Solar power for Dine' Elders

Janie and I went to Black Mesa, Arizona as a part of the Black Mesa Indigenous Support Project which began several years ago.  The project has an annual caravan to Black Mesa in November to help the elders gather wood, herd sheep, do repairs, drive to town, etc in preparation for a rough winter on the mesa.  We went ahead of the caravan to stay for a couple of weeks and herd sheep or basically do whatever else they might need.

The best grazing was among the sagebrush or at the bottom of washes

We were pretty nervous about the sheep herding at first, not knowing the lay of the land, what the sheep might do, how we wouldn't lose them, etc.  We were pretty well prepared from the BMIS materials but none-the-less, we were still pretty worried. The sheep herding was wonderful in the end and perhaps we'll write more about that at another time.    

Our coach parked at Glenna's house

      

So we parked our motorhome, fully self-sufficient with solar panels, charge controller and inverter outside of the house for our time there.  It became quite ironic that here we were sitting on 80 billion tons of coal that Peabody is extracting to power Phoenix and Las Vegas, and our new Dine' elder friend has no electricity in her house.  Whenever we went into the house during early morning or evening, she was getting lights from a Coleman propane lantern.

Our goats and sheep with Peabody coal in the background

Janie and I talked it over, prayed about it and decided to offer to go to Flagstaff to Northern Arizona Wind and Sun and see what a small solar powered system would cost for the family.  After working out the details of their needs, we opted for a single Kyocera 135 watt panel, a Morningstar ProStar 15 charge controller with meter, two six volt deep cell batteries and a 300 watt pure sine inverter from Xantrex.  Total cost of this setup with cables was just under $1100.00 not counting some of the transportation expenses, etc.  Here are some photos:

Kyocera 135 watt panel mounted to the roof

Morningstar ProStar 15 charge controller with breaker box

We installed two 225 amphour six volt batteries

300 watt xantrex pure sine inverter

It was quite a joy to see our new friends just switch on the lights when they needed them, and to watch them as they monitored the charge controller and watch how well the sun kept their batteries charged.  As we did the project we learned about other Dine' elders who also are without electricity.  We're hoping to bring solar to more families next year.

As you read this if you feel called to be a part of the project, please email me and ask how you can help. Here are some ways you could help:

• Help fund this year's project (before our credit card bill shows up will be preferable).
• Help fund future projects.
• Brainstorm with me in advisory capacity on selecting the correct system/ where to purchase.
• I'm still learning about solar and some of you are much more versed in this than I.
• Go with us to Black Mesa next year to help with installation, you don't need an RV.

 Just drop me an email at learn7peace@yahoo.com. 

Thanks for reading, please keep the elders of Black Mesa in your thoughts and prayers. 

Sincerely, Martin Bates

It's back to Firefox

Something happened.  Maybe you don't care, but I just made my way back to blogger after removing Google Chrome, going back to Internet Explorer and then re downloading Mozilla Firefox.  All this because all of a sudden GC was giving us lots of error messages. I suppose we'll have to remember a bunch of passwords and reload some favorites pages, but hopefully our searching experience will be better.  Now it's off to the Drake Road Farmers Market in Fort Collins to sing for our groceries. 

Back on the Blog

Hello there, it's been awhile; since Marty didn't get on here yet today, thought I'd take the opportunity. We had a good trip traveling from our little Days of 76 rv park in Deadwood, S.D., through some of the Black Hills to Devil's Tower and beautiful wide open spaces in Wyoming, with nice views of pronghorns (a favorite Kansas native of mine)to a nice rv park in Lusk, WY. Linda, the proprietor, welcomed us and now we're having a nice restful night, getting caught up on stuff.

Had a tough bicycle ride 1600' up the Mickelson Trail yesterday, (my first real Rails-to-Trails) for a total trip of 32 miles from campground to summit and back--my longest ever. We enjoyed ice cream at the bottom of the hill and I was glad to have done it, although it was difficult--the coasting downhill was a blast! Had a nice visit with several groups of friends, a little music playing.

Now we're off for a good night's rest before hitting the road again tomorrow to head toward Ft. Collins!

Meeting Ms. Ambrose

We met a nice lady in Deadwood, SD.  She's traveling around the area and camping in a little tent here at the campsite.

   

I saw her this morning and we had a short conversation.  She told me that she found a Canadian coin in a different part of the campground and plans to find a nice Canadian person to give it to.  Later Janie and I saw her again and she shared some more stories with us while we shared a little of what we're doing.

