I actually got back to work.

it's been a week of a lot of road miles.

Monday, Was it monday? Yes. I realized that the roads were actually dry, and would likely be so all day long, so I hitched up the trailer and headed off to Northern Va to pick up the range that I bought way back when I still had a job and bring it home to Cold Comfort, many months later. Now that I have the shed to store it.

So I did.



It's an induction cooktop, with a nice convection oven. it's a compact range. According to the reviews, folks either love it or hate it. Apparently there are
some QC issues with it, I'm hoping this one is recent enough to not suffer some
of the problems I've read about, but a lot of the 'hate it' chatter is the usual stuff. Folks who don't understand compact ranges whining about the fact that it's compact. >shrug<

Sharp eye'd folks will notice the dented drawer, that's my fault I think. And I think I can fix it.

So, that was monday.

Tuesday, I hitched up the trailer again, and headed off the Adams County, Pa to the Klinger Family Sawmill. Tracey found these folks a few years ago, and we are very fond of them.



Proper circular saw sawmill. You can buy proper rough cut/barn dried lumber here and the prices are very reasonable. Yes, they have a kiln for those folks who think (wrongly, in my opinion) that shed or barn dried isn't good enough. I know, I know, codes require kiln dried for framing and forming. But if you want real lumber, this is a place to get it.



This is a lot better than BigBox HomeStore browsing, I promise. The dogs are more fun too.



Anyway, I went down to pick up a couple hundred board feet of barn dried, rough cut hemlock. it was a trailer load for the little ole prius. We took our time coming home.



Some of this will be doors, some will be cabinets, some will be raised beds.



So, I have to plane a lot of it. This is the planer rig, Like my dust evacuator? Well, it works. I dump the shavings in garbage bags, and we'll use them for chicken bedding.



I think planed hemlock is an attractive wood. This is the before/after.

So, then yesterday, with all the fun I was having bringing stuff in, I didn't hitch the trailer, but I did clear the car out, and headed off for the old home place in Davis, WV. Took apart some of my shelves from my apt, and loaded them into the car. Grabbed my much missed laptop that I had forgotten and left behind last time I was there, and headed back. I also dropped off a couple of bags of foam board insulation scraps at Jimi's place, and picked up some nice sassafras from him.

11 hours in the car, , ugg.

So, Today at Cold Comfort, I planed some more wood.




started building the shelves in the shed,
and then I noticed that the UPS man had dropped off a small box. Oh Boy! My birthday presents! Some spiles!

So, I went out and tapped a tree:



The sap is running at Cold Comfort!
In fact, I was running around, trying to figure out what to do;



So it begins.



The Cold Comfort sugarbush. Or some of it anyway. Could be tapping a lot more trees, but I have to get a handle on how to deal with just a few first.



The first gallon of maple sap. it's sweet and it tastes like maple. I think this filtered and boiled once would make a fine beverage. But syrup is where we are heading, and I need a lot more jugs for the sap. So, I'm off in search of gallon jugs.

I continued pounding stakes.

Which should be of no interest to anyone, except of course, our neighbors who likely are interested in knowing when it will be done.

In other news, while taking time off to get the feeling back into my hands, I'd work on finishing up the electrical for the addition.



Yes, that's a crazy amount of conduit considering what it's for. I've lived in places, (many places actually) that didn't have this much stuff for the entire house. See what a nice job I'm doing of NOT launching into a diatribe?



Ground rod #1. This goes in at about 30 blows with the 10lb-er per inch. Yes. Got about 20 inches to go, or 600 blows or so.

Oh, the first foot went pretty well, the second foot, not so much, the third foot was about 20 blows with the slide hammer per inch, the next foot about 50 per inch, and so forth, until it was down far enough to get at it with the sledge.



Ground rod #2. This one is much better. First 3 feet were only about 200 blows with the slide hammer, the next 2 feet only another 200 or so blows. Now it's going in with the sledge at about 20 blows per inch. Much better than the other one. :)

yes, the neighbors will be pleased when this is done.

the inexorable march

of the drywall across the ceiling has exorated.




