Definitely a White Christmas

Well, not unexpectedly, we did not quite manage to move in before the end of 2018.  Instead, winter arrived (rather early!) and kept us busy, which meant that work on the new house slowed down once again.  In fact just a couple of days after I posted the last blog entry, a solid winter storm hit here.  We had a feeling that it was the kind of snowfall that wasn't going away anytime soon, and it turns out we were right.  So we shoveled and plowed, and cleared the solar panels, and talked about the fact that we didn't quite get all the tasks done outdoors as planned, and how now it was possibly too late.  And then the temperatures plummeted, with lows in the minus 20's (yes - MINUS!) and we were kept busy loading firewood into the wood stoves, and wondering just how bad a winter was in store for us.  By November 21st, Rob had plowed four times already, and there was more snow in the forecast.  My circadian rhythm was all out of kilter.  My brain couldn't seem to fathom why it was minus 20, with bitterly cold winds that made it feel more like January than November.  Not only that, but just the week before, we'd been planting some native trees and bushes along the river's edge. We'd been given them by a group that promotes biodiversity along shorelines, and they had told us it was a perfect time to plant them.  It didn't seem possible we'd been digging in the still somewhat soft earth such a short time ago.

On the "plus" side though, the snow cover was exceptionally pretty, and somewhat brightened what is usually the long dark month of November.

By November 21st, we weren't feeling quite so thrilled by it all. Below normal temperatures, wind chill factors, and constant snow squalls were wearing us out somewhat.  I think too, we had conveniently forgotten about those short pre-winter days, the limited sunshine, and the myriad of tasks that winter brings.  Even stepping out the door takes longer, as we first have to don a pile of winter clothing!

Despite all the firewood we had cut, split, and stacked to dry for future years earlier in the fall, we actually didn't have all that much dry wood for burning this winter.  We had tried cutting up some wood that we had left in long lengths all summer, but they turned out not to be all that dry either. We realized we should have prepared more "swing season" wood; lots of poplar and spruce that would give out heat, but aren't really suitable for sustained heat during the really cold months. That would have enabled us to save the good dry hardwood for the middle of winter.  We did gather up all the scraps of pine that we had left over from the timber making process and used it for a short while, and then we turned to some of the short oak short scraps we had left in an open trailer to dry. These were a bit drier but not great. By November 21 we were breaking into our "winter wood", and recalculating how long it might last if the unusually cold weather persisted.

Snow days are cloudy days too, and we found ourselves having to run the generator occasionally to boost the power in the solar powered batteries.  There sure were a lot of cloudy days in November.  Plus the constant snow would cover the solar panels, so not much power was generated on those days either, at least until we could get the snow cleared off of them, or until the snow slid off.

I think if we weren't trying so hard to get things finished in the new house, none of this would have mattered very much, but every minute Rob was pulled away from working in the new house, felt like time lost.  We were both a little disappointed too, to see time slipping away, knowing that it truly meant we would not be in the house before the end of the year.  Fortunately most days we could generally cheer each other up, and remind ourselves that it's all part of the building process.

And as always, there is nothing like a good long walk in the woods, or along the river, with my camera in hand, to cheer me up a little.  The sight of a lone mink one stormy day, loping along the icy edge, diving into the river, coming out of the frigid water, shaking off the icy droplets, then repeating the process again, took all my thoughts away from house building and self imposed deadlines. I tucked myself in next to a pine tree to steady my hand and hoped for a better shot.  Imagine my surprise when the mink caught wind of me, stood up on it's hind legs sniffing the air, then trotted up the shoreline towards me.  I was definitely holding my breath when I took this shot!

And I was happy one evening to run down to the river's edge and catch the last rays of a rather spectacular sunset.

In between the snow days, Rob would continue to sort through his lengths of cherry, maple and oak and get them stored in the workshop to acclimatize while he got everything in place for the cabinetry work.

My upstairs studio was going to be the "test" site for the first cabinet. Plus we needed to get a cabinet in place so that we could move the temporary double stainless steel sink out of our bathroom, but still have the sink available somewhere in the house. As it's final resting place was my studio, it seemed like a good time to get it in place.

We had a counter that we had pulled out of our Chilly Chiles kitchen when we closed the business, that was perfect for my studio, but it began to bow slightly after being pulled out of storage. Rob tried wetting it down daily to get it back in shape.

