LOOKING FOR TREASURES

Today we were up early heading north to Combermere. Our destination was the Combermere Farmers' Market held every Saturday until Thanksgiving. From there we headed east to Eaganville, then over to Quadeville and eventually home. 

(Tomorrow's Story)

As you can see from the pictures in the header above we discovered a few hidden gems as we explored the countryside and talked with the locals for directions. Lots to share in the next few days but right now I'm hungry and it's time for an early supper.


Thanks for stopping by.

IN THE DARK!

Wednesday night after the girls returned from their paddle down the lake we were all busy working inside. Leanne was on her desk-top finishing up her assignment, Davie was on the sewing machine, Mary was making tea and I was on my laptop. Everyone was using power from our batteries but they were at 73% so .... no problem.

Then Mary plugged the kettle in to heat water for her tea and the lights went out, total blackout, it was unexpected, never had that happen before.

When you are off grid no one is coming to fix the problem, you are the service man, the owner, the solution. First find a flashlight then think before you start tearing things apart. What caused the power failure and why?  We had lights and everything was working one minute, then total blackness the next, why? Once I realized the power went out when Mary plugged in the kettle I suspected the heavy draw made by the kettle probably pushed our numbers below the safety set point on our inverter. 

I had reprogrammed the inverter in the morning after talking with Mike our solar guy. Obviously I had inserted one number incorrectly causing the inverter to shut down and turning off the lights. The inverter has a LBO (Low Battery Off) safety switch that shuts down the inverter so our batteries are not drained too low and damaged. Batteries are expensive and must be treated properly in order to last, so the LBO is a good sensor to have. 

Once I reprogrammed the LBO the lights came back on and everyone could resume their work. 

That was our first unexpected power shut-down since we started using our solar system last October. Fortunately it was a quick easy fix once I realized the probable cause. You may be wondering what I would do if I couldn't find a solution. Good question. If that happens, next step would be a phone call to Mike. That's why it's wise to buy locally and from someone who is reliable. I can drop by Mike's office and get advice or parts whenever necessary. He is ten minutes from home and very willing to help. If you are thinking of solar give Mike a call at "Solar Depot" in Bancroft. His number is 613-332-2427. Tell him Art said to call.

Yesterday the SOC (State of Charge) for our batteries was 64% at 9:30 a.m. That was expected. We've been busy using our power over the past few days and those days were cloudy with some rain, so no surprise that our batteries were low and the generator kicked on as it is programmed to do. At 10 a.m. I manually turned the generator off as by then the sun was on our panels and the forecast called for a sunny day. Why use the generator when the sun will do the job for free? At 4:30 when the sun was no longer high enough to power our panels our batteries had reached 94%. This will give us a very comfortable margin going into Friday which should be another sunny, battery charging solar day. 

For the inventors reading this blog there is a golden opportunity to cash in on an assured money maker. All you need to do is create an automatic switch that will turn the generator off once the sun reaches the solar panels and allow the sun do what the generator will do at the high cost of burning some type of fuel. Any suggestions?

Thanks for stopping by and save travels Bob.

We are Blessed

Looks like fish for supper. Paul dropped by last night with three lovely small mouth bass which we plan to eat for supper today. Our neighbours here take such good care of us, but then again our neighbours back in Brampton did the same. We are blessed.

Mary cleaned them after Paul left and they are sitting in the fridge as I type. We all enjoy fish and chips.

Davie is making good progress with her quilt. Here she lays our the fabric on the "design wall" to be sure she is happy with the pattern she created. The design wall is an essential component of quilting and enables the quilter to quickly and easily set up the quilt design she wants.

With Davie using the sewing machine, iron, lights and Leanne using her desk-top computer for work along with the usually demands of cooking and cleaning in the house our batteries were under heavy use yesterday. It has been rainy and cloudy the last few days and this morning our batteries are down to 68% as I type and we still have 4 to 5 hours before the sun will be on our panels. Fortunately today's forecast calls for lots of sun so we will see if  the batteries are able to fully recover. (more on that tomorrow)

After supper it was time for a canoe ride on the lake. That's when Leanne snapped the shot I posted last night. Just a simple shot of the sky reflected in the water as they paddled down the lake, but oh so dramatic. 

