Chapter 144...Taking The Old Solar Panels Down

Mike and I have finally gotten busy and it feels so good.  I am short on time right now as we just finished building some walls for the store this morning, I have been making food for the kids tomorrow including chicken parmesan, Italian sausage, a ham and potato casserole, chocolate chip cookies, and a cheesecake is in the oven.  Then this afternoon Mike and I have a wedding to go to for a very special and sweet girl we know so I will have to make this a quick story about Mike and I taking down our old solar panels.

So...let me take you back and we can almost finish up April:)

We have twelve 135 watt Kyocera solar panels mounted in top of our shipping container.  It was not fun getting them up there and I'm sure it won't be fun getting them down, lol.

Mike starts out by on doing all of the wiring in the disconnect box:

He gets the first panel off and hands it down to me on the ground:

The first row is the hardest because we can't "both" be on the roof.  Mike climbs under the first set of of panels to unbolt them:

Once the first set is sent down to me we can both work up top.   Mike is working on the last panel in the first section:

Our first batch of six are down and we store them inside the shipping container.


The next day Mike starts washing them.  They need to be cleaned before we can sell them:

It's another cloudy day:

We are determined to get the next six solar panels down.  We are now both able to be on the roof of the shipping container.  From the top of the shipping container:

And:

Mike unbolts the last set of three.  He will lift all three panels plus the rack.  Then I will hold the rack while he unbolts each panel:

I also decide to do a little yard work.  We have some bad sections so I need to rake up the bad stuff and get rid of it.  Then I can seed it and get some new grass to grow in.

Our little bull is getting big.

Mike is putting new wire connectors on the backs of the old solar panels because we had to cut the old ones off:

I help Mike wash the rest of the old solar panels down before we store them:

A couple days later we finally get some sun.  I bought some pine bark mulch to use around my blueberry bushes and fruit trees:)

My first seeds are starting to come up in my garden...peas, onions, lettuce and spinach.  I also planted a square of collard greens, mustard greens and kale.  I have no idea what those taste like but it's fun to try new things:)

My strawberries are looking healthy:

While I was playing in my garden Mike had to work on the motorhome.  When we took it to pick up our pool table we had heat but no blower.  Mike checked the fuses and that wasn't the problem.  He decided to take the dashboard apart to see if he could fix it:

Oh man...I really hope he can put this back together again, lol.

Yay...he found the problem:)  It was a loose connection.  I am so thankful that Mike can do so much.  If not we would have to waste so much money and time having other people do things for us.

Once again...I am very happy that Mike and I aren't normal, lol.


I hope you enjoyed this quickie story.  I have to get the cookies done, clean up and get in the shower.

Have a great day!!!

Planting New Fruit Trees And I Hope I Don't Kill Them

After five years I have finally decided to take the plunge and get some fruit trees.  Hopefully I don't kill them all, lol.  Mike is going to help me clear and area in our yard first.  It was kind of easy to pick a location for my new trees since the deer ate our old trees...ugh!!!


March

We used to have these very pretty arborvitae at the front of our house until the deer ate them one winter.  We decided to move them up to our fence and see if they did any better there.  Well needless to say the deer still ate them.  We kind of knew that would happen but it is heartbreaking to throw away trees.


Here are the arborvitae the deer ate:

We need to get the trees out of the ground so Mike gets his tractor.  We tie a chain around the tree and Mike tries to pull it out.

That doesn't work because the chain just slides off the tree so he tries to push it out.  No go.  Looks like we will have to go back and do it the hard way, lol.  We take turns using the shovel to get the trees out of the ground.

Here I am digging the last one out:

Ah...now we can use the tractor.  Mike brings the tractor close to each tree and we load a few of them into the bucket.

Then Mike drives them over the our back side fence:

And dumps them:

Now it's time for the fun stuff.  While Mike works on other things I measure the distances and start digging the holes for my trees.

My sticks, oh I mean trees are here.  I bought a cherry tree, a plum tree, three kinds of pear trees, and a peach tree...all dwarf varieties.   I also bought a variety of six different blueberry plants.  I heard good things about Miller Nursery so I ordered all of my fruits trees from them.  Miller Nurseries

I unwrap them and soak the roots in water while I start to dig my holes.

Planting a tree.

My first six trees are in.

And my blueberries are in after I added acid to the soil.  I used a soil tester to make sure I got the acidity levels correct for the blueberries.  Soil Tester And PH Meter

I also got a head start on my raised garden and planted some lettuce, spinach and peas:

I also bought some red onions:

Here are my temporary grids for my garden.  I section off my garden in 1 foot by 1 foot squares using the Square Foot Garden method.  Square Foot Gardening

Now my trees are in and it's time to start planning my vegetable garden.  I am so excited to get my plants but I have to wait another month.  I love this time a year:):)

For anyone who has never tried a vegetable garden I highly recommend starting with a small square foot garden.  It is much easier than you might think.  Give it a try if you have never done it.