Chapter 123...RV Refrigerators, Building An Insulated Box, and Cutting Trees

Off Grid...Chapter 123 Mike and I have been trying to keep busy but it isn't so easy when most of our work is outside work. We still manage to get things done. As I told you before, we moved our water pump outside to give us more storage space. Hey..who doesn't need more storage space, right? Mike got the pump hooked up outside on the side of the house. Next Mike had to build a box for it and then of course I got to paint it. Mike cutting out the board insulation for the box. We have to make sure the water lines don't freeze while outside. Adding the insulation to the box that Mike built. Mike walked away to cut more insulation and guess who found the box? Time to bring it outside. We got it screwed to the house. Adding more insulation board to the front of the box. The front and the top are on Mike sticking on the asphalt sheeting we had left over from our roof. It's a little cold and stiff so Mike uses his torch to heat it up. Mike cutting off the extra edges. Our water pump is now protected from the elements Another day and another project It's time to work on the new refrigerator. We bought an RV refrigerator which can be manually switched over to run on either propane for winter or electric for summer. Hopefully this is the answer for our situation Anyway, since it is an RV refrigerator it is not freestanding. That means it has no base, no sides, no top, and no door panels. Mike has a plan to build it all. First he starts by cutting up a 4x4 post for the base. He lays it out for the base of the refrigerator. And then he screws it all together. The back of the refrigerator. We moved our old refrigerator into the living area so we could get the new one in place Now we have two jobs that have to be done. Mike needs to make sure the gas is ready to be hooked up and we also need to run a 12 volt line in the ceiling from our breaker box and out to the kitchen and then down the wall. The refrigerator gets switched over from gas to electric using 12 volt. I helped Mike run the wire in the ceiling, sometimes I am very grateful for ceiling tiles and no sheetrock on the ceiling, lol. Mike working on the gas line. Adding more foil tape to the refrigerator for extra insulation. Mike working on the 12 volt line. We took down the old cabinet that was above the old refrigerator since the new refrigerator is smaller. Mike is sanding the wall so I can paint it. Now we have to test it out to make sure everything works right. If all goes well then we plan on buying a second pantry. We will have a pantry on both sides of the refrigerator to use as the sides. So now we wait Of course Princess Niki is in her usual spot. OK...another day....another job. Since we didn't plan on being here for most of the winter, we are running out of wood. It's time to find a tree and do some cutting. There is a Buckeye tree that our cow family wants us to cut. Supposedly the buckeye is toxic to cows Anyway, since it is easy for us to get to that will be the first tree for us to cut. It is right by the overflow from our pond. Hopefully it doesn't land in the water. I hide by the barn while Mike starts to cut Mike gets out of the way as it starts to fall. And it's down. Now it's time to cut it up and clean up. Of course some of it did land in the water Mike starts cutting while start cleaning. Mike cutting. I get the small branches cleaned up and ready for Mike to cut smaller. We get one trailer load almost full and we are out of gas. Time to go Once we get it all up top, we have to unload. Mike and I unload the wood to bring down to the house. The tractor sure makes hauling wood easy That's all for now. We have to still get the cabinet for the refrigerator and I'm sure we will be doing a lot more wood cutting. I hope all of you enjoyed this story. Have a wonderful day and I will write in again soon.