Towards the end of November, we had a small break in the weather.  We had been working on a means to get internet access and a working telephone at the new house, and had finally decided to try a Power over Ethernet (POE) box (that we now refer to as "Edgar Allan" or "Edgar" for short !! ) that would connect us to the system here at the cabin.  With the weather reprieve, Rob was able to hook up a box here in a tree, and one over at the new house, and test it out.

And it worked!  (Well, of course it did - why am I surprised?)  We had already purchased and tested out an internet phone service earlier in the year, so now have both telephone and internet services running in the new house.  It feels like progress indeed! And just in the nick of time, as then it snowed. And rained. And snowed, snowed, snowed.  So we were thankful that we had managed to get it up and running when it was at least a bit milder and drier out.

The constant snow somewhat delayed a necessary trip to Ottawa for some specialty cabinet hardware, but before the month of November ended we were finally able to make the trip.  We were lucky to have found a company in the west end of Ottawa that had exactly what we needed.  If we have to source products we try to do it locally, but our second choice is always Ottawa.  After that we have to resort to the internet, which usually means shipping costs and time delays.

Most nights at home would find Rob working on stair design and cabinetry details. The existing stairs were found to be off slightly in measurements due to varying concrete floor levels, and we realized we would have to lift them slightly.  Building codes dictate the depth of stairs too, and I learned that you don't want them to be off as you might misstep and fall. O.k., in actual fact I have learned more about stairs in the last couple of weeks than I cared to know.  Rob caught me out one night in mid-explanation when he realized I was totally not listening and was intent on some entirely different topic in my head.  Oops !!  Really though, I'm sure I was still paying attention..

December arrived and so did some sunshine!  We felt like moles coming out of our burrows that morning, squinting into the bright sun against the white snow.  CBC reported that Toronto had seen no sign of the sun for 88% of the time in November. We can only surmise that it was the same for us here.  So we enjoyed a gloriously sunny morning, complete with hoar frost in all the trees near the river, and some lovely light coming through the trees along the path.

Later in the day though, we saw rain, freezing rain, ice pellets, and more snow arrive.  We had more of the same the next day and I stayed home close to the wood stove, and wondered if it could possibly be any darker here in the cabin in the middle of the day.

Eventually I simply headed over to the new house where even on the darkest days, it is ever so much brighter inside.

One of the choices in building the kitchen cabinets was whether to put backs on the cabinets or not.  We keep trying to minimize costs, and think about maintenance and ease of cleaning, so initially thought it would be fine not to put backs on the cupboards.  But eventually Rob decided it just wasn't working, and we needed some backing materials.  Which of course, we didn't have.  We get by with only one vehicle, which I use to get to work, so as usual, this decision came about on a Friday when he was here without the truck.  So we had to wait until the following Monday, when the truck was available, and the weather promised to be nice and clear.  Which meant we would have a decent drive to Ottawa, as well as the materials staying nice and dry during the trip in the open bed of the truck.  Well.....we woke up to - you guessed it - snow!
But the forecast promised clear skies were on the way, so we agreed to set out.  Unfortunately we made the decision to hook up the trailer and use it to haul the materials, but 20 minutes into the trip realized the trailer was now completely covered in wet road slush and salt. This did not bode well for hauling materials.  So we returned home, and unhooked the trailer, and set out again. Of course it snowed the entire trip (both ways!) but thankfully when we picked up our order they allowed us to drive the truck right into the covered-in facility so we could strap our order into the bed of the truck while remaining warm and dry ourselves. They also gave us some protective covering for the products so they would stay relatively dry on the ride home. Things got a bit wet, but not too bad, and we made it home and unloaded everything with no problems.  So much for the weather forecasts!

Up until now, whenever we wanted to know what the solar panels and batteries were doing, we'd have to walk over to where the batteries are installed and check the readouts there.  Thanks to "Edgar" we were able to hook directly into the system and now can monitor it from wherever we are.  Which means in future, if I'm thinking of doing something like vacuuming in the new house, I can log onto the system and know whether it's a good time or not !! (i.e. do we have enough power?) How cool is that. Here's what the screen looks like. Kind of geeky maybe, but it works.

