My longer-term plan for the property is to maintain some independence from grid-tied utilities. It’s not that I specifically mistrust the local utilities, but I don’t see prices dropping any time soon. For instance, it would cost me over $14,000.00 to connect to city water (plus monthly costs that will be going nowhere but up).
Last fall I purchased a solar power system that I will be installing as it warms up this spring. I purchased the parts from a mail order place – The altE Store. I got a 5.28 KW Residential solar power system that can be seen HERE.
I also got an option that included 2 ea SimpliPhi LFP (Lithium Ferro-Phosphate) batteries. Model: AmpliPHI-3.8-48 (AmpliPHI 3840 Wh 48V) batteries can be seenHERE.
Below should be a 3 page PDF file that diagrams how it is all hooked up
File Name: KITOFFGRIDBASE2_16-panels.pdf
PDF Loading...
The actual hardware is currently stored in preparation of better weather next month.
16 Solar PanelsSolar Battery Charger/Electronics consoleBatteries; 48v; 3.8 kWh, or 7.6 kWh total
Given the bouts of below-zero weather, you will note I moved the batteries & chargers inside the storage container last fall.
I would certainly welcome any comments (especially from any electrically trained nuclear officers, Jon)
The first week was that I was in Pensacola, Fla working with my two brothers on fixing up my nephew’s house in order to put it on the market.
Three Bros Construction
David, Jon & I were working on David’s son, Michael’s house as he prepares to move back to Calif (and back to the reserves from Active Duty in the Navy). David was responsible for creating the shirts, with the inscription created by our sister Jill. I’ll spare you the somewhat politicized front of the shirt which offer encouragement to some unknown Brandon. This is the first time, I think, that all 3 of us worked on a project together.
I didn’t take any pictures of the actual work we did, I’ll leave that to Jon, but it was basically reworking the downstairs bath and making it an ensuite bath (since there was another bathroom downstairs).
I too had a connection to Pensacola, in 1969-1970 I spent a year there, after ET-A School, learning the ins and outs of being a CT(M). (If you’d like a detailed explanation of what the bundle of acronyms actually means I could arrange it; but it will cost you at least 2 and possibly 3 margaritas)
We took Wednesday off, and I revisited Corry Field where I was stationed back in 1969. Back then it was a disused subsidiary airfield of NAS Pensacola, used for training during WWII. After the war it was converted to training the various branches of Communicatons Technicians in the big brick hangers that were left over from being an airfield. (Hangers also served as emergency shelters when Hurricane Camille blew through, with the emphasis on “blew”).
Corry Field is obviously changed in the last 53 years, the runways are gone; supplanted by Navy Exchange and Commissary for the whole region, but the old buildings are still there, tucked in amongst the newer stuff. We also drove over to NAS Pensacola to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. The Museum was truly amazing. It has representative of all the aircraft flown by the navy, and others. In my first pass through the ground floor, while examining a WWII era PBY (with sections cut away so you can see the insides) I completely missed an adjacent Messerschmidt Me-262. I noticed it on our second pass through the area. One sad part is that post-9/11, the general public no longer has access to it since it was built directly adjacent to the Blue Angels compound and the initial pilot training area. Since both Jon & I have retired ID’s and David has a disabled veteran ID we had no problems.
We finished up Saturday morning (19 Feb) and Jon gave me a ride to the airport. I noticed that morning I woke up with a scratchy throat. I got back to Casper a little after 8:00PM to cold snowy weather. By the next afternoon I definitely had case of influenza (pre-COVID idiocy) symptoms, low grade fever, coughing, and general malaise. I treated it like I did for every cold for the past 60 years: OJ, supplemental Vitamin C, rest and gin & tonic (for the additional Vitamin C from the limes and anti-malarial properties of tonic water-just in case). I didn’t get any worse and now it’s Friday and I am back to reasonable health (other than being on Day 2 of the War in Ukraine).
Speaking of the Ukraine War, I had gotten some stuff from The Great Courses website over the years, and today they sent me a link to a section of their Eastern European History. It’s only a half hour in time but explains an enormous amount. See LINK Here.
Looks like I finally figured out how to embed & publish videos.
May be some pauses while it downloads the video, depending on your transfer speed. Note this was while it was snowing with no wind, not a common occurrence. Let me know if you encounter problems.
I was updating an e-mail correspondent on the status of my homestead (hi Fred!) and I realized I haven’t updated the blog so below is an update of where we stand today (Feb 9, 2022).
Below is a view of the homestead during the recent snowstorm. Also shows my pick-up truck and the side-by-side utility vehicle.
