Going Off Grid in East Tennessee; The Story and Chat Thread (rentals, ice cream)

[Mike from back east]

Speaking of roofing shingles, Dow now has a SOLAR roofing shingle that when fully perfected and widely available (later this year?) can let homeowners get in the solar electric game without all the roof racks and PV panels, etc.

In the lab now are spray-on coatings for existing roofs that could also get people into the solar world.

It's coming and it can't happen soon enough to suit me.

Look for a Solar Home Tour in your area this fall to see homes/businesses, see vendors, and talk to owners, etc.

[ylisa7]

Originally Posted by Sunnydee

Another great post. You guys are amazing. Here I was feeling all proud because the hubby and I installed a mailbox yesterday and you do ten times that each day. You are an inspiration.

Hey, you should be proud of anything you can do on your own. I never even painted before Mike, lol.

Originally Posted by temptation001

She really is an inspiration. I know I wouldn't do all the work she does all month, in a lifetime. I would probably tell Mike to hire help. Especially to put the shingles on the roof in that heat. I would bring lemonade, though.

Thank you. I'll take some of that lemonade

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Speaking of roofing shingles, Dow now has a SOLAR roofing shingle that when fully perfected and widely available (later this year?) can let homeowners get in the solar electric game without all the roof racks and PV panels, etc.

In the lab now are spray-on coatings for existing roofs that could also get people into the solar world.

It's coming and it can't happen soon enough to suit me.

Look for a Solar Home Tour in your area this fall to see homes/businesses, see vendors, and talk to owners, etc.

Very cool. The only thing I worry about with the solar roofs or putting panels on the roof is the roof will go bad before the solar and then it's a huge job to fix. But it is still cool.

Thank you for the links.

There is also a solar decathlon in DC this Fall. A lot of Universities are competing and building grid tied solar homes. Maybe something you would like to see
U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Home Page



I'll be back by sometime tomorrow. Lots of work here this week

[ylisa7]

Good morning. Whew..it has been a hot summer. I hope everyone is staying cool I am almost caught up in our story. It's already August 1st and I am up to July

OK...back to our story.


7-1
Mike and I went to his daughter's house to cut a tree down. She put up a hammock on a dead tree and Mike told her we had to fix that so no one got hurt. It worked out well. We got more wood and she got a safe place to hang the hammock.


7-2
We took a day of and went to the Christmas In July festival. It was a long windy trip there and back.


7-4
Hay has been cut, kicked and rolled or baled by our local farmer's. The whole crew was here to today with hay for the barn to keep the cows happy for the winter Now farmer's a hard working bunch. That is a tough job to do especially in this heat.

Later on it poured so no fireworks but it did cool things down.


7-5
The heat is on. What a crazy summer.


My garden is slowly growing.




And looking like a jungle. I think I planted too much




I went to check on some of our wild blackberries.




Soon to be blackberries




I would love to tame them a little so I did some research. After a lot of confusing information I think I got it. If I am wrong in anyway please share Blackberries grow in 2 year cycles and not every cane will have fruit on it. One year some canes will have fruit and then they die. They only get fruit one time on their life. After the summer season you can cut those canes to the ground. The ones that were green this year will bear fruit next year and they can be trimmed back. Anything dead should be cleared out.....ouch!!!


Now to apply that to my mess will be quite difficult since I can't get to the ground. I may have to chop down half the jumble of briers this year to start fresh and then chop the other half down next year. This was I will have some blackberries next year. Mike says I should forget about the bushes and start over with transplants...but it's free so I will try.



Mike and I picked up a load of dirt from our pile to add the the side of the house where it has settled.




Then we shovel the dirt into 5 gallon buckets so we can carry them across the grass.




Mike dumps the dirt on the low side.





And spreads it out. Now we just need some seed and straw.




7-6
We went to town and picked up a treadmill. You would think I get enough exercise around here...not



7-7
I swear Mike is obsessed with rocks It was bad enough we had the pile of rocks to add to the ditch lines...and we got that done. Now Mike wants to pick up rocks from around the property. We will add any rocks we find to the pond wall.


Here is is again....throwing rocks down the hill so we can put them in the tractor bucket.




Our new rock spot.




Very quickly we get a full bucket. Now it's off to the pond.




Mike placing rocks on the pond wall.




And a big one we found.




Off to another job. While we were getting rocks we saw another downed tree that is easy to get to.

Another big tree to be cut up. This will give us a lot of wood.




While Mike is getting ready to cut it up I get a view from a new spot.




Mike is trying to cut but the chainsaw won't stay running. They just don;t make tools like they used to.



Oh well....we are going to have to come back to this tree another day. We drive back down to the pond to check on the fish. Mike is by the drain pipe and I am by the tractor. There is one cow in between us. Next thing I know another cow walks past me and gets close to the other cow...and then the fight began literally. Mike got the heck out of there. The 2 cows were really fighting and pushing each other pretty hard. One cow got thrown all the way into the pond. I got the heck out of there and Mike says "get on the tractor" yeah right, they are strong enough to knock the tractor over Meanwhile every other cow came down to the pond to watch the show. They were all standing around watching the fight mooing away. They reminded me of sports fans, lol. Mike got the tractor out of the way and eventually the fighting cows moved to the barn area and stopped fighting. Wow I have never seen the cows fight. Two bulls yeas but not 2 of the girls. The heat must be getting to them.


The cows fighting.



7-8
Mike and I went to the Farm Supply to pick up Quikrete for our next project. Since we added the awning to the front of the house we have no use for our front garden so we are going to fill it in and make the patio area bigger.


We got back home and Niki is hiding under the chair....strange little dog. We must be rubbing off on her, lol.




We get the 12 bags of quikrete down to the house.




Then we get the rest of the material to do the job. We get the black mixing bucket which we've had for years, the hoe, shovel, trap, and spatula and wood to spread it. Now we are ready. I open up one bag at a time and mix it up with water. Then Mike pours it into the garden and starts to spread it. We go right over the rocks because we can't use them anywhere else.


Mike working on the fill in.




That was work. Not terrible but I have never mixed that much quikrete at one time. Oh my back, lol.


Mike is almost done spreading it out.



We are done.




Now we have to wait for it to cure and then we will stain/paint the patio.



That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed the story and I will write again next Monday. Have a great week.


Lisa

[temptation001]

I wonder what the cows were fighting about? Maybe word got around that the bull had sexed up the pretty one, and the girlfriend went looking for the homewrecker.

I also wonder why Nikki was hiding under the chair as if scared? You guys take care out there and add some security to the house, if ya'll can.

[hiknapster]

Nikki is hiding under the chair because she's heard about those crazy cows.

[temptation001]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Nikki is hiding under the chair because she's heard about those crazy cows.

I wonder if she witnessed the incident? If so, then she probably got scared. Poor Nikki.

[ylisa7]

LOL...nah Niki was fine. She is just a strange little dog sometimes, lol, although she does hide like that when the grandkids are here. She will go into her bed in the corner sometimes and sit with her back to us. It's like she is in self imposed time out I have no idea why she stares at the wall sometimes. Maybe she is snubbing us



I could see the cows fighting over a bull but at the time we didn't have any bulls in here. No more incidents with the girls.

[foxywench]

we have friends with a shi-tzu who does the same thing when guests come over, he sits in the corner starting at the wall as if to say "*********"

[cassy1]

Little Niki was POed that you went to town and did not take her

[MidwesternMan015]

The Great Smokies