Coming into mid-December, our thoughts began to turn to Christmas, friends, and family.  When some friends invited us for an afternoon brunch, we gladly accepted, and headed over for a couple of hours of good food and conversation.  It's a pretty drive there and back, and we were glad of the outing.  As an added bonus, our hosts are ardent gardeners and they gifted us some butternut and acorn squash when we left.  Which I in turn roasted and turned into a delicious soup.

Unfortunately, that same weekend, our sweet cat GB, who at 17 years old had been having some health issues, (although still happily eating, drinking and purring) began to have problems breathing, and the vet advised us he had congenital heart failure.

He was our "wild boy", and up until the last year or so always game for a good romping play. He stole all of the other cat's food any chance he could get, and proudly held the title of  "the Cat of Perpetual Hunger". He chased his sister Sita somewhat mercilessly at times. He had the most wicked claws, and wasn't afraid to use them.  He didn't like to be picked up much, but he sure would enjoy a good petting and absolutely loved to be brushed.  After we lost Leon our tabby cat, who was the most vocal and loudest purring cat we'd ever had, GB rose to the challenge and developed an absolutely amazingly loud purr.  And so in the last year or so, as his health declined and he quieted down somewhat, he and I enjoyed a lot of quiet time together, as I gently rubbed his ears, and stroked his sides, with him purring all the while.  It's a quieter place here without him and I sure miss his sweet presence.  And I know our other two cats miss curling up with both him and Leon (who we lost over 2 years ago).  I love this picture of the four of them.... and still can't get used to only having two cats on the couch now.

By mid December we had a working sink and counter installed in the upstairs studio.  It looks great, and I am already beginning to think about fabrics and paints and projects again.  It's been too long since I've done anything creative with fabric.  With this sink installed, we once again have somewhere to clean up paint brushes etc. while we continue working on the house. And we can now get to work on getting a proper sink into the master bathroom.

The week before Christmas Rob began cutting wood for the cabinets.  I work a retail job so was putting in extra hours at the store, and planning and doing the shopping for some festive meals. When we received some warnings for a freezing rain and ice pellet storm we made a quick run to pick up extra gas for the generator, and diesel for the tractor.  We were planning a fairly quiet Christmas, and although Rob would happily stop working on the cabinets to enjoy some wine and good food, we were planning on getting those cabinets well on the way over the holiday period.  But then alas (because "alas" just seems like the most appropriate word here, although probably NOT the word Rob used at the time) Rob's table saw croaked.

(Note to non-woodworkers here - this is not a good time for the non-woodworking person to say to the woodworking person "can't you just use another one of your tools".  That is all I'm going to say on this.)

With the holiday season fast approaching, we didn't have much hope for a quick fix.  Once we figured out that it was indeed the motor that had failed, it took some time to shop around and decide whether we could find a suitable replacement motor, or would have to actually find a new saw.  With most companies closed until the New Year it was somewhat difficult to make any decisions.  So we decided we just had to wait until companies re-opened.  There are always plenty of other things that can be done (although I was surprised to learn that most of them required a table saw!  See earlier note. ) so we just continued as best we could.

On Christmas Eve Rob surprised me with a fresh Christmas tree inside the new house, and boxes of Christmas tree decorations stacked beside it.  We haven't had an indoor tree in a good many years so it was a truly lovely surprise.  It was our first Christmas without his sweet Mom and we were both really missing her.  Mom LOVED Christmas; the lights, the music, the Christmas Specials on TV, stockings, gifts, cards, Christmas trees and decorations ....the whole event.  She's made tons of decorations over the years, and we have a lot of them.  So it was somewhat bittersweet to open our box, and decorate our lovely tree, but we did it.  At the same time we decided to purge ourselves of some of our decorations, keeping only the ones we love, the ones with meaning, and the ones that make us smile (or occasionally tear up a little).  Some of them had totally disintegrated into a pile of rubble...we are still guessing what they might have once been!

We enjoyed walking over to the new house on several evenings, where we enjoyed sitting by our tree, sipping a beer, and dreaming of Christmases to come.  It sure was sweet to walk up to the new house at night and see some lights inside too.

Rob also surprised me before Christmas with a shelf for the master bathroom.  It's a live edge shelf that goes on two sides of the bathtub.  It isn't finished though and he made me promise not to post any photos until it is.  But I can say that it looks fantastic, and totally adds to the organic, zen look that I was hoping for.  Hopefully I'll be posting a photo in my next blog entry!

