Grand and Glorious Curmudgeon

Well we’re getting further and further into November and weather is becoming more and more significant. We got the metal on half of the roof last week before before the afternoon breezes (15-30 mph) made handling large pieces of thin sheet metal dangerous. It’s been breezy through the weekend, looks like Monday should usher in the next calm period. Hopefully we get the rest of the roof & trim work done then.

In the meantime we’ve been pursuing getting power run into the first conex box (the workshop) and a power off one 20A circuit breaker run to power the storage conex box. The faming is done on the second conex box, the wiring is done to the lights and misc outlets, and waiting for the electrical inspection before insulation (spray foam) & covering with wallboard.

In the workshop conex box we’ve got the back wall framed to support the breaker box. Eventually we will frame and spray foam that, put up wallboard/peg board; but that isn’t on the critical path to vacating the apartment and moving in full time.

The outside of the workshop. Power comes from the meter/power pole into the external breaker. Note the two ground bars (pounded down 8′ into the soil) and wired into the ground connection. I rented a trencher to make the digging process much easier. In addition to the power run, added trench to water the apple trees and a French drain running off to the right.

The trench leading off to the right is for the curtain drain that will collect any runoff from the apple orchard that sloped down to the back of the containers.

The soil is primarily sand, but putting in a French drain behind the containers now, before putting in a couple of loads of gravel down behind and on each side of the containers seems to be a prudent move.

In other news, I was getting a warning message about my transmission needing work. I finally got an appointment last Tuesday and drove down to Cheyenne. It turns out that some internal parts were needing replacement (under warranty fortunately). The parts, unfortunately, were located in Dallas TX; dealer estimated that it would be early next week before the car would be done. In the meantime they have provided a rental Nissan Sentra sedan. A definite downgrade.

Had another reminder that things are different here. One of the delightful things about the Northwest is Mo’s Restaurants, which are at several locations on the coast of Oregon. They serve a wonderful clam chowder in a bread bowl. If you click the above link you can see what I mean.

I discovered that have something similar here a Johnny J’s Diner. It is an old-fashioned diner that has terrific food at a reasonable price. On alternate Monday’s they serve beef stew in a bread bowl.

Pictured is the salad and beef stew bowl that is offered for $7.66 for lunch. Also pictured is a caramel apple shake (along with a plastic straw because we don’t have sea turtles that get them stuck in their noses). Tasty.

I got a replacement security camera from the Amazon vendor. I had received a defective one and they sent out another. Got it set up and I have a much better view now. Here is the installation:

Here is what the view is like:

Among other projects, while we were waiting on screws, I spent about $1,400 on misc electrical supplies to wire the conex boxes permanently off the meter. Below is a picture of framing on the back wall where we are mounting the electrical panels. Actually $610.00 of the total was for a 1,000 foot spool of 12-2 NM w/Green wiring for the downstream wiring of the boxes as well as the house next year.

I also have installed one of the two man doors in the containers. This is the one in the storage conex.

If you squint (or use two fingers to blow up the picture) you can see a combination deadbolt. If you would like to have your very own access code you can send me one and I will put it in. I would recommend the last 4 digits of your SSN (or the last 4 of your cell phone number). My SSN was used as my service number for 19 years so I’m no longer worried about it being compromised – I had it printed on checks to make it easier to write checks at the Navy Exchange for heaven’s sake.

Here’s the view from inside.

The plans are to install the roofing metal mid-next week followed by the metal siding. In the meantime I will be installing the man door in the other container, work on installing the framing in both containers and following up with the well drilling folks and after that the septic tank/field people. And of course starting to move household stuff over.

Today, October 25th, is St Crispin’s Day. For those of us who were educated, learning about that dead white male Shakespeare (or Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, but that’s a whole other story). One of his many quotes is a stirring:

“From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”

William Shakespeare, Henry V

You can go HERE if you want the full quote from Act IV, scene 3.

And of course for the non-readers or the visual learners we have THIS.

We finally got the rainwater collection tank installed. See below:

When full, the 550gallons should weigh about 4,500 lbs (assuming 8.33lbs/gal). Hence we used some 2×12’s left over from the cement forms and some old 6 ft lengths of telephone poles left on the property.

This is first pass at insulation needed to avoid freezing up in the Winter.

