Chapter 142...Our New Solar Panels Being Installed

I love not having any electric bills:)  Finally the day we have been waiting for.  Time to get our new solar panels in the mounts and get hooked up.  It's so nice to not have to worry about power outages.

So back to our story and back to the second week of April.

April 8
Today I spent the day working on the garden of rocks around the solar panel mounts and Mike did the drilling for the solar panels.

On a cute note...here are some updated cow and calf pictures:)
Our big girl "Red" and in the background our unsociable cow and her light colored calf:

Mama and her baby.

And the one with the white face, like a mask:

Mike and I took a ride down to our pond and got to see some of the fish.  It's good to see the babies after the winter months.

And:

Enough animals...now it's time to work.

We have a couple of bags of concrete left so Mike and I decided to use them up and fill up all of the holes.

Mike is spraying the bottom of a pole with the rubber paint for protection:

All the concrete is used:)

Next Mike works on leveling the 4x4's so I can start filling the gardens with rock:

Mike is pounding rebar into our 4x4's and into the ground the make the garden more solid:

Now I can start filling them with rock.  First I put the weed cloth down, then I take the shovel and the 5 gallon buckets back to our rock pile.  I use the hand truck to bring the full buckets of rock back to the garden:

While I do that, Mike works on drilling holes into the solar panel mounts.  This is so we can install the solar panels.  He needs to drill a total of 50 holes, ten holes in each rack:

Finally after thirty 5-gallon buckets I get the garden finished and we have no more rocks.

Mike is hosing them down to make it nice and clean:

It was a good day and it feels so nice to have nice weather.


April 9
More blue skies.  It's time to paint.

We are going to paint all of the solar panels mounts green to match the building and while we are at it we will paint the side of the shipping container.

Laying out cardboard to protect the rocks:

Mike using his new paint spray gun:

All the solar panel mounts are done:

Once the mounts are done we start on the side of the building.  We might as well while we have the chance.  Once the new solar panels go up we won't be touching this side of the building ever again.

We start at the front top corner of the building.  While I hold cardboard up to protect the driveway, Mike starts spraying.  He also sprays my hands but at least the driveway isn't green, lol.

Almost done with the building:

The painting is done:)

We have to let everything dry before we can install the solar panels.


April 10
Today is the day we have been waiting for.  It's time to get our new bigger solar panels on the new mounts that Mike designed:)

The solar panels are big so Mike and I will have to work together to get them on the racks.  The first one is the hardest as we don;t have much land to stand on.  I really hope we don't drop one.

The first one is in the rack:

And presto...eight of them are in.  We work so fast, lol.  Since Mike and I had to work hard to get them in I couldn't take pictures.  You can see how much bigger these are compared to the old panels which are on top of the shipping container.

We also got the two panels installed that stand alone to catch a different angle of the sun.  After all the panels are screwed in, Mike wants to clean up the ground.  Here he is grading out underneath the panels:

Next I raked it all out and Mike starts seeding:

And:

I put the hay over the seed and Mike waters it:

Now it's time for the really important part and since I can't do any electrical, Mike is on his own.  Mike has to get all of the wires hooked up so we can make our own electric.


Mike installed two combiner boxes on the outside of the shipping container and under the solar panels.  A combiner box takes all the wires from the solar panels, combines them into one, and then sends them to the charge controller inside the shipping container.

Mike has 5 panels going into each combiner box.  Each solar panel has it's own circuit breaker.


Mike uses the torch to seal the shrink wrap over the connectors to make them weathertight.

Skip to April 16 as we had other work going on at the "store" property:)

Mike is getting getting ready to put the wire from the combiner boxes into the charge controller.  This is a really thick wire and you need strength in your hands to do this kind of work:

Peeling back and clipping the strands that aren't needed:

Mike hooking up one of  the charge controllers:

And the finishing touches:

Here are the circuit breakers onside the combiner box:

Our wire mess.  Mike will clean this up soon:

Now we are set to go.  Next I will help Mike take down our old panels and he will hook up our new system:)

I hope you all enjoyed this story and I will write again soon:)

Chapter 135...New Log Splitter And Apple Picking

Hello everyone.  I'm so glad you stopped in.  I will be writing a story a few times a week for you to check out.  Please subscribe so you don't miss anything:)

Fall in the mountains is a wonderful time.  There is so much to do and enjoy outside.  As you know Mike and I love being outside.  So let me tell you about some of our new toys and the fun we had with them.

