that much in this fall section of the season. It would always be something. Low clouds. Fog. Rain. Snow. Snow-maggedon. Not this year. Its been full flying day after day. It is soo warm still! Is it the same for all of you?? I just don't know. We humans tend to look at short windows of time. A few years here and there. Perhaps some of you with multi decades at it would know more, but these last few have baffled me. Working (aerial mapping) based off of no snow on the ground and leaves on the trees has made me notice all these little differences.
I used to stare out the window and look down to just enjoy the scenery. Now I find myself looking at possible places to put a Tiny house and a large food garden.
Actually, with this obsessed goal of mine for the upcoming year, I even look at various small structures such as sheds and Tool buildings with the idea of Scale and Utility.
Funny how your mind switches to what you want. When you want a certain car for example, you see it everywhere. When you wish to build a tiny house with Post and Beam Construction and straw bale walls (less than 500SF) you begin to observe architectural design in the old style buildings around you. How they are laid out. The designs of the windows. The roof-line. Even the mouldings around the frames.
Like I said. Obsessions.
Best wishes to you all on the upcoming holidays! I hope to have plenty more 'road' videos to come. Perhaps a nice series of aerial footage of possible acre purchase areas. Im really enjoying this southern PA area with its rolling hills and towns carved into the valleys between two mountains. Looking down to see people having built their happy homes on the tops with clearings in the trees.
One thing that makes me wonder though as I fly all over the US is this... why is city planning so horrible? I mean. Most homes are not orientated to use the southern sun exposure. C'mon people! Its darn near free energy. Heck, a huge portion of homes are even set up east-west. *Shakes head*
Anyhoot. Below is a great video recently updated from a youtube author I follow : concerning bio-intensive gardening.
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