Life gets in the way

Well, here I am, sitting at my table, typing away. All the while, the snow is falling and the temperature too. It has been a long time since spring. Things got a little crazy around here, but a lot of things got accomplished too. Not all I wanted done but, a lot more than I probably would have if it were not for my wife's sons.
Joseph showed back up and needed a place, so we let him stay in the old trailer, which he never fixed up. He started out ok and did stuff around here, but after a couple of months, it was back to the kid doing chores and a fight to get anything besides feeding animals done. He eventually left for Bakersfield and is now sponging off of his Father.
Don, Judy's oldest son came here sometime this summer. What a difference. We had a hard time slowing him down. He worked all day, every day. Way beyond what was expected for "rent" He stayed in the house, in the sewing room. He was here until Mid-November, then went back to Portland to look for work.
during his stay, he helped to get the barn done enough for the rabbits to move in and enough wood to last us through the winter. He helped his Mom with anything she needed. He helped us in our food booth at the fairs around the area. It was a good time and I appreciate his help. I hope he found the help he needed from us.
For me, I have been on this learning thing for years, in regards to God and Jesus and the Bible. Growing closer to him. I started to feel like I was not getting the truth, so I started looking for the truth.
I remember the fellow saying to me; "Are you sure you want to know the truth". I felt like I was being asked if I wanted to take the blue pill or the red one (for those that have seen Matrix).
Since that time, my life has changed in ways that I can barely describe. When I learned some of what I have learned, I was physically ill. I thought I would throw up. I had been lied to my entire life about things, lots of things. Almost all things. Oh, I knew that it was wrong to have a Christmas tree in the house. You can read that easily in Jeremiah 10:1-6. What I learned shook me to my roots. Even the days of the week and the months on the calendar are pagan in origin. There is a lot of information on the net. I can even give you a good book to read on the subject but, until you are really ready for the red pill, do not ask. I don't believe that Yah will hold accountable the good Christian people that thought they were doing right. After you know the truth, then you have to make a choice and that choice is maybe the most difficult one of your life. You are not just accepting Christ. You are choosing to OBEY him.
Many people think that we are free from that because he died on the cross. Read his own words:
Mat 5:17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Torah or the Prophets.1 I did not come to destroy but to complete.
So, the Torah IS to be obeyed then. Not just the ten commandments, but the TORAH. In case you do not know, the Torah is the first 5 books of the old testament.

So, now I know the truth. Email me if you want the truth.
I am currently trying to learn the Torah. We, that very week, changed our sabbath to Friday eve Through Saturday eve or the seventh day as it were. I do not like using the weekday names now, but in this world, you have to or people get confused.
We have attempted Shabbat meal. It felt right. It puts you in the right frame of mind for the Sabbath. Life has gotten in the way these past 2 months so we have not been doing it, but we will, starting next week.
It is not my intention to turn this blog into a religious platform. There are many of those out there. I will not avoid it though. It has become so entwined in my life now that I know no other way. Everything is done with his blessing and in prayer.
I am not "turning Jew" as some may say. I am not Jewish. I am a Gentile. I could have blood from the scattered tribes, I do not know. I know Yahweh has called me and has told me the truth. I am seeking his face, not the Jewish.
For instance, I have an example for you of how I am different. In Deut: 6:1-9 Yahweh commands Israel to, of several things, to post the Ten commandments on your doorpost. Well, the Jews post what they call a mezuzah. It is a little holder (graven image?) that holds that scripture. I posted the Ten Commandments. The Jewish tradition is not, in my opinion, what the verse says to do! I am interested in doing what Adonai wants. If they had the Ten commandments on one side and the scripture commanding it on the other, that would be fine, but it does not. They even say it has to be hand written and in Hebrew and on a certain type of paper etc. All that tradition, but not the commandments themselves.
Anyway, I have rambled enough for today. A person can take only so much and I have been quiet for a very long time. I will post this today and wait to hear from the masses that will call me every name in the book now.
In Yeshua, the Messiah.

