Karen Ingersoll

I received this in an e-mail some time ago. If this doesn't make you smile, nothing will. :-)

Instructions for properly hugging a baby:

1. First, uh, find a baby.

2. Second, be sure that the object you found was
indeed a baby by employing classic sniffing techniques.

4. The 'paw slide'
Simply slide paws around baby and prepare for possible close-up.

5. Finally, if a camera is present, you will need to execute
the difficult and patented 'hug, smile, and lean' so as to
achieve the best photo quality.

This "smile" has been brought to you by:

Karen Ingersoll

Big Land and Homes

Snowflake, Arizona

(928) 243-2010

karencountry@frontiernet.net

If you've read my previous blog posts, you already know that I live and work off the grid in an earthship that my husband and I built ourselves. We have also conquered the challenges of gardening in our very rocky ground. (See: Homesteading Part 1: Less is More and Homesteading Part 2: High Desert Gardening ) This post will address that "off the grid" part of homesteading.

Living off the grid has been a very liberating experience for us. While my husband and I have lived off the grid for the past five years, neither of us consider ourselves experts in solar or wind power. The size of our solar array and wind generator have been determined not by our needs or wants, but by our financial circumstances. We estimate the total cost of our system to be $6300. While there are other ways to generate your own power such as mini hydro or the utilization of geo thermal energy, our area has an abundance of sun and wind.

How is this done? We have five basic components:

1. 700 watts of solar panels and a 500 watt wind generator, which capture energy from the sun and wind;

2. An inverter which converts the DC power to AC power;

3. A charge controller which regulates the entire system;

4. Batteries to store the energy, and;

5. A generator for back up power.

It's always sunny in ... Arizona! According to Forbes, "in a single hour, enough solar energy falls on Earth to power the human population for an entire year." (http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/09/energy-solar-green-biz-energy-cx_bp_0709atlas_slide.html?thisSpeed=30000 ) Our sunny state ranks so high for solar potential that former Governor, Janet Napolitano, was recently quoted as saying "There's no reason Arizona shouldn't be the Persian Gulf of solar energy." And yet, the power of the sun is hardly used at all, not even here in Arizona.

About Solar Panels: Solar panels range in size from 1 watt to 300+ watts. Most solar panels up to 135 watts are 12 volt panels. All solar panels are rated in Watts. The watt rating is how much power (amps times volts) the panel will produce in full sunlight. This is the industry standard (STC) for all PV panel ratings. However, that is a "best case" scenario, in real life on a year around average you can expect 10-15% less for nearly all panels. http://store.solar-electric.com/solarpanels.html

Spring time in the high desert of northeastern Arizona is a very windy season. While the state of Arizona isn't ranked very high for wind, this little area of the state is right up there with Montana and Kansas. Some days, the winds can reach up to 50+ miles per hour. We've affectionately named those days "dry hurricanes", and although certain outdoor activities may not be very pleasant, the wind provides us with renewable energy via our wind generator.

About Wind Generators: All wind generators (from all manufacturers) have somewhat "generous" ratings, as the power output is usually specified as the MAXIMUM output. In real life you will almost always get much less. Also, most people tend to over-estimate how much wind they actually get. Most wind generators require winds in the 12 to 25 MPH range - 25 MPH is Beaufort 6 - the stage where the wind starts to "whistle" on wires and structures. http://store.solar-electric.com/wind.html

People will often ask me about the maintenance of an off-the-grid system. Really, there's just battery maintenance. Some batteries are closed cell... ours are not. Is it difficult? I am reminded of when, at 16, my father took me aside to teach me how to maintain my car battery. You know, keep the poles clean and check the water level. There's no difference. Just more batteries, that's all. If a 16 year old girl can do it, anyone can.

How is living off the grid different from on the grid? That can depend on how large of a system you have. Ours is relatively small. We have a 2400 watt inverter. That means that the most power we could have running at any given time is 2400 watts. Not a problem here, but in the city with all appliances and lights running I'm sure we could have exceeded that amount of power on any given day. So, we're careful... we're conservative. The lights don't go on during the day if there's enough daylight coming in, and in the evening they're only on in the room we're using. Same goes for the television, if no one is watching it, it stays off.

Our friend, the generator. Just recently, we moved our solar panels from a fixed position on the roof to a tracker that moves with the sun. This has increased our solar capacity tremendously. Previously, we needed to run our generator in the evenings for about four hours in order to make sure the batteries were fully charged for the night. We now run it for only an hour (big difference!). Cloudy days just mean a little more diligence on energy conservation, and may mean running the generator a bit longer. Once we purchase more batteries, and perhaps another panel, we will probably not have to run the generator at all. That's the goal in self-sufficiency.

Living off the grid need not be intimidating. The beauty of solar systems is that you can start as large or small as your budget will allow and keep adding on. In fact, you don't have to live in the country to have solar or wind power. Start with adding panels at home and tie it into the grid. Many power companies across the country now have programs where they will buy the power you've produced and are unable to use. How about that? The power company pays you!

If you'd like to know more, are interested in homesteading, or just curious about the area... call me or send me an e-mail! I'd love to talk with you! In the mean time, check out these off-the-grid ready properties! http://wtmtmls.fnismls.com/publink/default.aspx?GUID=157494a7-b35f-4478-812a-64dc6e79e525&Report=Yes

Funny how you can get a perception of someone by what you hear or read about them.

