Blogging in the Gloom

Winter is fast approaching, with three light snows since October. Our power system, now comprising four solar panels, a wind generator and six deep-cell batteries, is being tested--we've had a couple days when there was neither sun nor wind to charge the batteries. On those days, we rely on the gasoline generator we had to buy last summer to run the AC on really hot days. A smaller gasoline generator runs the power tools when we need them.

Catching up is always tricky. Where did I leave off? I'll rely on my photo files to keep things sort of in order, starting with the two large solar panels. (We also have two smaller ones that came with Serenity.)

These two panels are mounted on satellite dish mounts, so they can be turned side-to-side and up-and-down to track the sun. Greg usually adjusts them twice a day to maximize the solar gain. So far it's working quite well.

Since my last post, Greg built a pumphouse, which I call The Monolith, since it's taller than it is wide. The eleven-foot ceiling is necessary for the every-five-year maintenance our Simple Pump http://simplepump.com will require. The pumphouse began like this:

and now looks like this:

We took a short break in late August to return to New Mexico and welcome our second grandson into the world.

We then returned to the never-ending job of building a home. I spent my time finishing the Wash House interior while Greg put up fence posts and dug trenches for wires from the solar panels:

The gothic window and its faux-stone wall separate the Throne Room, which contains our Nature's Head composting toilet www.natureshead.net and the washing machine--a utility sink and a plunger.

In late September, we finally had enough wind-free days to install the Sunforce 600 wind generator and tower we bought from Home Depot.

The tower is thirty feet tall, and required a lot of fiddling to get the guy wires adjusted properly. The tower had to be raised and adjusted by itself, then lowered again to mount the generator. Greg enlisted the help of our neighbor, Robert, to raise the tower with the turbine in place, while I was in town volunteering at the food bank. Of course, as soon as it went up, the wind was nowhere to be found for several days.

With winter approaching, we decided it would be a good idea to enclose the doors to the studio (former bunny barn) and wash house against the wind, rain and snow, so we designed an airlock:

We removed the tall studio door and rebuilt the shorter wash house door, including two-inch foam insulation to keep out the cold. (70s joke: "I have this lovely coffee table, could you make me a hollow-core door out of it?") This modification allowed us to install a vented propane heater into the studio, primarily to keep the composting toilet at the required 55 degrees to function properly. It works so well, we've threatened to move into the studio on really cold days ....

During all this building, digging, etc., we took a Sunday off to go into town and greet the steam train on its way through:

At the end of the summer, we lost BunBun, our Cinnamon doe, to the heat, so when the weather cooled down (finally), we went in search of a replacement. We ended up with several replacements, a New Zealand White doe (we've raised NZs before), two Creme de Argent does, and a litter of Satin babies. This sudden bunny explosion required the construction of a new bunny barn, which is being built the Montello Way--using almost exclusively salvaged materials. It began this way:

As usual, a simple bunny barn wasn't enough, so we decided to add a chicken house and run to the other side, so when spring rolls around, we can get some chickens. Before we had the chance to close anything in, we found out we needed the space sooner than expected, so we started with the smaller chicken side of the building, which now looks like this:

When the weather warms up again, we'll paint this to match the other buildings. In the meantime, it's home to seven of our bunnies, including these guys:

Do I hear an "Awwwww ...."?

If the gloomy weather continues, I'll finally get a chance to actually work in my studio. If not, I'm sure we'll be getting on with Bunny Barn II, the larger side where all the bunnies can be together. In the meantime, we hope everyone has a special holiday season.

 Merry Christmas from our house to yours!