What???

My kids informed me two days ago that they wish the nights would return when the lights go out during our evening meal.

What??!!

The security of solar is apparently not the wonder for them that it is for me.

I said, "Do you remember how your movies used to go black before you could finish them?"

They said, "Yes, but daddy could just hook up the t.v. to the battery."

My reply to that was that the certain battery they were talking about is now in someone else's possession.

They said, "Still..."

I said, "I for one, like having a fan at night and a light to turn on when I want to see at night."

They said, "We do too, but we liked eating in the dark."

Well, my friends you can't have it both ways, and you are definitely NOT getting it your way.

For some reason, I think my children would have been completely happy living during "Little House on the Prairie" times.

I think I would like to visit, but I don't want to stay there.

Thank you, God for solar, and thank you to all of you who helped us get all the things we needed so that we could have solar.

At least, Doug and I are thankful!!

Pictures as promised

I'm just going to upload a few, but you'll get the idea.





This is the compost toilet with everything pulled up so you can see the bucket sitting in a Rubbermaid tub (in case of accidental leaks). The sawdust container is on the right with a mug for each-"time" use.




This is what it looks like when the seat is down. Pretty normal, right?





This is the compost pile outside. The one on the left is "cooking," and the one on the right has just been added to. After he dumped his bucket, he added cow manure and then some coals from his wood stove. It's all about mixing the nitrogens, hydrogens, and carbons.

The Noah Project, Part 2

Well, our training went a lot quicker than normal because...we don't know a lot. Basically, it came down to us learning everything and finding out how to set up our solar system and finding out what we needed to buy, but since we are not very "electrical" savvy, our teacher said, "You're going to need to get an electrician for your needs."

We aren't really THAT dumb, but the problem is that we will not be building a solar system from scratch. We will have to tie in a solar system to an existing grid. He kindly told us that it's really easy to blow yourself up doing stuff like that.

BIG NEWS! I used the compost toilet. I held it all the first day, but I decided I should really give #1 a try, so on day 2 (yesterday), I geared up, and gave it a try. Not bad. A little different. A little more odor than usual (although Doug told me I was smelling the sawdust). But all in all, not bad. Of course, I'm not picking up the 5 gallon bucket to haul it out to the compost pile and then cleaning out the bucket.

I also forgot to mention that Jack really loves to teach people unique ways to insulate their houses. He trains missionaries for a living, and his job is to help them do projects with what is available in their country. The walls in his house are FIVE feet thick. His kitchen window has a window over the sink and then a 5 foot shelf before the other, outer window. Guess what is in betweeen the walls? Hay bales. Yep!

He trains people to do insulation with polyestor, tires, Wal-mart bags, and SO much more. Doug and I learned LOTS of stuff we will never use, but Jack is training us to train others. What better way to get the attention of a Ugandan woman to listen to the Gospel than telling her how she can make her house cooler at night? Or how she can use a solar cooker to cook her food all day in the sun while she is out working? Or how she can have a more productive garden that will provide food for her family?

LOTS of information! Today was our last day and we learned about gray water (dirty water like washing machine water and bath water) and black water (toilet water and water with chemical cleaners in it) usage. We learned how to catch rain water and how to make tanks to drain off gray and black water.

One example: We need to wash our cleaner clothes first and then re-use that dirty soap water for the second wash. Also, after I rinse my clothes, I need to save that water for the second wash. Basically, washing is a big deal, but it's also a big water user, so we have to be careful.

Enough of that, I know you aren't all into this.

We are leaving tomorrow. I think we are going to get to see the Garden of the Gods and the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs in the morning and then get the opportunity to visit with friends there we haven't seen in five years. We have a late flight out of Denver tomorrow night, and then we get to see our kids. YEAH!!

The Noah Project

We arrived in Denver yesterday and drove three hours to Rush, only getting lost a couple of times. We were taken immediately to the home of Don and Nancy who are providing us great food and a comfortable place to sleep.

Today, we met with Jack Dody for about 7 hours of training. We are going through a textbook he wrote called The Noah Project, which you can download at www.christianhomesteaders.org. We took a tour of his home and property, took a tour of another house he is building down the road, and we spent the majority of time learning how to "hook up" a solar system. We climbed on his roof and checked out his system, and then moved inside to see how it all fit together.

My brain is swirling with words like amps, watts, inverters, chargers, volts, and batteries. I'm pretty sure I didn't understand most of what I heard today, but repetition is helping. Doug and I also got to practice soldering with a hand held unit and also a blow torch (yes, even me).

Jack and his wife, Marilou, are not hooked up to electricity or a water system. The Sun produces energy for them, and they catch rainwater on their roof for all their water needs. The rain gathers and flows to a 4000-gallon tank that sits under their bedroom floor. They filter their drinking water and all water from sinks and shower flow to an indoor flower bed. After it is used there, it is pumped out to water the garden and trees thay have planted. Nothing is wasted.

We also saw his "sawdust toilet" and all the steps their waste takes after it leaves the house. After you go to the bathroom (while sitting on a toilet seat placed over a 5-gallon bucket), you cover your waste with a couple of cups of sawdust.

When the bucket is full, you dump it in a compost pile outside, which is mixed with other waste food from inside and different things from outside (like leaves, charcoal, and animal manure). When the pile gets full enough, Jack will cover it and let God "cook" it for a year while he starts another pile. After a year, it is perfect for gardening and other uses. It's really made a difference for Jack out here on the high plains of Colorado. The ground here is a fine sand. How fortunate my mom is in Texas to have good soil and not have to go through this process to grow her garden!

Nevertheless, it was good to see nothing going to waste (no pun intended). This process would be very helpful for the sanitation problems in some countries. How blessed we are! I won't take flushing a toilet for granted again. I can't wait until I have my pictures to show you! I'm sure you can't wait to see them either!

I'm told the reason I'm tired at 6:45pm is because of the altitude. I don't know if that is the reason, but I'm going to take advantage of not having kids to put to bed and put myself to bed.