This evening our new friend N. came over to our house for a chat, and what a blessed conversation we had with her.  She kept saying she wanted to hear some of our stories, but I think the spirit wanted her to tell us stories.  We had a grand time.  N has been traveling and camping here and there all her life. In a few days she'll move up to another town near her for the winter.  She apparently has a hotel where she stays for the winter so she doesn't have to camp on the ground,  then come summer she'll go where the spirit leads.  She tells us she's 71 years young.

We had a mutual prayer for each other and a hug before she left.  Maybe we'll see her again out and down the road. Don't forget to say hi to folks you meet along the way, it may make all the difference in the world.

Hook up Breakfast

I'll try to get some pics in here pretty soon.  We went over for the hook up breakfast this morning, they call it that because many folks are "hooking up" (toads to their motorhomes or trailers to their trucks) to head out to other parts.  We saw lots of our friends, the young (to us) family of four who are going to head out on their full-time adventure this coming spring.  The musicians we met who we plan to see again and work with to create an informal BOF (Birds Of a Feather) group called "Music on the Road".  This group will be for people who pick, sing and/or grin, this formation was inspired by the jam sessions while we were here.

After breakfast, I had some work to do on the rig and Janie did some tidying up and organizing for our departure tomorrow.  I noticed that the awning mount had come loose so I went to the mobile RV repair shop and bought a couple of more substantial screws and repaired the mount.  I then checked the other mount and noticed that it could also loosen, so I got some longer screws for that as well, put some fresh dicor sealant around it and refastened it.

It strikes us what a great group of people these Escapees are, and one of the things that we noticed is that we are all different and we're all the same. This RV group we found are all very accepting of others.  It strikes me that when you live in a box, you really resist in some imaginary box.

Til next time.....

Martin

Escapade, Gillette, Wyoming

Wow, it's been a while.  Now we're in Gillette, Wyoming at the last couple of days at the Escapade, a Rally for Escapees RV Club members.  Escapees is sort of set up for full timers, but there are also many people who have homes and rv part time, and many who are on their way to full time.

We have had a ball here and we've learned a lot as well.  We met many new friends, including our graduating class of 2010.  In Escapees, people join a graduating class based on the year they expect to go full time.  We began our path in 2009 so we could probably have been in that class, but we actually sold our home in 2010 so we selected that.  In fact, while here, Janie and I wrote a song for the class based on the theme song from The Beverly Hillbillies.

We also played music in the Jam Session that they scheduled and we did a couple of songs in the "Ham-o-ram-a".  

Well that's enough for now.  I suppose we'll get to writing in this a little more later.  Note to self...... Remember to update the blog.

Dodge City, Kansas

We've been on the road again, with brief stops, since April 17th, Palm Sunday.  Right after church we had a prayerful send off as we also sang a blessing song to our friends at St. Francis.  May the Lord bless them and keep them and bring us swiftly back to them.  That's how we feel about all our stops.

Our next stop after College Station was in Bryan to say goodbye to our friends at Neal Park.  Then it was on to Amarillo to see Jerry and May and cousin Don.  Later, Janie's sister Marianne came to Jerry and May's and we had a nice time with her as well, then it was back on the road again for family and dental checkups in Dodge.  This morning we woke up in the luxury of a real house made of sticks and mortar, lots of space and a wonderful view of a flock of deer (What's that you say, "It's herd of deer"?  Sure I heard of deer, they run in flocks don't they?) out in the back field.  Janie's brother and sister-in-law offered their driveway and their home to host us for a couple of days.  Thanks, family!

Now this morning it's on to Wichita.  We've had some concerns about the engine battery and alternator so on the way out, we'll stop and have the alternator checked at Interstate.  Tonight, God willing, we'll be in Wichita and the CSJ Magnificat Center with the Sisters of the Congregation of St. Joseph.  We're associates of theirs so this will be yet another homecoming.  Living on the road in a 29 foot motorhome, we're always on the road and we're always at home.   We're attending a retreat tomorrow with other associates of the Four Winds Region and then we'll spend Saturday visiting the sisters and then attend the mass and pinning ceremony on May 1st.  Later that day, the plan is to drive up to Salina and attend a musical concert with friends and then hang out for a day or so before heading east.

