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Warning - this is a l-o-n-g posting, and picture heavy...

A few days ago I mentioned that we had some very exciting happenings at the farm.

Well, here is the news...

We have learnt a lot about our solar power installation through trial and error. When we initially installed our solar panels we were not informed about a number of things which were vitally important.  In this instance, we were not informed that low temperatures affect the performance of solar panels.

When the ambient temperature is below 10oC the cold affects the voltage of the panels - causing the voltage to spike.  We had all our 12volt panels (incorrectly) connected in series - all the way through to our charge controller. Connecting them in series meant that maximum volts were produced by the panels - which is what RMan was (mistakenly) aiming for.  (connecting the bank in parallel would mean the Outback charge controller would utilize the Amps produced, not voltage.)

We have an Outback 80 charge controller, which, translated that means it can handle an input of 80Amps and 145 volts power from the solar panels - maximum.

Our indoor Outback remote display gives us the
first /indication that all is not well with our
power production.
Silent - at 9.40a.m. in the morning -
is not good news.  It means the voltage
from the panels is spiking

What we discovered last year (winter) is that at sunrise, when the temperature is the lowest, the cold caused the panels to spike over 145 volts - the maximum the Outback charge controller could handle - which caused the charge controller to shut down.  For hours.  Which resulted in lost input charge to the batteries.

Checking in the power room, the Outback
charge controller tells the tale : 148VDC
High VoC = shutdown - to prevent damage
to the charge controller

Given the number of people world-wide who are off-grid and who rely on solar power to charge their storage batteries, I did not believe that the problem was unsolvable, so after contacting a number of people locally - who didn't help much - I went international.  An extremely helpful gentleman at Outback technical support in Australia, responded to my high voltage e-mail query. And, over the course of 16-odd e-mails [I told you you he was extremely helpful :) ], he advised us to reconfigure the panels.

Diagram of the new configuration of our 8 X
off-grid solar panels connected in series and
the two banks connected in parallel.

He suggested that we have two equal banks of panels linked in series, and then link the two banks in parallel with two breakers separating the two different guage cables between the panels and the charge controller.

Wiring into breakers
prior to being routed
through conduit

Breaker details

To do that we needed an equal number of panels.  We only had 7 (6 X 140watt and 1 X 135 watt).  Wayne, our SiL across the field, had two 140watt panels that he wasn't using, so we purchased them off him - thereby removing of the 135 watt panel from the exisiting array.  These 8 panels give us 1120 watts of potential solar power going to the Outback 80.

6 guys in the front and two guys behind -
installing our first 5 X solar panels in August 2012.

Plus, RSon had the very good suggestion of re-installing the solar panels in such a way that we would have available roof space if ever we wanted to install more panels in the future (our old existing installation "hogged" all the available space of over half the roof area).

But, that meant getting all the panels down off the 45° pitched roof.

You recall how the builders assisted us in installing the original five panels on the garage roof.  7 guys helped RMan that day.  Five in the front with RMan...

 ...and two holding support ropes at the back.

This time we only had RMan, RSon, Wayne and one of the locals we roped in to help.

I was fraught with fear.  Those panels are frigging heavy.  And the pitch of the roof is hectic - and not condusive to ease of clambering all over it.

The scaffolding was errected, and the removal proceeded at 11.00 a.m. on Saturday morning.  I was torn between not wanting to watch / document the event, but being aware that the more I photographed, the more info we would have if we ever needed to check something in the future.

RMan and RSon discussing the best way to handle
this enormous task - and RSon giving us an
idea for the addition of further panels in future

RSon, ever the adverturous one, elected himself to climb to the roof apex in order to connect the supporting ropes to the exising array.  And to loosen the existing bolts securing the solar panels to the roof...

RSon, Wayne and the helper trying to get the
panels off the roof

A couple of times I remember pointing the camera, closing my eyes and clicking the button.   I couldn't watch...

Since the first time we installed the panels, we have erected a carport roof - and that carport roof was in the way when it came time to secure the supporting ropes.

The carport roof was in the way, so we had to
secure the supporting ropes to a quaddie

 It was very hot and difficult work - with awkward access all round.

Removing the old cables so that we could get the
panels down

But, my fears aside, naturally they got the panels down in one piece, and without injuring anyone.  There is a God in heaven.

Checking and rwiring the panels and re-fixing them
to the horizontal aluminium square tube supports

We had purchased more cable with which to rewire the panels - and that was just as well. We discovered that one of the old cables had become pinched during the original installtion - and that was not good news!

As we are going to be installing the panels in a different configuration, the supporting beams inside the garage roof had to be moved as well.

The horizontal beams fixed to the trusseses
support the solar panels

(Ah - a small bit of news I forgot to give you - RMan managed to break his new-ish glasses a few weeks ago, and, although new ones are already on order, all close up work has to be done with his prescription sunglasses.

