Chapter 126...Installing Wind Generators On The Shipping Container

Off Grid...Chapter 126 Today is about the wind generator. As you already know, Mike and I bought this: GudCraft WG400 400 Watt 12-Volt 6-Blade Wind Generator With Charge Controller It turns out that that wind generator was a piece of junk. When the wind blew it didn't charge. Mike was not happy. So we had to take it down, pack it back up and send it back. What a hassle. Then Mike toyed with the idea of building one of his own but he thought that may take too long. He likes a homemade version as opposed to a commercial version because he can work on it himself. So he started searching again and found one that would work. We bought one of these: Missouri basic 12volt 5 blade wind turbine generator 500 watt dc output made USA Although this does not look like a "commercially" made product it fits our needs. It produces power even during very small breezes and it has a car alternator for the motor....which Mike can easily change out if there is ever a problem. We liked it so much that we bought another one. And now our new set up We needed a set up where we could easily get to the wind turbine if we needed to work on it. Mike decided to put a moving steel pole on the green building and use it for the turbine. Metal pole on the building with one screw in the bottom. Mike testing the pole to see how it will work. Looking good. Now it's time to use the tractor to push it up the rest of the way. It looks like this is going to work really well. Now I get into the bucket and hold the pole straight so Mike can pre drill the holes into the metal building. Like I said, this was not a true "commercial" product so Mike has some fixing to do. Here he is spraying the tail. Next he works on the generator motor...which is just like an alternator Then we use the tractor to lift it up and screw it into the building. Woo hoo. One is secure and doing a good job. Then we got the second one delivered. We are doing the same set up but on the back corner of the building. Mike working on the second wind turbine. And the second one is up.....just in time for the storm that is brewing. So far it has been a month with this system and we are very pleased with it. We are back to how it was the first year we were here in TN. It is breezy every day That will be a welcome relief comes summer The only issue we have with this is the noise inside Mike's building. It does make a racket. We put rubber in between the pole and the metal building but it is still very loud inside the building when the wind is blowing. Any ideas? Lisa

Chapter 121...Driveway Sealing Down Steep Part and Cool Machine:)

Off Grid...Chapter 121 Finally....I am here because I owe you our last story from 2011. So let me take you back and I will show you what we did. 9-25-11 I have to start off by showing you a picture that I think is pretty cool. We get so many great pictures here. 9-26-11 It is a beautiful morning the next day!!! 9-30-11 Ok...today is a big day for us. Mike and I are going to seal the whole driveway that was paved our first year here. It is about 600 feet plus the curbs. We start off by doing the curbs first. We finally have a system for that. Mike and I work together. One of us pours some of the sealer onto the tops of the curbs in a 5 foot section. Then we both brush the sealer onto the curbs. We worked our way down one side of the driveway and then back up the other. Now it's time for the driveway. We have a total of 12 five gallon buckets of sealer. We are ready to go. We have to line the buckets going down the drive. Once we put the sealer on, we cannot walk back up it for a few days. Today is a much cooler day than when we tried to do the sealing at the top. It is making this job much easier. Mike and I work together the whole way down. He takes the left side and I take the right side. Mike coming around our curve. We are involved now...and no time for any breaks. We just have to keep rolling until we have no more buckets left. Almost done Woo hoo...we have no more sealer for the year. We are done Wow..it looks so clean. Now if we can just keep the cows off, lol. Here ae some pictures of the finished job. The top portion with the new electric fence in place.  The new fence going our gate. I miss this view right now. 10-3-11 We have one small section of the old white electric fence that goes around the rock. Mike wants to replace that with the silver wire so the fence is less noticeable. We have to take out the old white fence first so we can fix it. Here is Mike cutting a piece of rebar down. We can't get it out of the ground. I go down and use the remover to take to old T-posts. We are going to use up the smaller rebar for the new fence. At some point we will fence off the whole driveway and the steepest rock section to keep the cows off Mike is painting the rebar. Of course we have to make everything match We made it down one side and back around the curved rock area with the new wire. Now we have to splice the two wires together. Mike holds the two wires together while I pull for him. Then he puts the splice on. Then he uses the crimper to squeeze it tight. We are done with the first section of driveway. Hopefully the cows will not get through and make a mess of it. That was our last planned job of the year. Now we are on cleaning up mode. The machines have to be emptied, cleaned and then stored. We won't be using the tractor, mower, weed eater, or any other equipment until next year when we get back from FL. 10-7-11 Today we took a ride over to Jimmy's property. He rented a really cool machine and Mike and I want to see if we might be able to use it. It's a spreader used for grass seed and also hay. We followed his guys up to the top of a hill and watched the new machine. Very cool. You load up your hay, the machine chops it up and then it spits it out. It makes seeding a rough hill much easier to do. Check it out. I love seeing things like that. Machinery is so amazing. Mike and I picked up some more rebar. He wants us to get a jump on next year's sealing job. We add the poles 25 feet apart on both sides of the driveway. Then we paint them green. We won't put the wire up until next spring. We want the cows to get used to going around the driveway in small doses. Here is Mike pounding in a pole for next year's fence. And of course, our supervisor Niki is making sure we do our jobs right, lol. Once all of the rebar is on and painted we have to add the clips that will hold the electric wire. That is it. We are done with the work for the year. Now it's just time for us to prep to go to FL to work on some real estate there. 10-12-11 Our last picture for the Fall. I hope you all enjoyed our last story of the year.  Just dreaming and planning some more for 2012.

