treehugger

Got a nice bump in readers today (Howdy!) due to a blip on treehugger.com http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/field-lab-offgrid-house.php thanks to Tim for passing my info onto my new friends at tiny house design http://www.tinyhousedesign.com/2009/06/08/the-field-lab-extremely-sustainable-homestead/

Finished up tricking out the new simple summer kitchen this morning. Poured my heart and soul into a good scrub down of the house'n'grounds. Linked up with Jerry from UPS for the new sump pump hose I ordered. Met my new best friends Aaron, Shiree, and Brooke at the GrubShack for lunch then they came out for the tour. Great folks I'm happy to know now... and turns out Shiree will be able to help me design some flame throwers to be mounted on my entrance towers. During the tour, I found my first genuine artifact on my property down in the canyon - this must have washed down here after the last rains because Aunt Kathy would surely have found it by now.

time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping....

Pepino did its job today with a high inside of 80.5 at the max outside of 106. Ryan showed up at the end of the day with the fittings I needed for the grill. The brilliant part is that I showed him the situation and he automatically knew exactly what I needed.

Trying to get the ducks in a row to begin the next level of construction. Cleared and prepped the west side for setting the first course of cinder block. Went'n'fetched 5 buckets of primo sand for the mortar mix....then it got hot again. Spent the afternoon indoors prepping to order my translucent roofing material and shade cloth for the greenhouse. Got a little more cypherin' do to make the most out of the plan. For those who have asked: I refrain from posting an illustration of the final greenhouse plan because I prefer to just do it as opposed to presenting a plan. It's all in my head and will spill out onto the blog as it happens. Nothing like building a little suspense...

Field Lab Solar Dinner

Danger, Will Robinson!

Benita's photo of the day - deciding to try the shade of my shower this morning. Not to worry folks....the propane tank was going inside but now it will be outside. Not because of the inherent danger of placing it inside because I don't think it is a problem for an intermittent use system. I have run my heater for two winters with the 20 pounder sittin right under the unit. Have I been lucky so far?....no, just smart about my connections. So anyway...the cook top is moving outside to the porch because I noticed when I heated my coffee water this morning even on the low setting, the inside temp went up 2 degrees - which this time of year is not good. So now the porch will be the summer kitchen but I will haul it inside ( tank and all for the winter months ).

Spent most of the day inside tweaking the swamp cooler flow. Broke the 80 degree mark today with a high of only 79.5 inside! Managed the flow rate by mechanical means for now until I find just the right 12volt timer switch for the pump. Also built a temporary vent for my exit air window. Decided that letting that air blow out at belly level would only keep my knees cool so I rigged a box from one of my solar panels to channel the hotter air from the ceiling down and out the belly level open window. Hit a high in the sun of 118+ today. The white thermometer shows the inside temp on top and the temp inside the swamp cooler in the middle and the inside humidity on the bottom. The lower unit is my weather station. The center of the unit shows the outdoor temp at 111.9 at 7% humidity and the indoor temp of 78.3 with 42% humidity at 3:15PM this afternoon. Nothing like seeing the numbers to know what's working...

rerun

Someone emailed me a week or so ago that the TCR piece was going to air again this weekend. Must have happened this morning because I got slammed with views, emails, and comments...THANKS! for taking the time view the site and blog and for the comments and emails.

A super hot day today....high in the sun of 110..... 7% humidity. Got up to 83 inside today with 40% humidity. Benita got good snacks, too much of my water, and is in the shade of my house as we speak. Did a major job cleaning my counter top today...there was just too much useless stuff that I had to look at everyday - taking up available horizontal space. Funny how you get used to the clutter then discover how good it feels to get rid of it. Set my new indoor grill top in place in the kitchen but have to get some fittings so the hose to the tank is out of the way.

wires and rocking chairs

Had an early morning visit from my friend John Stolt. He and his wife were here about 2 weeks ago and got the full Field Lab tour. They remarked while viewing my front porch that I really needed a rocking chair. When John showed up this morning he had a rocking chair gift in tow for me. He and a cousin hit the road after their delivery for a Grub Shack breakfast. I called Betty right as they drove east to tell her that their breakfast was on me. Not only did Mr. Stolt bring me a rocking chair....he also refused the free breakfast offer and insisted on buying my next meal there. Not to be overpowered by his generous double gifting...I popped a loaf of Field Lab Specialty Bread into the solar oven. Alas....I was not been able to track him down this afternoon to deliver it. Hopefully I will catch him before he leaves tomorrow morning. I had the Grub Shack Reuben Sandwich for lunch...gratis!

Made two trips out this afternoon to try and track down the Stolt for his bread delivery but still no luck. Did a bit more grounds clearing then untangled the mess of wires that was my solar rig by the house. All that's left now is a box and some flexible conduit for the run from the panels to the battery banks. With the new slack I can wheel the rig way out to catch the late afternoon sun.

stocked up

Started the day with coffee in my new KRTS cup - the coffee tastes really great in this cup. Hit Alpine by 10:15AM for a half day of load fetching. Made a stop in the local hardware store that has lots of parts, guns and ammo, an equipment rental division, and a Radio Shack....what more can a man ask for in a hardware store? Lately I have included collecting throw away pallets from McCoy's during my round trips. These will be used for some landscape fencing - can't beat free materials.

Returned home at 1:15PM and fridged up my cold stuff along with two bags of ice. Headed back to the Grub Shack for lunch. Rusty showed up (in his favorite hat) for his favorite Grub Shack Reuben Sandwich. The absolute best lunch south of Alpine. (Reuben available only on Friday and Saturday)

Came back to The Field Lab and put away my supplies and unloaded 14 more pallets. While I was shelving the goods I gave a once around inside to clear the chaos a bit. Finished off the afternoon firing up the old desktop computer to run a cad program I have. Used it to sort out some dimension details for the greenhouse roof shape.

Had a brief late day visit from Ryan and his dad, Marc (not Mark ). Dad came out to check out his son's new desert empire. He caught my episode on Texas Country Reporter so he already had the pre-tour of The Field Lab.