Chapter 104...How To Build An Awning & More Asphalt Curbing

Off Grid...Chapter 104 Mike has a new saying for our "Off Grid Home" It is now our ongoing living laboratory where we will and have tried, lol, many different things in search of the perfect outcome. This is where we all get to learn and if one thing doesn't work out then we will try something else. We are now hoping to improve upon our home...so that means there will be some re-do's I hate re do's...but if it will make our living better than we will do it. Our Awning Story....I hope you enjoy As you know we have no A/C inside the house, and since we placed our house to get the best view, we get the direct sunlight in the late afternoon. We have been able to stay cool by closing the blinds in the late afternoon but then we loose the enjoyment we get from looking outside. Mike and I decided to build a covered awning which will block the sun and also give us some cover for sitting outside while it rains I can't wait to get some comfy lounge chairs and kick back this year It took us a few trips to town to get enough lumber to start the job. Now we are ready to work. Mike starts off by taking down the old trim. Then we have to install the ledger board along the entire front of the house to hold the frame and the panels. Mike puts on a double sided caulking strip for added leak protection for the ledger board. Next he pre drills holes in the board so we don't split the wood when we put the bolts in. Using a hammer to start the anchor bolt. And then the ratchet to screw the bolt in. Once the ledger board is attached to the house we have to install the front posts. We are installing four 4x4 front posts to hole up the cross beams and the panels. Mike and I used metal post anchors to install the posts. We had to drill each anchor into the concrete patio and the screw the post into the anchor. They are installed. Next we have to put a header board across the 4 posts so we have something to screw the beams to. We used lag bolts to do this. It doesn't look like much yet but we are getting there Now it's time for the rafters. We are going to install one rafter every 3 feet and then we will add alternating rafters 3 feet long in the opposite direction to support the top panels. Mike screwing in the last of the long rafters. Working on the cross sections. The base frame is up now it's time to paint. Mike and I painted 2 coats ...while the princess gets to enjoy our hard work We called around for pricing on translucent panels for the roof. David at the farm supply had the best deal. Mike and I took the trailer to the farm supply and picked up our panels. Each panel is 3 feet by 12 feet. That will be our cover. Mike starting to install the panels. Finally, we are up to the last section..and it's a tight fit. Good thing we did this last year. Right now I don't think either one of us cold fit in there We are done with the awning. We may look into some roll down shades for the front. Awning from the front. From the side. From above. Our next project is to protect the hill by our ditch that the cows keep messing with. This time Mike and I are installing poles with electric wire to protect the bank. Putting in the poles. Then we added more grass seed, and stapled another layer of curlex down. Hopefully we can get the bank to hold this time Here are some clouds rolling in. Mike and I took a ride across the way and I tried to take a picture of our little homestead. It was a cloudy day but this is what we look like. And finally...the very last job that was done last year. We had one more section of paving done. I wasn't there the whole time but I did get some pictures for you. The asphalt truck. Brushing on the adhesive for the curbing. And making the curbs. We now have the paving down 2/3's for the driveway. We may finish the last of it this summer. It is so much nicer to drive on the pavement and it doesn't wash out and tear up our car like the gravel does. One more picture before I finish. I found a strange bug in my garden. I posted this last year and someone did tell me what it was but for the life of me I can't remember I will have to look it up for you. Anyway here is the strange but cool looking bug. I got it. It is a tomato hornworm with wasp eggs.  "Tomato hornworm larvae are also parasitized by a number of insects. One of the most common is a small braconid wasp, Cotesia congregatus. Larvae that hatch from wasp eggs laid on the hornworm feed on the inside of the hornworm until the wasp is ready to pupate. The cocoons appear as white projections protruding from the hornworms body (see photo, left). If such projections are observed, the hornworms should be left in the garden to conserve the beneficial parasitoids. The wasps will kill the hornworms when they emerge from the cocoons and will seek out other hornworms to parasitize." I hope you all enjoyed it. Next week I will tell you about Mike and I installing our wood stove Lisa

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