By the way, the solar panels are doing well, the sun has graciously provided abundant energy for our little motorhome since April 17th.  (today is April 28th)  We did give it a bit of a charge from other sources after we were parked under two trees for a few days in Amarillo.  The batteries still had plenty of energy but we were concerned about giving the batteries a full charge to help them live a long life.  Today is a nice sunny day and they should be in float charge status by the time we roll out of the driveway.

See you on the road.  Travelers especially are always in our prayers.

Martin and Janie

Sliding Window Repair

I didn't get photos of the project, but thought I'd write about it anyway.  When we bought the Jayco, (29 foot Class C) it had an obviously replaced window on the street side.  This was the large living room slider and had been apparently broken and had been replaced with a shaded plexiglass of the stock thickness.  We noticed from the road that there was a distinct vibration or howling from that window.

At first we thought it was just due to the fact that the window wouldn't latch properly as it was cut slightly too long for the latch to catch.  So last year I pulled the window pane and cut it shorter.  Now it latched well, but several miles down the road we still had the noise.

This year I decided to get the proper tempered glass cut and handle the pulling and installation myself.  I remembered that it was pretty difficult to get the glass in and out but thought I'd try it again.  Also there isn't much written about this online.   As of this writing, we don't know if the fix eliminates the noise but will know in a few weeks. Here's my process.

I left the day/night shades in place as they are only slightly in the way but quite difficult to move and particularly to reinstall.

To get the glass out, I had to remove the rubber guide from the top of the window.   I opened the window halfway and removed the screen by opening it slightly and grasping the left and right side of the screen and lifting it until the bottom clears and tilting the bottom toward me and dropping the top of the screen out of the track.  The screen seems quite fragile so I was gentle with this part.

Next I got my finger under the edge of the rubber top guide and pulled it down out of the track, closing the window again and pulling down all the guide up to the window.  At this point I made sure I had the front and back of the rubber identified for re-installation. (Turns out, after checking some other windows with original installation, the rubber had also been put in backward anyway.  I'll make sure it's correct when I reinstall, there's apparently a front and back.)  Then as I opened the window, I also tugged the rubber along the track as the rubber has to slide off of the top of the piece of glass until it's free.  The rubber slid a bit and then I again closed the window, pulled down more rubber and tugged while opening again.  A couple of closings and tugs and it got much easier and then slid right out.  I set the rubber aside, lifted the window into the now empty top track and tilted the bottom of the window toward me as before.

I took the plexi window to the glass shop and they created a template, allowing me to return with the plexi and re-install it while they sent off for the tempered glass.  It was in a few days later at a cost of about 81 bucks.  So now re-installation.

First I set the window back into the track with the rubber still set aside.  I checked the facing of the rubber again, left the window nearly closed but slightly open, and wet the rubber, putting a little bit of dish soap in my hands as I rubbed water with a teeny bit of soap in it all over the rubber out and in.  Then I began working the rubber over the top of the new glass in the reverse of removing it.  Pretty soon, the rubber had worked it's way to the other side of the window and I grabbed that end and pulled it along to set the rubber where it is supposed to be for and aft.  This time it moves easier than removing because it's not seated all the way in the track yet and it has the soap on it.

Once it's lined up then I just work the rubber into the track, this was easy by just moving the window to a section of rubber and lifting then moving the window and tucking it back in place.  Viola a nice new window.  I'll post in a couple of days to comment on whether the noise has reduced.

Thanks for reading and happy window replacement!!

Solar Project

I had an opportunity to earn a little extra money working a few home improvement projects and we decided to invest it in our solar energy system for the motor home.  It's up and running now so I thought I'd post the story.

First we decided, rather than go with the recommended 2000 watt inverter/charger, to wait on the inverter and upgrade our Iota DLS 45 by purchasing and installing an IQ4 Smart Charger.  This little thing costs around 40 bucks and plugs into the Iota, turning it into a three stage charger.  We'll use the 400 watt Modified Square Wave inverter for some of our electrical needs until we see how much we miss certain 120 volt things.   So on to the project.

We ordered
3- Kyocera 135 watt pv panels.  These seem popular, reasonably priced and fit our space quite well, we actually have room for one or maybe two more up there.
1 - Morningstar TriStar 45 Charge Controller with remote meter (ordered separately)
3 - 12 V AGM batteries from Batteries plus.

We ordered from Northern Arizona Wind and Sun and they advised us on extra cables, mounts, fuses, etc. that we might need.

