The Hummingbird Whisperer

It seems like everyone is a whisperer of something nowadays.  There are dog whisperers, horse whisperers, ghost whisperers...  I'd like to introduce you to Gloria, our Hummingbird Whisperer.

We have a lot of the little guys this year, and for some reason, the feeder right outside our door is the happening spot in hummingbird world.  Our feeder has ten perches, and it's rare that they're not all taken up, with other birds waiting to get in.  There are typically 20 or 30 hovering around the doorway. It's actually a little dangerous stepping outside sometimes; with no Air Traffic Controller, the birds buzz the tower pretty close.

As a case in point, I filled the feeder at about 6:00 PM this evening (about as full as you see in the picture here).  It's now 8:30, and the feeder is nearly empty.  Strangely enough, we have two other feeders in direct sight of the house feeder, and we only have to fill those once every day or two.

I was up at the top of the hill two nights ago trying to figure out if I was listening to a car drive up the driveway or a boat over on Pushineer.  As I walked down the hill, I realized that it was neither; I was listening to the hummingbirds swarm that one feeder.  The sound has pretty much become a constant in our life when we're in the house.

There are lots of different hobbies in this world.  Some people scrapbook.  Some people fly fish.  We feed hummingbirds.

Weathering the Storm

It's still raining up here at Red River!  This Memorial Day weekend has pretty much been washed out, although we're expecting only partly cloudy skies tomorrow.  Even with all the rain and fog, we've made it this far without turning the generator on.  (I haven't let poor Tanisha charge her iPod or Nintendo, though.  Sorry, Tanisha!)  Today, our voltage is hovering the 48.5-50 range.  From my understanding of the system, our batteries turn themselves off when they hit 44 volts, so we have a decent way to go yet.  Hopefully tomorrow will be partly sunny as expected, and we'll get our full charge back.  When it's overcast, we pull in between 150 and 350 watts, which is enough to run the lights, if nothing else.

Since it's been so wet out, I've had our guys putting up the ceiling in the Island instead of doing outdoor projects.  It's amazing how well it lightens the cabin up, and it's not even finished yet.  We're also going to do those two end walls and add oak to the floor of the loft, which will make a huge difference. 

Trilliums

I went for a quick run last night and saw the strangest trillium ever.  (So of course I had to take a picture of it when I got back to pick my camera up.)  Something must have happened to it just as it was budding, because it's perfectly symmetrical yet severely stunted.

Other than the fact that it's only about two-thirds of a normal trillium, it seemed fine. Neat stuff.

The Island

It'll be a thundery, rainy Memorial Day weekend at Red River.  Luckily, Gloria and I cleaned the Island before the storms really started, and I got a sneak peak at the beginning of the new ceiling, as well as the new front door.  The door looks great- Cary did an awesome job, as always, and I think the ceiling will look right at home.  A lot of folks who heard I was putting a new ceiling in were worried about losing the rustic charm of the cabin.  I think that fear is unfounded, because it looks both rustic and spectacular so far.  It'll also really lighten the cabin up a lot, especially once the two end-walls are complete as well.  We also have a new cedar slab mantle, which we'll hopefully install next week.

This weekend is also going to put our solar power system to the test.  The guys ran a few power tools yesterday; between that and laundry, it was the first time we didn't end the day with full batteries.  We'll see if we can balance our demand with an overcast day today and tomorrow!

This Year's Cabin Renovations

It'll be another big year for cabin renovations at Red River.

We picked up a shower basin and plumbing fittings for the bathroom of Denny today and will get a start on that tomorrow.  After the bathroom, we'll just have to install the stove and gas lights and add some furniture.