Non-snow view (side-by-side parked inside)
A night view which shows the lights installed. Also shows the stairs over the Storage Container.
Below is the back of the container with both rainwater storage containers.
Cat is out exploring, even in the snow.
The storage container (blue one) holds the stuff I moved out of the apartment, until I get the house built. It is also where the Solar Power & Batteries will be installed.
Storage container.
Below is the Workshop container (dark grey one), with workbench and tools starting to be organized.
Workshop; also, there is more storage area behind me.
Upcoming projects:
Ramp up to front door (with guardrail) to help with steep stairs (also for the sisters with bad/new knees & hips).
Workshop French Doors behind end doors for summertime use.
Solar arrays – Currently planning to install behind the containers, between the orchard and rainwater containers.
Gravel driveway out to road (I expect 10-15K in gravel)
Septic system & house, expect to begin construction in March/April time frame.
Well, the week has flown by but we have made progress. The missing tank mysteriously appeared and was delivered Monday. I got it hooked up and (more importantly) got the tank heater installed.
Two tanks (and cat)
The cat was out exploring, apparently not unduly bothered by the snowfall. Below he is investigating the top of the trailer. he apparently leaps from the stairs to the slide out extension.
I’m closing this out on Tuesday the first of February. I awoke to snow flurries and dropping temperatures. Below is the weather warning:
2/1/2022
It was snowing heavily by midmorning: but with calm winds and large flakes.
Feb 1, 2022 snowstorm
We only got 6-8 inches, and the snow stopped by mid-afternoon, with the clear weather it will drop down to very cold overnight. See below for the (frigid) forecast through the end of the week.
So, I received the missing trim pieces a couple of weeks ago, just in time for AT, my contractor/neighbor, and his entire family to come down with COVID/crud, followed by a stretch of freezing weather/strong winds/blowing snow.
Today we had a stretch of reasonable calm, chilly but above freezing temperatures. AT & a helper started putting up panels, only to discover that we were short of taupe inch and a half sheet metal screws. We reordered more screws, but of course they won’t be available until next week. We continued putting up sheets with half the screws and finished up with grey colored screws that will be replaced when we get the correct ones.
All panels & trim up; gutters draining into tank.
Earlier this week we got the gutters installed to collect rain/snow water. I’m still trying to track down the other tank that disappeared in transit.
I talked to UPS again and they said I had to wait for two weeks before they would process the refund/reorder, so I will have to wait until next Friday. I also called National Tank Outlet (NTO) to let them know the issues so they could put me in the queue for a reorder. They were very apologetic and assured me that they would also reach out to UPS to coordinate with the issue.
What’s Missing?
In other work, I got a third mini-spit system for the trailer. Over the last week I installed the indoor unit over the door.
Mini-split system in trailer.
The next day AT installed the other half of the unit on the roof. He insisted that I not climb up on the roof with him, but instead fetch tools, etc. In retrospect he was probably correct, but it is somewhat humbling to realize I am well past my prime.
Apparently, the insulation in the trailer (and windows) isn’t nearly as effective as the insulation in the Conex boxes. It’s been running for over 24 hours and the inside temperature only got up to 65 deg F. The outside temperature overnight was about 18-20 deg F; so it pulled the temperature up by 40-50 deg F. When we get outside temperatures up to 30-40’s well see if we can get the temperatures up to a little more reasonable range. But on the bright side the propane furnace seems to have packed it in a couple of days ago, so my glass is definitely half-full.
On the water front, we definitely have a good flow of water at 40 feet, but it’s still at about 5,000 ppm dissolved solids (drinkable max is about 1,500 ppm). After losing a week or so to COVID/crud that swept through Mike & Company’s family and to freezing temperatures (are you sensing a trend here? Yes, we are just about done with our Omicron bout – I haven’t caught it, yet), we flushed the well system for a couple of days. We finally pulled a clean sample to submit for testing. Next week we should get a breakdown of exactly what contaminants are and the options for treating it.
There is about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground, and we are definitely in Winter.
The biggest news of the past week was the result of on-going “issues” with my transmission. Last Fall I drove down to Cheyenne because of a warning message that came up complaining of “transmission issues”, and to get an oil change. I had to leave the car there for a week so they could get parts (from warehouse in Dallas) that needed replacing (per the diagnostics). A week later I returned the rental car and picked up the Hyundai.
A week later the same warning message again came up. I called back down to Cheyenne and they expressed concern that they might need to send a flat bed truck to pick up the car. I was somewhat skeptical, but I was involved on moving out of the apartment so I stalled them somewhat. (Not the least of the fact that the car was driving just fine.) I finished up moving after Thanksgiving, so I called the mechanic back, and their next available appointment was January 5th. It seems the combination of supply chain issues, mechanic availability, and holiday backups had pushed the schedule out.
