Solar Panels or Bust!

Not long after James returned from AIT, he started going up to our property with dad. His friend and fellow soldier, Private Hemsley, went with them the first time. They put in all those bolt thingees you see in the picture.

Then on the second trip, the rails were attached and bolted in. This was all quite the project because this is a very steep roof on the shed. They also had more bolt things to put up. If I remember right, it took two trips to get all the rails up.

Then came the panels. Fortunately dad was able to take a couple days off of work while it was good weather. The solar panels took two days to get them all up, bolted to the rails, and wired into the electrical box that will run the solar pump down in the well.

After all this work, the pay-off was that when everything was bolted and clamped down, taped and screwed and the switch flipped, it worked and watered flowed at about 4 gallons/minute. Not bad for solar panels that hadn't seen the sun until they were brought out of their box and put on the roof.

Some of the funniest stories came out of the little Country Store in Fruitland. There is a little lady, Charlotte, that runs it. The Country Store also has tables and chairs if you'd like to sit and get a bit of lunch. Charlotte will come take your order and another gal makes it. Charlotte is so funny tho. She has quite a dry sense of humor and the best poker face around. She really likes people to enjoy their food and eat it all. Once James didn't eat all of his fries and she drilled him on why. Another time Leland ordered a very large meal and Charlotte told him he was too little to eat all that. She was right and she didn't let him live it down the next time he ate there... said she was gonna have to babysit him! She's quite a hoot.