MountainMan Mike

Spring is in the air, maybe

Well, howdy from the ranch house.
Boy, winter sure seems a long time been here now doesn't it? Here in the rockies it has been long and cold. That there Phil does not know about Rocky Mountain winters, that's for sure. Didn't get a lot of snow though. Never got more than about 4 feet deep. That is how it is here though. You either get warm and wet or cold and dry.
Spring is not here yet, but, it is at the Ranch. No buds yet, but 72 degrees yesterday tells me that it is only a short few days away. Along with spring comes something that we have waited seemingly forever for. The move! Yea, the wife went up yesterday and cleaned things up a bit and got excited. so, now we can start. I have been patiently waiting for my knee and leg to heal, and now that the surgeries are over, I can get back on my feet. I have been down since Dec 1 and am tired of it.
Oh, I am not walking yet, but I can drive again and my son is a big strong fellow. Outside of physical therapy, I have nothing else going on, so as quickly as he can load the truck, I can drive and he can unload. We want to be totally moved by April 20th. Lots of time. We pre-moved a lot fothe outside items last fall, so it is the house and the animals that need to go now. Probably start with the deck, so I can get the exercise bike out (actually, bring it back here) and use it to aid in my leg exercises.
So, in closing, thanks to everyone that prayed for me. It has been an ordeal for sure. I appreciate your prayers and thoughts and know that they helped.
God is using us to prepare a place for lost souls in the coming bad times and has taught me some valuable lessons this winter.
-MountainMan Mike

WoodGas

Howdy from the mountain,
I thought I would ramble on a bit today about woodgas. This is a low tech way to turn an engine, heat water, cook a meal. It produces a hot flame and if done correctly, nearly smoke free.
I joined a yahoo group called woodgas and learned more than I wanted to know. It sounds like they are trying to make it high tech when it is just a simple thing. You make the wood smolder by o2 deprivation and force the smoke to the point you want it and burn it there. I have heard of people getting over 1000 degrees.
I have a link above to a pdf file that comes from Fema and shows how to build one, using basic things many people have laying around the farm, or at least can purchase off the shelf. Like a garbage can, plumbing supplies etc. I will give the link here again: http://nsda.ozmer.com/woodgas1.pdf
For those not that adventurous, but would like to play anyway. I have the plans for the mini midge. It is a soup can version. buy 3 cans of food and you can build this after eating the food.
http://nsda.ozmer.com/MIDGE.pdf
I plan to build one of those soon. I am laid up right now, but I think I can do this small one with the help of my slave son. Looks relly easy. I will build the other one at the ranch up north once we get moved up there. I have an old paint truck that I plan to make stationary. It has a nice little 4 banger gas engine and a huge compressor and a big wheel pulley for attaching belts, so I could run more things.
I am also thinking that if it produces the right amount of heat that I could use it like a boiler and make my own outside furnace for heating domestic water and heating the house, the shop, the power house, the barn. etc. It could also generate electricity for the rabbit lights!
I welcome anyone that has had experience with this, good or bad. Especially bad. I did hear that part of the reason they went out of style after WWII was not jus tthe abundance of gas, but a couple of folks got killed using this system.
MountainMan

