Living off the grid

[MOMMA]

Here's a little sneak peek. We aren't in our place yet. Ryan is going for the gusto doing renovations for our family.

The littles worked on filling up the Kindling house. We are separating a whole bunch of little wood now to keep it simple for starting fires in the winter


The Littles and I did a few loads of firewood, while the Bigs and Kev worked on the water system up top, preparing it for winter.

 

[MissAtlantic]

Welcome to BC, if you want house insurance, you have a new efficient stove with an inspectors certificate.

Same rule applies in NS

 

[MOMMA]

A little update.. So things have not gone even remotely close to plan...Every glitch you can think of popped up within the last couple weeks.. the most serious one being the inverter run off the Pelton Wheel crapped out.. This delayed Ryan from leaving.... We have a Honda EU3000 ready for action until the inverter gets back from Vancouver. It will be pretty cool, apparently they can link the Honda Inverter to the Batteries, so when the Pelton Wheel isn't generating enough power to fill the batteries it will kick the EU3000 on to top them up. The oven/stove is propane.. but I have a wood stove right in the kitchen with a big flat top, I can warm and even cook some stuff on it we choose.
If my family and I ever seem a little hyper protective about the little village of Ymir.. this is a prime example why...

So many people are helping everyone out to get Us in to our new home. I absolutely am moved to tears, everyone pitches in out here to help each other out.. so a couple weeks behind.. no big deal..
We have been doing firewood, dump runs, getting the fine details of the kitchen and stuff together, and I've been preparing the yard for our family.
Today was a massive firewood day.. It's kind of funky and cool.. this property has so many cool treasures from back in the mining days.. you never know what you'll find when you dig into a wood pile.
We were lucky.. There was a humungous pile of wood, not the greatest species for long burn, but totally dry and ready for us to pile. We are mixing it in with the pine/larch/fir and birch we have in the wood shed now..
Here is a sneak peak of some of the stuff we have been doing.

Take note of my 14 year old son Leo in these pictures.. he is lucky I am not a hampster or I would have ate him... he was farting around so much he is LUCKY I didn't lose my mind!

 

[MOMMA]

 

[MOMMA]

Hard working family!
Here is a painted Lady butterfly.. there were hundreds of them up there today

 

[MOMMA]

We are finally in.. the Pelton Wheel inverter is being repaired.. there was a little bit of confusion.. but we are all incredibly happy. We are getting into a routine of coming up and down the mountain.. The first day was a complete fiasco.. no one could find underwear... everything was in boxes.. But we're getting the hang of it.. here are more pics

 

[polaris011]

you guys are crazy but its awesome !!!

 

[MOMMA]

This is Diesel.. he came with the house.. He's an Irish Wolfhound x.... He's tough as nails.. having been raised up there he's a wild one, but he's decided to love our family.. He would not hesitate to stand down a bear, and do whatever it takes to protect our family... see next pic.


This is my husband with a totally ineffective Pack Rat trap... They laugh at them and carry them away... So Diesel and my husband have worked out a wicked Hunting plan... Along with one of the cats. I used to complain when our cats regurgetated mice.. well.. when they barf up a pack rat.. let me tell you ... IT'S FREAKIN Gross..... We have Pack Rats there and Bush Rats.. The Bush Rats are more solitary.. there was a dude in the house, but it looks like that was the one barfed up by bubbles or James the cat.

This is the creek outside our house.. we have our own bridge.. in this pool are Brook Trout.. a freakin big dude lives in there.. we aren't going to eat him.. he's kind of a mascot and cool to watch. Our own live version of Animal Planet


This is the Easy Button... We had a Generator at the house to use while the pelton wheel inverter thingie is being fixed in Burnaby. The Honda EU 3000 will actually work with that pelton wheel inverter to continuously charge the batteries we have to give us reliable awesome power for our home. There was a cheapie generator we used for a few days.. it was all over the freakin Map as far as power distribution.. NO electronics could be run with it, or there was an almost certain reality of blowing them up. The Inverter has e start totally easy peasy for the kids to start up. When it showed up we all breathed a big sigh of relief.

I went to the beer store... I was planning on bringing home a six pack of sleeman honey brown... I came home with a Kitten instead... I think it may have a factory defect... It seems to have lost it's purr box... but it's MEOWer goes non stop.. especially at 3:00am......


The kids have been really enjoying our time this past week. It's been TONNES of hard work, but lots of awesome family time. We play the guitars constantly, The kids don't miss TV whatsoever. I asked Leo if he wanted his Xbox set up now that we have an inverter.. he said no.. and that their loft Bedroom is a NO electronics zone. They are all sleeping deeply and want to keep it that way. They did ask that we pick up some old school board games like monopoly etc. We've been playing the game "catch phrase" and some card games. Everyone in the house is reading more. It's cool at night to only hear the creek putting us to sleep.

