When you live in a remote home off grid, you will gain an appreciation for life's simple pleasures like running water and indoor plumbing for bathrooms. This is especially true when these things temporarily unavailable. You never really plan on them going away, but when they ...
Monthly Archives: December 2009
Our Real Life Internet Phone Experience
Being able to make phone calls using the internet has come a long way since 2003. Companies like Vontage and Packet8 have made this service very usable. Now Comcast, Cox, and Roadrunner cable TV systems offer their own phone service. If you are off grid / ...
World's dumbest mistake with a 2 stroke motor
There are many skills that are helpful living in a remote setting. Some you have, some you can develop, and others its good to get help. When it comes to snowmobiles, I know enough to run them, commute with them and get them unstuck in heavy ...
Saving Power with Espresso
The first dawn of morning's early light coming over the beautiful mountains, and the smell of fresh coffee! Aaahh, one of my favorite rewards for some of the extra work I do to stay at our off grid home. One of my morning luxuries is actually ...
The Best Rattlesnake Control Workers
My son, Eric, has a soft spot for Guinea Fowl. He has 22 of them. He was down to 2 this summer, and some broody hens hatched 26 keets. A few died but the rest grew up. If you have never been around guineas, then you are in for a treat. They a
Life Near the Brink of Winter
Preparations start early It happens every year. Sometimes more or less than others, but it always happens. It is not necessarily caused by off grid or remote living, but more by human nature. I call it the Brink of Winter (BOW). You see, I expereienced ...
Driveway stories snowmobiles and Cougar!
Nine days till Christmas. Wow, it's going FAST. AND, we have 7 inches of snow. We usually feel more Christmasy when there is snow.. In fact, we have always had a white Christmas over here, AND a white Thanksgiving except for last year. I love ...
Remote Broadband options – part 3
In part one of this series I made the case for cellular Internet service over satellite Internet service. In the second part, I provided information to help you find that distant signal if at all possible. Now I'll review the equipment that I use at my ...
Portable Heater, Insulated chickens, and a webcam
I've heard from several readers who thought it would be nice to view the web cam. I've managed to arrange for public access to the web cam for a couple days. The web cam does full pan and tilt, so you can move it around the ...
Remote Broadband Options – Part 2
In the last article I reviewed the benefits of that broadband Internet access can bring to your remote property. We covered the pros and cons of dial up access, and DSL. Finally I started to describe {en:EVDO}, or cellular broadband service and how its possible extend ...
