We're getting snow almost daily but it mostly melts during the day now and I could drive right up without chains!  It was dicey once or twice but not too bad.

I have had a little experience with deep snow and slush on top of ice and fully understand why you two can't drive up in the winter!  I'm VERY lucky to have a neighbor that lives full time above me (he's at 3600') and who keeps the road traveled.

When are you headed up Yonderosa?  Perhaps we might get together?  I plan to be up twice in April if all goes well and maybe once for a couple extra days.

Erik

no firm date yet.  Just need a window of opportunity. 

Quote from: Yonderosa on March 30, 2011, 09:29:05 PM
no firm date yet.  Just need a window of opportunity. 

Well let me know when you head up and if we're going to be up the same time we might have to get together.

This arrived today

It's about 3 times the size of the Xantrex C40 and I can't wait to plug it in, get it up and running and get a laptop plugged into it too!

You have internet access up there?

Quote from: JavaMan on April 05, 2011, 03:54:05 PM
You have internet access up there?

Nope -- but if I did it would be sweet!

Just plug the laptop in to get stats etc...

Yeah, I might not come down from the mountain in the summer if I had the 'net up at my place... I'd work from there if I could. 

Good to see the progress you're making even with the white stuff going on.

We headed  to Colville and got Wild Blue installed at our place over by Curlew...Works great.  If you look at the topic on homes under 500 square feet you'll see our cabin with two dishes on it, one for the satellite TV and the other for our computer....

Quote from: curlewdave on April 06, 2011, 12:42:42 PM
We headed  to Colville and got Wild Blue installed at our place over by Curlew...Works great.  If you look at the topic on homes under 500 square feet you'll see our cabin with two dishes on it, one for the satellite TV and the other for our computer....

Dave if you don't mind reveiling how much the installation and monthly fee is on the internet?

At the time we got free installation and paid about 60 bucks a month on a 2-year contract.  That was a few years ago.  You might want to go to the Wild Blue site and check it out now...Dave

My wife just checked out the Hughes Net site and felt it had a better deal, but check them both out...

Neighbors have Satellite internet but told me it's limited until midnight (not sure how much) and $64 a month but they could get much better...I'll check it out.

Next trip in the works

Supposed to snow all week....someone check the calendar but I think it's April isn't it?  With luck we'll scoot out of here Thursday night or Friday morning and have lots of time to mill lumber, make T&G for the walls and upgrade the solar power

We'll be going back the following weekend too so we can get more done and then again after that...spring is in the air!

It looks like the snow will be flying until Wed or Thur but then it's supposed to get above 50 for the weekend!  NICE!

Got up this weekend and milled a bit more lumber for the cabin.  I'm hopeful that the last weekend of the month we will be able to make T&G and start hammering it up.  It would be a nice change of pace I think.


I have much work to do here also.  Namely, installing conduit and correcting wire lengths and types as well as getting the ground properly installed (we ran into rocks last time and then the ground froze).  However, I did manage to get the new charge controller in and WHAT A DIFFERENCE!  Amazing what the right parts to the puzzle can do.  Now the batteries should be easily kept to charge throughout the day and I just need to add two more now and I should be able to run a freezer all summer long


Sleeping quarters for an old Marine


The parlor   This is where my evenings are spent reading.


Dinning Room   We salvaged an old table of my mother-in-law's for the cabin and it fits nicely.

It is looking like a wonderful home-sweet-away-from-home!

The new controller is installed (mostly) and running.  I found it interesting to watch what it is doing and can't wait to get back and start tidying up the install -- I also plan to install the battery temp sensor so it can adjust voltages for temperature.

One thing I wasn't certain of, was what the settings for the GCB's should be so I chose flooded cell batteries and hope to get that sorted before returning in case I need to make some changes.


The sun kinda came and went (partially cloudy with times of full sun throughout the weekend).

One thing that disappointed me was that despite getting the batteries pretty much fully charged they dropped to a reported 0'30% charge over night.  It did, however, get below freezing but we only ran 3 CFL's and the inverter on Saturday night.  The lights ran about 6 hours and of course the inverter for 24 but I didn't expect the batteries to drop that much.

Looking good jarhead ... wish my project was coming along that well !  Your place looks nice and cozy there by the wood stove.

Quote from: JavaMan on April 19, 2011, 11:31:35 AM
Looking good jarhead ... wish my project was coming along that well !  Your place looks nice and cozy there by the wood stove.

It's cozy alright!

Helps that I can take most every other weekend to drive to the cabin and work on it...and that I'm an old Jarhead that refuses to let up!

Quote from: OlJarhead on April 24, 2011, 06:23:31 PM
It's cozy alright!

Helps that I can take most every other weekend to drive to the cabin and work on it...and that I'm an old Jarhead that refuses to let up!

HA!  yeah, I suppose that hard-headedness of you ol' jarheads (read jar-he-ads) does prove useful ... some might say "too dumb to quit", but not me 

Just funnin' with yah    I know better'n to cross a jarhead, old or otherwise 

Of course I have a stubborn streak in me, but never was a jarhead ... three years ago I was stubborn enough to try getting up to the property alone (around Mother's day) and buried the axles in the snow.  If it hadn't been for the neighbor that was just down the hill 1/4 mile I would have been stuck for a while.  I'm chomping at the bit to head up to the place now already (now that I have some $$ set aside for gas and building supplies). but it will still be about another month yet, I think. - been watching the snow mobile ads, too.

When I finally get up there, we'll have to meet for coffee or lunch.  Conconully might be good or Omak...

Keep working on that place - it looks like a great retreat! 

We have a wall!

Not much time to post but suffice to say we had a great weekend and managed to plane and router enough pine to cover one wall   Looks awesome, feels awesome!

More soon

Looks great!

Nothing like being able to say that the wood you're looking at came from your own property

That is absolutely AWESOME!  Looks good too.  I love how it looks up there on that wall... and from your own place, too... very cool 

We started the weekend by planing down about 15 boards we'd milled at 5/8 x 8-9" x 8' to 1/2" in thickness (they didn't shrink much despite being well dried).


Planing them down was a bit of a chore and easiest with 3 of us doing it.  The Ryobi planer worked very well though!


We captured most of the chips to save for the composting toilet

Then we ripped all the boards in half because I was worried about cupping as some (few) had cupped a little in drying.


Then we began running them through the router table we made on the spot to make them into Tongue and Groove.


The boys did a great job of this and we planed enough for one wall.


This is a shot of our crude but effective router table.  HEY!  It worked!

I might add that anyone with a sharp eye will notice all the Ryobi tools in this pick.  I have had very good luck with them and most of my power tools are Ryobi with the exception of my skill saws and my Miter Saw (and wood mill...)...they work well and many of them have years of use from them...all for a lot less $$ then Makita (my miter) or Dewalt (my sawzall)....

Looks mighty good!  I'm very impressed.