Author: Daniel

About 4 years ago, I bought a bunch of solar power related equipment from The altE Store. This equipment included everything I needed for two complete and independent systems: photovoltaic (“solar”) panels, racking systems, junction and breaker boxes, charge controllers, AC inverters, roughly 1000 pounds of LFP batteries (two different kinds – more on that … Continue reading The altE Store: My Worst Tech Support Experience Ever

The main reason I got Bob (the tractor) was for snow management. The plow has been great, clearing my road with ease (and comfort, as I sit in the enclosed cab with the heat on and the sound system streaming my favorite Pandora station). The other thing I wanted him for was taking care of … Continue reading Snow Mountains, Gas & Gasket, Safety Teats, Shelves & A Shelflet, Widow Makers

You remember the not-so-long-ago upgrade to the murphy bed, right? Well, I was never delighted with how the table attached and stowed in that configuration. It worked okay, but the table would often squeak as it moved a little on the mounting cleat and the whole thing required a maneuver by which the whole table … Continue reading Table, Toilet, Some Light, and a Battery

So I had this idea that I wan\ted to upgrade the dust collector in my wood shop. I did some research and found a model that I really wanted, the Laguna P|Flux:2. This was going to be considerably more powerful than its predecessor and has two especially appealing features: much better air filtration (less dust … Continue reading Dust Machine, Water Computer, and a Storridor

I found some photos on my digital camera’s memory card that I meant to share some time ago, but had forgotten. First, a pair of turkey vultures presumably drying out their wings… And the second batch of phoebes hatched at the nest in the porchlet were good enough to sit still for this portrait. This … Continue reading The Birds & The Bees (and two chairs)

The “bednette” (convertible bed/dinette) seemed like a good idea at the time. But it wasn’t. The seat-cushions-turned-mattress was never comfortable and despite nearly two years of attempting to acclimate to it, the truth of the matter remains: it was uncomfortable and inconvenient to transform the dining space into the bed space. And the cushions didn’t … Continue reading Bed, Bulbs, Bob, Boards, Boxes, Bees, Barrel, Backroom

I have plenty to share about other goings on, but for now… some nature. A volunteer thistle. One of two. They made a lot of seeds… I’d expect many more next year. Some ghostly mushrooms These ethereal fungi appeared overnight, several times through the course of the summer. Speaking of fungi, this little fungus + … Continue reading Autumn Nature

Somehow it’s been two months since my last post… and quite a lot has happened since then. Let’s jump right in, without regard to time sequencing. That tool cart I was making out of the lathe crate, it’s done. The crate plywood was absolute crap and therefore a huge bother to work with because of … Continue reading Completion. Water (AGAIN!). Nature. Wood.

Lots going on, per usual. Today we start in the workshop at the lathe. The second-to-last bit of installation is shown here, a dust scoop. I have no delusions of being able to catch the dust from the lathe as it flies everywhere. What’s the next best thing? Letting the dust hit the floor, then … Continue reading Lathe, Logs, Birds, and a Basket (among other things)

The very last idea for getting a wire out to the solar array for the outdoor wifi mesh device was to use the existing wires in the conduit to pull the fish tape through (by pulling the wires out), then tie the network cable to the bundle of wires and pull it all back through, … Continue reading Network Nonsense, Birds and Bees