We also picked up enough pine to do the walls and ceiling of the loft on the Island.  We'll do the whole ceiling and the fireplace wall eventually, but we won't have time to get everything done before the Island gets busy for the season.  (We're not covering the log walls, mind you; just the unfinished walls in the peaks.)  We also purchased subflooring and new oak for the loft floor, and we're building a new front door.  The existing door has charm, but it's also about a foot out of square, and its latch is a death trap for unsuspecting shoulders and elbows (depending on how tall you are).  Also in the Island's future is a bathroom with a new tile shower similar to the one we're building in Denny (once we see how Denny's turns out).  The Island will be an ongoing project, but it'll be good to get a start on it this week.  As always, I'll post pictures as cool things happen.

Togue is going to be this year's big news.  The far wall is slowly rotting because it sits directly on the ground, so we're going to jack the entire cabin, add new sills where needed, replace the floors in the living room and fourth bedroom, take out the old acoustic tile, and add pine to the newly-peaked ceilings.  I'm also hoping that one of our guys can perform some much-need rehabilitation on the fireplace and stone chimney. 

In solar news, this afternoon turned out beautiful after a cloudy morning.  We pulled in 13.5 kWh, and it probably would have been more if our demand could have kept up with what the sun gave us.

The Kitchen Opens Tomorrow!

Day three without the generator was another gray one, although the clouds broke in the afternoon.  We pulled in just over 5kWh of energy, and the power system had no trouble keeping up through laundry, lots of vacuuming, running the mixer, and me working on the computer all day.

We spent the day gearing up for our first American Plan guests tomorrow- getting the kitchen set back up, baking some cookies, and doing a little interior decorating in the dining room.  One thing I love about being up here is that everything has a story.  On the far wall, we hung a bobcat mount that was trapped by Gloria's late husband; my brother's handmade snowshoes (I'm not sure if he knows I have those); two paddles that were a gift from a couple who comes every year (who also did the majority of the paintings throughout the dining room); and a sign made by a member of a group that has literally been coming to Red River for generations.  Above the door to the kitchen, we hung a chickadee carved by another of our guests. It's wonderful to have such talented friends!

Over dinner this evening, we were discussing how difficult it was to lose all of the "stuff" and the stories connected with it when the old lodge burned, but I think we're making a good start on adding stories to the new building. It just takes time.

A Somewhat Exciting Gray Day

Seems like we've had a few gray days this spring!  This one is interesting, though, because it gives us, right off, a glimpse into how our solar/battery system works when the sun isn't shining (to compare to yesterday's sun).

Here's how the last two days shaped up:

Yesterday (almost full sun, but the system wasn't turned on until 10:30 in the morning)-
We pulled in 11.88 kWh of energy from the panels;
We did two full loads of laundry, pumped some water, charged the house batteries, used some power tools, and ran the dishwasher; and
At 5:30, the batteries were in float, and we were still pulling in over 500 watts of power.  (Float is that period of "maintenance charging" of the basically-full batteries.)

Today (very overcast)-
We pulled in just under 3.5 kWh of energy from the panels;
I charged my computer, we charged the house batteries for a few hours, and we had the phone and wireless internet turned on;
For the majority of the day, we were only pulling in about 350 watts of power, but we were in float for several hours of the day.

Pretty big differences!

In other solar-related news, our new SunFrost fridge has been completed and is on its way from California.  It's scheduled to arrive next Monday to replace the old propane Servel we've been using.  We'll see how it interacts with the battery bank; it's supposedly the most efficient fridge on the market today, so we should be all set.

We're Solar!

We did it!  Mike from Green Earth Energy brought in an awesome crew, and the job was done by noon today, a full day before I expected everything to be complete.  They were top-notch; very knowledgeable, friendly, efficient, clean, and just a good crew all around.

Gloria and I spent the afternoon turning things on and off, and plugging things in, to see the numbers on the charge controller go up and down. In this picture, you can see that we're pulling in about 2.3kW from our 2.8kW panels, or almost full power.

I learned today that our batteries have three modes of charge- bulk (super charging), absorptive (charging, but not too much, because they're close to full), and float (just maintenance charging). It'll be fun to watch the charger to really learn how the batteries respond based on their voltage and the strength of the sun.