Lost the help of the good and dear Bob a few days ago. He's off to pursue other ventures. Can't spend his life fiddling about my place. His company and assistance, and downright mastery of some things is dearly missed. An inestimable fellow, him.

So, onward thru the fog.



In other news, I've been pounding in the first of a few ground stakes. Slow going in this rocky soil. That's really just exactly as boring as it sounds, and just as photogenic.

the inexorable

march of the drywall continues;



Actually, it's very 'exorable'. I really don't like drywalling very much, and it's sunday, and I'm not working today.

Anyway, since I had some sheets of drywall pieces, I decided to mock up the bathroom to see if all that measuring was really telling the truth.



Exactly enough space, and not a wasted inch.

that cardboard box on top of the plastic bucket in the right hand of the frame neatly models the wash basin. The wash basin will be a proper laundry sink. Good for brushing teeth and washing yer socks. :)

The sink will be a couple of inches smaller, so the model is conservative, which is good. There is enough room.



yes, the toilet of fear! Don't be scared, can be used just like a regular toilet. This is the Sun-Mar Excel NE. NSF certified composting toilet.

There's enough room to clean around everything, and not be cramped, but that's all, not a bit more.

the journey continues.

the shed finally arrived.

And it's teal, not green. Oh well.

But wow, was that a task getting it into the backyard.



It's a big shed, as that kind of shed goes. 10x14 with a 10' ridge.



6' doors,



and I have to confess (well, I don't have to) that the shed -in part- was about blocking the view of one of our nice neighbors great big house that wasn't there when we bought the place. As much for their benefit as our own.



You can see their roof in the background. That little shed in the foreground, it's going on Craigslist as a giveaway as soon as I get around to it. It's tiny, but it's framed up like a house with 2x4 lumber on like 5" centers and full plywood siding under the vinyl. I mean it's got door and window headers in it, proper rafters, etc. I think it was a demo house at a builders place of business or something. It likely weighs nearly as much as the big shed.



And in other news, hung some more drywall.

finally started doing some stuff.

After PASA, kinda hard to get started again, too many other things I wanted to do. Tried to see if the folks would come bring me my shed, as the weather on Monday was perfect. But alas, no joy.

So, I started to switch gears in the addition again, hitched up the trailer, and with Bob's good help, we went and bought some drywall and blueboard. But alas, no faced insulation, as they were out of stock, , , again. Bob inquired, and learned they'd have some in on Tuesday, alas, I would be out of town. No matter.

So, tuesday, up at out the door by 4 am to drive down to an appointment in Aldie, Va. Then drive back home in the pounding snow. Got back in time to stop off and pick up the insulation. Then just in time to get to the Permaculture meeting at Irvings in State College, which I had to leave early to get to the Transition Town State College meeting an hour later.

Then that went until 9, and I finally got to bed about 11PM. , , sigh. I can't do this any more.

Today, I started hanging the vapor barrier insulation, and slapping up the drywall.



Now, I don't enjoy using the word "hate", but I will confess that I strongly dislike drywall, everything about it. I do appreciate the fire barrier nature of it though. But I'm really no good with the stuff, and I don't want to be any good with it. When I used to have to mess with it a lot, when I quit that work, i literally threw those tools in a dumpster. Anyway, hanging kraft faced insulation and drywall on a ceiling by yourself isn't a whole lot of fun.

But, it's a start.



Tomorrow, they are supposed to bring the shed out. That should be interesting.

didn't do much

since it's the day after the PASA conference.

Lesse, ,

I overslept. I'm usually up about an hour before light, whenever that is, but it was light before I awoke today.

I fuddled about some, toddled off the Pump Station for a tasty breakfast sammich, arrived an hour early, , ,



No matter, went to the Post Office, did this, did that, had breakfast, washed the car, did laundry, , ,




Planted some ramps, (Thanks Gary!)