It's been wonderful  having Leanne and Davie up here this week and we've enjoyed every minute we've had together. It's always a delight to have friends and family come for a visit. In many ways this is a great time to be up here. The days are cooler, leaves are starting to change colour,  no bugs and fewer folks up at their cottage ...........  truly relaxing and peaceful.

Thanks for stopping by and we will chat tomorrow.

ON THE LAKE

A late night post. The girls went for a canoe ride this evening and Leanne took this photo from the canoe; just incredible.

Looks like the canoe just got shoved out of an airplane and this was taken with her i-phone. WOW! Thanks for sharing Leanne.

LEANNE and DAVIE

Leanne and Davie are up for the week. Davie wants some help making a quilt and Leanne came up for a holiday but brought work with her.

Right after breakfast I had the girls help me get some logs out of the bush.

Davie drove the bobcat. Looks like she is having fun.

Then I split and stacked the wood. I think we have enough wood for the next two years.

While I split wood the ladies went back inside to work on their own projects.

Mary gave Davie a short lesson on sewing .....

......... then she tried it. I don't hear anyone screaming so I gather everything must be going well.

They are using the sewing machine, iron, lights, and Leanne has her desk-top computer connected to the internet. All this is happening with power from our batteries on a cloudy day. Amazing.

The girls are here all week so I'm sure I'll have more to report tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by.

CHALLENGE QUILT

I finally finished my challenge quilt. The guild I belong to put out a challenge this spring for the members where we were each given a shape and told to incorporate it into a quilt. You had to maintain the integrity of the shape using any material. The quilt could be any size. Mine finished out at 40" X 34".

The greatest challenge was making sure that my kite shape was represented on 70% of the quilt. The most difficult part for me was selecting the fabric.

Here is a detail of the stitching. I have decided to call it "Letting Go". 

Then straight into another quilt... "Pretty in Pink". I am adding the binding on here. Quite often this is the only thing done by hand as most quilts are quilted by machine. 

 Pretty in Pink is 42" X 53"... a child's or lap sized quilt.  Do you recognize the fabric Ruth?  I am slowly gaining confidence with quilting with my long arm. Still managed to break 3 needles, but am happy with the final result.

I chose tulips and tulip leaves. I have not attempted to use a template, just run free hand, so the tulips vary in size and shape. 

Thanks for stopping by and safe travels everyone.

MAYNOOTH MADNESS

As promised here are a few pictures from the Maynooth Madness weekend. We were up early and good to go Saturday morning but the phone rang just as we were about to go out the door. It was (Quartzsite) Tony we had met a few years ago when we wintered in Arizona. He now drives highway trucks on the east coast and it was good to hear from him. We chatted for at least 30 minutes getting caught up on the news.

We knew we would now be late for the parade but there was still lots to see and do in Maynooth.

First stop was the Farmers' Market which is held every Saturday until Thanksgiving. Lots of people buying home grown produce.

It was not the best of days to be out and about as the skies were heavy and threatened rain anytime.

John Foreman, a legend in his own time, was there demonstrating how logs were squared by hand a hundred years ago. Amazing how it was done and how accurate they could be. Not sure if I have the strength to do that today, especially all day long.

Music for the Highland Heavies competition was provided by this Scottish band. I've always enjoyed the bagpipes so could listen and watch them play and march all day.

Then the games began. Here the girls toss the rock (just about to disappear to the left of the bald head); much like shot-put but they used a rock and couldn't move their feet, just turn and toss.

At the other end of the field the men were tossing the hammer, a long pole with a twenty-two pound weight at the end. They spun the hammer around and around over their head until they had it going as fast as they could, then tossed it as far into the field as they could make it fly. Some tosses were quite impressive. (Note the protective fencing around the tosser. Wouldn't want the hammer to fly into the audience)

Of course there were lots of food booths around and craft tents set up displaying all manner of homemade goods.

For our first ever Scottish games it was a good introduction and we will definitely attend next year if it is repeated.

Thanks for stopping by and safe travels everyone.