Powering Up

9/20/07 - 5th Day - After Breakfast. Good morning. I cannot believe that September is almost over (I guess I say that every month) and that Ranchfest is only 15 days away. Wow. We're still in preparation mode, and that has been made more difficult with our power problems. The generator repairman called yesterday afternoon and told us that the carburetor would have to be replaced - so we are looking at at least $125 to get the generator back. In the mean time that and the cloudy weather has conspired to really tax our solar trailer. Today we drove over to Elder David's land to borrow his generator and battery charger so that we could get a good charge on our solar trailer and make sure our freezer stays frozen. The sun has peeked out here for a bit, so we are getting some good charging going on right this minute.

The 6 new piggies seem to be doing great. I talked to the butcher and we have to get the momma sow in to be processed by October 23rd, which works out great since the piglets will be old enough to be weaned by that time. We live in the hunting capital of the known world and all of the meat processors shut totally down for anything but deer starting in the last week of October. Last year we were trying to get a hog in around the first of November and we were informed that no one would receive a hog for butchering until mid-January. So right now we have scheduled to take the Ante's pig in this coming third day, and we will be taking our sow in sometime during the week after Ranchfest.

We received about 1 1/4 inches of rain on the third day, and a trace yesterday. We really needed the water. It was good to see the catchwaters fill up, and to hear water from the creeks flowing into the pond.

I intend to post a second posting today - mainly talking about electrical power, power production, storage, etc., so those of you who are used to tuning in just once, might want to check back this evening for a rare second edition.

Hope all is well with you all,

Michael Bunker