Yesterday we learned a rude lesson about solar energy and camping – it doesn’t work if the sun doesn’t shine. After four days of cold rainy weather our batteries were at their lowest ever. The solar panel is doing nothing and the furnace takes lots of power to run the fan. Therefore, we borrowed Don and Sandy’s (our Wisconsin friends who are here as well) Honda generator and charged our batteries.

Today it continues to be gray and rainy. However, it is warmer so the furnace doesn’t have to run quite as much. We have set the thermostat at 60 during the day and 55 at night to conserve power. That means wearing many layers at all times. The weather forecast keeps changing. Now they say we will have sun on Monday. Last Monday they said we would have sun today.

It seems that our plan to live off the grid on solar power is not going to be realistic this winter. That’s a disappointment. Of course this has been an unusual winter down here and all over the country. We thought we could go 2-3 days without a charge, but hadn’t planned on needing the furnace so much. It should be warmer here!

The wonderful bird life here no longer diverts us from the cold and damp. We’re longing for sunshine, just like we would be at home in Seattle!