Working In Freezing Rain At The Off Grid Homestead

We had freezing rain all day Monday and it was making a mess of my chicken fencing and hawk lines. I also worked on and off on the wind turbine tower but it was hard going with freezing rain and my hands sticking to the nuts and bolts.

I cannot handle nuts and bolts and fine motor skills when working with gloves on in the winter. So I had to go it without. This meant that everything was freezing to my fingers. I kept the hardware inside the tiny house on breaks to keep it from freezing. But when a nut or bolt fell to the ground, when I picked it up it stuck to my fingers and I had to blow on it to thaw it out.

I had to take breaks to thaw out my hands. Sorry that I could not use my video camera outside this day due to the freezing rain. I just went out a few times to summarize what I had done so far each time.

My truck broke down Sunday when I was on the way to church. About 20 minutes from home I suddenly heard a horrible grinding noise and the vehicle coasted to a stop. I put the gear in neutral because the grinding was horrible. In neutral it stopped.

When I put the transmission in gear it made a terrible grinding noise and did not try to move at all. In park or neutral the engine purred nicely but with a little shake like something was off balance.

I am thinking it is the catalytic converter.

This morning I called the mechanic near where the truck came to a halt and had them tow it to their shop. I had no ride out due to the freezing rain so I had to wait for a better day to take my keys to the mechanic.

For now it is off the road at least. Towing services in NY are expensive so I had the truck towed the 300 feet to the nearest mechanic. It would have cost me 2-300 to get it home from there if I paid for a tow.

I am stuck at the off grid homestead with no transportation at all.

I sold some more old barn wood Sunday while I was gone to church. A neighbor sorted what he wanted and then sent me a photo on his cell phone to mine. We worked out a price and he left me the money at my home. My old barn wood is turning out to be very useful and profitable.

The chickens are holding out well enough in the cold. The chicken fencing is not doing so well though. The freezing rain is pulling it all down in bunches. I will have a lot of repairs to make when this thaws off. My hawk wires are nearly all gone as well now. The freezing rain pulled them all down and snapped the lines.

I spent the day running around sweeping off my solar panels and knocking snow and ice off the chicken coops to reduce the snow load.

I had a nice brunch with fresh home eggs, broccoli and some cheese ends from the deli.

I took advantage of the freezing rain to wash off the two water tanks that I want to bring into the tiny house on wheels. I plan to use these two tanks upstairs to provide gravity fed running water for my tiny home. These will be in the loft with the water lines running down into the kitchen and bathroom. Rain water or creek water can be pumped from containers outside into my indoor water tanks.

Follow my daily progress on the path to self sufficiency on my off grid solar homestead.
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