12/28/2012

Christmas has come and gone.  Not only did we all survive, but we had a great day!  We missed our kids and grandkids and family who couldn't be here, but we enjoyed the kids, grandkids, and other family who were here.

On the greenhouse front, we have snow peas, cucumbers, and strawberries blooming in the greenhouse.  The snow peas have almost 3 dozen blooms on them, and the blooms are pink and burgundy, very pretty!

The solar system is complete now, and he has been in process of testing the capabilities.

Panels halfway there

All the panels mounted

Junction box for joining the panels together

Wiring Fun

PV Array done.  900 watts

Solar mechanical board for the charge controller

It's Alive!  Solar is all hooked up and working!

12/16/2012

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.  He and the kids (our adult kids) put the tree up Thanksgiving afternoon.  The grandkids had fun decorating it.  The day after Thanksgiving, a couple of the girls were here to help me put up the Christmas village.  I sure had fun watching them.  LOL

Tricia and Angie did a great job of putting the "villages" together:

On a homesteading note, then Lee has been working on his latest project, the mount for the solar array:

He said he has 4 lines to chalk and 32 holes to drill, and then he can mount the solar panels to the array mount.  It's been pretty busy around here.  

Another Project Finished.

He has another project finished. Lee got the indoor wood stove all hooked up yesterday. He cleaned it out today, I wiped it down on the outside. We swept and cleaned the hearth. He has all the fire makings loaded and ready to be lit and a stack of firewood sitting handy on the porch.  Put our cast iron fajita skillets on the top to use for trivets for now.

I'm tired. Things are getting done, but I'm tired. Thanksgiving dinner was great. Christmas is coming up. Got a lot of stuff done this year that I just haven't bothered with much over the last several years. The house looks nice. Decorations, tree, Christmas village, it's all very pretty.  Christmas cards are addressed, stamped, and ready to be mailed.  I *think* our Christmas shopping is even done.  I'll have to get some photos of the village this year.  

There always seems to be another project, another list, another something that we want to do, though. My current project is the guest room. I want the TV stand, the TV, and my vintage video game consoles and games set up in there, as our 14-yr-old great-nephew, Isaiah, is coming to spend his Christmas vacation with us. The tv and video games in there has been the eventual plan all along, but just hadn't gotten to it yet. Sometimes, I wonder if we will ever run out of projects or be completely moved in or completely done adding little "touches" to the house. I do believe that all the additional light and space in the house, as opposed to living in a dark little cracker box, has been good for me. So far, the Christmas spirit and decorating has been great! I am learning to delegate some things, though.

The house has been a blessing, that's for sure.  

Fresh Salad!

We had our first fresh salad out of the greenhouse tonight, and it was delicious!  Venison steaks, sauteed onions, french fries, and fresh salad!

Not too bad, as the lettuce & spinach was planted on 10/29/2012.  That's less than a month for the first salad from the greenhouse.  

11/25/2012

We have green in the greenhouse!  

Bedding plants.

Outside looking in.

Pole beans in a bucket

Sugar snap snow peas

He sure has been having fun with all of it.  You can see lettuce planted in the blocks at the end of the row of snow peas too.  He has lettuce & spinach planted in those, plus kohlrabi, carrots, and radishes in the big raised bed.

11/8/2012

We went to Baker Creek seed store today.  Their Mansfield store (the original store) isn't very far from us.  We spent almost $25 on seeds there, but we got some Chadwick cherry tomatoes for hanging baskets, also some Kentucky wonder pole beans that he is going to plant in buckets. Got some Brunswick cabbage seeds & some pink beauty radishes. He has already planted some of the Pink Beauty radishes in between the rows of carrots (companion planting). The cucumbers we got are Fin De Meaux cucumber seeds  that are supposed to be excellent for hanging baskets with little cucumbers about 2 inches long, perfect for making small pickles or using in salads.  We're both looking forward to eating salads out of the greenhouse this winter.

We did get some seeds for the regular garden for next spring, including some white country gentleman sweet corn, mortgage lifter tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, some Marconi sweet peppers, and some snowball cauliflower. Then they gave us a free package of some kind of melon that looks sort of like a cantaloupe but isn't.  I'll have to look them up, I guess.  We took Eve & Hoot with us, as they hadn't been there yet.  They both loved the seed store and picked up some new flower seeds for themselves.  They had a greenhouse in Texas, and I think they miss it.  

