We Can't Have Christmas at my House, it's Been Cloudy for Three Days

I had contemplated having the whole family over for dinner.  After all, the kitchen is large and so is the living room.   Although I dislike all of the paper waste leftover, yeah, bah humbug.  And the timing was right - a two o'clock dinner, but everyone showing up around noon.  Maybe we would even open the presents before we ate?!  Perfect!  Maybe next year.

About two weeks ago the generator stopped working.  I started it on a Sunday night, it started with a loud pop, ran for about five minutes and then died.  When I tried to restart it, the indicator lights said RPM sensor loss.  I would have to wait until Monday to call someone to repair it.  

Meanwhile, checking the weather, it looks like we have nearly a week of sunshine, so it shouldn't be a problem.  Of course the guy that installed it doesn't do generators anymore, so I had to call around some more.  

I finally got a hold of someone who could come out on Tuesday, about 60 minutes away.  The repairman looked it over, believed it was the starter, ordered a new one, expediting the shipping would put it here on Thursday - the coldest day of the winter thus far, but sunny!  

He came back on Thursday at 10  degrees above zero, with wind chills making it feel well below zero degrees Fahrenheit.  When he took the old starter out to replace it, he noticed a hole in the engine.  Yes, a hole, about one inch in diameter in the engine.  That must have been the loud pop when it started last.  This generator was installed exactly two years ago.  Why do generators always die in the coldest months of the year?  (Probably because that is when they are used the most).  So a new engine is on its way, but it is nearly the holidays.  

Checking the weather ahead, there are many sunny days, but my weather app is usually wrong.  Hopefully I can limp through.  One cloudy day isn't too bad, but more than one gets a little tight on energy.  It seems crazy, but shutting off the heat is an option to save on power usage.  This is a concrete house, so it takes a few days for it to "cool" down to sixty degrees.  Without a backup generator, no sun or wind, that is my only option.  And of course the weekend after the generator quit, was the coldest weather, Sunday's high temperature was -14 degrees F.  Yes, that was the forecasted high temperature.  I think it was only -8 degrees F.  But Thursday, Friday and Saturday were cloudy.  The forecast said sunny and cold on Sunday, but I didn't want to risk the system shutting down, so I shut off the stove on Friday night.  Saturday morning the stove was still hot, so started it up to run the hot water through the pipes.  The house was still around 68 degrees.  

By Sunday morning, it was 62 degrees in the house.  Yes, a little chilly.  Outside it was bitterly cold, but full sunlight, so I started the stove and the house was back up to temperature by mid afternoon.  I survived!  I would say this has been one of the sunniest Decembers I can remember.  Usually December is the cloudiest month of the year.  But, I still have no generator.  

It's the week of Christmas, the part is not scheduled to be delivered until the Tuesday after Christmas.  And of course, Friday and Saturday (Christmas Eve) and Sunday are cloudy.  I shut the stove off for another day to limp through the Christmas weekend.  And the day after Christmas,  super windy and sunny all day!  Lots of power to start the stove and heat the house!  So, no family get together at my off-grid house this year. 

How to Have a White Christmas

If you really want a white Christmas, start a major landscaping project in November.  Granted our November weather was super nice - in fact too balmy to cut wood, the grape harvest was finished, replacing broken grape posts was finally finished, so we started.

The Before Picture

 I've been mowing this area since 2009 and finally got a "plan" Christmas of 2015.  The patio stone was delivered in the summer and I was hoping to lessen the huge piles before the snow flies so my driveway doesn't drift.

By patio stone, I mean broken concrete pieces out of a former cattle yard.   Dirt (manure) and all!  What can I say, the price was right.  

Another factor in the whole equation was the use of a skid steer to move the heavy pieces.  We had to wait for the "man with the skid steer" to finish harvesting, and then, had to be free, or at least the equipment had to be free.  This definitely wasn't a one person job!   Three would have been nice, but two kind of worked.  

This is about all that was complete before the ground froze around early December.  The outline shape is established and the fire pit can be easily seen.  The problem was many pieces were too large and heavy to move by hand or the small bucket on the tractor. 

I did get all the crushed limestone moved down here, off the driveway.  We did make a dent in the concrete pile, but there is still plenty left.  And there is still a pile of washed river rock.  I have nearly surrounded the house in river rock and there is still plenty more.  Think before ordering a dump truck load of river rock.  :)

And this is about a week later - mid December.  

Pile of Concrete Remains