Christmas Day was a quiet one, with our traditional long walk, good food, lots of telephone conversations with friends and family, and a nice dinner at the end of the day.

Boxing Day was more of the same, and then we both got back to work.  As I was off for four days over New Year's we had asked a couple of friends to join us for a dinner on New Year's Day at the new house.  I had said I wasn't going to prepare another meal in the cabin and then run it down to the new house, but there you go.  It seemed like a good idea for the start of a New Year!

As we were in the process of working on kitchen cabinets, we had already pulled out the previously installed "temporary counter" that we had used the last time we served a meal there.  So Rob knocked another quick one together for me.

We tidied up the guest bathroom, and even added a couple of favourite Christmas themed decorations!  (With thanks to my super sis for the sweet little painting she did for us this year.  It will look even better in here once we get this room finished!)

And our funky temporary "scaffolding bed" was made ready for our friend Joe to be able to spend the night.

In the end though we had to cancel our dinner plans as storm warnings began to come in a couple of days before hand, and we didn't want anyone on the roads with a forecast of freezing rain, 50k winds and up to 20 cms of snow.   On New Year's Day, once we finished plowing, shoveling and clearing the snow off of the panels, we still managed to have a nice meal by ourselves, although not the festive one I had planned.

As the roads remained snow covered and somewhat icy for the next couple of days, I was glad our friends hadn't ventured out.  I was worried enough when I saw a truck swinging around the corner one morning when the local Mennonites were out with their horse and buggy!

And I enjoyed a few days off, with lots of good long walks, and evenings by the wood stove.

As soon as New Year's was over, Rob was able to pick up a replacement motor for his table saw, and another necessary part arrived in the mail.  With the saw working once again, we could get back to building cabinets and stairs.

On the whole, the first half of January seems to be promising somewhat milder temperatures than normal, and our wood usage has dropped a bit.  Fortunately too, we had a lot of rain in December, and that washed away a lot of the snow, or we'd have a few feet of it by now I think ! That said, we broke into the wood pile slated for January before December ended (to be used at the new house) and I have dipped into the "February" pile to use here at the cabin. We are trying to make do at the cabin with our electric baseboard heat, supplemented by the wood stove, and so far that seems to be working.  The sooner we can move into the new house and only heat one place the better though!

Well, I had a few more stories, but I think I will add those on to the next blog.  I was trying to get this posted close to the New Year so I could wish everyone all the best for 2019.  My mantra this year is "to see the world through the eyes of a child".  Rob has been working on his, but is leaning towards the infamous Calvin and Hobbs "what a lovely afternoon".  More on this later ... For now, wishing everyone much love, peace and joy. 

A Walk through our PV System

Today's blog will not be featuring the usual excellent writing, great photos and interesting topics that you are used to since Rob is providing the content. Time to set the bar a little lower.  My topic is one that I know you will love - how our off-grid system works! Alison assures me that everyone  wants to know all about this... well, some people may want to know...OK... for sure her brother Mike will be vaguely interested! An off-grid system is difficult to describe without resorting to at least a few technical terms ("arc fault circuit protection" comes to mind) so don't worry if you doze off occasionally…..zzzzzz

An off-grid system is simply one that generates and stores all of it's own electricity - there is no normal electrical connection. For those who don't want to read the whole post, here is a summary of the vital information:

Do they save money? - "No"

Are they expensive? - "Yes"

Are they easy to install? - "No"

So, now that we have that cleared up, it becomes apparent that there are only two reasons that one would install an off-grid system: 

1. you live a gazillion miles from available power and have no other option 

2. you are seriously deranged and simply want to live the off-grid lifestyle. 

Let's just say that we do not live a gazillion miles from available power so draw your own conclusions.

Before starting, a brief digression on electrical inspections. Code requirements for PV systems are a fast moving target. After completely installing the system it failed inspection due to not having arc fault circuit protection (there's that term). This is actually the first inspection of any type that I have ever failed. The requirement has been in the code book since 2012 but was not enforced because at the time of purchase the necessary equipment wasn't available for off grid systems. Unfortunately, it took a year and a half for me to get the system completely installed and by then the inspector had started enforcing the rule. Timing is everything! I had to remove and reinstall a bunch of stuff and I then had to rewire the system a third time because the wiring diagram provided by the manufacturer was not the correct one for my system. Like you,  I am starting to really dislike "arc fault circuit protection".