We ran a couple of loads of laundry today, dryer included, and discovered that sunny days can really charge our batteries back up quickly.  (We also rediscovered that a standard household dryer uses ten times as much juice as almost any other gadget we have in Camp.  The inverter jumped from about 0.46 kW with the washer running to 6.5 kW with the dryer running.)  The inverter can handle just about any load we can throw at it; our water pump, dishwasher, and dryer didn't even make it blink.  Typically, we just have a couple of lights on or a computer charging, so we usually draw less than 500 Watts of power unless we're actively doing something that requires electricity.

I've also added a few more photos of the installation to our Flikr photostream. I'm looking forward to seeing how the system performs over time, and whether we decide to add another line of batteries, or some more panels, in the future.  I'll keep you posted!

Water, Sun, and Fire

This weekend is full of excitement.

I got our second check valve installed downstream of the water pump yesterday, and the water held fine last night.  What a relief!  A plan is in the works for a new pumphouse; once we can get that completed, I'll take the first check valve out and see what the problem is.  (As it stands, the check valve is behind the pump and very difficult to access.)

The solar installation team is in Camp for the weekend.  They built the battery box and installed the inverter yesterday, and (if all goes well) they'll install the panels and wiring today.  Hopefully yesterday's sun returns soon!  We were a little worried about the peak of the dining room roof shading the panels (which will be over the kitchen) in the afternoon, but when we looked at it yesterday, the peak doesn't get in the way until at least 5:00.  At 5:00 around here, the sun isn't strong enough to provide meaningful power anyway, so we're in the clear.

We also have our usual crew of handy men coming in today to start a few little projects in the cabins and a good family friend in with his bushwhacker and chainsaw to help do a little post-winter maintenance.  All in all, we have a crew of about ten guys in this weekend helping us gear up for 2011, so what better time to do another small but meaningful project- enjoying a nice bonfire to finally get rid of the rest of the debris from rebuilding the lodge?  I know a lot of our guests will enjoy not seeing that this year.

In my final news this morning, I saw a nice-sized black bear on my way to town yesterday afternoon.  Unfortunately, he was barreling across the road, so I wasn't able to get a picture. I did get a picture of the sunset, though.

This-n-that, and our first guests of the season!

It's official- the 2011 season has begun.  As our first guests of the summer, we welcomed back some great folks who have stayed with us a couple of times.  It's almost hard to believe that this will be our third year up here after taking over from my dad, but in a way, it's almost hard to believe that it's only our third year, as well.  As always, there's nowhere else on this earth I'd rather be, even when things are hectic (and gray) like they are now.

We got our generator re-installed and our water pumping, but we've got an issue with (what I think is) our check valve that should keep the water from flowing back into the well.  It's just not doing its job, so I'm having Gloria bring in a second one tomorrow, which I'll install between the pump and the well.  (The current check valve sits between the pump and the water tower, all the way in the back of the very small pump house, and it's pretty hard to get to.)  With any luck, that will solve our problem, and we'll once again be able to hold water in the tank overnight.

Otherwise, our water system seems to have weathered the winter fine.  I've fixed a couple of small leaks here and there but haven't seen any big problems.  Once I get a little time this weekend, I'm going to trade out four of the last five water heaters in the cabins for tankless versions- that'll be pretty exciting.  (Sometimes I'm reminded just how much of a geek I really am.)

My final piece of news is that the solar installation begins tomorrow and will last through Monday- that'll also be pretty exciting!  Here are our batteries awaiting their new home.  (These things are substantial.  Depending on whose literature you look at, each one weighs just about as much as I do.)

Solar Update

Our solar project has officially begun.  Sixteen batteries were delivered today, and the drawings for panel placement, wiring, the battery box and inverter, and all the rest of it were prepared.  Much to my dad's chagrin, the panels will go on the main roof of the lodge since it has the best exposure and structural support.  The 12 SOLON Black panels will take up the majority of the roof over the kitchen.  (At 235W each, the panels will supply just over 2.8kW of energy to the battery bank; kind of like a 2.8kW generator running for 4-8 hours each day.)