Two years ago in February, my oldest daughter, Andrea, got married to a wonderful young man, Greg. We had a combined family Thanksgiving in November before the wedding to meet the in-laws and other family members.

During the wedding shower, Patty (son-in-law's mom) said to me, "You know, you're not at all what I expected!". Apparently, Andrea and Greg had told them all about where we live and the house we built (see the Homesteading Blog Posts), and the garden, etc. She fully expected to meet a very "granola" me. You know, the Birkenstock sandals, long hair gone grey (not!), long skirts, no make-up... the whole bit. Anyone who knows me would get a good laugh out of that!

Clearly, I'm not that person, and don't want to be. In fact, one of our new friends out here told me he never thought I'd make it in this life style because I was just too "girlie". Sigh... can't win.

We've all been guilty of it. I guess the moral of the story here is, don't be too quick to pass judgment on someone, their character, or their abilities, just by what you see or hear. Remember the old adage, never "assume". My 10^th grade English teacher taught us how to spell it this way: Assume - makes an ass out of u and me.

During our first Great Depression, many families, and middle-aged or retired people took on boarders to help pay their expenses. That time may again be upon us. In fact, a recent article described the trend of Boomers aged 50 and up, using home-share organizations for just such purpose. Unlike their parents and grandparents, most Boomers did not "save" for retirement, but rather, they invested for it, and with the world markets (including housing) going bust, much of their retirement funds have been lost.

(http://www.alternet.org/workplace/130361/is_the_future_going_down_the_drain_baby_boomers_going_bust/)

From Chicago, to Atlanta, and Vermont, there has been a dramatic increase in Boomers seeking roommates and or rooms to rent with younger families. The article even talks about several Boomer couples sharing in the purchase of a large home in order to avoid the whole nursing home scene. This would enable them to be with good friends rather than strangers, and have the ability to hire a nurse to take care of them for much less than the $4000 per month that some assisted living or nursing homes would charge.

Communal living is making a comeback... and it's not just for Boomers. Young families are also in need of assistance. I remember watching a news story years ago about families in Boulder, Colorado buying homes together because housing was too expensive for one family to purchase it alone (even with both couples working). So, they found a way to share the home.

There are many homes and properties out there conducive to this type of sharing. The 36-Acre Ranchettes, St. Johns, Arizona is a perfect example. These properties can be legally split into five parcels. While the asking price of $69,000 may be too big of a chunk for one family to afford, $13,800 may not be. There is an owner carry option on these properties as well, with no qualifying. How about just splitting the payment five ways? I've even got a vacation property listed in Greer, Arizona (www.greerloghome.com ) that would be perfect for "sharing". I would never have thought of marketing it in that way until after I read the article linked above. My sister-in-law and her husband shared a rental house that had two living rooms with her best friend and husband. They were able to pool their resources in order to make it work.

Apparently, there are homes in the Detroit area selling for as little as $1.00 in some instances. What a great way to start an artists colony... start building up the community again. I'm sure there are neighborhoods across the country where this type of scenario could apply.

Solutions, not problems... remember that old Bank One motto? I believe that we, in this Real Estate industry can find the solutions, and maybe, just maybe some of these ideas will work. All of the bail-outs in the world aren't going to fix this problem. Hey, we're a pretty smart group of people, professionals in our field after all. It's not just about moving properties, it's about finding solutions. If anyone can think outside the box, it's gotta be us. So let's do it!

Remember that excitement you felt when you first got your Real Estate license? I do. I remember it very well. I took the required 90 hours for Arizona in 9 days at the local community college. Talk about a brain-fry! As I got to know some of the other students, I discovered that there were quite a few in my class taking the whole course again, because they failed the test, two, three, five times. OH MY GOSH!

Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out about the prospect of taking the test. What if I failed? Deep breath, I went in and took the tests. The first one was the national test. I was given 1 hr and 45 min to complete it. It took me 35 minutes. Uh, oh. Why? What did I do wrong? I reviewed every question again two more times, took a deep breath and finally hit "send". The results came in minutes. The nice lady on the other side of the counter pushed the paper across to me and said (with no emotion), "You passed." "I passed?" "WOO HOO!!!!" I got the same results with the State exam, and she received the same reaction from me (as did all of the other people in the waiting room looking at me as though I were a crazy lady).

How many of us wake up each morning with that same excitement. That "Woo Hoo! I get to practice Real Estate today!" excitement we felt when we first got our licenses. If not, why not? Do we feel privileged to be in this business? If not, why not? Are you having fun? If not, why not? Think about what made you excited then, what's different today? Okay, the economy is bad... real bad. We can't change it. But we can choose the way in which we deal with it. Years ago, I found a great quote: Adversity doesn't build character, it exposes it. That quote has kept me in check on more than one occasion.

Practicing real estate is the most fun I've had working, ever. That's the truth. This business beats working in corporate America hands down. I have the privilege of meeting and getting to know lot of people, from all over the country! I have fun bouncing around on those country dirt roads looking for property, or showing homes. I get excited when I can help a client find that dream home or parcel of land. Several of my Buyers are now my friends! Sure I wish I were busier, and that loans were easier, and that there were more qualified buyers, but I can't control that. I can only control how I choose to deal with it.

What ever it was that made you love this business when you first started, find it again. Life's hard these days, but that doesn't mean we can't love our jobs!