Innoculated some logs with the spawn I got from Paul at Hardscrabble, , , I love that guy.

And that's about all.

lazy day.

Nothing is happening

Because it's the PASA Farming For the Future Conference.

So, nothing is getting done at Cold Comfort Farm.



Had dinner with Tim and Linda Blakely last night at the Elk Creek Cafe and Aleworks. Off to a good start!

LED Ceiling Lights

The "Commercial Electric T91" or more correctly, the Lighting Science Group (LSG) 'Glimpse'.



Home Depot sells this under the brand 'Commercial Electric' model 'T91'. Let's be fair, a lot of electrical supply houses are only repping LED fixtures that are very expensive. Lowes isn't really paying attention to LEDs at all, and Home Depot has embraced them. Fair is fair. I'm no fan of 'Big Box' shopping, no, not at all. But we're still at the forefront of energy sensible lighting for the home, and most folks are ignoring it. The National Electrical Code certainly is, but more on that later.

I paid $35+tax for these fixtures. 750 lumens, and I forget what the color temp is, but it's not awful. I was looking at installing the Home Depot "Eco Smart" (a horrible brand name is ever there was one. Anyone who can sell a product with that insanely idiotic packaging, and call it 'Eco Smart' deserves some kinda irony award.) downlights. Bob had installed these in his kitchen. He replaced 5 60 watt downlights with these, took him maybe 10 mins per fixture to do the conversion, and in the end, the lighting is smooth, at least as bright as before, maybe a bit more, and uses about 1/5th the energy.

Anyway, I didn't really want to put ceiling lighting in. The ceiling is already low, I didn't want to use back-cans to mess up the insulation, throw heat into the attic, blah blah blah. But folks convinced me I really did want light, lots of light in that space when it was finished. I (as always) begrudgingly agreed and started searching for suitable lighting, when I stumbled onto this light. According to the packaging, it will install into a 5" or 6" back can, OR a 4" J-Box. So, I bought one and a 4" junction box, and tried it. Yeah, it fits. So, I tried it with a ceiling box, and yeah, it /just/ fits. So, I tried it with steel ceiling boxes, double-stacked, and that seemed to be the trick. It /just/ fits, along with a generous mittenfull of interconnecting and wirenuts and what-all.

So, here's the story of the LSG Glimpse/Commercial Electric T91 at Cold Comfort.



What's in the box. Everything you need. The luminaire assembly (Why do electricians use that word?) has all the goodies already in place *if* you were installing into a back can. So, we have to take it all apart and fiddle with a few things in order to shove it all up into a ceiling box.



First up, pop off the trim ring, and back out the two mounting screws that secure the lamp 'disk' to the electronics/mounting assembly.



In every case, the UL cert sticker occluded the slot for one of the mounting screws. So, one has to peel back the UL sticker (or just shove your way through it) in order to separate the assemblies.




I don't like messing with UL stickers, I keep thinking the pillow-tag police will kick in my door in the middle of the night. Anyway, moving along:



with everything loosened up, the springs for the back-can mounting pop right off, then you may untangle all the ground wires. The build quality of this fixture is really very nice. Not like some of the junk we've all come to expect from residential (and some commercial) lighting fixture, where low-cost, high-price, big margins seem to rule the roost.



The fixture mount, and integrated electrics, LED driver assembly, and some other magic box, I'm supposing it has to do with the ability of this LED to be dimmed with a dimmer switch, and line filtering to handle the predicable hashing mess that would create. Anyway, that's all conjecture, I didn't smash any of these into pieces to see what's inside.

I have to change a few things to get this to work in my ceiling box.



First up, remove the ground connection for the (I'm guessing) line choke that dangles off the back of the driver assembly, and then move it over to the other side of the mount, and double up with the ground wire tail. This allows the choke to lay across the top of the driver assembly.



Tada! Okay, now I can install it.



