"meeee" wrote in message
...

Yes, we've been doing the same thing. My parents ended up building their
own stone house for the same reason. Totally solar powered with wood fire
etc. Dad loves it when there's a blackout cause he's the only one with TV!
We might end up doing the same thing eventually. DH is a lot more handy
than dad so it might not take him 10 years to finish....

no, that would be a bit much....

we ended up with a solar-powered glorified shed, which i'm doing up (as
necessary) with 2nd hand stuff, but it's a bit of a struggle -i've
discovered none of the rooms are actually squared :-). we have to save up
for improvements to the power because we need to run the generator for a few
hours every day, which is absurd, but there's no other choice (as you've
probably discovered from your dad, you can't let the batteries run right
down). which, naturally, led to dh fantasising about building a straw-bale
house - never mind how to power it. by the time i finish with this one, i'm
NOT LEAVING!! i can't seem to make him understand that, though ;-)

at any rate, we're all set to be the first on the road with a wind turbine
too. the joneses, we _are_! lol.
kylie