Inside a garage roof??!?!)

Wayne to the rescue again LOL

Oh, brother!!!!  The roof mounted bolts were
installed in the incorrect position

Once everything was rewired and refixed to the aluminium supporting structure, the first bank of 4 panels was once again hoisted up the scaffolding and onto the roof.

RSon at 5.59p.m. - perching like a monkey
 on the rooftiles in the fading light.
I definitely gained a few grey hairs watching him...
Does he know how long 9 months carrying a
child is, and what is involved in getting that child
to adulthood?????

All of this takes time.

They started at 10.30-ish in the morning and, at 5.59p.m. the first bank was more or less installed.  They had installed the securing bolts from inside the roof outwards.  Then trying to find the holes on the aluminium structure below the panels wasn't easy in the fading light - and it took ages.

So, Sunday morning the work continued...

Getting the securing bolt lined up with the hole
in the roof tile

The securing bolts for the second bank were installed from the outside in i.e. first through the aluminium square tube and then into holes drilled through the roof tiles.  Far easier.  Even given the raging gale that inconveniently sprang up to hamper the operation.

The new two banks of 4 X panels - using less roof
space than the previous installation - and producing
200 watts even in the cloudy weather evident on
the photograph.  This installation allows for a
further 8 panels to be installed in the future.

So, finally we have two banks of 4 X 140watt panels (which are connected in parallel this time) mounted on the roof again.

And - thanks to RSon's foresight, we have space to install a further 8 - 12 panels should we so choose in the future :)

Clever boy :)

The battery / inverter connections remain the same

So - there you have it.

The next day it was immediately apparent that there is a definite, and visible, improvement - 10 minutes after sunrise we are already getting a charge going to the charge controller and 30 minutes later over 300 watts is being produced.  With nada voltage spiking / shutdown occuring.  At the end of the day, we are obtaining 5KwH+ of charge to the batteries - in winter!!!! :) That we only achieved last summer.

And - there is no more over voltage spiking :D  So every scrap of power produced by those panels from the moment the sun hits them in the early morning to the last ray in the evening is now going to the charge controller and into the batteries.  Yipeeeeeeee!

Well done guys.  And, thanks - seriously - a very sincere and grateful thank you for all the work, willingness, thought and effort that you all expended to sort out our power problems.


By the way, tomorrow we will have been here for exactly 2 years :)  How fast the time has passed and how worth the move it was.  No regrets - neither RMan nor myself :)


P.S.  You have only 2 days left if you'd like to add your name to the piquanté pepper seed giveaway.  Entries close at 6.00p.m. on Monday, 30th June 2014 :)

Sunny days

We had our best day ever for solar power on the 22nd February 2014.

The days' temperature was in the early 30°C's but there was a nice breeze wafting across the solar panels.  That made it ideal for power production.

5.3kWH / 399 AH went into the solar batteries

The Outback Charge Controller remote display informed us that we had received 5.3kWH of power into the batteries...

Only 3.42kWH was consumed by our appliances /
gadgets

...but we had only used 3.43kWH at 17.58p.m.

That gave us an additional 1.9kWH.  More then enough to watch our 60 watt TV until 10.00p.m., power our 180 watt fridge (on it's timer - one hour on, one hour off) through the night, and still have the batteries well charged the next morning :)

Nobody - but nobody - tells you when you purchase a solar system that:

1  The hottest days are not the best for charging solar batteries.  If the solar panels get too hot, they don't produce, nor provide, optimum charge to the batteries because overheating reduces their efficiency.

2  The cold winter mornings are also dicey.  If the solar panels are too cold due to the ambient temperature, even if the sun is shining on them, they don't absorb the energy to charge the batteries until they warm up.  Which could mean 9.30 - 10.00a.m. before they even start supplying charge to the batteries.

Be warned.

But, even with that said, I would not change back to grid power!  I'm loving our solar power.  Honestly though, it does take some getting used to what can be run on our total 980watt solar panel system, but once you get your head around that, it's a breeze :)  And, if we ever find that we need dramatically more power (mainly for power tools) then running the genny for a hour or so takes care of that!

No Escom blackouts in this household LOL

Ramblings on our solar power

Firstly, welcome to my newest followers, Amy Lou from northern New Mexico. Amy Lou is a fellow off-gridder :)

On her blog Solar Rain Bucket, Amy Lou describes herself, and her blog, as follows:

 "We live off-grid in Northern New Mexico. Solar power. Rain catchment. Composting toilets. All that. Solarrainbucket is where we share what we’ve learned. And post pictures of dogs. And sometimes clouds."

Welcome, Amy Lou - thanks for hitting the followers button.

