If it can go wrong, it will !!

Well it's been one thing after another today here on the Johnson Family Farm. I had hoped to start work on the milking stand today but the rain kept me from that one. Ok, I'll go down to the clubhouse to work on some renewable energy projects that I have had in mind for some time now. Walked in the door to find that the chimney was leaking like crazy, water all over the floor and all. Ok, I'll work on that and get it fixed. After climbing the ladder in the pouring rain I finally got the pipe sealed off pretty good. Or so I thought. Went back inside and got a fire started in the wood stove. After a few minutes I began to hear drip, drip, drip. Once the stove pipe had heated up it must have melted the sealer a little and began to let more water in. At this point I'm out of sealer. I put a pot near the stove to catch the water and let the fire die down some. Nothing else I can do at this point, I'm not going back to town to get more sealer today. I had to leave the farm 3 days in a row and that's about it for me for a while. I'm a home body to the 10th power.

I did check to see what I had available to me for my off grid projects and was pleased with what I had. 2 cordless drill motors that will work as 12 volt DC generators. 1 24 volt permanent magnet motor from an old electric scooter that will act as a DC generator also. 1 small solar panel that I took of off a solar fence charger that works as well. I hooked up the new volt meter to each of the cordless drill motors and gave each a spin. Each showed voltage while being spun. Same with the Scooter motor. Hooked the leads to the solar panel and even with it raining like crazy outside and me being inside with just the light from the door window the meter read 8.2 volts. I have some goodies to play with for sure. Now just decide how to turn the motors, wind turbine or hydro (homade of course). I do have 2 12 volt rechargeable batteries from the scooter that are in working order. I gave them a full charge here in the house with the adapter that came with them. Rather than use an inverter to change this 12 dc power to 120 ac power, I want to have a complete 12 volt dc system. You can get some nice lights that run off of 12 dc and many other useful things too. Still looking into all that. At least I got some idea of what I have and what can be done with it. The first thing that has went right today, I'm feeling better now.

I made a big pot of chicken vegetable soup on Monday. Today we had left overs and that was about all the soup that we wanted for a while. I have been having canning withdraws for weeks now so I thought I would can what we had left. Got my jars out and cleaned and put them in the oven at 220 degrees to keep them good and hot. Got my caner out and noticed that the dial gauge was reading 11lbs. Wait, that's not right, it should be on zero. I gave it a shake or two, smacked it against my hand a few times and then it was back to zero. I'll still keep a watchful eye on the caner just to make sure. After I put the hot soup in the hot jars and place the lids on I put the jars in the caner. Let it steam for 10 minutes and then put the weight on. Everything seems to be ok. After about 5 minutes the dial was on 5 lbs. mmmmmm. Should be a little more than that by now I though, I'll keep watching. After 2 or 3 minutes more the weight began to rock, this is one of the many safety features on this caner. The thing is that is doesn't begin to rock until the caner is up to 15 lbs. and my gauge is reading about 6lbs at this time. Oh well, turn the burner off and set the caner to the side to cool. Once the jars cool I'll put them in the fridge where they will keep for a week or 2 no problem. I have read somewhere that the County Extension office will check your caner gauge and recalibrate it if need be. I'll have to look into that and see.

Well, if it could go wrong today, it did. But on the bright side, I'm warm, I'm dry and my belly is full. I'll make it 'til bedtime. Tomorrows another day, a better one I hope.

Rain Rain Rain

Nothing but rain here today so no work on the milking stand I guess. I'm gonna head down to the clubhouse and work on some renewable power projects. Dragon has a great post about his set and you should read it if you are interested in getting off grid on the cheap. Tell him the Scavenger set ya his way, he'll be glad to hear from ya. Then jump over and see Wretha's post on her solar set up too. Both are very good read and easy to understand information.

Brrrrrr.....It's cold in here.

That's a line from one of the cheerleader movies that Savannah watches all the time. I think it's a cheer. Well, either way it fit's, because it's cold in here. Been wet and cold since I got back from the folks house for T-Day. We had a great time, all the family was there. Katie and I took the van to WV on Wednesday and Liv and Savannah brought the car. Liv has a new 2009 HHR that we bought about 2 months ago and she and Ban love it. We took separate vehicles because I just couldn't be away from the animals that long, me and Katie came home on Friday, Liv and Ban on Sunday. Katie travels fine with me in the van though, it's a Dodge Grand Caravan with the DVD player and all the stuff. We stopped on the way there and back and had a picnic in the back of the van, that's the great thing about the van, it has what's called stow and go seating. The two seats in the middle and the bench seat in the back can be stowed / folded down and you never know they were there. Makes it like a cargo van once the seats are down. We sat and had sandwiches and watched one of her movies somewhere just outside of Pikeville Ky. There is a new section of road that just opened and there are a few places that you can pull off the road onto large area's of land that overlook the valleys. We got out and threw rocks and enjoyed the view and had a lot of fun.

Once back at the farm we just knew that Daisy, one of our goats had had her kids while we were gone. Not a chance, she's getting bigger by the day and now has a large milk sack. Still no kids. I have worried myself silly about her birthing and now I have just decided that babies of any kind are like apples....when they get ripe....they'll fall.

I had been working on a new barn for the goats just before we left and hope to pick back up on that project once it warms up a little. Cold, Rain and Arthritis just don't mix I tell ya. In the spirit on being a Homesteader, I have gathered up some shipping pallets and am using them to build the barn. I will try to post some pictures in a day or two. Need a little time to do some cosmetic work first, it's not the prettiest thing you ever saw if ya know what I mean. But it's free, so it's me.