We were initially worried that the peak of the dining room roof would shade the panels too much in the afternoon, but a closer inspection indicates that only one of the panels will be partially shaded by the peak for about an hour before the sun sets behind the ridge anyway.  Perfect!

The installation is scheduled to begin next Friday and last four days or so; in a little over a week, we'll be solar-powered!  (I will, of course, post pictures during the installation.)

Northern Flicker

If you haven't visited the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Birds page, I recommend it, especially in conjunction with a good bird book.

All week, I've been listening to a bird that sounded an awful lot like a Pileated Woodpecker. The only problem is that I haven't seen any Pileated Woodpeckers in this neck of the woods recently.  (I did see one down at Shin Pond last week, though.)

At any rate, my bird book alone wasn't helping.  I could hear them (and from the sound, we have 5 or 6 hanging around), but I couldn't see them.  That's where All About Birds came in; they have sound clips for the vast majority of birds they have on file, and they have a lot of birds on file.

I finally saw a Northern Flicker on one of the birch trees in the yard this evening (thank you, NWF Field Guide to Birds of North America) and found out from the Cornell Lab that it does make a call very similar to that of a Pileated Woodpecker.  One sound clip even names the call the "pileated" call.  Mystery solved!  Of course, I have friends for whom that would have presented no mystery whatsoever, but for the rest of us, it's good to have the resources at hand.  Happy birding!

Our Neighbors

It was a drizzly day here, so there's not much interesting to report!  The clouds finally parted a little this evening, though, so I channeled my inner Jennie Appleseed (if you'll pardon the terrible pun) and got some wildflower seed spread down by the pond.  With luck, we'll be able to get a nice buffer around the pond within a couple of years.

We have a very skittish pair of Goldeneyes on the pond right now.  As soon as the door opens, they take off to the middle of the pond and don't come back until we go back inside.  We also have a pair of black ducks and a pair of mallards who know the routine and don't mind our company.  I also saw Jack and Lily again for the first time tonight.  At least, I assume it's them.  I was sitting on Upper's porch when I saw them, so I didn't get a good look. Maybe tomorrow.

I have mad driving skillz, and Red River has electricity!

It's been a busy couple of days here at Red River.  Yesterday, I decided to put my Trailblazer to the test and make a run for the hill.  My first attempt, yesterday morning, was 100% futile- I got stuck less than 50 feet from where I started.  Yesterday afternoon, though, while being serenaded by pop hits blasted by some folks picnicking at Pushineer, I actually made it the whole way in to Camp.  The final run wasn't without incident, though.  I got as up close and personal with this stand of silver birch as physically possible without actually hitting any of them:

(That tire track is my driver's side tire. My passenger side is the track that grazes the spruce tree.) 

And this is how the hill looked after I finally made it in to Camp- it wasn't pretty, but it did the trick.  The snow on the left-hand side of the road was still about 18" deep.

At any rate, I made it in, and I went back over the road a few more times just to be sure.  That led up to Dad and his friend Dwight being able to bring the old generator back in today.  They were able to fix it to the point where it should last us a while longer and put off the expense of purchasing a new one.  So happily, Red River now has power!  I'll get the water hooked back up tomorrow or Wednesday, and we'll be in business.

Spring is progressing well; the ice went quickly once it started:

May 6, 2011

May 8, 2011

May 9, 2011

That's all the news for now.  I plan to pull some of the canoes out tomorrow and maybe take a paddle over to the Island to see how it fared the winter.

First Spring Update

I’ve officially made the move to Camp, although I’m somewhat limited by the fact that we can’t get the generator in over the road yet.  We’re still looking at a good foot or two on parts of the road, especially the hill.  On Thursday, I only made it to within sight of the St. Francis Road (some of you will know that as the big hill you have to climb to get to the farther ponds); I got stuck several times in what I will henceforth affectionately refer to as “the Gauntlet.”  I got myself out today with the help of some gravel, cooler temperatures that hardened up the mealy snow, and good old Brophy determination.