I have the Power

In the years of research and development of our ranch, one of the issues that was most perplexing was how to provide power. Power at a reasonable cost that is. The electric lines are far removed from our retreat and although I can see them off in the distance, I did not cherish the tether they represented or the cost of bringing them in some 3/4 of a mile so that we could turn on a light bulb or watch TV.
I looked through catalogs. I dreamt of the ultimate off grid power system. I put systems down on paper with my trusty pen and priced everything. I went from wind, to Photovoltaic, to hydro and back again. I thought of a hybrid system or one that was just purely one style for simplicity.
Over the years, I have acquired some components and I thought I would put them all together in one.
Seems those days are finally coming to an end. With the sale of the house here in Cascade, I ahve the money to put the system together. While it still took a lot more time and planning to get the system I wanted, I have finished my list. I have, in my online shopping cart right now, the main ingredients for my system. Is it the dream system I wanted? Well, in a word no. You see prices have never come down as promised over the years and, in fact, have risen the past year. Will it work? I think so. I tried to build a system that had it's weak points in areas that could be "fixed" later.
First, let's talk about the panels. There are three types. Monocrystalline, Polycrystalline and Amorphous. You can do a google to find out the differences. Here is what matters. Mono = expensive. Poly = less expensive and efficient ad Amorphous = less expensive and less efficient.
The Poly is bar far the most popular, by far, in the U.S. There is a lot of Amorphous in Africa and Australia. My contacts to companies about Amorphous here were poor. They all wanted to know why I would want to use a less efficient panel and many would not carry them. I am pretty sure it is because there is no money in selling them. But, it is a valid question. Here is why.
They work in partial shade and on cloudy days. Poly and Mono shut down and you get ZERO power if only partially shaded. In the heat of the summer, the Poly and Mono have a reduced output due to the heat. No one could offer a solution to those problems adn I live in the Northwest where cloudy winter days are common and hundred degree heat in summer happens all the time. They would just tell me about the 5 to 10% decrease in performance over 10 years. Ok, so in ten years I add more. I have the room on 120 acres and the lousy warranty, which has matched that of the Poly panels in recent years.
So, I chose the Kaneka K60 panels. They are sold for grid tie systems due to the high voltage (60 to 90). Well, That means smaller wire size to me also and since I have to run 250 feet of it, that will save a ton.
I will connect them to an Outback MX60. I spent the money. This is at least twice the Xantrax, which is a fine unit in it's own right. The outback is totally digital, MPPT and I can set the voltage coming in from like 10 to 140 volts. The MX60 does not care. Likewise, I can set my batteries at 12, 24, 48 volts. Whatever. The MX60 can handle that too. I even bought the sensor that tells the MX60 the temp near the batteries.
For the Inverter, I stayed Puritan. I am getting the Outback FX2524T. It is tried and true. The Vfx is better, but a couple hundred more. I don't think I need venting and I think I can live with 2500 watts. Our highest power item is probably the vacuum, which uses like 12 amps. So, I have like 8 to spare still. It will charge back to the batteries at 55 amps while I am running the Generator.
I bought a 5kw Diesel Gennie last summer. It was a 5 thousand dollar unit, new, from a friend for 1800. The batteries I am still working on. I think it will be a weak link also, but then the batteries are anyway. I will likely purchase the 2200's I got before. 8 of them. That will give me about 9600 watts, or 2.5 kw usable per day, as long as I can recharge them Our goal was 2.5 kw per day, so I think that works. The panels are 60 watt times 12 is 720 watts. 4 hours of sun will give me enough to recharge the batteries daily, with the gennie for when it does not happen.
The best news I have is that I am able to buy all this at one place. I had picked out several companies to get the best deal on shipping. They ranged from free to outrages, free being expensive, so not really. I had settled on two companies. Suddenly, I found out that one of the 2 had the panels I wanted, not in the panels section, but in the specials area. I saved a couple hundred on the, and a couple hundred more on shipping. The company is called Northern Arizona Wind and Sun. I have bought from them once before and they seem to be quick on shipping. I will let you know if they are not this time.
So, my system is costing me just about 8,000 dollars for a 2.5 kwh totally solar power system. a full 2,000 dollars less than the budget was for it. The house sold for less than I wanted and the driveway (I don't call it a road, a road would imply anyone could use it) needs fixed.

New Years Resolutions

Wow, I can't believe that it is already time to commit to that time honored tradition of making New Years Resolutions. Let me ask.Do you even remember last year's resolutions? If you do, did you keep them all? Some of them? Broke them the 2nd of January?
I have several things that I am resolved to do and or accomplish this year. Most are not bad habits, but goals in my life. I am getting old now and don't have many bad habits left. I don't smoke, drink in moderation. I don't cheat at cards, or on my lovely wife. I could lose weight, but would gain it back anyway.
I want to move. I have had this as a goal for some time now, but this year it is a resolution. The house sold and all that is left is to close escrow. Unless they default it should go through. I need to move before I have a heart attack. This place is not the paradise it once was. It is overcrowded with angry people. The place up north is pretty and quiet and no one will build in my view. Not a road or a house.
Most of my resolutions this year are tied into my retreat. I need to set the water system up. I have a lot of the stuff, but did not set it up for fear of freezing and time constraints.
I want to set up the private off grid power system. It is the center of what we can do. No lights, no work gets done. It was what brought us into the industrial age.
Sewer system needs to be done. Gray water and black water and a sawdust toilet system is what we will utilize. The sawdust toilet being the easiest to build and hardest to maintain.
We paid off all our bills this last fall. That was a resolution I made every year and never thought it would happen. This year, I resolve to not get back into debt, like the 700 dollar snowblower I bought, which now needs to be paid for! We did make it through CHRISTmas without adding anything to the Credit cards that did not get paid right off.
I resolve this year to get the concession business up and running. I think Judy has a similar one for the rabbit business. We need an outlet for all the rabbits and the sure thing has turned out a little iffy lately.
Re-write the entire web site of Ozmer dot com. As you can see, I started on it already. I put about 3 days into it so far. I like the results. You can tell me what you think, but I like it. I need to take the new format into all the other existing pages. I started to write it over when I did due to my accidentally deleting the entire front page. oops! Guess I should have had a back up. I am sure I do somewhere, but it was a reason and with my bad knee I had the time to do it.
I resolve, this year, to get in better shape. I know what you are thinking. That is like weight loss or quitting smoking. Fact is, I have to. The ranch / retreat will bring many challenges and I need to be in shape to handle them. Also, perhaps my knee injury would not have been so bad if I had been in better shape to begin with. My heart will like it, my weight will like it. My spouse will like it. I see no down side other than aches and pains, so I will do this... I hope.
Anyway, I will take this opportunity to wish you all a happy New Year and I hope and pray that your resolutions are modest and doable.
Cheers
MountainMan Mike

