Dishes by light.

Power!

Last week the electrician finished work on the solar charge controller, so we finally have power. We have started hooking up the circuits we wired up last winter, so we are starting to see lights work, etc. Next weekend we should be taking out a new refrigerator, so that will put it to the test.

Panels and Grading and Propane

Lots happening around the cabin. A couple of weeks ago, the solar panels started going up on the roof. 

This week they are wiring up the panels; theoretically there will be power to the electrical panel this weekend! The other rails on the right are for solar hot water, which also should be going up soon.

New Grading

Also this week we regraded the area in front of the house in hopes that it'll drain better this winter. By the house the ground has raised up about a foot or more. There are several inches of compacted gravel, so hopefully this will drain well. You can also see where the holes we dug have become deck footings, which will hopefully be built in September.

Fancy Drive

We had extra gravel, so they put it on the last bit of the road, so now our driveway is all fancy.

Propane tank

 At the same time, they dug the trench for a propane tank and the propane company came out and set that on a pad back in the woods a bit. So hopefully we'll have that all plumbed in shortly as well, which means we can finally have a range for cooking.

Holes, future footings for a narrow deck across the south side to connect future decks on the west and east ends. Colin and I dug five holes in total. With a newfound appreciation for grave diggers, Louis Sachar's book "Holes" came to mind.

Last week Jackson took me on a walk on the property south of ours. That's Hood, with the Klickitat River at the bottom right hand corner. Stunning views of both mountains but boy, if it's windy at our place, you'd about blow away over there.

Summer dries up the pond, but it's still fairly full at the beginning of August and no algae bloom this year, so far at least. Lots of frogs this year, too. They can be found up the hill around our cabin. They seem to like to perch atop the sliding door screen in the basement. One jumped onto my head as I was opening the door.

Our power solar panels went up last weekend. Two hot water panels will go on in a couple of weeks. Here's the first panel being placed.