Come January 5th, it was snowing lightly, but I pushed on. About halfway to Cheyenne the snowstorm was intensifying, with near whiteout conditions behind trucks. It lessened as I got further South, and it wasn’t snowing at all in Cheyenne. While they were looking at my car a gal came in talk about what they were offering for used cars (for my 2019 Hyundai it was $33,000.00). So I asked about what used trucks they had. She turned me over to a saleslady to pursue that issue.
Ford F150 4wd Crewcab
This was the result of our search. It is a 2018 Ford F150 4WD Crew Cab. The net price was about $11K that came out of petty cash (actually out of the building fund from sale of the condo). Note that over the afternoon the snow did move down into Cheyenne; and I-25 to Casper was closed until about noon the next day.
The next day I was able to drive back to Casper.
The Ford at home. Note the drilling rig set up for new drilling next week.
Since it is a used vehicle, I didn’t get a set of manuals and only got one key. Fortunately, pdf’s are available online and I’ve managed to figure out most of the issues I’ve encountered.
Along with the new truck, I’m also looking at another vehicle for the homestead. Below is a Yamaha side-by-side that would be very useful once I break ground of the house.
Yamaha Rhino 660 side-by-side.
It also gives me access to all of the property. One of the key features it has is a built-in winch which made putting the stairs up in the background of the above picture simple.
Finally, I went back to Walmart to do grocery shopping for the first time in a couple of months. There continue to be occasional shortages, but the following picture shows the pasta aisle.
Pasta aisle at Walmart Jan 2022.
I realize the Wyoming is probably at the tail end of the supply chain, but this is soviet-style stocking at it’s best.
I dropped the cat off to be boarded and drove back to Oregon on Christmas Eve and arrived in Seaside on Christmas Day. I had one small bit of excitement. While driving downhill, over a pass in Montana, I hit an icy patch- and wound-up spinning aound and backing down the mountain briefly before nosing up gently against the cement barrier. The only damage was to the front license plate shown below.
Results of accident.
Fortunately, there was no other traffic in the vicinity. After I unclenched myself and resumed travel, all was good. There was snow all through MT, ID, WA and OR. Some of worst snow after MT was coming through the coast range of Oregon getting into Seaside.
Seaside was a little different than when we visited in the Summer.
Winter in Seaside
Jen, Patrick and Charlotte had to leave early to rescue one of their cats who was not reacting well to the boarding process. Kate I drove back a couple of days later. That afternoon we went by the storage locker and managed to load up all of the artwork into the car. It was packed to the gills; there wasn’t even room for my suitcase, so it went back to Goodwill, with the clothes cushioning the artwork.
I left early Friday (12/31) morning (this time with AWD – All Wheel Drive – set on). The was snow through the Columbia Gorge, but when I came out, the roads were generally clear and dry in a snow-covered landscape. I stopped in Butte, MT for the night. The next morning, I started back driving, again with the roads mostly clear, although with some blowing snow. I pulled in about 4:00pm to a disaster.
Although both the Conex boxes had power (and heat from the mini-split systems), there was neither AC nor DC power to the trailer. Those of you on the family Zoom call on Saturday got to see the results. After the call, I got to troubleshooting. I found an inline fuse that was melted & fused near the 12v battery. I cut the fuse out and wire-nutted the connections and got the 12v back (including the furnace). 110vac power was provided by a handy extension cord off the exterior Conex box outlets. The next day (Sunday) I got up to go to church and discovered a flat tire (left rear). After a thorough review of my inventory of invectives, I started unloading car so I could get to the jack and the crank to lower the tire.
Carload of Pictures (each stack 8-12 deep)
I was initially annoyed over the inconvenience engendered by having a flat tire, but upon reflection, it was a blessing. The thought of having to empty the back of the car alongside the road, to get to the jack in the middle of the night was decidedly unpleasant. Having to unload the car into a Conex box and change the tire at 8:00AM (in sunny & windy conditions) wasn’t that bad. In retrospect having the flat tire at home was a blessing.
I made it to 10:30am Mass, and after church went back to troubleshooting the AC power. Discovered the bulkhead connector that feeds the AC into the trailer was defective. We unscrewed the connector plate and cut the connector out and hardwired the power in. Voila, we have 110v live in the trailer. Monday I can try to get a replacement connector from the RV dealer, but that is a lower priority.
