Tonight as I was doing the evening chores, I stopped for a couple of moments and just stood there, listening to the absolute silence. The sun was setting through the clouds, the air was still, all the animals were quiet. It was a magical moment in time. Made me appreciate where I live even more. No human sounds at all.
Then the neighbors started their generator and that was the end of that. ☺ I should do that, too.
Our batteries for the solar power system are worn out. They gave 9 good years of service, but now they are just not holding a charge anymore. I am having to run the generator twice a day most days. I think I probably shortened their lifespan when I first got the dehairing machine by deep cycling them too many times running the machine after dark, trying to get everyone's cashmere dehaired in a timely manner. The machine doesn't like to run off the generator power, there is a little too much fluctuation in rpms for it to run smoothly. It will do it, but it doesn't sound as good as when it's off the solar power. So I would wait till I was done for the night, then turn on the generator to recharge the batteries. There were a few times when my husband came running down yelling that the batteries were way too low and to turn off the machine. Next set of batteries will be treated better. :-)
Now we just need to somehow come up with that money, which is in the thousands for as many batteries as we need. Iron Edison has a 25 year battery which would be a really good thing to get, as opposed to the regular ones that last on average, 6 to 10 years. Of course, they are way expensive, too, but in the long run, cheaper than buying a set every few years. Whatever we get will be the third set in 18 years, so that's not too bad. The first ones didn't last very long, they were our "learning" batteries. It's amazing how much hands on you have with your own off-grid power system. One learns to really watch their electrical consumption!
The goats are all doing well. There are 14 pregnant does out there, at least I think they have all settled now. Midnight got quite a workout this year! I'm looking forward to seeing what his kids look like. I've only got three that he's thrown from last year, and the year before. They are all well covered in excellent cashmere, so I hope all these coming will be, too. It's always fun to see what comes out each year.
Today I discovered that the ATV will actually pull the drag plow! I've always thought it was too big and heavy for the ATV to pull it through snow to plow. Sometimes the truck has a hard time. But, today I plowed the whole driveway with it with no problem. I almost got stuck turning it around out on the forest service road, though. I had to really gun it and hold on in a circle to get it turned around. The drag plow sure saves a lot of time. It cuts a 10 foot swath, while the ATV plow only does a four foot swath. Much faster at 10 feet! :-)
Well, that's all for now. I am sure enjoying the mostly mild winter we are having so far. Only 5 or so inches of snow on the ground now. It's been above freezing again, too, so the snow is settling down good. Haven't had to have to the forest service road plowed yet, so this is good!
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