Hello Everyone!
Quite the windy day, Taking a break, More battery research & Daydreaming about an underground house!
Alright, I am running only a few minutes behind schedule with my writing routine this evening... so I am more or less on time. Having woken from a nap not that long ago I am still feeling a bit slow witted... but hopefully that will fade as I spell things out here.
Last night I was not up all that late and although I cannot recall exactly when I drifted off to sleep... it was much earlier than the previous evening. I have been doing my best to get to sleep early each night not just so that I can get up early the next day... but also because I am trying to hammer out a new sleep cycle before I get moved and start camping.
Not to get too lost on that topic, but basically I am going to need to make the most of my days (while camping) to get as much done as possible... before the autumn and winter arrives. Most likely I will need to shoot for getting to sleep by nine or ten at night (if not earlier) so that I can get up again between four and six in the morning... which yeah is several hours different than my current sleep cycle.
As far as this morning goes, I woke up relatively early and did my Hive engagement routine in short order... before zoning out reading stuff online. Since the wind was blowing like frigging crazy outside I was in no hurry to get outdoors and work on stuff... because although it has been quite warm lately... that wind had an intense the chill to it.
I was hoping that the wind would eventually die down... but alas if anything it seemed like it blew harder and harder as the day wore on. By early afternoon I realized that I was just feeling too worn out to 'battle the wind' to work on the packing process... and resigned myself to taking a day off from it all.
Honestly, I had some mixed feelings over taking such a break... but the dull ache in all my muscles was more than enough to remind me that I have been slogging away at it all for quite some time... and taking a break was probably in order no matter how I felt about it. At least my body was happy about getting some downtime... because I wound up sleeping for nearly five hours straight during my nap!
At some point earlier in the day (I think it was right before I took a nap) I looked into charging those twenty volt Dewalt cordless tool batteries with an eighteen volt charger more... and what I found was kind of surprising. Apparently the twenty volt batteries are actually eighteen volts comprised of five three point six volt cells... just like the eighteen volt batteries are.
The big difference (aside from their chemistry) is that the eighteen volt ones have a leg for sensing the temperature... that the twenty volt packs lack. Also the chargers are different because the twenty volt chargers use a BMS (battery management system) to check the voltage on each individual cell... but the eighteen volt chargers check the voltage of the entire pack all at once.
In essence I discovered that while sure it is technically possible to charge the twenty volt batteries with the eighteen volt chargers... doing so might damage the battery pack. Aside from doing it in an 'emergency' I will probably avoid doing it altogether... and just keep watching for a used (pre-owned) vehicle charger made for the twenty volt batteries.
Anyways, I am still trying to avoid having to use solar by getting electric service at the new place... but I also want to 'hedge my bets' on that front and be prepared just in case it does not work out. As I have said before the moment that my feet hit the ground there... the clock will be ticking in regards to being fully prepared by the time the cold weather arrives later in the year.
I know that before I have mentioned maybe doing the winter in a canvas tent with a wood stove... but after learning more about the terrain there I will be camping on a west facing slope... which is where most of the foul weather will be blowing in from. Although a good tent can hold up well to both snow and high winds... I really do not want to contend with trying to keep it warm in such conditions.
What I have been thinking of more and more is doing a very simple underground house... based off the design principles found in that 'The Fifty Dollar and Up Underground House Book' that I bought last year. While the 'house' itself would be very small (maybe nine feet by nine feet or roughly three meters by three meters) it could be made in such a way that it would act as a good root cellar or storm shelter later.
That whole line of thinking/planning is very dependent upon what all materials are available at the site itself... because if I build that kind of structure I would want to do it with black locust logs... so that it will not rot away. It would be kind of funny because although that material would create the 'shell' of the structure... I then want to line the entire interior with Advantech sub-flooring material... which although super pricey would be well worth the investment given its rot/moisture resistance.
I am unsure of the exact name of that kind of sub-flooring material... but it is the twenty-three thirty secondths thick kind... that is often used in kitchens and bathrooms where it might come in contact with water and/or moisture. The downside with it (aside from price) is that the individual sheets are really heavy to work with... and I would need the surfaces (that they attach to) to be very flat... so that I do not have to 'fight it' too much to get the tongue and groove to fit together.
My other thought with such a dwelling, is that I could maybe lay out one large pond liner (into the hole for the structure) and include enough extra on all sides so that when the wood parts of the structure are in place... I could then fold the rest of the pond liner over its roof... to form a single moisture barrier between it and the earth. Again the price for such a large piece of pond liner would be quite high... but in all reality it would come out cheaper than roofing and siding for a traditional building.
To be clear I do not want to get my hopes up that I can complete such a structure before the winter... because I honestly do not know if the terrain will even accommodate it... nor be all that 'friendly' to excavating it all by hand. That said though if all the conditions are 'just right' it might be worth it to try to get some heavy machinery brought in... and get the hole dug in a single day which would cut out the bulk of the labor and time.
Well, I think that I have rambled on enough for one evening. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.
I am still hoping you can get some sort of shelter other than a tent, and of course electric.