Today Bob worked on the roof and the solar panels, the solar panels were off all day, so not much power today and tonight, it really wouldn't have mattered though, it was overcast nearly all day, so today was a good day to have the panels off line. He should have everything back up and running tomorrow.
Update on the house, we now have 2 decks, one on the west side, and now there is one that runs nearly the full length of the house on the north side, this is where we go in and out, and now we have a real set of stairs (WOOHOO), no more going up and down the ladder. Bob extended the roof to cover that deck mainly to protect the wood from the rain.
A bit of excitement the other night, I was using the internet until about 2 am, I was about to go to bed when I noticed a line of ants going along the floor at the wall, that's not unusual, I followed the ants to see either what they were going to, or where they were coming in. I followed them to one corner, then to another corner, they were on 3 corners, surrounding the room, and going up the wall in one corner, and all along one window, they were starting to crawl up into the bed. Ot was an ant invasion! I grabbed the spray bottle of soapy water and started spraying, I woke Bob up to help me. I took care of most of the ants inside the house, Bob got the rest, he went outside to find out where they were coming in. He had a hard time finding the trail, there were no ants coming up on anywhere under the house. He finally found them coming up a tree, crawling down a branch and getting on the roof, from there they were going to a window. He cut off the branches that overhung the house and killed the rest of the ants outside. The next day I swept up a large pile of dead ants. We are using diatomecous earth (DE) to control the ants, I also have some seven dust but we haven't used it yet.
We are waiting for Bob's brother to come for a visit, he will be staying with us for a while, hopefully he will like it enough out here to want to stay. We got a used travel trailer from one of our good friends out here (the one with all the kids), he brought it over and set it up on the street side of our property. It is old, and in need of a good cleaning, Bob and his brother will strip out a lot of the insides and re-do what needs to be redone. It's in pretty good shape though, the floor is sturdy, there is a little water damage but nothing that can't be fixed in short order. Bob's brother will stay in our new bedroom until they get the trailer fixed up, then he can live in there.
Bob didn't like the idea that the trailer could be seen so easily from the road, it is behind some trees, the the trailer being white, stuck out like a sore thumb, so Bob painted it green, then he covered it with military radar net, he stuck sticks and branches in it and on it, now when you go past it, it's very difficult to see, even I have a hard time spotting it and I know where to look! I think Bob's brother will like it that way too.
My dad will be coming out toward the end of the month, by then, the trailer should be set up and Bob's brother can stay in that, my dad can stay in the bedroom or he can stay at our neighbor's house, our neighbor has told us that we can use his spare bedroom if we want to need to, I expect that my dad will want to stay at our house though, we will see what happens.
That's just about all for now.
Wretha
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Wretha, sounds like Bob the Builder has been very busy as of late. Glad to hear about the deck, there is nothing like sitting out late at night, I love it. The trailer will be handy too, you can never have too mcuh room. Sounds like you almost had to build a room on for the ants, I hate those little devils.
July 8, 2008 11:08 PM
Scavenger, I hope we can get that trailer cleaned out in short order, I think it's only going to be a matter of weeks between the time my bro-in-law comes in and my dad getting here... busy busy busy!
The decks are great, it's great to cook and eat out there, the deer and the fox come around while we are out there, it's great fun to toss some food off the deck and see the wild creatures enjoying their snack.
Wretha
July 8, 2008 11:49 PM
Wretha, that is great with all the new friends you made in a area you haven't been at that long. I would have one problem I would want to eat the deer.
Working on the moat...
Rook
http://foragingprepper.blogspot.com/
July 9, 2008 6:30 AM
Sounds like things are moving along! Can't wait to see picture updates :)
Lisa
July 9, 2008 7:08 AM
Rook
Yeah, we have been pretty blessed with all the good friends we have here, and for the deer, there are people who hunt them, not supposed to, but it happens and as far as I know, no one says anything about it, just do it and keep quiet, and just because I have names for some of them, I still see meat on the hoof. ;)
Lisa
Pix may be few and far between, my cell phone was my only camera, and until I can dig out my digital camera, I will not be doing any more pix. :(
Wretha
July 9, 2008 9:03 PM