September 2, 2014

Busy summer. Big project was the wrap around deck. The south deck is to house our solar kitchen and solar clothes dryer (pulley line system so we can stand on the deck and wheel the laundry over the yard.) The south also has our bedroom windows so we are building solar pet houses for our dogs and cats so they can be near us. All passive solar of course with windows to the south to keep them nice and warm in the winter time. The overhang should keep them cooler in the summer. The cat house is finished with some leftovers we had in the barn, including an acrylic sheet for the south window and sheet insulation on the other sides and top and bottom. As we got two puppies that we hope to train to herd our cows for rotational grazing, we have designed a double decker doghouse. We will be fitting it in the space between two windows and have steps leading to the upstairs portion. As we did not have any more acrylic sheeting lying around and it is quite expensive (we have plenty of spare lumber), I went to the thrift shop and discovered an acrylic display stand with broken shelves for $7.50. The end pieces are each 1 foot wide and very thick acrylic, so I have designed the front (south side) with two tall narrow windows. This is yet another principle I learned from Amy Dacyzyn of the Tightwad Gazette, start with what you already have or can find for a cheap price to make your plan, you'll save money (almost)every time. The other day we went to some friends for dinner and took homemade cornbread and blackberry crisp. We had some of the blackberry crisp leftover, so I added a cup of flour, an egg, some baking powder, and some milk to turn it into pancakes. Yum. . .