Chapter 93...Installing A Gas Furnace and A Clothesline

Off Grid...Chapter 93 It has been a sunny and very warm week in TN. On to our story. 4-12 Today Mike and I have to stay home. The gas company is supposed to deliver and install our new furnace. It will be so much better than or fireplace because it is vented. I will miss the fireplace but not the humidity or how inefficient it was. We go up top to do some work while we wait. Back to the building and our shelf. Mike cuts a board and installs it for added support. We want to clean up and re paint the shipping containers this year. First we will have to sand or grind them down and Mike is thinking of doing some kind of a spit finish before we paint them. Any ideas on how to camouflage the dents in the metal? I get to plant the first items in my garden. Woo hoo. I plant some onion sets and some lettuce. Next week I can plant carrots and radishes. While I do that, Mike helps me by banging in some t-posts for my garden. I will add some netting of some sort for my beans to grow on. I help with the last t-post. Now that we know the furnace will be installed today we have to take out the fireplace. First we take off the mantle and then Mike takes off the sides. And  Then Mike disconnects the gas and we take the fireplace box outside. After lunch the man from the gas company arrives. We got the Empire DV-35 Furnace which should work better for us. I am so thankful we did the paving on the worst part of our driveway last year. There is no more stress and worrying about people making it up our drive. The gas company sent 1 man to unload the furnace and install it. I have no idea how the company expected 1 man to get the furnace off the truck and into the house. Mike and I help him get the furnace down using our hand truck. The gas man hasn't installed one of these in a long time so he takes out the manual....and there is o English manual and this is an American company. Go figure. Anyway, I'm sure he and Mike will figure it out. The first thing they do is cut a hole in the house for the pipe and the vent cap. Next they install the bracket and the heater. Then they put the vent on and the vent cap. Next they install the thermostat when they run into a small problem. The plug for the blower doesn't fit our outlet. They have to undo the vent and the pipe and take the furnace back off the wall. Next Mike has to cut the plug and hardwire it into our outlet. And They get that done and get the furnace back on the wall. Nest they hook p the gas. Mike has to go into the ceiling to free up some more gas line. This ceiling comes in very handy The gas man checks for leaks and finds two. That gets fixed and our furnace is done. Now that seems like a really easy job but it took Mike and the man fro the gas company more than 3 hours to install it but it's done. After he is gone, Mike and I bring the fireplace box up top. We are going to reassemble it in Mike's building so we can sell it. Mike cleans it out using the blower. Back down in the house Mike has to repair the gas line and the wall. He cuts the sheet rock and notches a hole for the gas line. Then he spackles it. When it dries he will sand it and then paint it. 4-13 This morning we take a trip back into town to go to the wood stove store. Yay, this week they are open. We learn a lot and decide to look for a used wood stove since we don't need it right away. We found one used one that turned out to be a great deal but it was already sold. We meet with our neighbor and he signs the contract for our other property. Hopefully we will close next week. We drive the other way and drop off the contract to the lawyer's office. On our way home we stop and pick up cement for my clothesline Mike helps me with my clothesline as soon as we get home. First he starts digging the hole while I mix the cement. I pour the cement into the hole while Mike taps it down...an we are going t need more cement. Oh well, we will have to finish it tomorrow. Mike goes down to the hose to play with our new furnace and he notices a mistake The thermostat was installed on the wrong side and apparently it's dangerous to be on that side because of the heat. So we have to fix it. I go up to the building to get some wood blocks. Mike takes off the outside vent cap and takes out the pipe. Next I put the wood blocks under the furnace. This will help hold the furnace up while Mike changes the thermostat. We can't take it completely off the wall because the gas line is now inside the wall. Mike gets the thermostat done and the furnace back on the wall. Then he puts the pipe back o and puts the vent cap back on. After that Mike works on the floor trim. First he measures ad cuts it. Then he installs it. Later on he paints the trim and the wall. 4-14 Now that we have a contract on the front property we have to go over and clean out the shed and work on the fence. O our way over we stop at the local equipment(?) store that we have used for years. Mike wants to get a gas blower and sell our electric blower. We get to the property and Mike starts mowing a walking path on the back property while I clean out the shed. When he is done he helps me with the shed. Using his new blower in the shed. While he does that I go to work on the fence. It is a fence that separated the 2 properties. We leave it open so we can mow. We wrapped up 6 strands of barbed wire and attached the a t-post. Now I have to unravel the 6 strands without getting cut and put them in the eye bolts on the pole. I got them straightened out. Mike comes over and pulls the wire through the eye bolts. And then he tightens them. We are done on this property. All we have to do now is move the For Sale sign to the back piece. We pack up and go home. As soon as we get home we get a call. A man and his wife are at the back piece and want to walk it. Mike gives them permission and tells him to call back if he has any questions. About an hour later they call us back and they want to meet with us tomorrow. Sounds good...I hope. I mix up some more cement and add it to the clothesline hole. Mike and I load up and go down to the new fire pile. We start the fire. And less than an hour later we have this. I just read that ashes are good in the garden. I think I'll check into that a little more. Right across from our new fire pit is our main spring. At some point a bathtub was put here....I'm guessing to give the cows water, although I've never see them use it. They would rather slurp the water off the ground and the muck At some point we would like to make a small ditch and run it into a pond. This would really dry out and clean up this mess. Later that night Mike uses his blower to clean our back parking area. 4-15 My clothesline is done and I can use it. While I clean, Mike works o our zero turn lawn mower so we can sell it. At 1:00 the couple from yesterday show up. After spending 3 hours with them they signed the contract. They want to close before the go back to FL next week. After they leave Mike and I run back to town to drop off the contract at the lawyer's office. If all goes well we will close on both properties next week...crossing our fingers. Now we have to wait and Mike and I stress out when we have to wait. It's going to be a long few days. 4-16 I went to the Library for their Book Sale this morning and I scored It feels like Christmas around here. I got my garden supplies, my clothesline, and cook books form the library. I am a very happy woman Back at home I looked out the window and saw a bird in our birdhouse. The top was off but we don't have any food inside. I think he got stuck. I tell Mike and we both go out to help him. Mike sets him free. The poor little guy must have been panicked. Speaking of our 2 legged friends, Mike has been feeding the turkeys but we only have 5. Last year we had 2 different groups of almost 20. I hope they didn't get killed this winter. 4-17 The cold is back. Mike and I did some running around town but not much else. We drove around and caught up with some of Jimmy's guys at the shop. Later on I saw a calf on the hill and he wasn't moving. I went up to check on him and thankfully he was just sleeping. I did wake him up When I turned around I got our full view. It will be so nice when the trees come back and we can't see any houses. Well that's all for this week. I hope you all enjoyed our story.  Lisa