On the subject of being a Homesteader, I am also working on a project to have renewable energy down at the Clubhouse. Yes I still have dreams for the Clubhouse just never enough time to pursue them as I'd like. I'll update on that too as time allows. I have an old electric scooter that the kids have pushed to the side so to speak that has a Permanent Magnet motor in it. This motor, if I can find a way to keep it turning, wind or water mill, will produce DC voltage to charge batteries that can then be used with an inverter to make AC -110 power.

And let's not forget the puppies. We had ( I thought ) decided that we would find a good home for all three of them. Looks like we have......right here.

Rub A Dub Dub, Three Pups In A Tub.

Don't worry pup's, Katie still don't like bath time either. You'll get used to it.

Spending the night in the Clubhouse !!!

Gonna spend the night in the Clubhouse tonight. Woooo Hoooo!!!!! I can hardly wait until dark, and the kids go to bed too. We have company coming tommorrow night and we ( I ) thought I should give it a trial run before then. (If they come I will be spending tommorrow there too.) So tonight I spend in solitude. Spent a few hours in there last night, until about 12, and man was it great. No tv's screaming at me, no phone ringing over and over, just the thing I desire most in life, peace. I read a little and straightend up some of the stuff that I had in the closet in the house that I moved down there. It was really relaxing. I laid on the bed for a few just to try it out and Smokie Bear lie in the floor looking as content as I was. I wonder if his thoughts drift away like mine, when I closed my eyes I was a thousnd miles away. I could imagine myself (Bear Dog too) in a cabin on a knoll just about a river full of hungry trout waiting for us to arise in the morn. The only sound I could hear was that of the bugs of summer and the croak of the frogs in the pond. If only for a short while I was transported to a far away dream land where I was a true man of the mountians. Needless to say, the Clubhouse is good for me and for those have to try to cope with living with me. I hope that my time in the Clubhouse will make life eaiser for all of us. Talk to you all tommorrow, that is if I wake from my dreams.....

Solar lanterns and Woodstove

Ok, finally got over to pick up the wood stove today. Bought it from a good friend and it is just the right size for the Clubhouse. In really good shape, I haven't even cleaned it up yet, just needs to be wiped off a little and it's ready for service.

Olivia bought me some lights at Wally World in the clearence section. 2 rechargeable solar utility lanterns (marked down to $13.00) with 12 super bright LED's, car adapter and AC/DC adapter. 11 housr run time and a Heavy Duty Aluminum hook. Great lights !! 1, 20 LED rechargeable crank lantern with AM/FM radio, cell phone charger port and dimmer and flash switch ( marked down to $23.00 ). This lantern would be great in an emergency situation, just a few cranks and you have all these functions.

Bought this one a BigLots, 6 super bright LEDs with velcro mount or screw in base. The light will tilt up or down to your needs and is an unbeliveable light source. 1000 hours on 3 AAA batteries. These do a great job lighting up the Clubhouse.

Clubhouse Pictures and ONE SEXY LADY

I made a LOT of progress on the Clubhouse today. Picked up a rug at Lowes for the floor and Olivia gave me an area rug that she wasn't using anymore. I decided to just use 2 flat sheets to cover the back wall area instead of building one of wood. A lot easier and cheaper plus I can move to the other side very easily. The sheets will help to keep the heat in place and it just don't look too bad either. It's fine with me anyway. All other items are just extra stuff we had around the house. You can see the bed, a rollaway, that we have had in storage, with a new sheet set that Liv picked up for me today. My old stereo serves as a makeshift headboard. I put my wooden boat along with my very old cub scout neck scarf (can't remember what it's called).The quilt also came from the house, we have tons of them. Olivia said this one would look best, all I know is it's the warmest one in the house.
Glider rocker along with glider footstool will be a great place to relax until I can sneek one of the recliners out of the house. Also had an old cabniet in storage that made a good book shelf and storage area.

Didn't get a chance to go over and pick up the wood stove today, I guess you can see why, I will try again tommorrow to pick it up. It will be set in this corner. The shelf holds a few of my old Masonic bottles I have collected over the years.
Another book shelf from the house and a man has to have a place to hang his hat.
The old blue tote will be like a footlocker, full of supplies. I will post pictures of the lighting system that I am using tommorrow. Spent a little time this evening reading "A Place in the Woods". A great book that I have read several times before. As promised "ONE SEXY LADY" Olivia on the mower, nothing sexier than a woman mowing grass, unless it's a woman with a weedeater. hahahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More "Notes from the Clubhouse" later. Stay tuned, don't touch that mouse...........

Notes from the Clubhouse

Made a little more progress on the Clubhouse today. Finished painting the inside walls and ceiling and got the door changed out. This door with the windows will be much better than the all metal on that was there. As you can see there is a lot of clean up yet to be done. Gonna wait until all is done to do that though, I tend to make a mess as I go. This is the outside ,da!!, of the clubhouse.View from inside with the new door. When I say new I mean salvaged ofcourse.Barn style roof inside and out gives a little more head room, not that I need any. haha!!
Plenty of junk moved to the other end that needs to be gone through to see what is really there. I found a lot of stuff I had forgoten about and some I never even knew I had. Those cabniets will be painted and hung in the laundry room in the house. My small woodstove will be placed in this corner of the room. Gonna go pick it up tommorrow.

Still need to put down a rug of some kind, going to the surplus store tommorrow to see what they have, hope to find a rock pattern. Still have to build a wall to seperate the 2 sides of the building. May find wood at the surplus too, I hope. I'm getting closer......