So here we go.

The solar panels:

Our system uses 24 roof mounted solar panels (the array). In full sun, each panel produces about 255 watts of power at 35V so the array can produce a total of about 6.2 kW of power.  Panels can be wired in series to increase the voltage available or in parallel to increase the power (and usually both configurations are used in the system design). For voltage, you need to have enough to charge the batteries but not enough to damage the charge controller. Our panels are thus wired as 3 panels in series to produce 107 Volts (these are called a "string") and the resulting  8 strings are then connected together in parallel (in two sets of 4 strings, one set for each of the two charge controllers) to maximize power. One counter-intuitive complicating factor is that panels actually produce higher voltages as the temperature goes down, so the whole system has to be designed using a winter design temperature of -40 degrees (which is the lowest temperature recorded in this area. (I know, I know...why would anyone want to live here?)

An aside: Mounting the panels to a metal roof was supposed to be easy - they make clips that simply attach to the ribs on the roof, the rails then attach to the clips and the panels attach to the rails. Unfortunately, when I tested the clips they ripped the roofing apart before they were even close to the design uplift load. I then had to find a different attachment method that could handle the load and that didn't cause leaks in the roof.

Going through the roof:

Each string terminates with a single pair of wires (positive and negative)and these are routed into rooftop transition boxes at the top of the array (two boxes are required because of the number of strings installed). The only purpose of the box is to transition to less expensive wire and feed it through the roof with a waterproof seal. One of the difficulties in installing the panels was keeping track of the 18 different wires, so all wires were labelled at both ends before they were installed and colour coding was used to ensure that polarity is not accidentally switched.  I also used a voltmeter to confirm correct installation.

An aside: when I later had to rewire the system there was no longer any reason to use a transition box because the combiner was now just inside the roof and the wires were only 2 ft long. I had to rip out and replace all of the wiring that ran to the battery room and I could have spent the money much more wisely on a ton of beer!  (Alison frowns...)

Into the Combiners:

I will not bore you with the details of the combiner that I had to rip out, but let me say that it was inexpensive, easy to install and tidy. The replacement arc fault/rapid shutdown combiner boxes were expensive and a pain to install - but on the bright side, still pretty tidy. They are shown above - located just inside the roof of my shop.

As mentioned, there are 8 strings of panels used in our design. A single combiner can only handle a maximum of 6 strings thus there are 2 combiners - 4 strings are connected to each one.  As the name implies, each combiner merges the 8 wires from the panels into a single pair of much heavier wires and these then run through the gray tray underneath the combiners to the conduit on the lower left that connects to each of the two charge controllers (in other words, half of the panels will connect to one charge controller and half of the panels connect to the other). The combiners  also provide fusing and arc fault detection to protect against overload if a problem occurs with the rooftop circuits. Finally, there is also a box at ground level on the outside of the shop which allows switching the panels off in case of an emergency (it disconnects the rooftop panels and remotely trips another set of breakers to disconnect the charge controllers).

An aside: safety is a major consideration with these installations because if there is sun, there is power. You can't actually turn the panels or the batteries off; you can only disconnect them. Since the voltages are lethal, you really need to pay attention and be sure that everything is disconnected before working on the system!

And then into the charge controllers:

From the combiner, the wires run to the two charge controllers and these units control how much of the power from the panels is used to charge the batteries. The charge controllers use MPPT algorithms (Maximum Power Point Tracking) to maximize the power coming from the panels. Batteries are charged using a three stage program that applies different voltages and currents according to the state of charge of the battery. Since batteries can be damaged by either overcharging or under-charging, the programming has to be set carefully and then modified according to the age of the batteries. Once the batteries are fully charged the charge controller goes into a maintenance mode and power from the panels is basically not used. If you look at the display in the photo it reads that the charge controller is "sleeping". How cute is that! 

If you use power when there is lots available (a bright sunny day), then you basically get it for free and the batteries remain charged. If you use power at night, then the batteries gradually discharge and on the next sunny day they just charge up again. Off-grid systems are normally designed to operate for about 3 days without sun - after that the available battery power is depleted to 50%. Battery life drops dramatically if they are routinely discharged to more than 50% so if the sun doesn't appear in a timely manner, a generator must be run to recharge the batteries. You quickly learn to conserve power when it is not sunny!