Well the parts came in and I nervously began;

First the panels on the roof.  I decided to pre-drill the holes (one per mount and four mounts per panel) and then put dicor between the mount and the hole I drilled, then put the #14 x 1in Stainless Steel screw in place and tightened down.  I added another shot of dicor on top of the screw after it was in place. I ran the cables underneath the panels, I think that before I roll down the road, I'll zip tie the cables to the mounts on one side of the panels just to keep it from moving too much.
Here are some pics:

I left the Styrofoam packing material on the panel to protect them.

Here they are 415 watts of power.

For cabling from the roof, I just looked at it for two days, and then as I was getting ready to install the TriStar, I noticed those nifty channels coming down from the roof on the left and right side of the coach.  I put a hole on the inside of the top of the channel, shoved the wires down and then took the bottom channel off and drilled through and snaked the wires to the site of the battery before the install.  Looks great and worked like a champ.  I put dicor at the sites of the holes and now the spot is all sealed off proper.  

Next I had to pull the battery from the battery box as we're relocating the three batteries in the back storage compartment just about two feet from the old battery site.  Here are some more pics with explanations. 

Here you can see where the old battery was.  Three wires hooked to the ground and four to the positive side. How to get all those wires to the new battery location.

Here's a closer view.

I removed the battery, and you can see two Kicker junction boxes purchased from a local auto audio shop. They worked great.  I also got the fuse from there.  The positive terminal block and fuse are mounted to wood as some extra insulation between the metal box and the current. The negative terminal block was mounted to the metal wall and into the wood behind. The hole where wires run through goes directly into the storage bin behind where the batteries are mounted.  So for the first stage I just used the terminal block to move the battery location, one 4 AWG wire each going from the junction block to the battery bank.  The battery bank has 2 / 0 wires running between batteries.  Later you'll see I have 2 awg wire running from the charge controller (the TriStar) to the batteries.

Here is the TriStar connected I ran the positive line from the controller to the batteries through a 60 amp fuse, and fuse block purchased from the same auto audio store. 

I have a few more things to do now, but we're charging batteries.  I've got to put the remote meter in place, but I'm monitoring the charging from the couch.

Waiting on The Lord with The Catholic Worker

"But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint"   Isa. 40:31

"Wait for the Lord; Be strong, and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord."    Psa. 27:14

"For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land."  Psa. 37:9


First let me say that, although I've begun with a phrase and quotes from the Bible, my reflections and writing are practical observations for anyone, regardless of their faith leanings.  You see I think the Bible is generally a self-help book, and in fact many people really interact with the Bible for the first time in a self-help sort of way, I suppose that's why the Gideons place Bibles in hotel rooms, so people when traveling and alone have a source of help.


I added The Catholic Worker to the title because yesterday I visited Casa Juan Diego, a catholic worker community in Houston, TX which prompted me to write this morning. 


What I'll attempt to do is write my thoughts on my spiritual reaction to the idea of waiting for God, and connect that to what I got from my visit yesterday, while also commenting on the value of the idea of waiting and patience for persons of any faith, or non-religion.


First, why the phrase "wait on the Lord"?  This all began a few weeks ago when I was meeting with Dan K., a local person who has a desire to start something like a catholic worker.  It's clear that part of his vision is to have a house from which to provide services.  In our conversation it came out that we should just meet and leave room for the spirit to work.  Both of us come from the faith position that God is present and if we leave room and wait for God to work then it will be clear and all we have to do is say yes and keep on the path so to speak.  So we decided to "wait on the Lord".  Then last Monday at morning prayer, the reading was from Isaiah (probably the one above) about waiting on the Lord.  Hmmmm, I'm starting to see a theme here.   Then Dan and I went to visit Louise and Mark at Casa Juan Diego and as we asked questions about starting a catholic worker house, the theme continued to come back around to "waiting for inspiration" or "patiently watching" to see what turns up.


Janie and I have been learning that intentionally waiting for God to act is difficult sometimes and I for one have a tendency to move on something before God has had a chance to act, or maybe my moving was God's act.  How does one know?  Anyway, we have also learned that when we do wait (with intention to do something well or positive, etc.) then things seem to work out.  In fact Dan and I were talking about how things seem to often work out and I liked what he said his friend Jerry says, something like "That's the way it works."  As if everyone knows that.


So waiting on the Lord is good and often difficult.


I'll give an example of how things worked out for CJD once.  The Zwicks told us that they have incorporated as a non-profit which has been very helpful for their fundraising.  They have been operating for 30 years and they feed all kinds of people and even provide rent for people who need it.  It seems like their operation must take quite a bit of money, and they always seem to work it out.  They started without non-profit status, and then one day about two years into their operations, a lawyer friend asked if they'd like to be a non-profit and then got them all set up.  Just like that.   They told more stories like that and in fact they have a book full of stories called Mercy Without Borders.