 

[MOMMA]

This is our Creek .. and Awesomeland

 

[enis750]

pics look awesome and like its working out for you
hope winter is good to you guys

ill ask cause im curious, if you dont wish to respond publicly im fine w that - but did you guys buy this house/land or renting it?
or did you mention back in the first few posts and I missed it?

 

[MOMMA]

The dogs of Awesomeland

ya the chocolate lab truly is that dorky

Here is the Chupacabara of awesomeland.. Chupie

Every house I've lived at for the past 10 years I've had this picture above my stove. It says Determination. Pretty fitting for this home. I'm actually LOVING this propane stove.. It has a wicked heat control factor..

Tater and I cooking together

When all else fails.. Bust a Move.. Tater dancing in the living room..

 

[ferniesnow]

Momma, if you can find it in your heart, shoot that friggin' pack-rat. It will get into somewhere where you definitely don't want and it will stink to high heaven. Then next year it will make babies.....get the picture??

 

[ferniesnow]

get some poison momma ! fernie dont make fun of momma's house now ...

Willy, here you go again...........shooting off your mouth! With all those pets around you would put out poison? Give your head a shake once again!

And don't try to put words into my posts Willy, I didn't make fun of Momma's house.........just saying

 

[JaySimon]

That looks like some pretty awesome living. Hate to mention it now but there is an outfit that does creek power distribution in Kimberley. Thompson and Howe energy systems. I guess it might be good to know if a next time comes up. I've dealt with them through work, nice guys.

 

[MOMMA]

Willy, here you go again...........shooting off your mouth! With all those pets around you would put out poison? Give your head a shake once again!

And don't try to put words into my posts Willy, I didn't make fun of Momma's house.........just saying

lol! We've plucked one off with the pellet gun.. big sucker.. that big old wolfhound knew what was up.. The moment the Monster Rat was hit.. the Wolfhound went in for the finish and took him away. They're pretty freakin smart.. The live traps have been suggested as well, as they seem to work very good. Those huge traps really don't do anything. Pellet gun...we feel pretty bad azz doing it lol.

My husband has been awesome.. He's gone all around the house making sure everything is all sealed up and secure. We know where 3 bush rats are so far... so it's just a Matter of time.. muh ha ha haaaaaa.

Thanks Jay!! When Ryan phoned the Inverter manufacturer they needed it to come back to burnaby, but if you wouldn't mind forwarding me their number as we'll have to set it up again and hook the EU3000 to it. It sure would have been nice to have a closer source for repairs for this system. Once we have it back I'll take pictures. Right now I'm on the hunt for a 48 volt 1100watt heater. We'll keep this in the bathroom so it can be a constant source of power. Apparently this is neccesary so we can preserve the batteries. They need some sort of constant draw, and what better than free heat. I think that is the coolest thing about this. WE are in charge of how much our utilities cost us pretty much. We were going to go with bigger bottles for propane for the hot water on demand.. but once we ran the monthly cost it was going to be almost double what we use now. Quick showers, but at night we always have a big pot of water on the stove.. awesome for washing dishes and PERFECT for my hot bath at night!!!! Yayyyy!!!!!! There is lots of trim ends around from all the renovations so we aren't eating up our good winter wood supply yet. I've traded a Banjo for a load of wood. Jay was awesome.. he brought us Larch and perfectly seasoned birch. Stuff like that means the world to us.

Thanks for the kind words and advice all!!



Biggest hugs!!


Trish and family!

 

[MOMMA]

get some poison momma ! fernie dont make fun of momma's house now ...

I was a little worried about the poison stuff... I worried that the animals would either get into it, or eat something that had gotten into it. We'll keep being Rambo with the pellet gun.. lol

 

[ferniesnow]

I was a little worried about the poison stuff... I worried that the animals would either get into it, or eat something that had gotten into it. We'll keep being Rambo with the pellet gun.. lol

good plan momma! Friggin' Willy and his ideas, eh!

 

[Toyboy]

You can get some pretty wicked pellet guns these days. 1700fps and more accurate than a 22cal. Buddy just picked up one from Cabelas and we tested by shooting holes in steel 45 gal drums.lol

 

[MOMMA]

shoot N guns in the house is fun !!!

^^^^^ there's only one person I know who had an indoor shooting range...


No guns in the house... no nonooo guns in the house... lol.... The kids know this rule well!!!


Or slingshots... we had that discussion the other day too.

 

[tex78]

shoot N guns in the house is fun !!!

U would Willy wonka

sent from my htc