-------------------------------------

Having just lived through our very first winter relying solely on our solar power setup, I thought I'd do a posting on the in's and out's of it.

We had a gradual slink into the winter weather - we got comfortable and thought "Ha! this is a breeze".  Then the overcast, and sometimes rainy days started.  Two or three days of overcast weather plays havoc with the state of the battery charge.

Our original 3 x 140watt
solar panels, secured to
a contraption on the front
patio whilst the building
work was in progress

2 of our original deep cycle
batteries.

Our system started 3-odd years ago, when we could least afford it.  So we opted then to go for 12 volt - panels, charge controller and inverter.  B-I-G mistake. In hindsight (it's always easier, isn't it :) ).

Our 6 X 1660Ah 2 volt battery bank

The most important part of living off grid - be that achieved through using only solar power, or that produced from a wind turbine, or both, is your storage capacity - your batteries.

Our first lot were 12 volt deep cycle batteries.  When we moved here, we changed them out for 6 X 2 volt batteries.  SIX!!!!???!?!?  Idiots, even though they were the major expense in our system, we should have gone for 12, strung the two sets of 6 in parallel (to increase their capacity but not their voltage) so that they retained their 12 volt capabilities, but were also usable in a (future) 24 volt system.  And, it's not as though we can buy another 6 now and add them. That would be a complete waste of time, as the newer ones would be affected by the older, more used ones - to the detriment of the new ones.  Also, buying 12 news ones is out of our budget at the moment...

Also, we should've purchased a charge controller and inverter which allowed for either 12 or 24 volt. They are available, but are, naturally, more expensive.  Sigh - it's all about affordability.  But, with that said, don't do what we did, rather scrimp on other things, and buy for the future of your power requirements, not just for the moment.

Seven 140watt solar panels mounted on the
roof of our garage.  Excellent north facing
45° angle to the roof, but the accessibility is
horrendous...

Our 7 X 140 watt panels are connected in series (i.e. + to - in order to increase the volts) and mounted at the 'ideal' 45° angle facing north (in the southern hemisphere), but, being mounted on our garage roof, they are also awkwardly inaccessible.  We figured 7 X 12 volt = 84 volts = well within our charge controllers capabilities.  But, we didn't know that solar panels are as cold as their surrounding temperature in winter, and due to this cold, you can have a situation where their voltage spikes in the early morning ( 8 - 9 a.m.) - which causes, in our case, their combined output to hit over 145 volts - and our maximum is 150. This causes the charge controller to shut down because it is receiving too high a voltage.  Shutting down means we are not charging our batteries when they need it most - after a long, dark night LOL  We have found that if we physically trip the fuse from the panels to the charge controller and allow the charge controller to "reboot" then the power surges into the batteries with little or no problem.  This action is not ideal though.  If we left the charge controller to "fix" itself, it will, but, in the meantime we are losing precious charge from entering the batteries during those long winter days of dramatically reduced solar input.

Our Outback charge controller

What we have also determined (through speaking to a very helpful gentleman called Lloyd from a ADSolar in KwaZulu Natal ) is that we can wire half (4) of the panels in series, and the other 4 panels in parallel - that way we will get the best of both - volts and amps. This, hopefully, will prevent the voltage from spiking next winter.

In summer, this will not be a problem.

Installing the 5 panels was a mission when we had
7 helpers (two are taking the slack off the rope
behind the garage). RMan, RSon and Wayne -
that's going to be interesting...

So, RMan and RSon and Wayne - guess what you will need to do this summer? Take the existing 7 X 140 watt panels down, add the soon-to-be-purchased 8th panel, and then rewire the 8 panels in series and parallel respectively, and re-install them...

Not a task they, (nor I - it's fraught work watching our solar panels being manhandled off and on the roof), am looking forward to... :)

On the positive side, we didn't run out of power this past winter, but some days it has been decidedly dicey.  And, to reduce the demand, we had to be very careful about what we switch on, and when.

The 600watt battery charger -
even though we only used it a few times, it
certainly was worth it's cost

We also purchased a 600watt battery charger, which is operated through switching on our petrol generator.  A very occasional (as in 6-7 times during the entire winter period) hour or two of charge happily gets us (the fridge) through the night... :)

So, although we discovered the con's of our system, we managed.  It was, through the monitoring of our remote control SoC apparatus in the house, careful use / prioritizing appliance use, and the assistance of the battery charger, all do-able.

Life was very comfortable, with all the important appliances fuctioning when required and the Rosie creating a wonderful, warm and cosy home - even with snow on the mountains...