EMp's and BOB's on National News

I was going through my E-mails this morning and had Fox News on in the background. I was trying to decide on a subject for my blog today. I am wanting to talk about Ham Radios. At 11:38 I glanced up to see “Electromagnetic Pulse could take out grid in US”. Well, that got my attention. The woman doing the news talked about how a nuke detonated in the upper atmosphere could create an emp that could take out the US grid for weeks, months or years! She brought in an “expert” that confirmed what she said and they showed Iranian tests and how they appear to be able to reach out far enough, or that they could simply launch one from a boat.
I was pretty surprised. Fox News is a pretty good source, but it is still main stream media. What does all this mean? Not sure. Those in survie circles have talked about this for a long time and most of us have tried to make what preps we could with that in mind.
My question to you is have you considered EMP’s in your plans for disaster? Have you hardened anything. Do you plan on doing without? Have you purchased replacements and locked them away in a Faraday cage?
In 2004 a Blue ribbon Commission report confirmed the dangers of this and a quick google search can give you access to varying opinions on the subject. I just thought it worthy of mention because the main stream media is reporting it. By the time they report stuff it is usually after we could do anything. I wonder if it is because they really are concerned with getting their Latte’ or if it is just another scare tactic, although possible event, to keep the sheeple off kilter.
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The next thing is Fox was talking about the new storm headed for Denver. They are saying a lot of people were not “prepared” when the last storm hit and they hoped people had learned from it and would be prepared with things like an “emergency car kit” I had changed the name of my BOB some time back to make it more palatable to family and friends I nthe hopes they would put one together.
They showed Denver. It has started to snow. The gal was saying that the grocery store lots are filling up. FILLING UP! Now. It has already started to snow. She was showing the things the store is out of. Ice scrapers, bread, veggies etc and now they are going to the store.. People will never learn.

Product Review

Hi all,
I was sitting here watching the snow, listening to my new Red Cross
Emergency Radio and thougth maybe I would do a little review on it.
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Eton FR300
I understand this is a Grundig, according to Cnet. I like the radio
overall. The color is white. The case a black one with an extra pocket
and carrying strap. I like the magnets instead of snaps. Virtually
guarantees closure.
I think the buttons are it's weak link. they are made from plastic and
feel like they will break when you manipulate them. The buttons I am
referring to are all but the tuning and volume ones. Those have a better
feel to them.
I got good reception. I am in a rural area and radio signals are weak,
yet I was able to pull in stations on am, fm and tv. Funny, because I
have to use sat to get tv here. The weather knob has 7 stations, not
adjustable. On station number 4 I received the local weather loop.
Seemed fairly accurate. Well, ok, It was snowing and they said rain, but
the snow level was 5,000 and I am at like 4950.
I liked the red flashing LED. It is one LED. Not sure how far it will
go, but it is like any other single led. The bright white light is not.
It is 2 LED's. Yes, you can see. It is like my shake up flashlight. I
would not want to walk in an unknown area with it or read at night, but
it does put out like maybe a candle. The siren is loud and the young
child walked away from his fire engine toy Christmas morning to come see
my toy as it was pretty loud. I can not test how far, as the light due
to my current injured status, but I think I could signal someone if I
saw a helicopter with the light or get attention of someone searching
for me on foot.
The radio tuner has 2 knobs. One is for fine tuning, like a shortwave
radio. Nice feature.
The hand crank is easy to operate. A child could turn it. Be careful
though, it is just plastic. A little red light comes on to tell you it
is charging. It charges by cranking either way. The radio works while
cranking if you have no battery. The nimh battery inside appears fully
charged. It would take a long time cranking to fully charge that. I like
that though, because you can charge it on your ac and have a lot of use
from it before you need to crank it. To charge your cell phone, you have
to crank. I found I had to be fairly steady and even in cranking or my
cell phone cussed at me..
I would rate this little radio an A if it were 30 bucks. At 50 dollars I
am going to give it a c. It is worth it to have one, but the price seems
high for the quality of the parts. Much better as a gift than buying it.
This puppy is going in my BOB, if I can stop playing with it.