I’ve written so little lately that I figured nobody would be checking here anymore but it seems that I was wrong! I’m glad I was wrong, it appears that there are some brave and persevering folks around that haven’t given up on me yet! I’ll try to write more often, and there is a good possibility that I’ll be able to do so since I’ve got a lot more time to spend indoors doing this sort of thing. The other day Kyle took off for Kentucky and forgot his wallet at home, so after a phone call I was off to take it to him, not all the way to Kentucky, just to Grand Forks. I figured that while I was there I might as well go shopping for supplies since I wouldn’t be in a decent shopping town for several months at least. So, several hundred dollars and a lot of dodging of traffic later I had the car stuffed with plumbing and electrical supplies and was on my way home through the snowstorm. Now the house is a huge mess due to me getting both the plumbing installed and the wiring installed at the same time, I really like plumbing and electrical because they are easy and straightforward, hot wires go one place, grounds go another and when it’s all hooked together things work. I am making things a little more complicated because I have a 120 volt AC 10 amp max inverter circuit, a 120 volt AC 100 amp circuit and a 24 volt DC circuit that is dropped down to 12 volts DC at the final outlet. I also have the power plant control wiring and switches and the battery bank monitoring equipment (a good volt meter) going in so sometimes I have to sit down and think real hard about what I am doing! The goal for the power plant is to be able to start it from upstairs (starts on 24 volts) let it warm up with no load, then switch to 12 volts for charging. Now I have to go into the basement and manually connect wires to 24 volts to start it and then move the wires to the 12 volt side to charge. It seems complicated, but it’s more efficient to go 24 volts for the DC side since there is less line loss with the higher voltages, besides the fact that when it’s as cold as it is it helps to have the higher voltage for cranking the engine, so far the little diesel starts every time, even at 10 below, with no glow plugs or ether, but the 24 volts spins it over pretty fast.

It’s nice to finally have outlets and lights with real wall switches, and as soon as I get the plumbing working I am going to do dishes…

Well, we finally got winter! I love winter but I prefer if it comes slowly so I can get used to it, I wasn’t used to it this year, 40 degrees one day and blowing snow and zero the next just wasn’t enough of a preparation so I had a few cold moments while doing chores. The pigs come up for air once in a while, otherwise they hide out in a nest deep in the bedding. I let the dog in the house for a couple of nights so she could sleep by the fire but now she is used to the cold and she prefers it outside so that’s where she stays!

I’ve got new neighbors moving in soon, about 5 miles away but out here that’s still neighbors. The guy is about my age I would guess (I’m almost 26), but is the type of person that I usually try avoiding as much as possible, his 74 year old live in girlfriend is moving out with him. Did you catch that? She’s got to be old enough to be his great grandmother! I am still having a hard time wrapping my mind around that fact! It just seems too creepy.

I’ve been over helping my other neighbor out a lot lately (the one with heart trouble that thinks Hillary Clinton would be a good president) and have been having a lot of very delicate conversations about politics with him. I’ve never been around someone that thinks this way, only heard stories and read things, it’s difficult to comprehend how someone could actually want the government to take care of them in almost every way and who likes to pay taxes. I guess it’s good for me to remember that the whole world doesn’t think like I do. I really shouldn’t get into my views of government and politics here as they are so radical someone might decide I need a mental health evaluation.

Yesterday after church Kyle and I were talking and the pastor came up and asked what sort of a Christmas program we were going to do. Both Kyle and I were caught off guard because neither of us celebrate Christmas, and neither of us has ever done a Christmas program! I’ve never even been to one so I have no clue what one would be like. Kyle stammered out something to the effect that we hadn’t thought about it and the pastor said we had better get busy as time was running out. I guess we were picked since we do a good portion of the music at church (I only do it when Kyle is gone, my piano playing is terrible). Kyle and I talked about it and neither of us have a problem with the music usually played around Christmas, actually some of my favorite music would be considered Christmas music. I don’t know what we are going to do yet, Kyle wants to sing acapella but I would rather not! It would be ok if we could actually sing but we can’t. We can make a lot of noise however so we may end up doing just that, and everyone will politely clap and say how wonderful it was. I just wish we could invite someone else to come join us so we don’t have to do it all alone, maybe have something different for a change! I do enjoy it though.

Lately the people that I happen to come across all seem to be talking about their heat bill, which is in most cases outrageously expensive. It really makes for a satisfying feeling when I go out in the woods for 20 minutes with the saw and come back with enough wood to heat the house, cook all of the meals and heat all of the hot water for several days, all for the cost of a few pennies worth of chainsaw gas and a few more pennies worth of wear on the chain. It’s even more satisfying when I remind myself that I would be cutting the wood up anyway because it’s all dead and falling down trees that need to be cleared out one way or another, so in essence, the heating, cooking and hot water is all gotten at the expense of carrying the wood into the house and putting it in the stove. Not a bad deal really. If I count the exercise that I get, which keeps me healthy, I should be paying for the privilege of cutting the wood. I found another kitchen stove that I would like to bring home, the one I had was ugly and falling apart so I took it out and am just using the airtight stove for cooking and hot water because it’s much safer though it doesn’t make a good substitute for a good kitchen stove. The new stove is very old but a lot more ornate and beautiful so I really want to get it here but along with all of the other benefits over the stove I had last year it’s about twice as heavy, which means I cannot move it at all. I’m working on a way to move it however, and hopefully I can write about the successful transfer next time.