A lot of ya'll will think I'm insane. But I'm old enough now to have re-done work that was done during my lifetime because the work got old and failed. Yes, even electrical work, that was done correctly, by the codes of the day (and when it comes to residential wiring, that ain't changed a lot, not at it's core). I've been using conduit and stranded THHN for everything thus far. I know I won't be able to hang on until the end that way, but I'll take it as far as I logically am able. Also, I use anti-oxidant compound on EV-ER-RY connection. Yes, every single one. This is a habit I got into working in marine electronics years back. In those conditions, I don't care what your conductor material is, it WILL corrode if there is a voltage potential present. Yes, even gold multipins. Impossible? No. Anyway, moving along:



See? stranded wire. Anyway, I'm using a triple stacked ceiling box here, because at this junction, I had anticipated 2 3-way switches and a 4-way switch. But I had a last second attack of common sense, and home-ran the switch boxes back to the main junction box, and did all the wiring there, instead of in the ceiling box. And that also explains the 3/4 conduit (smurf tube) here. I didn't need it.



There, all connected up, and tucked up tight into the top of the box. This will all work just fine, but there really isn't much extra room. There is enough room. But you have to keep things tidied up.



attaching the tails.

These tails are AWG 18. I'm feeding them with AWG 14 thhn. I /could/ be feeding them with AWG 16, but nooooooo. Code doesn't provide for low power "luminaires" in cases like this. I could go on and on about code vs actual needs, and how the waste in built into the entire system, but I won't do that here, perhaps at another time I can rant and rave about that.



Ground attached, and ready to install the mount/electronics.



There, all neat and in the box. Careful attention paid to not pinching any wires against the sharp edges of any of the box surfaces.



Connect the lamp assembly to the pigtail, and again, careful attention to pinched wires, and slide it onto the mounting screws.



The reveal!

these things are seriously bright. I'll need dimmers.

There are two lighting 'zones' here, and all 9 of these running at full output are (according to my amprobe, which I don't trust) drawing 1 amp at 120vac.



anyway, as you may notice, there is no ceiling up yet. Why on earth would one install the lights before the ceiling was closed? Well, a few things. One: the lights come right back down. You'll note that the lights are all sitting kinda akimbo, this is due to the fact that they are not fastened securely, so I can take them right back down. Another reason is I wanted light while I work on other stuff, and I had the lights. Another reason is there is still some science to do.

See, there is no mention made of the suitability of installing these fixtures in ceiling boxes directly against the insulation. Or the "CI" rating doing it this way. And I had my concerns. I have no earthly idea how hot these things get in those boxes, or even in free air. I needed to find out, else I could suffer big heart-break if it became clear that things were just too tight, and made a dangerous amount of heat.



My control.

Box in 'free air' with insulation on top.



My subject.

Box packed in insulation.

after 3 hours, the result of the experiment:



This is the bottom of the XPS along the edges of the ceiling. This is my base-line temp. (note, it's about 50 degrees outside, and it's my body heat in the structure, that and some passive solar through the windows).



This is the hottest spot I could find on the emitter side of the control. Not too shabby.



Here is the hottest spot I could find on the ceiling box. it's really 79 as you can see on the max display, I didn't catch that with the camera, and couldn't it again.

This is degrees fahrenheit. yeah, that's as hot as it gets in 'open space' with that ambient temp.



This is the emitter side of the subject. Again, the peak temp is on the max display. Yeah, a packed with insulation light is only throwing that much heat into the living space.



So, peeled back the insulation and quickly sought after the hottest spot I could find on the box, and this is it. Yeah, not likely to damage the insulation or the structure. All in all, I call it a success.

So, there you have it.

EDIT, UPDATE:

I said earlier that I will want to use dimmers with these lights. A bit of googling about has me doubting that. Seems folks are having trouble dimming these lights. Some claim it's all just fine, some claim it doesn't work at all, some claim it works, but the fixtures burn out. I think I'll give it a few years to sort out before I go and buy dimmers.