Friday dinner, Solar blaster, chicken sales, duck dispatch

Friday evening, Mama and I went out to dinner with Red and JoAnn Shaw. We met at Casa Torres in Decatur. It is by far the best Mexican food in Decatur. We were late to the meeting by about twenty minutes because Mama had gone to get feed late in the afternoon. That, in and of itself, would not have been an issue; however, Grandma and Grandpa, who went along for the ride, had Mama stop at the Post Office and Dollar General on the way home, so that lengthened the trip significantly. Mama was reticent to tell Grandma and Grandpa “no” to the additional stops because they get out so infrequently – especially Grandpa. It all worked out. JoAnn and Red held a table for us until we got there, and we had a wonderful, relaxed dinner together. It was a pleasant reprieve for all of us just to sit and visit.

As we outfit the shipping container for service as a workshop, I have been studying devices available for that sort of retrofit. In doing so, I stumbled across a passive solar light that could be mounted atop the container to provide light to the end of the container that I am going to reserve for storage. In that last ten feet inside the container, I am not planning on running any electrical service, but I needed some sort of additional light. Enter the Solar Blaster. It was exactly what I was looking for, but it was fairly expensive. However, when purchasing windows, even at the wholesale price, the Solar blaster unit did not seem so costly. So, after Mama and I discussed the purchase, I ordered one.

The unit was not due to arrive until Wednesday of this week, but it was delivered about 5 pm Saturday. By that time, I was pretty worn out. I set the box inside the container with the intent of cutting it into the container sometime this week. But, after I cooled off and ate a small dinner, I felt like I could get the installation done before dark. In making the cut into the top of the container, I wore out three batteries very quickly as I attempted to cut the opening with my DeWalt grinder and Sawzall. Neither were up to the task, and I had to resort to a corded grinder to complete the cut. Once that was done, I installed the Solar Blaster. Even in the low light of evening, I was impressed by how well the unit functioned. When I saw the effect inside the container the next afternoon, I was certain we had made a good choice.

Now, with the windows at the farm – Mama and Norman purchased them on Thursday – we can start that installation. One of the panes on one window broke on the ride home, so it will need to be repaired at some point, but the other three are ready to go. To facilitate the placing of the windows in the container, I went to a local wholesaler and bought the angle iron needed to frame the windows in the sides of the container. I will spend an evening this week – when I have time available – building those frames. Once the frames are built, I will cut the walls to accommodate the frames which will be welded into the sides of the container, then I will install the windows in the frames. That will probably have to wait until Thursday or Friday because tonight is going to be spent fetching hay. Tuesday will be spent processing 4 ducks and 6 chickens. Wednesday is church. I am not in a particular hurry, but Mama is. So, these delays are starting to bother her a little. I will eventually get this done, but I am not setting any records for speed in accomplishing the retrofit.

The next steps will be to complete the wiring inside the container then have the inside of the container sprayed with foam insulation. Then the floor will be redone, and a sliding glass door installed, and we will be ready to move into what I am now calling our “crafting shop”. Can I get all this done by the end of the month? I do not know, but I am going to try. Painting the outside of the container will come at some future point. That will not be a requirement for occupancy, and I am not sure if it actually needs to be done. I suppose Mama has not decided yet because she likes the look of the container as it is, and she does not want to delay any of the other upgrades needed to get her crafting items relocated to the shop once the inside is complete.

Mama has been trying to sell some of her chickens for months now and was finally able to complete a sale of one of her Lavender roosters Saturday afternoon. It was not a huge sale, but she was encouraged to finally have money exchange hands in such a sale. We are applying for a flock registration permit so we can sell our chickens and ducks at Trade Days. Such a registration is required for such sales. All the paperwork is done, but the final requirement of the registration is to have our entire flock tested for some bird disease before the permit is issued. Mama has that scheduled for the first week of August. I wish we could have taken the ten drakes we have to sell at Trade Days, but until we have the registration, we are not permitted to do so. They would have sold quickly. They are beautiful birds. Instead, they will be processed to be eaten. Not a bad thing if anyone besides me decides they like duck meat.

Otherwise, I will be eating a lot of duck.