Status Updates
On the build front:
When we returned home in April, after having spent the winter months at Deer Park Monastery - a place we will return back to this coming November - our goals for this year’s build season was to: add a covered porch onto our cabin; add siding to the cabin; and install walls & floors inside the cabin. Status update: our covered porch is almost done! Just a few small odds & ends left to go.
With Mike milling our own lumber from trees on site, the building process, of course, takes a little more time. While it still seems doable to get our other build projects done before we head to Deer Park, only time will tell. In order to install the walls & floors inside the cabin, it’s likely we’ll need to move out while the work is in progress. Though I would like to think we could find a way not to. With summer starting to turn towards fall, coupled with working my part-time remote job, the ability to not have to move out into our van appeals for a few reasons. We’ll see what happens!
On the blog front:
Starting next month in September, we’ll be scaling back on our blog posts here on our EM website. Instead of posting once-a-week, we’ll be posting once every two-weeks until we head out to Deer Park. We will then take a blogging hiatus for the winter.
On the systems front:
If you read our blog post from a couple weeks ago, you know we recently had a series of real-world lessons related to our solar power system, and what it takes to live solely on the sun for our electricity needs. Whelp, the company we bought our generator from that didn’t work fresh from the box sent us a new one, which is now working fine & well. We discovered that our cell booster issues were directly related to the use of our generator, so Mike worked out what appears to be an ingenious idea that seems to have remedied the issue. Since the generator was disrupting the cell booster’s ability to boost signal, he put what is essentially serving as a Feraday shield in front of the generator. We had an unused metal screen lying around and miraculously it’s been working. We are now able to run the generator AND keep our cell signal going (which is a critical component in my ability to work remotely from my computer here in the woods).
We also ordered and just received a new battery charging unit that we can power with the generator. Long, uninteresting story short: now when we don’t pull in enough sun, we will no longer be dead in the water. We have a generator that works and a battery charger that can fill up our 2 12-volt lithion-iron batteries in fairly short order. Success!
On the cat front:
As some of you may recall, we acquired a cat this past spring. We discovered him on a walk down the road and he followed us home. Whelp, he’s still with us and we love him dearly. He’s a super great feline friend who’s living his best cat life here in the woods. Since we will be unable to take him with us to Deer Park, we are starting to send out the bat signal that we are looking for a winter dwelling place for him. We’d then eagerly look to resume as his caretaker people when we return home in March. What is I keep saying? Oh right, we’ll see what happens!
On the writing front:
While I’m at it, I figure it can’t hurt to do an update on my writing front as well. I will soon be coming out with this year’s homegrown edition of my poetry in small booklet print form. I’ve been gathering together a collection of my poetry for the past few years and printing up booklets once a year. It’s been a nice self-motivating creative project to invest in annually. I will have them available for sale. If you’re interested in purchasing a copy, please reach out to us at emptymountain406@gmail.com
Also: it is an honor to report that I have a story being included in a book coming out in October called Tears Become Rain: Stories of Transformation and Healing Inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh. Pre-sales are available now. For more information, please click here. If you’re local, I will be holding a book launch event & reading on Thursday October 12 at 7:00pm at Shakespeare & Co books in Missoula. I would love to see you there!