My life. November update.

I appologize that I hav'nt been on here much lately. Just incase anyone is so curiously waiting for an update. There really has'nt been much to blog about lately. The summer is gone and I'm still not in the house. But hey, thats ok. With me it is anyway. Whats the panick, I'm already living the dream. I have now lived totally off grid for 2 years as of Oct 25, and I am just coming into the 3rd winter of living in the shack. I'm kinda starting to feel like Richard Proenneke. Not quite though, he did'nt have an interenet connection.

Anyway, I really did'nt get a whole lot more accomplished on the house project since my last post. I have been fairly busy at work. I have had time off, but you just don't feel very ambitious after all the work at times. I have always worked the busy times, and holiday, play or do my own thing in the slow times. Gotta grab it when it is there. I do have plans in the near future to be pretty much done with bustin my ass working my life away. I'll always do a little here and there, once in awhile probably, but I would really like to be more of an independent homesteader type guy. I have big hopes and dreams. I've practicly got it all planned out. I just hope it goes kinda like it is all planned. That's kinda weird just saying something like that, because usually my plan is to have no plan. You know, just kinda go with the flow, but I do have a plan. I am starting to get real eager to get into the house for now though.

I am trying to get at heating. The above picture is the pad I built for my 1000 gallon propane tank that should be coming tomorrow, (Nov 16 2010) The last couple times I filled my 100 pound tanks for the shack I noticed that propane is cheaper now than it has been all summer. I'm thinking I want to buy propane now, before it goes up. That being said, I wonder if it will drop more for some unknown reason. Like maybe the double dip recession that you sometimes hear about possibly happening. I suppose it could, but I think I will take a chance on it anyway. It will probably cost me somewhere in the area of $2200.oo CAD to fill the tank, but I'll know more when I see the bill I guess.

I managed to smuggle some prime firewood home one day. We had a hoe sitting out on a job that was pretty close to an old log deck that people were bucking up and taking home. I threw a few scoops on the lowboy and brought it home. I don't think they were planning on salvaging this stuff anymore. I was told to help myself, so I did.

I went auction saling and picked up a turtle tank to haul water in. I'm not hauling water yet, but when I do, this will be handy to just leave in the pickup at times. Whenever I happen to be going by the water station, I'll just bring a load home.

Then my boss had these big ones. I can't remember, but I think they are 4500 hundred liters or more. It costed me a big bottle of vodka for both of them. My plan for these is for summer storage of water for general yard use. Livestock, garden, fire fighting or whaterver. Sometimes the creek runs and sometimes it is just a trikle, but when it is running, I will fill these for dryer times and convenience. I suppose I could use one for hauling to the cistern. Two of these full would probably fill the cistern. The cistern is about 3500 gallons.

Oh ya, by the way it snowed here and it is pretty cold, I think winter has arrived. Today I finally shut off the fridge in the RV. Seems things in the fridge were freezing and things in the freezer where thawing, so I guess it is time.

I purchased a wood stove awhile back, but it had to be ordered in. It's not here yet. After I purchased it, I realized that you can't hook combustion air right to the stove from ouside. Something I kinda wanted in a woodstove, but oh well, I'll bring in some outside air another way I guess. I'm also wondering if I should have got a bit smaller one. Sometimes I get thinking the little house is a mansion. I know it will seem like one when I compare it to the shack anyway.

I will try to be on here more often. We sometimes do have a bit of a slow down this time of year, before the real winter work starts up, so I might concentrate on getting some heat in the house soon. Thanks for not deleting me from your friends list for being absent for so long. We'll talk to ya in a bit.


 
Disclaimer--IMPORTANT


This is a personal blog, mainly for my own use. I am building a house with my own two hands, but I am learning alot of things as I go. I do not claim to know what I am doing, or if anything I do is even close to being done correctly or safely. So please, if you are planning on using any of my ideas or methods for your own use, please get professional advice before actually following through with your actions. I will not be held responsible for any injuries or damages of any kind caused by information or comments from this blog.

Brutal Mother Nature Test

Me and my little shack are really being put to the test now. I did'nt do much building today. I'm pretty sure that if I tried to drive a nail in a board, it would have just split the board. Lumber even sounds different in weather like this. Right at this moment my thermometer is reading about -39C/about -38F. Thankfully there is not much of a wind. My propane is still flowing, but I have done a few little precautions in case. Propane quits vapourizing at -44C, I have read. Our local forcast for tonight is calling for lows of -43C. I dunno, thats a little close for comfort. Out here, hopefully it gets no colder than it is, but it also could get colder than the local forcast. I have seen alot of this -40 stuff over the years, but not since I moved out here in the shack. I can actually remember one day, quite a few years ago where it was in the -50 area, but that dos'nt happen very often. All I know is that the floor in this old shack is cold enough to freeze an egg on.

Today I bought a couple of 72 inch battery warmers for inside the deep freeze to keep my batteries warm when ever the generator is running. Right now they are at +4C, which is not bad concidering what the temperature is outside. When the power is taken away, it takes quite awhile for the batteries to get to the outside temperature. I'm guessing that if I shut it down right now, the batteries would be about -15 to -20c by morning, maybe even warmer than that. I used to just use a 100 watt light bulb for this same purpose, but it was pretty slow warming it up a few degrees, but it did work. I'm actually quite impressed with the battery warmer blankets. However, in my new cabin I will have it somehow, so I don't even have t0 worry about things like this. This is actually quite a good experience to live in this shack for a winter before the house is built, just so I can iron all these little issues out and kinda plan things in. This is all kinda new to me also. I have done alot of research on things, but nothing beats hands on experience to really get to know how things actually happen.

I also put a 250 watt heat lamp in under the propane tanks which are covered with a tarp. I don't have that plugged in at the moment, because I want to see if this propane is going to keep running on it's own or not. I really need to know, because if I were working, I would'nt be around here to keep a generator running and all that. The generator is running now, but I wonder if it will start in the morning if I shut it down. I really should invest in another generator for backup. I'm also thinking that I should have bought another one of those battery warmers to wrap around the propane bottle. I think that could pretty good maybe, and might even be a little bit safer. I think, anyway.

I did do a little work with my pay job, but I also managed to get a little more building done. It must be like watching paint dry, for anyone who reads this blog. lol. Trust me, by this time next winter, I will be sitting in front of a warm crackling fire inside my new cabin type house, and I won't even care if it is -50c outside. I hope. lol.

Well it is actually starting to look something. I don't know how much is going to get done in the next few days. I guess it is supposed to be pretty nippy until about Wednesday, but I might get a little done in the sunshine, we'll see what happens. I am pretty eager to get going on this thing.
Just thought I would put in a little bit of an update, it is my own little way of keeping track of my progress.