We finally decided to buy a log splitter.  With all the wood we have down around our property we should have enough for quite a few winters.  The hardest part is the logs being too thick to fit into the wood stove and Mike and I are just not up to using an axe for that much wood, lol.

OK...now for our new toy.  We ordered from Lowe's and picked it up using the trailer.  We bought a Troy Built Log Splitter. Our Log Splitter

Here we go:)  We have a bunch of cut logs ready to go.  This is how it works.  You put one piece of wood into the holder and keep your hands out of the way.

Then you turn on the switch and the machine starts to push the blade.  It starts to cut through the center of the log.

And it is split.  Wow that is so much easier.

Our work station up top.  I think Mike likes his new toy although I have to admit it is pretty cool.  I do have a fascination with machinery:)

Now we have to get the logs down to the wood pile in front of the house.  We also have some logs to split so Mike loads up the split logs, his new toy, and he is ready to ride:)

Using the log splitter and stacking new logs.

We spent the rest of the day and the next few days cutting and splitting wood.

Now for another one if Mike's new toys.  He loves to use the binoculars to find the wild animals on our property.  The ones we had weren't very strong so we researched them online to find a better pair for him.  I think this should do it, lol.  They are made by Celestial.

We have also had a lot of fun apple picking.  We have about 100 apple trees on our property growing wild.  That is one good thing about the cows.  They eat the apples, digest them and bam...new seeds and a new tree if it doesn't get crushed before it grows to maturity:)  

We have had a great time with my stepdaughter and the grandkids picking apples.  Apple picking in the mountains is not like apple picking in a nice flat field.  If they fall out of the tree, the apples will roll, and roll, and roll down the mountain.   Ugh!!!

Here is Mike using the apple picker  to grab some high apples while my stepdaughter and her daughter hand pick the closer ones.  An apple picker, aka fruit picker, is a head with small claws and a small basket attached to a pole.  You reach up into the tree with the pole. use the claws to grab the fruit and pull until it falls into the padded basket.  Fruit Picker Head

The next weekend our grandson joined us for the fun.  We now have a new game.  One person uses the apple picker to knock apples out of the tree and the rest of us play catcher:)

Both my stepdaughter and I got enough apples to make a bunch of apple butter, applesauce, and apple pie filling.  Today I am still using the canned apples from last Fall.  The first batch I had to borrow my stepdaughter's apple peeler.  After that I decided to buy my own.  We will have so many apples each year that it seemed worthwhile.  I got mine from the local Farm Supply but my stepdaughter has this one.  Apple Peeler .  Let me tell you, if you have a lot of apples to peel get one of these.  It makes life so much easier. 

After we picked apples, Mike took our granddaughter for a ride on the tractor.  Then he dropped her off next to us and he got a fire started on our fire pile.

He sure does like to play with the fire piles and his tractor:)

The kids and I walked back up and around the back of the house.  What a beautiful day.

After two weekends of apple picking my stepdaughter had enough apples but I didn't want to waste any so one morning I grabbed my bucket and apple picker and started down the hill.  I spotted a tree from the side of the driveway and it looked like it had some good apples.  It was an easy tree to get to so that was a nice break.  I was able to get a 5 gallon bucket full of apples.  Ugh...now it's time for the trek back "up" to the house.  On my way back up through the property I came across the bull.  Uh oh.  He saw the bucket in my hand and thought it was feed.  Not good.  I had to keep throwing apples at him until I made to our gate.  I guess I should be thankful I had food in the bucket, lol.

A few days after that Mike and I took a walk in the woods.  We like doing that.

And guess who we ran into, lol.

We have some really big trees down.  Now we just have to figure out how to get them closer to the house.  Our land is very steep in a lot of areas.  It's hard enough just to walk it.  I can't even think about pulling trees and then getting logs out.

Walked the border of our property that day.  It was sad to see our border line had no new tree growth but our bordering neighbors all have new trees growing.  The difference is they don't have any cows on their land so the new trees have a chance to grow.

