The house is coming up on its second year out of the shelter of the firehouse. I am still working on it; possibly three years after I had hoped it would be finished. It has survived its second hurricane unscathed. For that matter, better off post storm. For the second time I spent the rainy pre-storm day puting a fresh tarp on the roof. This time it was an extra heavy duty bilboard avertising a heath insurance company. Thanks to the help of Patrick, always ready to lend a hand in inclement weather, we installed some temporarily permanent plexiglass storm windows in the fifty mile an hour winds. No more plastic sheeting over the windows (except the heavy double layer tarp over the skylights). These will remain until I get around to building the proper steel casements. I reinstalled the wood stove so it is cozy in the cool weather.
Ladders in and out, fall garden, warm fire, cool sunset, large timbers, greenhouse.
Call and response
Last weekend I made an attempt at the siding on the parking lot side. Didn't finish it, but I did get the trim up, siding around the window, and a plan to allow the gable panel to be removable.
I made some progress on the photovoltaic system also. Pablo at Green Energy Options in Keene, NH has helped me out with advice and supplied me with a couple of 12 volt compact fluorescent light bulbs that I am now using. So far I have just done some more temporarily permanent wiring for the lighting.
Once the wall covering goes on all of my wiring will be neatly routed in copper tubing on the surface of the wall. For now it is functional. One of the huge NiCad batteries has taken up residence on the floor. I am still working off of the charge it had when I picked it up, but a full charge should give me 28 days of light for four hours a day. I am constantly amazed by these batteries. Check back soon for a full report on my research into pocket plate NiCads, their reconditioning and use for a photovoltaic system.
Finally, I found a solar panel! This is a 170 watt panel, more than enough power for my current usage. I am hoping to pick up a charge controller for it this week and get this charging my batteries soon! There will be much more info on how I am building the photovoltaic system in the next few weeks.