Chapter 90...Making Curbs For Our Driveway

Off Grid...Chapter 90 Hello everyone. It's time for my final chapter for 2009. It has been a year and a half since Mike and I started our journey. You have all been there through the ups and downs, all of our dilemmas, mistakes and solutions. I appreciate all of our readers including those who have been with us since the beginning and also the new readers who seem to keep finding our story. I am very thankful for all of your suggestions and help through all the phases of our building process. I have learned so many things from you and I hope many of you have also learned some things. If it wasn't for all of you continuing to read, I would have stopped writing a long time ago. So thank you to all of our faithful readers for sharing in our lives. I am still truly amazed and humbled that so many people enjoy our story. I will miss writing it. I will write next spring with any updates or changes we make on our property so I won't be gone for good. So let me take you back to the last of the Fall work. 9-6 Now that we know we made a mistake with our electric for the inspector, we have to get a meter can. We head out and try Lowe's first and they don't carry them. Uh oh. Next we try Home Depot and thankfully they have one. We get back home and Mike starts working on the meter can. He has to also re do some of the wiring. Mike spoke to the inspector and he told Mike how he wants the wires run. Mike doesn't think it sounds right but "you don't question the inspector", lol. So Mike wires it the way the inspector told him to. Three wires are in the meter can. The inside box is redone. 9-7 Today is our last day of mowing the other property. Woo hoo. We bring all of the equipment home and clean it up. 9-8 First thing this morning we go to the electric company to talk to the inspector. We want to make sure we are on the schedule for today's inspection. It's a good thing we stopped in. Apparently there was a misunderstanding of what Mike had to do. We now have to go home and re do the wires,the way Mike originally thought, before the inspector shows up. Boy we do re do things a lot, lol. The correct box on the inside. And the correct meter can on the outside of the barn. We passed the final inspection. Woo hoo. Now we are ready for electric service to our barn. 9-9 Just a new view form the top back of our property. 9-11 Today we got a call from the paving contractors. They want to come and do the curbing today. Woo hoo. You know we would never turn down any contractor who wants to work. They will be doing the curbs by hand. First they roll on an adhesive, shovel the asphalt mix onto the road, and then they form it. Curbs going down the side of our house. Rolling on the adhesive. Shoveling it out and forming the curbs. As they head down the driveway Mike helps them decide where to leave cut outs. We want openings in the curbing where the driveway slopes off. This when when it rains or snows any of the run off will go into the ditch. Here is the driveway with curbing and one opening. The curbing is done. Now we just have to hope the cows don't step on it and crush it. 9-14 Well the cows were good and we had no squashed curbs. We did get a mess form the flying pollen(?) It looks like feathers all over the curbing. I guess our curbs got tarred and feathered, lol. 9-15 The kids are coming for dinner tonight so while I cook and clean Mike works on some oddball jobs. Here he is caulking again. Next year we will do the finish on the sides of the house. He also built a box to cover the water and electric lines going into the house. This is the water line that cracked last year when it got below freezing. It is now stuffed with insulation so hopefully there will be no cracks this year. And the last job he did was paint the one ceiling tile that got stained. We found a special spray paint that is made for ceiling tile touch up.  That was the last of the work. Now it's time to enjoy dinner and having the kids over. That is the last of our story for 2009. I will leave you all with one final view picture.  See you in 2010. Lisa, Mike, and Niki