And coming back around the front of the house.  Ah...home sweet home:)

After that I noticed Niki hurt herself.  Her back legs would collapse on her and I was very worried.  I took her to our Vet and he told me she had a herniated disc.  He said we have two choices.  One try bed rest and let her move as little as possible or take her to a specialist and she could have surgery.  Mike and I opted for bed rest and we would see how she progresses. 

I bought her a new bed that is made of a foam like egg crate.  It is supposed to be supportive for her body.  I think she likes it:)

Well that pretty much wrapped up our Fall.  After that we went to Florida for a few months and as you know, we are now back and ready to work.  

I hope you all enjoyed this story and I will post again on Saturday about our coming home fiasco.  Then each Monday I will write about our working adventures in the Mike and Lisa World.


Have a wonderful day:)

Chapter 134....Gardening for 2012

Hello everyone.  I am caught up on old stories.  Now I will start new ones each week.  I will write a new story on Monday and on Thursdays I will write a "Tasty Thursday" story which will be something about food.  If Mike and I get really busy I will add more stories:) Please subscribe to our blog so you don't miss any updates:)


Now for today's story which is a recap of my square foot garden for last year.  This year I have big plans for my garden and I will also be planting fruit trees and blueberry bushes.  I am very excited about producing more food:)

I originally chose to do a square foot garden for the ease of it.  With our ever changing life and projects I thought this would be a good idea. It is very easy for a beginner gardener, your soil quality doesn't matter because you mix your own, and it doesn't require much weeding.

April 14

Geting ready to add more compost.  I really need to start my own compost pile.

My new raised bed for the strawberry plants I ordered from the 4-H.

April 23
My new plants:).  Since my house is off grid and I have so few windows I can't start my own tomatoes and peppers.  Their seeds can't be planted directly into the ground so I need those plants.  Each year my stepdaughter and I go to the local High School where they sell plants for a very good price.  This year we were so excited to go to the High School but when we got there they changed the way they have been doing things for years.  They were only selling larger plants at twice the price.  Since we have more than a month before we can plant them in the garden this would not work.  We were very disappointed but we did go to the local Garden store and found our plants there:)

This is the first year I planted lettuce and spinach.  It is an early crop so I was happy not to have to wait.

May 6
My little spinach coming up.

I also planted some peas and used tomato cages to help them stay supported.

My strawberry plants.

May 18
The weather has been warm so I added my tomato plants and also added string for my green(pole) beans to grow on.

Some extra plants.  Once again I bought to many.  I just can't seem to resist,  Mike says I would turn the whole back yard onto a garden if I could.  So...what's wrong with that, lol.

The peas are blooming.

May 26

I think I have every available square filled:)

And then some.  It seems I ran out of room so I went into our building to look for some scrap lumber.  I found some boards, grabbed the drill and screws and added on to my garden, lol.  Mike says I'm nuts.

Look at that beautiful lettuce:)

June 26

My pole beans are doing well.  I am training them to climb up the string.  I am never happy with my pole bean trellises.  Some day I have to come up with the perfect solution.  Any ideas????

The yellow squash, zucchini and peas are doing well.

June 28

This is the first time I tried to train my cucumbers to grow vertically.  They are pretty heavy so you have to make sure they are tied to the string until they are long enough to wrap around themselves.  This worked well.

Uh oh....I hate when the cows are behind my garden.

Oh and you can see the Japanese Beetle bag in the above picture.  Here is where you can find them, Link.  They really do help on the amount of Japanese Beetles that used to eat my pole bean leaves.  I will have another one this year although they are pretty gross to empty.



July 5

My cucumbers are doing great:):)

The squash is really coming along.

At some point right after these pictures the cows reached over the back fence and pulled out all of my pole beans.  I was not happy with the cows that day to say the least.


Even so I had a lot of food from my garden.  I made a lot of zucchini bread and even canned yellow squash relish and zucchini relish for the first time.  My friends loved the zucchini relish.  I really liked the yellow squash relish especially on hot dogs:)  This year I plan to have more food and get more food canned up.




Yesterday was actually the first day for 2013 that I got to play in my garden.  I turned it all up and got it ready for new plants and seeds.  I will be planting some lettuce and spinach this week.

Mike and I have also started working around the property during the good weather breaks.  Soon we will be working full force and we can't wait:):)


Have a wonderful week and I will write again on Thursday and next Monday.