Catastrophic Day At The Off Grid Homestead

The day started out sort of ok. We drove early in the morning to get some free building materials but the guy had promised the same things to 25 people and told them to come at the same time.

We ended up getting a couple bicycles. One for Melanie and one for myself. They are relatively new with very little wear on them. Now I can teach Melanie to ride a bike.

But we did not get the 13 sheets of plywood that we had driven over there to get. For some reason the man had told 25 people to be there at 8 am and many showed up. The first one there got the wood and many more things.

I also got a heavy duty wagon and some hardware cloth which is always useful for chicken coops.

Later I cut down some trees but my Poulan chain saw will not start once it has been warmed up. You have to cool it off. My big HomeLite chain saw is leaking fuel now so it needs service. And the little HomeLite chain saw is overheating in this 95 to 99 degree weather. It just smokes like mad and cuts rough. I have to give it a rest in between each tree in this heat.

Plus the heat is taking its toll on me too.

Chris and I went out to get a load of supplies that were badly needed. While we were gone we had a short thunderstorm. Somehow the tiny house water pump and the larger 1500 watt inverter were blown out. I think that lightning hit something around the house and the energy traveled into the DC battery bank. It must have then blown out the water pump and the inverter.

Later another rain storm was coming so we were running around trying to get things secure before the storm. It was supposed to be quite a heavy storm with a lot of thunder and lightning. And on the radar it looked big.

While Chris and I were out clearing up our logging tools, Melanie went into her truck camper to close the windows. She had way too much stuff up in the very front of the cab over bed area. I should have paid more attention to it but I was letting her have her place. Anyway, when she went up front to shut the window, her weight with all the weight of the stuff up there tipped the camper right over on its nose.

The camper crushed a whole lot of stuff that was under it for protection from the rain. The BBQ grill, the screen tent, an outdoor chair, a wheel barrow and more were smashed in the fall. Our boat got a whole punched into it but it can be repaired.

The stuff under the camper is probably what saved Melanie from harm. It seems like all that stuff cushioned the blow and stopped the camper from falling over on its side. If that had happened then she would have been hurt for sure.

As it was, Melanie came out without a scratch or even a bruise. She was badly shaken and terrified though.

Chris and I pulled things out from underneath and around it and stabilized the camper before allowing Melanie to get out. Her weight could have been the only thing keeping the camper in its place and we were not taking any chances.

When we had the camper stabilized enough, we let Melanie out. We continued to work around the camper, removing damaged items.

We hope to set the camper right tomorrow.

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Troy
http://www.thedoityourselfworld.com
http://www.theoffgridproject.com

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