Chapter 124...Making Cabinets For an RV Refrigerator

Off Grid...Chapter 124 It's time for another story and to finish up what we did in January. So let's get to it We are still working on the refrigerator situation. The old one is still in the house and being used. Now it's time to get the new "RV" refrigerator in place. As I told you before these refrigerators only come with the shell....no sides and no front door panels. We are going to use 2 pantry cabinets to make up the sides but Mike had to add an extra piece of wood to get it farther out from the back wall to make sure the refrigerator has air behind it. The two sides that Mike painted black to match the refrigerator. Next we have to work on the new cabinet...which I got for 30% off because it had some minor scratches This is the cabinet that will go on the side of the refrigerator closest to the front wall of the house. We have to put in an air vent through the cabinet and out the front wall. Mike drills the pilot hole for the bigger hole we need. Mike using the 4" pipe to draw the circle for the hole to be cut out. Mike cutting out the 4" hole with a jigsaw. That was all we did that night. Now the next day....it's back out to the Buckeye tree that we cut down. We have to try and clean the rest of it up. Of course we ran into the cows on our way down. Mike cutting the big part of the tree to make it easier for us to manage. Cutting the tree into discs to fit our wood stove since we haven't bought a log splitter. And we are loaded up. Back up to the house and we unload the trailer. Here is our new wind generator. Hopefully it is a good windmill. We will see. Mike finished the water pump box by putting shingles on top to match our roof. Back inside the house. It's time to work on the outside vent hole for the refrigerator. The hole is cut out on the inside. Now we have to go outside. While I hold the flashlight Mike draws the hole to be cut. Next he cuts out the hole.....and hopefully the pipe fits in the holes in the cabinet and the holes in the house Mike hooks up the gas, hooked up the 12 volt to run the display panel, and hooked up the 110 to run the refrigerator on electric. It all works. Next we had to do something about the front door panels. Originally we thought we would make them but decided it was easier to order them. I called to see if they made stainless door panels....and they said yes...for $300.00 Really...just for some flimsy decorative panels? I think not...so I ordered the black panels instead Seriously these refrigerators should come with a finished panel for the doors Mike put the top panel front on the freezer door. And sliding in the refrigerator panel. The new refrigerator is in...now we just hope it works like we planned. The next morning I get the cleaning bug. I cleaned all the trim, doors, handles, door trim and now it's time to hit the kitchen area. My last section to clean. Our clock above the cabinets has a blackish ring. No problem....I will just take the clock down and wash it. Well some things never work out as easily as you expect I started to wipe the black ring and realized it was soot on the "whole" wall Apparently when we had that negative air pressure problem when I had the gas dryer and the wood stove on at the same time, I smoked up the house and got the walls dirty. So now instead of an easy clean...I have to wash the wall I got that wall done...but I am not touching any other walls in the house until spring. BTW, the air vent for the refrigerator solved out negative air pressure problem We learn as we go, lol. The cows are enjoying this beautiful day We should be having babies soon And looking out the front door. It's amazing how green our front grass stayed this winter. That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed our story and I will write again soon. Have a wonderful week. Lisa

Chapter 50...Beefing Up My Pantry

Off Grid...Chapter 50 Hello everyone. I hope you all didn't get too much snow yesterday. For those of you who didn't we have plenty up on our mountain to share. Monday 2-23 While Mike and I were eating breakfast we heard a crash and then another crash. Crashes are never good. It was coming from the kitchen so I started opening doors in the kitchen. I opened up the pantry door and sure enough two of the shelves with all my cans collapsed from all the weight, lol. We were hoping that the brackets that came with the pantry would be sufficient but I guess the cabinet company never planned on a lunatic like me stocking their pantry's. Well on the plus side it gave us something to do and this time we did it right. First Mike and I went up to the building to get supplies to do the pantry right. It's amazing how much stuff you need for one little project. Once we got back down to the house I emptied the cans out of the pantry putting some in a big container and the rest all over the counter. While I was doing that Mike started cutting strips of wood to use as side rails for the pantry. The side rails will hold up the shelves. We should have done this in the first place. After the side rails were cut Mike put glue on them. Then he glued and screwed them inside the pantry. After he puts the 6 side rails in then the shelves can go back in. Now I have a nice sturdy pantry. I just have to wait 24 hours for the glue to dry and than I can put the cans back in. Tuesday 2-24 We are still waiting for the glue to dry so we decide to make a dump run. Mike hooks up our old trailer to the jeep and we load up. Next we head over to our other property and we completely empty out all of our trash from the other building. We loaded up a combo washer/dryer which was originally from the coach and also the original mattress from the coach. Now the building is completely empty and ready to move. Now if we could just get the land to dry out. At the dump Mike tells the guys about the washer/dryer and they want it which is good because we don't have to pay to dump it. They are getting a deal because inside the w/d is the instruction manual and it still works good. It's just another thing off of our list and it will make someone happy. When we get home I can finally re-organize my pantry, woo hoo. Everything is all nice and neat and I have a little room for more food. I better go shopping. If you haven't figured it out I am a food hoarder. At least Mike and I will never starve, lol. Thursday 2-26 I went to town for another Dentist check in and also did a little running around. Poor Mike is stuck in the house with nothing to do. Saturday 2-28 It's the last day of February we are very happy about it. We are supposed to get snow tomorrow so we head to town to pick up some of the basics in case we get snowed in. Sunday 3-1 Happy March. Woo hoo only 3 more weeks until Spring. Unfortunately our welcome to March is mot a friendly one. It is starting to snow. By the afternoon it is almost a whiteout. We are now supposed to get 5-10 inches of snow. Oh no, we will never get down our driveway. As much as we don't want to see anymore snow it really is beautiful. Here is the snow in the tree branches. I love this. As beautiful as this looks we will be very happy if we don't see snow again until next winter. It's funny we have these little black birds that only come out when it snows. We haven't seen them in a couple of weeks or so. As soon as it started snowing they swarmed our birdhouse. They learned very fast where to come for the food in bad weather. We did have to use the generator today to charge up our batteries. It looks like we can go about 4 days of clouds before we need some help. Mike thinks he will be able to improve this when he changes our system. I hope you enjoyed our little update.  Lisa