Our new screen door grille

I found a heavy screen door grille at Walmart on line.  They had a decorative one for fifty and a full heavy wire mesh for thirty.  The second one offered near full lower screen protection.  It presents a good visual barrier that has some strength, short of a closed solid door it is a good safety measure I feel.

This first photo shows it over the screen.  I put one short screw in each corner hole.  The grille came with four mount extenders for larger doors so I took these off and used these holes.  Remember it is a safety/protective device not a kick plate!

 Below is a photo of the finished work looking at our RV.

Cooking a Pork Loin with the Sun

Now cooking a 1.5 pound pork loin with my Sunflair Solar Bag mini.  Temp today should only hit the mid-90's and partly cloudy.  I put the loin with some veggies in a Reynolds Oven Bag and laid it on the flat metal cooking platform.

Here is the pork loin seasoned and ready to go in the bag.

Here it is in the oven at 9am at the minimum recommended starting temp 150 degrees and going up.  I plan to move the bag every hour to keep it lined up with the sun. 

Note! Since I live north to the 40th parallel which is just north of Denver, Colorado.  I can only count on full use of the oven spring, summer and fall.  As the sunflair folks remind us  the winter season north of the 40th does not provide a long enough solar day for some cooking.  This is a good point to remember.  During winter I will limit my solar oven use (when north of the 40th) to items I find I can still cook in less then 4 hours when temps are above 40 degrees.  I will be testing this over this winter and let you know how it goes.  The good thing is I will also be spending part of the winter south of the 40th.

Had to run to some stores so did not get back till 5pm all was done:)  So 8 hours at temps between 150 and 200 degrees (slow cooker as advertised) and taste great:)

Cut in three parts eat one and put the rest in the frig:)  Air temp only got to 88 degrees and more clouds  rolled in.  So another good cook with sun power:)

Update!

Just did a 16oz Cornish Game Hen on an overcast day tasted great and was done in less then six hours.  Still like this little oven:)

RV update

Been having high oil pressure indications my last two outings.  So I took it in for a pressure test.  The tests showed no pressure issue so they put in a new sensor relay that goes to my gauge.  From what I have read and been told this is often the problem it the pressure test is good.  I will let you know if there are any further issues with this.

We have our tow car and dolly ready for full time rving probably starting next summer.  We resealed the roof and windows and added a battery watering system and now are looking at our tires.  Our tires were replaced just under 4 years ago and only have about 16000 miles on them.  So we are leaning toward replacing all seven by next summer, also looking into adding a sleep comfort bed (short Queen).

Walter Filters

We have some Berkey Filters and Sawyer water filters and love them both today we will focus on The Go Berkey.  Here you see the box and the primer removed.

Below I have removed the filter kit along with the portable sport bottle with its own smaller Berkey black filter that is good for a few hundred gallons of stream water.

Here I pulled out the main filter container which is in the travel mode and holds one quart  and the blue bottle with its own mini filter holds 16oz.

Here is the filter with a 18 oz camping cup over the top to protect the filter tip when installed and in the transport mode.

Aero Garden Reservoirs Are Back Here is Ours Plus More

Aero Garden Reservoirs are back in stock and we got one:)

Setting  it up with the tomato garden took some time.  The instructions said I did not need the supplied lifting base.  However, I found I did need it so I am glad they added the option to the kit.

Also working on a traveling garden.  Here is what I have so far for the RV.  I cut out a piece of 1/2 inch plywood cut a hole for the garden and the tub to set it in, as well as a can/bottle holder.  Put two "L" brackets on the end to fit between the table and the wall to help hold it and painted it white.  Will probably use adhesive sealer around the tub and add a bungee cord or two.   I will keep you updated on how it works.

Three weeks later we have a tomato plant:)  Found I can not drive down the road as set up the water will splash out.  The water stays in the tote I have the garden in but it could short out the unit.  So we set the lift off garden and water tub and set it in the sink while driving.  Once at the next stop we top off the water and set it back on the aero garden base.

Aero Garden Update

Another Aero Garden Update

Production

Herbs and Lettuce let us start harvesting in 4-6 weeks.  Four lettuce plants give us on average four small salads a week and keep good production for months.   Harvesting one leaf at a time (every third full leaf) is our best picking approach.  I tried cutting the whole head (one plant) it took two weeks to grow back to harvest stage.  Once in production we need to add water every 2-3 days.

One Tomato  plant in production needs water every two days and took 90 days to start good production.  Looking to add at least one water reservoir once they get back in stock.

Just got an update on the water reservoir they are in stock now and we have at least one on the way.  Also below is our plant in full production.

 

Finally received a aero water reservoir and it works:)  Took a trip and stayed away four nights so hooked it up to our tomato plant.  When we came home there was still a quart of water in the reservoir and the garden tank still was full.  This tell's me we can go away four up to 6 nights and the full production plant will be fine.

 If we split the reservoir between two gardens we can generally expect 3 days/nights away for each.  We have two 6 hole harvest gardens and one 3 hole sprout garden that will not be hooked up to this resivor.

Bear Awareness

Bear awareness is always a concern in Black Bear Country (below) as well as other bear areas, a lot is similar and a few things are different.  From my readings we should fight back if attacked by black bears or mountain lions.  If these two attack you they see you as food and want to eat you! When it comes to Grizzly Bears however if attacked playing dead is often the best option.  They often attack us to defend not to eat us. You need to read up on the information in this post and other sources and make up your own mind.

Bear dumpsters like below are good examples of reducing bear visits.  If they can not get to the food they tend to move on.

On one visit there was a Black Bear just over the river so the following sign went up as a warning.  Talked to a Ranger and they advised they regularly go back and forth through the river it is not very deep in spots (only 2 foot or so in areas).