On Monday I met with Mike, the well drilling guy. I did ask about water witching. He admits that he’s seen it work, but he wasn’t a fan. The biggest problem is that the Witcher can’t identify quality of the water. For instance, we do have water at 120ft or so, but it’s not potable. He thinks he can get good water, just depends on how deep you have to drill. He repositioned the drill to get ready to start again, but his crew probably won’t be back or recovered until Wed or so.
Also, on Monday we started building stairs to access the storage areas above the Conex boxes.
Stairs to access storage areas.
Monday afternoon I took the flat tire into the local Les Schwab dealership. The found the cause of the flat.
Butter knife handle found in tire.
The root cause of the flat was a butterknife handle found in the tire. It was bouncing around inside the tire, as well as it being run flat for some unknown amount of time, means I need at least two tires. That being said, given that I need a more aggressive all-weather tread in Wyoming (and given I have 3 years of wear on the tires) I decided to get 4 new tires to the tune of $1,234.72.
All in all, it was an exciting arrival back in Wyoming. But given what could have happened, I appear to continue leading a charmed life. Sorry Sis, but it is what it is.
My name has finally bubbled up to the top of the list for the well drilling company. They showed up this Monday morning and got right to work. We had looked over the property on Sunday and decided to put the well down just to the East of the Storage container. I was prepared to go down 400-500 feet if I had to go that deep to get good water.
Setting up to drill, note the gravel pad just East of the containers.
When they showed up this morning and got to drilling, we got they were drilling down through sand, as expected. But he hit a batch of gravel at about 40-50 feet down. The sand was wet, and it looked like a rainwater catchment basin. They were setting up after lunch to try that depth to see what kind of water & what quantity we could get.
Of course, that is when a minor disaster hit. They lost a 45–50-year-old drill bit down the 20 ft hole. After spending an hour or so trying to fish it out, Mike (the owner) recommended abandoning that hole and moving over and backfilling that hole. I agreed, providing I get custody of any drill rigs that sprout from the seed.
The grating covers the hole.Still 5-6 ft in depth.
We shifted over and back about 4-6 feet and started over. After drilling down 120 feet we hit water. Unfortunately, it’s not “good” water. Mike, the driller, estimates that using reverse osmosis, I would be getting 1 out of 4 gallons, the rest would have to be disposed of, probably back in the pond. He is off investigating some wells drilled nearby and tomorrow we will decide how to proceed. (My guess is that we will keep drilling.)
I have made a most distressing discovery. Our medical establishment is apparently terminally broken. A little background: most of you realize that my wife suffered for 40 years with multiple sclerosis. She was fortunate/unfortunate enough to have lived through having no specific treatments for the disease through having a choice of over a dozen injectable or oral treatments.
One of the problems with trying to tease out effective treatments was a tremendous placebo effect, your belief in the treatment created a placebo effect that really did make the disease seem to be receding. It was virtually impossible to do a double-blind test with for instance bee-sting therapy.
Lindsay 2015 Medication List
Above is the 2015 list we used to manage her medications. We used the list as a discussion point at her doctor’s appointments. You can see she was taking Tecfidera (Dimetyl Fumerate) for MS, but she was also taking Prozac and Ritalin, off-label, as ancillary drugs that seemed to help with MS symptoms. In the times BT (before Trump) physicians, especially specialists, could prescribe virtually anything in the formulary that, in their judgement, might help with the disease process.
AT (After Trump) things changed. He mentioned two drugs, in particular, that might be helpful with COVID-19: Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin. Although some doctors were successfully treating patients there were two specific problems: They were well beyond the patent expirations and were available for low cost as generic drugs; and they had been endorsed by Orange-Man-Bad and thus were “Double-Plus-Ungood”.
When the podcaster, Joe Rogan came down with COVID-19 he took a number of drugs, including getting a prescription for (human) Ivermectin from his doctor. He was excoriated by CNN and other mainstream media for taking “horse de-wormer”. See HERE.
As of the Winter of 2021 it is well nigh impossible to get a prescription for Ivermectin in most parts of the country. In hospitals it will not be prescribed, sometimes even when ordered by the courts. See HERE and HERE. I have inquired of my doctor and she indicated that she is unable to prescribe it.
There are some studies emerging (like HERE and HERE) that seem to have significantly robust results. So why is it not possible to get a double-blind, placebo controlled study? Sadly, I think that it is that none of the major drug companies will fund it because Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine are both generic drugs.
There is some data out there. There is a doctor who analyzed a massive international study HERE. The presentation is information dense, but reminds me of many of the presentations of data for various MS treatments. Remember that this study was done before April 2021. This is not, as referenced by the media, a wack-a-doodle drug that has shown no positive results for COVID-19. I personally think that the deliberate obstruction of the use and investigation of this drug is criminal.
