Off-Grid 101

02-26-08

The month is almost gone, time goes by so fast here, it seems like we just got here and it also seems like we have always been here, I can’t say that I have forgotten my life before this, but it is fading. Before we moved here, I didn’t know how I would be able to leave all of my responsibilities, I felt a great responsibility to do the jobs I had, both at Best Buy and at Curves. I did a lot of key things at both places, things that no one else did for the most part, and I enjoyed working at both places. I enjoyed the people I knew there. I know that I did a good job at what I did and I cared about it, I am afraid that things aren’t getting done as well as I would do it because I did care about what I was doing. The few weeks (or was it months?) that I was still in Irving after I quit both jobs, I felt like a fish out of water, I felt like I didn’t have anything to do, in reality there was lots to do with all the last minute packing and keeping the items on the trailer safe from the weather… well, once we got here, that all changed, I do not worry about things back in town like I thought I might, I do miss everyone I knew there, but I am pretty busy here, and what I do is so much more enjoyable and rewarding, I do not regret making this major life changing move.

Tonight is pizza night, I am making the dough, I make a yeast dough and right now it’s rising on the wood stove, the stove is still warm from this morning and it’s the perfect temp for the dough. I have some hamburger meat that needs to be cooked and I have some left over deer sausage that needs to be eaten, that will go good on the pizza. I am making the dough here in the cabin, but I’ll cook it at our neighbor’s house, it’s pizza night for him too! :)

Bob just scared me to death! I am inside the cabin, he is outside on a very narrow scaffolding attached to the house, he is putting up more siding, he is up pretty high, I heard a crash and other sounds that you don’t want to hear in this situation, I had a vision of him falling, I jumped up and ran to the door while calling out to him, he answered that he was OK, I still went out to see what happened, he had nearly fallen, the scaffolding he is using is a ladder with some boards on it to walk on, he said he was focused on what he was doing with his hands …

More Pix

I took more pix today, here they are:

This is the hole that Bob dug, it’s about 6 feet deep and 6 feet across, the bucket you see in the hole is a standard 5 gallon bucket, the caption “My Hole Has A Bucket In It” is a play on words, the first person who can tell me why that is funny and where I got it from wins an award. ;)

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This is me, I am standing in the “bathroom” corner of the cabin looking into the medicine cabinet.

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This is the humanure toilet, complete with the obligatory reading material, the orange bucket on the left has the cover material, the smaller red container on the right is my pee bucket, this gets dumped outside on the compost pile.

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This is the inside portion of the power plant, there are 4 deep cycle batteries on the bottom, on the top, from left to right is the on-off switch, on top of that is the small charge controller, to the right is the big charge controller, the red thing on the right is the inverter. This is all sitting on top of a chest of drawers. I know it looks like a rats nest of wires, and for the most part it is, but it works and quite well and is more organized than it looks.

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This is the heat and water heating and sometimes cooking area, you can see the stock pot on top, it is about half full with water, it stays warm for hours after the fire goes out. This is what I use to wash myself and the dishes with.

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This is the food pantry, we have mostly canned goods here, I also have food stores in other places in the cabin. We are eating out of cans a lot, I do try to get creative with what we have, and on a semi-regular basis, I get to town and get some fresh food (salad, greens, cheese, bread…) to add to the mix. We had salad a few days ago, I’m not a big salad eater, but I loved eating the crunchy greens, it made for a different meal and I know it was good for us too. I can’t wait to start growing a garden, we will have lots of good stuff to eat then! :)

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This is the bed that Bob built. It’s not much to look at, but it is off the ground and sturdy. You can see my pink PJs on my pillow.

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This is my sink, complete with pot and pan storage, a shelf over the top for various things, and lots of room under it for storing our junk.

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02-13-08

This evening, close to sundown, I sat outside on a big rock, out behind my cabin, this is where the …