I'll take the mountains...

 My Beach House had a temporary home recently.  She was nestled in the mountains of VT while awaiting her credentials.  In as much as I cannot wait to enjoy staying in her while at the ocean this year, I couldn't help but love the way she looked in the pines...

                        And, that blue door......💙

I'm getting The Beach House bug!...

 

This winter has me feeling a little restless and dreaming more of warmer, sunnier days ahead.  While snug inside by the wood stove, although I love being warm by the fire, I find myself thinking of what I could be doing outside like working on things on the beach house or getting the Scotty Gaucho ready for camping.  I write list after list of "things".  Then I realize I cannot do some of those outside things right now due to the weather, so I force myself to do those inside things that I keep putting off because I keep adding to  my outdoor dream list!  I need to just let time pass and do what I can during each cycle.  One part at a time vs pinball machining everywhere!

This afternoon, the temperatures got up into the 40's and I took this opportunity to get out to the Beach House to conduct a winter solar/off-grid experiment.  

I've had my solar panel on the roof for about a year now and it is hooked up to my deep cycle battery, charge controller and inverter.  But, I also have a heavy duty extension cord running from the house for when I get the inspiration to go out there and read or clean or re-arrange.  Recently, I watched one of Will Prowse's live streams and he talked about the life of a solar panel and how if it is hooked up but no power is being drawn off of it through the battery, it will degrade much faster by just absorbing all the sun's rays and not utilizing the power.  Enter my experiment....actually it is my second experiment.

The first experiment was to hook up a small LED lamp and monitor the battery performance during a full week's worth of sunshine.  I plugged the lamp into the inverter and turned it on.  Every day, I watched the monitor show me the smiley face of "everything is fine".  I was pleased!  What I did not take into consideration was that over 5-6 consecutive days and nights, the battery didn't have a down time to charge.  I left the light on 24/7.  On the last day when I checked the monitor, it had a sad face and there were zero's across the board.  The inverter shuts off automatically so there was no fear of damaging it.  

On to the second experiment....I plugged the lamp into a timer and I will monitor the results of the light only being on for two hours in the evening and two hours in the early morning.  This will give the battery the recharge time it might need during the daylight hours.  I will let you know how it went when the experiment is over.  

Tuckertown.....what a town!

 After discussing the thought of another yard sale, Carolyn Sally and I decided we wanted to have one again but in a different location.  Sally offered her yard.  We set the date.  Last weekend was not only the two day yard sale, it was a time to

Beach House most recent photos....

Her maiden voyage...

 

Inspection day for my Beach House...

It was her maiden voyage and a white knuckle trip on the highway up to the city to see if I was able to get a VIN assigned to my home made trailer.  I don't think I would have made it through the day if it were not for my friend and co-pilot, Kristie.  Seriously, I was that nervous.  It was quite windy and there were many semi's on the road.  Nothing out of the ordinary when you are in a car...but towing a tiny for the first time was definitely not ordinary!  We did okay on the travel part.  The rest was not so great.  I was lacking a few things that I hadn't even given thought to.  Side marker lights for one thing.  Ownership documentation....I won't go into detail on that part now.  With the help of the kind inspectors though, I might be okay.  I should know in a couple of days.  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

 

Winter almost gone...

Tomorrow is the first day of March and I am so looking forward to spring.  I want to dive in and get back to what I was doing before winter showed up at my door and suggested I stay inside for a while.  I want my work gloves back on and my tools in hand.  Eagerness is never so present as in springtime.  Time to plant things and repair things.  Time to brush off the dust and rearrange things.  Time to be outside breathing in fresh air.  Let's shake out the quilts and hang up the hats and gloves.  Let's enjoy this season called spring!

 

Time...

Time....seems like it's what we never have enough of.  Getting ready for winter is when we need time to do the buttoning up, the gathering of wood for the stove, the equipment maintenance.  Time is a necessity for getting these things done in preparation of the upcoming winter months.  Take stock in your pantry, pulling out the heavy blankets and wool socks.  Ready your mind for nestling in for the darker months ahead.  Stay warm.  Time will pass into a warmer season.  A season that we look forward to and never seem to have enough time in.