Since my last post, and continuing on the handyman dilema:
- following in the footsteps of the lawnmower, the snow blower decided not to start, even though it was serviced and running tickedy boo in the summer. I'd googled the sequence of starting steps, followed them closely, gave it a tug....nothing. The neighbour gave it a try using an electric start (gotta get me one of those cables), claimed something wasn't right, and took it home to take a closer look....
- the propane fireplace pilot went out. After a fair bit of googling and lying on my stomach staring into fireplace bowels I finally got it going. Very exciting! (small successes mean a lot) - a) because it meant heat, and b) because I know in the past others who have faced the same challenge and not one of them had an easy time of it (one gave up!).
- one of the burners on the propane stove failed to light. The spark was there, the gas was there, but no fire was there. A bit of a conundrum because I'm sure we called in an expert when this happened once before. But surely not, - took a bit of trying and googling but a poke here and there and it was up and running again. Last time must surely have been something more severe causing the problem....surely?
- discovered water coming in the back of the truck. Only when it rains of course, which isn't much now since it's below freezing all the time. In fact I discovered the back seat pond while looking for the snow brush earlier in the winter just to be prepared for when snow would inevitably fall. Not exactly sure where it's coming in but next time it rains I'll be out there checking.

As for the cabin - the thinking and planning continues. Right now I'm learning all about sketchup. Very nice, and even though I'm not very good at it it's giving me a fair idea of what things will look like once complete. I've already decided to move the bathroom to a corner wall instead of using it as a separator between kitchen/living and sleeping areas.

So far I've been using 3D view to get the perspective but once I have something in plan view I'm going to send it off to a company in BC called Bavarian Leisure Cottages [http://www.bavariancottages.com/index.html]. This is the first prefab company I've found that has very simple type cabins that look nice on the outside and inside. Most other prefabs have too many rooms, and often more than one floor. All I want is a basic box, one level. My cabin design is still probably too simple but I figure I can see if they'd be willing to simplify one of the models they already have. If so, I need to know how much it's going to cost. I'm getting to the point where I need to figure out method. Basically I see two choices - if this prefab idea works out that would be one way, the other of course is to buy the material myself and hire a contractor.

First up in the spring will be to figure out location, get a perc test, get a building permit, clear the land and the driveway, then install sona tube concrete forms....

So I got ready for Christmas, went away to family, came home with a bad cold, and spent New Year's Day figuring out watts and amps and solar panel stuff.
But I learned a lot of stuff today, like how solar panels work - all about controllers and invertors and how it all fits together. I could buy one already made but if I so desired, I could make a solar panel myself. Doesn't look too difficult at all.
I may have forgotten to mention that during the crap Fall I bought a bit of property with the intention of putting up a cabin, close to the snowbelt and the ski hill, and wonderfully close to some lovely waters for kayaking. Now a lot of my thought is in what that cabin should look like, what are the steps needed to make it happen. So this is where the interest in solar comes from (and probably a lot of this blog is going to be about cabin building by an uneducated novice).

Generally here's some of what I learned today (and I make no bones about the fact that I was starting from absolute scratch, and also have the right to change any of this later if I decide I got it wrong):

• a solar cell will generate about 70 milliwatts per square inch
• a 12v battery is about 125 amps (it's written on the pack)
• voltage x amps = watts and if you divide that by 1000 you get value per kw (kW/h)
• watts/120 = amps 
• controller - keeps the battery from draining
• invertor - gets the solar power into the battery for storage
• plexiglass, board with holes in it, solar cells, wire and some silicone  - and that's about it for a solar panel

I don't think I'd need much really, especially if I use a couple of those solar lights mounted through the roof for light. Other needs might be running a laptop for a couple of hours, cell phone charging, running an mp3 player, and what would be really nice would be to able to run a small fridge (which is about 100watts, or 8amps.

This all boils down to a need for (unless I've missed something important) about 18 amps of power - out of a 12v battery with 125amps - would run for 7 hours. Keeping in mind of course that there's only about 5 hours of really good sun catching time in the day, on a sunny day. 

Some solar panels move with the changing direction of the sun - bet that would be expensive.

Off to blow my nose...