An aside: These are pretty cool retro looking charge controllers eh! The two main manufacturers for off grid charge controllers are Outback and Midnite, and both units look like they were removed from an old juke box. It works out that they were designed by the same person and my guess is that he (like myself) is a retired hippie. (Alison: a what hippie ????)

Batteries are next:

Batteries are the black magic of PV systems - they are expensive and depending on the technology can be finicky, require a lot of maintenance and TLC and are very easy to destroy. And did I mention expensive? The batteries are used to store the electrical energy generated by the panels so that there is power without sunlight.  Ours are a flooded lead acid type and they are contained in a battery box to make sure that nobody can play with them and, for example, accidentally short the terminals which creates a rather spectacular but short lived pyrotechnical event. They also contain acid which is best avoided and when the batteries charge they evolve hydrogen gas, which is explosive. All in all, these are well suited to our keen sense of adventure. On the plus side, the battery box also contains the hydrogen gas and it is then vented to the outside using a vent fan (the fan is programmed to switch on during the charge cycle that produces most of the hydrogen).  

Our system uses 12 batteries at 12V each and we need 48V. To accomplish this, four batteries are wired in series and as with the solar panels, these are also called strings (which can be confusing). Each of the 3 battery strings is then connected in parallel to a positive and negative bus bar (simply a point of connection that can handle a lot of power). The purpose of all of this is to increase the power available from the battery bank while maintaining a usable voltage. To ensure that all of the batteries charge at the same rate, all corresponding wires in each string have to be exactly the same length and since the wires have to handle a lot of power they end up being quite thick (the final wire is about 1/2 inch in diameter)

For safety, the circuits are fused before connecting to the bus bars and then two very heavy wires (a red and a blue wire on the bottom right) are run from the bus bars to the Load Center . This then provides the path for charging and discharging the batteries.

The load center:

The load center is where all of the components connect together and it is pretty much a rats nest of wiring due to a rather poor layout by the manufacturer. It directs the power into and out of the batteries and to and from the inverter. It also allows a generator to be hooked up and controlled and allows connection to the normal power grid (if it is available). Finally, there are circuit breakers to protect each circuit and there are connections to output the AC power to the house.  Everything is run in conduit to protect the wires from physical damage.

The Inverter

The purpose of the inverter is to convert the 48 volt DC power from the batteries into useable AC power. The system we use produces power that is exactly the same as a normal house (120/240V split phase). To do this, there are actually 2 inverters inside the box, each producing 120 V but out of phase with each other. The AC power from the inverter is fed back to the load center, then through a main circuit breaker and on to the load panel in the house (3 wires, 2 hot and one neutral).  From there it is a normal house system but it is of course limited by the available power in the batteries and the size of the inverter (we can pretty much run anything, but we can't necessarily run everything all at once).

System Control:

There are multiple systems that need to be programmed, controlled and tracked and this is accomplished using the panel shown above.  All of the parameters can also be monitored using a computer connection or they can be completely controlled and programmed over the Internet.

And here is the tidier version 

After the system is completed and the panels installed.

Does it actually work?

Happily, yes - so far anyway. The background draw of power from the system amounts to about 70 watts (which powers the system itself and the rapid shutdown). All of our lighting is LED so even with a number of lights on the draw is only an additional 35 watts. Continuous loads are the ones to watch out for and the only large, steady load in our house is the refrigerator (which has not been moved in yet). I can work in my woodworking shop all day, start any of my stationary tools (some have 5 hp motors) and run a dust collector, air cleaner and woodworking machine all at the same time.  If it is sunny, the batteries will still be at 100% at the end of the day. The real test will come during the darkest months when the amount of sunlight is limited (December-January) - so I will post in February and let you know how it went.

That's it (and I'm sure it's much more than you ever wanted to know). For me, this was really a fun project!
(Note by Editor: Fun ? Hmmmm.... well it had it's moments.  Am now throwing out electric blow dryer, and taking "clothes dryer" off of the "to buy" list.... ) 

Catching up

Well, I must say that trying to fill in a blog posting after a nearly four month hiatus is a bit of a daunting task! Rob had hoped to do an interim post with more specific details on the installation of our off-grid power system but there were a few changes necessary so it will have to wait. In the meantime I kept an ever growing pile of photos on the side; hoping to eventually sort through them and come up with a post of my own.  "The best laid plans..." as they say.