Now, as a sociologist and a counselor, I'd like to comment on the Bible as a self-help book.  Waiting on the Lord is a message about patience which is very helpful most times.  You see above some quotes about patience.  There all kinds of great self-help lessons in the Bible.  I think that a person can totally learn from the writings of the people who wrote the Bible whether it's the inspired Word of God or not.  That person can learn about humility, patience, tolerance, love, etc.  That person can also learn about greed, lust, power, hate and other vices and how to grow the positive and counter the negative.


I'll be posting more about the catholic worker project that starts with waiting on God.  Hope you read and comment.  


Martin

Welcome to my blog

here I am, blogging. Recently, I was invited to Pay It Forward with a homemade gift to a friend. As I considered just what to make for her, I was struck that I only thought of "homemade" as things I couldn't do, i.e. build a photo frame with a nice calligraphy quote inside, or knit a sweater or crochet a shawl. When I started thinking of things I could do without learning how, I began to minimize their "homemadeness". When I concocted a facial spritzer in a plastic bottle, I thought, "Well, plastic isn't homemade," and "I just combined some things I bought, I didn't grow the witch hazel and roses for rosewater," etc. Then it came to me: everything we have is just a re-use of what the Creator has already made and gifted us. oh. yeah. and...thanks!

The States, Excerpts: Playing for Chattanooga TN Homeless

"War Is Over" sung by The States ("When War Is Done")

The In and the Out

Living in an RV can be sometimes boiled down to two things, in and out.  Living in around 200 square feet of space with a reported 71 square feet of outside storage, requires that you think twice about what you bring in and be quick about bringing out what you don't need or use.  Other things that come in are food, which we prepare and eat.  We often play music at farmers markets when we travel and are given food and other products for playing. Since we are careful about how much food we can store in the motor home, especially fresh food, we tailor our meal planning to what we get in.  Therefore the turnover of in to out is rapid and space saving.  I might mention however we do have about 5 lbs of whole bean coffee from Cloud Forest Initiatives and about 4 lbs left of our decaf ground from the same folks.  Well we have our priorities.   We like buying the "Fairly Traded With Dignity-Naturally Grown Without Chemicals" coffee from Thomas.

Now, speaking of coffee and in and out, we also have water coming in, either through a connection to a drink safe garden hose and outside spigot (city water) or pumped in and stored in a 43 gallon fresh water tank and supplied with a 12 volt direct current pump from the tank to the shower, kitchen sink, lavatory sink, or toilet.  Right now, because the weather folks are threatening a hard freeze for the next few days, we are disconnected from the water spigot and just getting our water from the fresh tank.  We also have a 6 gallon water heater in this system that operates on lp gas or electricity.

The water from the sinks or shower goes into a 41 gallon gray water tank where it can be stored until "dumped" into a sewer system or a "dump station".  Most RV parks have a sewer drain pipe right at the site so you can just dump the tanks when you need to.  The black water tank or the toilet wastewater tank (as the brochure calls it) or the Xe tank as we call it (named for the former Blackwater Security, guns for hire agency) holds 36 gallons of Xe which I define as a combination of pee, poop and water mixed with a few chemicals (which in our case the latter are safe for the environment.)

So, particularly in this case, you can see the importance of paying attention to the ins and outs.  Usually we can go around a week before we have to dump the two holding tanks.  The guidance is to dump the Xe first then the gray water, that way the gray or cleaner water rinses away the excess Xe. (which any real peace activist would want to do)  We can stretch this a little by using urinals for night soil and then feeding earth somewhere, catching rainwater for washing and flushing when we need to, catching the dish rinse water and giving that to earth, then limiting our shower time.  We know we need to shower when we start noticing funny looks from the next table at the coffee shop.

Having shared all of the above, I'd offer the "paying attention to the ins and outs of life" as a method of spiritual practice in self awareness.  This can also be used as a method of saving money, losing weight, recovering from addictive behaviors, etc.  It's all about ins and outs.  Thanks for reading this far;  I'd love to hear your own stories of the ins and outs.

By the way, we also learned that when living in an RV full time, when you have to get something out or put something in the fridge, do it quickly.  You can do this by memorizing where things are and go and then open grab (or place) and close.  Bye for now!!