Thanks to a couple from Fort Kent who had tires on their Bronco that my 10-plys would envy, I made it all the way to the base of the hill today.  This is a huge win in my book because it means that I don’t have to walk a mile or more (round trip) for anything I’ve forgotten in the car; I only have to walk down to the bottom of the hill.  (For instance, tonight’s “emergency walk” was precipitated by the fact that, without cheese, a grilled cheese sandwich is just a couple slices of toast.  As tasty as grilled cheese is after a couple hours of yard work, it’s hard to justify walking a mile for one.)

Camp looks good so far.  We had some damage to a few trees over the winter; two in the back field are half as tall as they used to be, and I need to move some large limbs from Galilee’s roof.  Otherwise, everything seemed to fare quite well this winter.

The ice is going out of the pond pretty quickly; we’re expecting it to be gone by next week, and I already saw a fish rise in the small area that is clear near the shore.  I’ve also seen over a dozen ruffed grouse and a couple of spruce grouse on my walks back and forth to the car, several sets of moose tracks (but no moose yet), and quite a few ducks and loons that have already come back.  All in all, it’s shaping up to be a good year.

I’m sorry there are no pictures with this post.  My camera’s USB cable is (you guessed it) in the car.

Wild Women of the Woods

Unfortunately, the road in to Red River still isn't quite passable.  We tried it again today, just because I'm chomping at the bit to get in there and get the spring cleaning started.  I brought Mom with me this time for her first trip back to Camp in about ten years.

I wasn't going to try the last mile of the road without more gear than we had, so we stopped in the same place as Sunday's trip and pulled out the snowshoes, even though it doesn't look like there's a lot of snow left in this picture. 

Closer to Camp, there's still a foot to eighteen inches of snow on the road.  It's starting to soften a lot, even compared to Sunday, so it should go pretty quickly from here on out.

The ice on the pond is starting to darken up as well, so it should start breaking up in the next few days, and the pond should be open by next week.  It started raining while we were there, which will get it melting faster. We spent a few hours just looking around- it was Mom's first look at the new lodge and all of the renovations we've done on the cabins.  (I think she likes our new benches, too!)

On our way back to the car, we stopped at the Pushineer bridge.  Pushineer is also starting to clear, and Red River is still running high.  One of these days, I'll get over to Deboullie to see what the larger ponds look like.

Back at the car, we were as wet as drowned rats, but what a fun day.  I'll try the road again in a couple of days.

We Made It!

...sort of.

The main woods roads are easily passable; they were plowed all winter, so there wasn't much snow to melt.  The smaller woods roads are passable if you're a little adventurous.  Once we got in sight of the Deboullie town line, however, we ran into this little problem:

With the three of us (Dad, Gloria and me), a comealong, a couple of shovels, and a little bit of time, we managed to get Dad's Explorer back on the road. Surprisingly, we came within an inch or two of the stump (beside the tire in the photo), but we didn't hit it, nor did we need to pull the Explorer out with my Trailblazer. It was pretty obvious, though, that we weren't going to proceed by car, at least not today.  There's still a good 18-24" of snow on the road between the town line and Red River.

There was no way I was getting within a mile of Camp and not actually getting to Camp, however, so I pulled out my snowshoes and took a quick stroll while Dad and Gloria went in search of moose antlers on the Stink Pond road.  (No luck, though- the snow is also thick on that section of road.)

The Falls below Pushineer are running pretty well:

And there's almost no snow in the Camp yard except in the driveway:

The pond, however, is still frozen over.  The ice was about 8" thick off the end of the dock, although you can see in the photos that it's starting to melt a little around the edges.

It was another absolutely gorgeous day for a snowy trip in to Red River.  Unfortunately, without a passable road and with the generator out town, our hands are still tied with regards to getting up and running for the season.  Dad is optimistic that we'll be able to drive in by this weekend, and I'm going to pop up once or twice during the week, especially if the weather stays nice.