I noticed that as the sun got lower and the leaves fell off the trees more light was getting on the south side of the cabin roof than was getting to the clearing. So I moved the solar panels to the roof. I may angle one more East and the other West to get the best coverage. Another plus is much shorter cables which means more voltage gets to the batteries.
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Since Lily keeps pulling off her bandages I got her some booties. She walks like something sticky is on her feet. I think she’ll like them in the winter. Her foot is pretty much completely healed. She gets the stitches out Wednesday.
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Lily runs like a cheetah and leaps like a dolphin. Unfortunately there are some hazards in the woods not even counting the branches and rocks. There are leftover pipes and other metal pieces from long gone oil wells. Anyway, something got her and she cut the web between her toes and part of the pad on her back right foot. It was bleeding pretty bad and looked like just a bandage wouldn’t do, so I took her to the vet. She needed stitches and spent the night there. Amazing how lonely the cabin is for even one night now that I’m used to her being here. Now her foot is all bandage up.
She can walk on it but it doesn’t seem very comfortable. She gets the stitches removed in 2 weeks. The bandage can probably come off in a week if it doesn’t fall off first.…
When I built the porch roof I didn’t leave enough overhang. Rain runs onto the porch deck. So I am attaching extensions
along with tar paper.
So living exclusively at the cabin has taught me some things. I thought my two 100 watt solar panels and three 75 aH batteries were sufficient. And I still do. But I did run into a problem. I had some problems with my jeep and ran my car battery down. I used my solar charger to charge it but it was rainy for days and didn’t charge very well. I used my deep cycle batteries to start it, then it took a while to recharge them. So I decided with the sun lowering in the sky it was time to redesign my solar panel mounts. So I ran an old dog run cable and hung the panels from it.
Now they are higher and easy to move along to track the sun. In the photo the line isn’t completely tight yet, so they are actually higher now. It works great! I may design a motor to slowly move them through the day. I did notice last winter that in the winter the reflecting white snow actually makes direct sunlight not as important to get charging voltage. Also I am now shopping for a 12v well pump so I don’t need to use the generator for water. I can then have water pressure maintained automatically. The next step towards indoor plumbing.…
It begins. I have decided on $200 a month as my monthly cabin budget. Since I still have the house to maintain I am not county those cost as they will go away when I sell the house. I am allotting just $200 monthly for cabin living expenses. Here is the current budget breakdown.
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Happy First Day of Fall.
And what a perfect day it is. 56 degrees, partly cloudy. I’ve worked outside all day and didn’t sweat a drop.…
The first day of autumn is almost here. My favorite time of year. A cold front passes through tomorrow just in time for a nice cool first day of fall.
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It’s time to finalize my budget. For the past month I have kept track of what I need and what I forgot. So now I think I can make a permanent budget list. I am going to go for the $150 budget. I can actually get by on less but there are times I like to splurge so I will stay with $150. I have found that my favorite cabin food is hotcakes made with pancake batter mixed with oatmeal. And ordering groceries and supplies online is working out great. I save on gas money.
Here is my monthly grocery, supplies and costs list. The prices will stay pretty much the same each month although I may substitute items for variety.
Update. I have decided to wait until the end of the month to list my budget and shopping list for October. This will be my basic budget for each month at the homestead.…
I would still like to have a small pond here on the homestead. I have been hoping to borrow or rent some heavy equipment to make it easier. But that probably won’t happen. At least not before winter. That just leaves me, and my pick and shovel. The land here is very rocky underneath, not to mention the gravel the previous owner brought in to drive their RV on. So I looked over the land and realized a much better place is at the back of my property. It is the lowest area and if I setup drainage from the cabin and deck area I think the pond with not only stay full, but will help get rid of the squishy areas around the cabin. There is a lot of moisture in this area, as shown by the plentitude of mushrooms.
I also believe the best place for my garden is the grassy area next to the deck. I’m sure this area was designed as an entertainment area, for parties and bonfires, but as a hermit I have no plans for using it this way. The soil is less rocky, and more fertile. Because of the gravel drive circling it it is a bit swampy. But I can fix that with a little better drainage. It is also the sunniest area on the acreage.
So I dug some test ditches at the bottom edge of the property. It filled up immediately. A good sign. Lily drank some of the water and gave it her seal of approval.
There is quite a bit of rocks and old wooden timbers underground back there, probably from an old oil pumphouse or the saw mill that was once located there. But overall it’s not too bad to dig by hand. It is also very shady being basically in the middle of the woods.
I will need to remove some trees or the pond will just be a mosquito breeding ground.
It’s getting there, a shovel load at a time.
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