Yesterday, we had a long trip.  Drove up to the Lake, and then on up to see our son, Bud, and his family.  It was a nice 250-mile road trip, but got the doc's office out of the way for another 3 months, unless I have to go back in 2 weeks. Also got to see Bud, Jeanette, Brighton, and Alyssa, which was also great. The hugs were nice too.

Actually got to lay my eyes on this particular son and know in my heart that he will be okay. He had an accident involving a rope swing out over the water in July, and has had six surgeries on his right leg since then.  His leg will never be 100% again, but he will still be okay.  He was looking much better and in good spirits, so that was good. Lee got a new kitchen faucet installed for them while we were there, and the visiting was great. We stopped in Lebanon & ate at The Great Wall on the way home. Good Food. All in all, a most excellent day!

11/04/2012

Update on the greenhouse and life in general:  As of 10/29/2012, he had planted 16 row-feet of carrots, 8 row-feet of kohlrabi, and 4 row-feet of sugar snap snow peas.  Using, the holes in the cement blocks for "pots", he planted 19 pots with lettuce and 19 pots with spinach.

As of 11/02/2012, he had sprouts up.  As of this morning, 11/04/2012, everything has sprouted except carrots.  This afternoon, we had carrots sprouting too.  Every packet said 7-14 days on germination, but it sure didn't take that long for most of it.  He would like to plant some hanging baskets with Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes to go along with his other salad fixings.  

On other homesteading note, he has been cutting firewood, as always.  He has had a chance to relax a little more this year than while he was still working on building the house.  

He went down to the pond and caught us a nice catfish dinner a couple of weeks ago.  Then went back and caught a few more for Eve & Hoot.  

On October 7, he filled his first archery farm tag for the year.  

On 10/31, he filled his second archery farm tag for the year:

Yesterday, he butchered our ducks and he'll be experimenting with making duck jerky.  He's had the duck breasts marinating for over 24 hours, and he'll put it in the Excalibur before he goes to bed tonight.  It also takes those ducks off the feed bill.  I don't know what happened, but they haven't laid much for eggs over the last 3 months.  They used to be really good egg layers, but it has dwindled down to almost nothing.  

We are slowly but surely getting more and more of our things moved over from the trailer.  

Ready to Plant Seeds!

Yesterday, he Quad sealed the cement blocks together. He sifted one wheelbarrow of dirt and mixed it with three 5-gallon buckets of rabbit manure.  He added some bagged potting soil & picked up a few more seeds while he was out.  He got the bed filled but the bags of potting soil were pretty wet so he decided to let it dry out and break up the clumps before planting it.  He said, "24 cubic foot of dirt later, I am ready."

10/28/2012  Raised bed in greenhouse.

Today, he's raking it all out and breaking up the clumps -- and he's ready to plant seeds! 

Progress inside the Greenhouse

He started building his raised bed inside the greenhouse today.  It looks great so far.  It is 4 ft, 8 inches by 9 ft, 4 inches or a raised bed 40 inches by 96 inches surrounded by 38 four x four inch pots (the holes in the blocks).  He figures the holes in the blocks will be perfect for spinach, lettuce, and other types of salad greens.  He will put carrots, cabbage, kohlrabi, and radishes in the raised bed part.  Then he'll put some tumbling Tom tomatoes in some hanging baskets.  Should have salad all winter long.

10/25/2012 Greenhouse is done!

Well, he figured out a solution for a longer extension ladder.  (I swear he scares me half to death sometimes).

This was yesterday, 10/24:

Ladder strapped to our ATV

He said, "Nice extension, I can get the next piece & pull forward for the last piece."

And he wondered why he got "that look" from me? 

Today, the greenhouse is finished!

10/25/2012, putting the last screws in.

You would not catch me up on a ladder like that, but sometimes he just does whatever it takes to "get 'er done".  

Fall Colors and Greenhouse progress

We did end up with some fall colors around here, although we wondered if we would after all the hot dry weather and drought conditions.

Here is the view from the porch:

Greenhouse progress has been moving along.  He dug a trench for the first long piece of poly carbonate on the south side.  Ran into some good-sized rocks there, but still managed to get the trench dug.  Here's what it looked like when they stopped for today:

He ran out of ladder for the center screws!  Said he needed either a longer extension ladder or a bigger step-ladder.  Sure looks different, from the inside and the outside.  