The other news is that I got the solar power system from the AltE mail-order place.

In the back are 2ea 48v Lithium Ferro Phosphate batteries. In the front are 16ea 300watt solar panels and the other boxes are the solar power charge controllers, the inverter, misc breakers and layout panels, etc, etc.

Here kitty, kitty… In honor of my visitor of late I purchased one of these. It’s a cheap Muddy trail camera. It’s set up looking at the path the cat came through the other day.

Now we wait to see what we catch.

AT (my contractor) just pointed out some wild life tracks next to the grey container near the neighbors fence.

I took a closeup picture of the kitten tracks next to a tape measure. Note that he (or she) was obviously not bothered by the neighbors dog.

Somehow I don’t think my kitty has 4″ paws, I’ll measure them when I get home. It was obviously left after the rain and snow last night ended; sometime after 2:00am.

I don’t feel nearly as paranoid concealed-carrying as I did before. I don’t think a smallish cougar is much of an attack threat, but I feel better carrying one of John Browning’s (PBUH) creations.

Yesterday’s moonrise, shortly before sunset. Known as a Hunter’s Moon. Full moon is Wednesday at 8:58am.

On Tuesday morning, the rain started about 8:00am and turned to snow about noon. Snow was coming down heavily so I bailed about 4:00pm and stopped by Walmart to pick up groceries. It’s now still snowing and we’ve gotten 3-4 inches, heading towards 8-10 inches by 0200 when the snow stops.

So far the trailer is tight and warm (although I’m probably going through a fair amount of propane).

Cue the WayBack Machine. Nana’s parents, known to us as Bumpa & Bumma, lived in Durand, Michigan. Bumpa worked in the railyards in town and had a huge (to a 7 year old me) garden and at least one cherry tree. I have a vivid memory of him nailing a robin with a BB gun (was eating his cherries).

The Version 1.0 of the orchard has been installed. I initially ordered six apple trees and two pear trees. I didn’t notice but one of the pear trees (a Bartlett) won’t be available until next spring.

After another run to Menard’s for more supplies we have the following: a Cox’s Orange Pippin Antique, a Pink Lady, a Buckeye Gala (in honor of Lindsay), and an Anjou pear.

In addition to the planting kits (block of coconut fibre, fertilizer, spiral wrap of plastic to protect the stems, and weed control mat), I added 6′ wire fencing around the trees to keep the deer & antelope from cropping the tops (as well as playing amongst them).

In other news, more preps for Winter weather.

On the left is a small heater that runs off refillable 1 lb bottle. I will use that under the skirt if necessary to thaw frozen pipes. The green thing will black legs is used to refill the small bottle off a propane tank.

This is the final post at https://grandandgloriouscurmudgeon.blogspot.com/.

In the future I will continue posting at: (don’t click at this website- it’s recursive)

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https://gloriuscurmudgeon.com/

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Note the “glorius” is misspelled – an artifact of the transition that I don’t think is worth fixing (I also got downgraded from “grand”).   I will continue all further posting at that site.

 It is Monday 10/11 and this evening we expect the first snowfall of the season.  Current predictions are for 6-8 inches of snowfall overnight with temperatures dropping into the high twenties.  

To prepare for the weather change we moved the trailer into position between the containers. I was under the impression that the trailer was about 26-28 feet in length; it turns out that it is about 36 feet long when compared to the 40′ containers

This is before we extended the slide out sides. This is with the rear bumper within 6 inches of the rear wall. It will be a couple of weeks before we get the metal in to cover the back wall. 

With the 3 extensions extended it’s a little tight on the left side, but there is still room to squeeze by.

Note the protective skirting around the base of the trailer. This is part of the “four seasons package” that should make the trailer livable during the winter. Also note the Starlink antenna’s temporary home. After we get some more of the work done I plan to move back behind the shop.

Preps for installing apple grove behind the trailer
Also I’ve ordered the first 8 apple trees and a pear tree that should be delivered this week.  I’ve planned on putting the first batch of trees behind the trailer to both screen the neighbors house from my proposed homesite and to provide some shelter from the prevailing winds.  This is the preparation holes in the sandy soil.

The Following Morning:

View out my front window – 5″ of snow.

A group of 8 antelope grazing on the ridge, neighbor’s house in the background.