So now I find myself, on a rather dark, cool and dreary late May day, hoping to at least write some kind of update. I'm going through our photos and notes, and trying to make some sense out of what we've done in the last few months.  I almost don't want to look at any of the pictures of ice and snow though. It was a rather long winter, and a cold dark spring. The leaves are only just now coming out in the trees, and we are all anxious for some warmer and brighter summer-like weather.

With apologies to Rob; for my lack of details on the installation of the batteries, and powering up of the electrical system, and apologies to anyone reading this, as there may be a bit of a jump-around here and there on the time line. Here I go ...

Rob completed the box that holds the batteries, and one cold March day we moved the batteries out of the dining room in the cabin, and over to the new workshop.  Jet barked a big "Yippee", as his bed had been moved to make room for the batteries and it could now go back to it's original place in the dining room. And I was pretty glad to see those batteries leave this little cabin as well!

Soon, the batteries were all installed into the new box that we had built.

Then we checked them all to make sure they were o.k and establish a base level for voltage and specific gravity (which is used to measure the state of charge).

Somehow, I think I thought there would be more fanfare, but we were both pretty chuffed when we "flipped the switch" and voila - we had real power ! Up until now we'd been running off of a single portable solar panel and when necessary, a generator.

Now we could begin to monitor what really happens on snowy days, or cloudy days, in terms of power being generated from those awesome panels!

We had some beautiful, and unusually mild days in March. And we also had some pretty solid snowstorms.

I would say that I probably spent more time outside this winter than ever before though. It was lovely, and as always a lot of my time was spent down at the river's edge.

Rob continued to work on the workshop, putting in the rest of the second floor:

and hoped for some warmer weather to arrive, so he could do the work necessary to get the house wrap off of the workshop windows, and allow some natural light in.  On the other hand, it was pretty cool to be able to turn on a light! It will be a while before Rob gets this space set up the way he wants, but it sure is fabulous to see his hand made workbench there after all this time.

The weather really didn't cooperate in terms of warming up, so he switched back to working on the new house.  The scaffolding was erected once again, and he donned a clean room suit, and face mask for protection from the insulation fibers, and started tucking insulation into the ceilings. I think after all the stress of installing the batteries and configuring the system, it was nice to do some "mindless" work.  Mind you, we did still have to figure out how best to use the bats of insulation, cut each piece to fit, and move that scaffolding all around, climbing up and down pretty often - which had it's own issues!

It was slow work, but rewarding to see some progress! After the insulation went in, Rob added some Tyvek on top, to help prevent any insulation particles filtering through the ceiling planks, especially if the planks shrink over time, allowing the fibres to escape out. In a regular house, the vapour barrier would prevent this, but this style of building doesn't use one, and the Tyvek is moisture permeable which is important.

Not only was it great to see progress, but those huge piles of bags of insulation started to go down!

In the meantime, I joined a fabulous Photo Challenge (thank you Charles and Photo Coach!) that offered weekly constructive critiques of photos, and I found myself traipsing around the countryside looking for inspiration. As much as I love driving around this area, I was somewhat disheartened that as late as March 26 we still had snow on the ground, and no sign of it going any time soon. (And it snowed in April and again in May!) I loved coming across the Mennonites in their buggies one Sunday morning. I don't usually like to photograph them, but as it was from quite a distance, and not at all intrusive, I thought it would be o.k.

I never did use that photo for the challenge, but I did eventually find the tree that I wanted for the challenge that week!

Back at the house, Rob was working on the final electrical wiring while also finishing the insulation.  As always, one job precludes another, so he's constantly "changing hats". He needed to run the rest of the wiring in the ceiling before he put in the insulation. The time had also come to finalize all of our wiring and lighting plans. We've found some interesting LED lighting strips that will add some programmable colours, as well as some interesting back lighting to some areas. We spent quite a bit of time going over to the house at night to make sure that the lighting we've chosen would be adequate, as sometimes it's hard to tell during daylight hours. We've also accumulated some nice lighting fixtures over the years, so should be able to put them all to good use now. With our final electrical inspection looming, we also had to properly finish all the switches, plugs etc. but we won't install our final lighting fixtures until the drywall has been sanded and painted, and we'll be producing less dust and dirt!