10/18/2012

After waiting a few weeks for delivery of the last piece of J-channel and the lumber for the solar array mount, we just picked it all up while we were in town on the 14th.  That last piece of J-channel has been a hold-up on finishing the greenhouse.  In the meantime, he has cut, split, and hauled up a lot of firewood for the winter.  

After we brought the J-channel home, he started on the greenhouse again.  This is what it looked like at the end of the day yesterday:

Polycarbonate sheeting started on the west side of greenhouse

Sheeting started on the east side of greenhouse.

It's really looking pretty good.

10/10/2012

More greenhouse progress:

East side framed in , ready for the door , window & lexan . Katy has half the ground cloth & gravel done too. 9/29/2012

10/1  West side, J-channel & sheeting left to do.

10/1  East side, J-channel & sheeting left to do.

Just waiting on the last of the J-channel to be delivered now, along with the lumber for the mount for the solar array.  

We've had a few cold nights now, and we've already had a few fires in the furnace.  It definitely keeps the house warm, that's for sure.  

Greenhouse Progress

Things have been a little hectic around here.  Of course, he has been working on firewood, back-filling the extra water line, and making all kinds of progress in general.  Here are some photos of the progress on the greenhouse:

9/24 Wall Footing trench

9/24 Footing Poured

9/24 Looking West

9/29  Grampa's Helper

September 19, 2012

Temperatures have finally cooled down, and it looks like we might get some fall this year.  It's been busy around here as usual.  Besides getting the last items for getting the greenhouse and solar array into place ordered and delivered or picked up, he has started on the greenhouse.

As he put it, "A new adventure begins!"

Greenhouse is started.

Hoops are up.

The hoops and center support are up, ready to rack and level.  Seems like there have been a dozen projects in the works here.  I've been able to finally get more stuff packed over to the house from the old mobile.  I think the rest might be a lot faster.  He got me a new cedar porch swing too.  Just have to get it sanded, stained, and put up.  He wants to wait & get a new photo from the pond until after the greenhouse is up.  

September 5, 2012

It's been quite busy around here.  Last Thursday, we went into Missouri Wind and Solar and purchased some nice additions to our solar capabilities.  We had intended to drive into Springfield to Home Depot, because they had a set on sale that included:

4 100-watt Mono crystalline panels with anodized aluminum frames and tempered glass for outdoor use and superior performance
Two diode junction box for enhanced performance
30 Amp charge controller allows system to be easily expanded with additional panels and cables
2,000-watt pure sine inverter with two outlets and a USB port allows you to plug in small devices
Kit comes with all cables and connectors for quick and easy set-up

Because it was on our way and it was also open, we decided to stop by Missouri Wind and Solar in Seymour, MO, to see if they could match prices for Home Depot.  Sure glad we stopped!   Mike Jones there sure treated us right.  We left there (with taxes paid) for the same amount as the Home Depot had set before taxes, but with a 60-amp charge controller (instead of a 30-amp) & with two 220-watt panels instead of four 100-watt panels from HD.

That same day, we stopped in Mansfield at Lucky Lumber (the same outfit we bought the house package from) and ordered the rest of the materials for the greenhouse project.  The materials were delivered yesterday, so that is now all on-site. 

Monday, Labor Day, we went to look at a tractor and a pickup truck.  We purchased the tractor, and it was delivered this morning.  It is a 1946 Ford 2-N.  He is again a happy camper.

He's still looking for an old farm pickup truck.  We've looked at a few, but not found what he wanted yet.  He's happy with his projects for right now. 

In the meantime and in spite of the high temperatures, fall is supposed to be approaching.  I don't know how many pounds of sugar we have fed out to these guys this year, especially with the drought and little in the way of flowers or nectar for them to eat.  I am sure, though, that they have provided us with countless hours of entertainment and wonder.

I know they are supposed to start migrating south in just a few weeks now.  I think we'll miss them.

Another Project Finished. 8/23/2012

The skirting is now finished.  The south side, the side he started on, was complicated by the vent for the greenhouse, and the east side (the last side) included the dryer vent.  He also had to deal with crawling under the front porch for the west side and crawling under the back deck for the east side.  It's all finished now, and the skirting makes the house look more "finished".  

East Side (back of house)

 The mounds of dirt will go back into the trenches to finish the back-fill on the new water line project.

North Side

South Side - the sliding glass doors will lead to the greenhouse.

West Side (front of house)

Not sure what his next project will be, since he hasn't made up his mind yet.