I am also building a solar generator, have most of the equipment in hand just need the controler to come in the mail

I am also building a solar generator, have most of the equipment in hand just need the controler to come in the mail

hmmmmm, do tell...pwrhaps a seperate thread with pics

Since I didn't work out side the house today, I started rearranging the whole house and packing up the things I really don't need any more. I managed to get 6 boxes filled to get rid off.

Well, does last week count? We picked up a butane stove and two extra cans of fuel for it. I figure if we pick up two cans every month, and test the stove to ensure it's still working, we should be good.

im taking my son shed hunting this weekend, i had a BIG buck in my sights last year but did not get the chance at a clean shot so im going to find his sheds so i can compair when i shoot him this year. we will also be doing some hunting for rabit this weekend. i am taking him out as much as i can so he can remember all the trails up there. it will be important later.

i work this weekend so my last two days off were spend putting in a new front door.
long story short it broke down the center (shut the door with the deadbolt out and it cracked it on either side of the deadbolt)

i thought it would be easy as switching the doors. no, the whole damn frame needed to come out, and after getting it all put back together 6 hours later, i was about to spray foam it when i realized i was out grrrr. so nothing open in the nearly town, wife working in the city she could get it (but not feeling good. . .but she pulled up her socks and saved me a 30 min drive each way)

before i spray foamed the heck out of the hole i thought i better check how the border frame stuff would fit. . . NOT AT ALL. everything back down again, fixing this only took 2 hours, and ready to form. another 3 hours today to get the border back on and it looking good.

added some hardware, a steel plate to the inside of the "door's" frame, some 4 inch bolts to hold the steel plate for my deadbolt, then 3.5 inch screws to the hinges. put my two slap longs back up on it (of course screwed into the studs) these act like hinges on the non hinge side.

in other words, it took TOO long to get the job done (going into nursing was a good idea eh) and now if you want into my home, you'll not use the front door LOL. lucky for the intruders there are four windows that don't have steel bars on them lol. break them and you only have to deal with the 5 dogs inside. (but only 3 of them are mean lol)

A wise man once said " the lack of knowledge is ignorance" So lots of Research....cross referencing ..... window (on-line) shopping at http://www.realtor.ca , eBay and any other place I can think of that might have what I want .... And making my list of needs and checking it twice 😀

After months of talking about actually DOING SOMETHING, my honey and I built our first shelves specifically for storing supplies, out of any guest's casual eye.
I also started a notebook listing what we have stashed. And listing things we need to get/learn how to do.
Oh, and I dehydrated my first batch of potatoes over the wood stove, and then turned around and made scalloped potatoes from them, just to see if it would work, and it did! 🙂
I made another few batches of newspaper logs, for the wood stove.

After months of talking about actually DOING SOMETHING, my honey and I built our first shelves specifically for storing supplies, out of any guest's casual eye.
I also started a notebook listing what we have stashed. And listing things we need to get/learn how to do.
Oh, and I dehydrated my first batch of potatoes over the wood stove, and then turned around and made scalloped potatoes from them, just to see if it would work, and it did! 🙂
I made another few batches of newspaper logs, for the wood stove.

...how do those newspaper logs work? are they any good? lots of ash? i keep thinking about getting a press and making paper logs...

I only started doing them a month ago- I think they work well! They need to be put in a fire which is already burning merrily. I have been rolling them up by hand so far. I wanted to see if they were worth my while. I soak the newspaper overnight in water with some dish-soap in it. It will be a lot better when I can roll them up outside, lol. But those grey bus pans from restaurants are the perfect size to soak newspaper in.....
They burn long, and maybe you get more ash, but, oh, well. I think it's worth it. I work with ppl who buy a lot of newspapers and I have always taken theirs, for starting the wood stove, but we were getting overwhelmed with them. Hence this effort! :-p

I made a new, improved solar oven, using better reflective panels and a wood box base. For insulation, I used some four ply corrugated cardboard which was discard from a company near me. A plate of discarded glass to enclose cooking area. A small cooking rack with support wires to hold the pot in place. I tried it out yesterday, inside temp got to 375 Fahrenheit, roast was done 4 hours. I over roasted the potatoes a bit, I had them in for an hour at the end. The lazy Susan geared to the windup clock kept the cooker trained on the sun the full time.

So when is the Cookout Ranger?

Plans for this weekend: boil a couple gallons of maple syrup and pickle/can a couple dozen eggs.

Tonight: I added some soil and vermicompost to raised beds and added some misc. items to wife's get home bag.

Still working on sorting out the house but I have managed to create new storage space on all 4 floors of my house.

I did up a cup of garlic power to use up the last of my dried garlic. Tried to do up cinnamon but killed my grinder.

Bought:
another electric and a "cheap plastic" manual grinder
fabric to make 4 sets of curtains
parts to be able to hang the curtains
fabric to make napkins

Tryed to take my son out this weekend up at the camp to look for deer and moose antler sheds. didnt even make it out of the garage, his atv's starter blew up and cought fire (Crap) and so we tryed to head out on mine and the back breaks fell appart and destroyed the rear wheel bearings.... just my luck.. now im looking at $400 in parts and trying to find the time to fix them. I also had to load an old sled (72 tnt) that is sitting around rotting And bring it home to fix. I needed my son 5 to drive my atv in reverse while i lifted the old clunker onto the trailer. he wouldent do it. I have worked so hard to teach him to ride since he was 3 so that if i needed him to help in times like this he could and i failed. guess i expect a little to much of him. oh well, got the sled loaded up with brute froce along with my and my sons atv so i could repair them. Im going to buy doubles of all the parts.... just in case! Next weekend is the Orangeville gun show so i will be preeping my bank acount for that all week! Hope you all had better luck then i did this past weekend.