While the scaffolding was up, he also took a great leap of faith, and installed the final two upper windows. After all the unresolved issues we had with our (now defunct) window supplier, we weren't even sure that the ones they had left us with, would fit as promised, but miraculously - they did ! Whew.... Nice to see some part of the window fiasco go right (however, they were not the specified glass - you can't win them all)! And they do look beautiful, and bring in even more light.

April 7 we were dismayed to wake up to (a lot) more snow....and wondered if the returning geese would simply turn around and head back south! Despite our attempts to drive out that day, we couldn't make it up the hill and I never did make it to work.

On the plus side, it made for some intricate patterns in the wetland when the melting waters froze up again!

A week later though, it really did begin to feel like spring. There is a saying here that it isn't spring until the phoebes sing, and sure enough one day we heard the return of the phoebes.

Although there was still a bit of snow lingering in piles behind the house, and in the woods, the temperatures began to warm up, and we could shed our winter coats and boots, and believe that winter was finally over.

We ventured out for a hike in the beautiful Shaw Woods one weekend, skirting the snow and ice that was still here and there on the pathways, and noticed the water levels of the Snake River seemed pretty high. This walkway abruptly ended as the boardwalk was under water.

Our own wetland area was beginning to look like a small lake.

Both the cabin and the new house were high and dry though, so we didn't worry...

Rob kept plugging away at the insulation:

And I kept an eye on the river, as it rose higher and wider than either of us had ever seen.

As soon as the insulation was installed, Rob set to work on staining the pine for our wood ceilings. We had chosen a sort of white wash effect for the pine that we thought would lighten the ceilings, and make the timbers stand out more.  I thought it would take forever to do, but Rob set himself up outside with home made drying racks, and made pretty quick work of it all. (You can see the racks in this earlier photo that I took, below) It made for an easy way to stack the wood while it dried, and then Rob could move them back into the house.

We knew we had only a small window of time to work outside before the bugs arrived.  It's no fun trying to stain wood when bugs keep landing on the planks! Luckily we got them all done in time.

I escaped from the rising waters (and promises of helping to stain all that pine!) and made a quick trip to BC for my Mom's 90th birthday, and to visit family. I was surprised to discover that I took very few photos, but I was intent on soaking up as much family time as possible! It was wonderful to see everyone, and spend some time in the big city as well as the lovely Sunshine Coast.

While I was away, Rob told me that the river had pushed further into our wetland and over to the neighbouring wetland, breaching our road somewhat.  A minor issue - and nothing like the devastation elsewhere in the province where record high water levels caused a lot of destruction. By the time I came home, the waters were receding although the river still remains high. And I apparently missed another day of snow!

While I was away, the installation of the pine ceiling began too. What an amazing feeling it is to look up and see a finished ceiling! There is still lots more to go up but already we can get an idea how the house will look.

I thought this would be the first spring that we wouldn't be worrying about the weather, as we had no major outside tasks planned for early this year. I had clearly forgotten about our tandem load of firewood that should have been sawed and split last fall.  (Unfortunately it snowed in November when we planned on doing it, and the snow never left!)  Just as both the black flies and mosquitoes emerged, Rob set out with his chain saw to prepare the wood for splitting.  The logs arrive in 16 foot lengths and these need to be cut into 16" pieces. It's heavy, dirty work, and the black flies were pretty hungry. Fortunately, a couple of rainy days gave Rob's early bites a chance to heal before he was the main course again and he moved back into working on the new house until the rain cleared and he could get back at the firewood.  Once it is sawed into smaller logs, I can go up and help with the splitting and stacking - but some of the oak pieces are pretty serious in size and we will need to split them using a wedge before we can lift them onto the hydraulic splitter.. We need to give the wood as much time as possible to dry before using it this winter. If it isn't dry enough by fall, we will have to buy some firewood as we did in previous years. (Which will mean even more splitting work for me!)

We've never split wood in the spring before and now we know why. The bugs make it really hard to work outside right now, and they are worse on cloudy, still days.  The wood seems to be an major attractant as well!

So, I think that pretty much covers the last few months.  We think we are on track for moving in by Christmas, but there is a lot of work to do before then.  We shall see how things go this summer as we continue to work on the interior of the new house, interspersed with wood splitting and all the day to day chores and goings on!  I know when the time comes, I shall miss this little cabin.  But I am just the tiniest bit hungry for a bit more kitchen space!

I'll finish with a last photo - just for fun. Looks like Big Rob and Little Al....