Green power

As you can see I have a new photo header at the top of my blog - what a stunning sunrise it was last Thursday morning!  Cold (3oC / 37.4oF), frosty and misty, and with the sun trying to worm it's way through that flimsy curtain in order to warm up the day...  And my favourite valleys showing off their curves with the mist draping it's way along and through them.  I love the rays of sun that are breaking through the trees - reminding me that there is a higher power / someone watching over me... :)


We've just had four wonderful, and productive, days on the farm!  We finally left on Saturday lunchtime.  Given the 3-odd hours travelling time we arrived late afternoon - about an hour before sunset.


That  gave us just enough time to take a wander round and check that everything is OK.  Thankfully, the house was as we left it...  And the plants are all doing well - everything is so green after all the rain we had!  That in itself is a perfect rest for the eyes, if nothing else.


I even found a ripe lemon on one of our trees :)

1st lemon - 1st of many...?

The dam was still 3/4 full - but I reckon that we really are going to have to add some bentonite to the walls and floor - well, it is three years since we dug it, and they say that it takes three years for a dam to hold water, and ours is still leaking away.  Ducks wont like waddling in a muddy bit of ground, and RMan wants ducks!  (Personally, we're not going to eat the eggs (too high in cholesterol), and I know RMan won't be slaughtering anything in order to eat it - he's such a softie LOL - so in my book - ducks - don't need them!)


Sunday morning I woke up with a tummy bug - I had just enough time to make RMan his (day early) birthday brekkies, before I had to dash to the bathroom.  Early brekkies, I hear you wonder?  Well, Monday we were expecting the builder to arrive at 7.30 a.m. to start on the ceiling panels, so birthday brekkies would be out of the question then.  Whatever affected me had passed by lunchtime, and we got busy on the strong room door - the Green Power Room :)

The 4mm steel plate was cut and measured, the handle opening cut away and it was then fixed it to the second-hand / recycled door with one way screws, overlapping the frame to prevent the possibility of anyone "levering" it off, as well as protecting the lock area.

We had been invited to neighbours, Mad Dog and Teach, for a barebecue on Sunday evening - and a thoroughly enjoyable evening was had by all.  Not too late (given the hectic day ahead of us) gemütlich, with delicious food all round :)  Conversation turned to living on the farm (which is all we think about) and it was very gratifying to hear everyone agree that bartering is the way forward.  That way everyone isn't growing the same crops / rearing the same animals - whatever is needed will be bartered for something someone else has grown / reared :)  That should provide a balanced meal LOL


During the conversation I had mentioned that we needed to get more wood in - to give it time to dry before putting it in our Dover stove (damp wood causes the chimney to be coated with resin, which in turn can cause a fire in the chimney at some future date).  Blow me down if Teach doesn't phone me the next morning and offer Mad Dog and his "bakkie" (single cab) - it seems the guy who cuts the alien vegetation took that moment to visit them, and she remembered that I wanted to get wood in to dry.  Neighbours!  What happens in a town?  Everyone is so involved in their own lives, that neighbourliness doesn't even seem to come in a window, never mind fly out of it...


So we scored 1000 pieces for ZAR200.00 (US$29.50 / €20.50)  In town we get roughly 20 pieces for ZAR35.00!


On Monday, whilst the builders were busy with their preparation for installing the ceiling, RMan and I had enough time to adjust the Green Power Room lock (with a dash of verbally expressed irritation from the birthday boy) but it finally got sorted.  Then I took some green coloured metal paint and slathered that all over the door - even though the steel is galvanized, hopefully the paint will help prevent it rusting.  Now it really is a Green Power Room in all senses of the word :)


Then, with the security in place, it was time to move all the solar power equipment from the roof area into the Green Power Room.  S'funny how even with a "fish tape" / wire puller, cables can still give you all sorts of hassle when you try and thread them through conduit!  Nothing that a brute bit of force couldn't sort out though LOL  By the end of the day I had 220 volts in the house.  So RMan celebrated by using his drill and angle grinder on the front porch supports using the power from the house instead of starting up the generator.


And I now have 4 strips of 6 (24 bulbs) 12 volt LED lights installed over my sink.

Although it's very romantic to use parrafin (kerosene) lamps at night, it's been a hassle to wash up in that lamp light at night - it just wasn't bright enough to see all the food in the pots, which then entailed cleaning them a second time the next day.

Photo source: articles.dashzracing.com

But, thanks to a combined birthday gift, to RMan and I, from CGuy, our (farm) neighbour, I now have better lights than an Audi in my kitchen...

Kitchen LED lights

Next posting I'll tell you about the ceiling... :)

Progress

As an interim measure we had installed the batteries, charge controller and the inverter in the roof area of our hose.

But, we have to move the inverter / charge controller / batteries out of the roof area - firstly, the fumes given off by the batteries is not good, and secondly, the inverter makes these beeping noises every time it starts up - which is every 15minutes with the freezer...  As we are sleeping below it, that is not condusive to a good nights' sleep, nor healthy...

RMan had cast the foundations last time we were there.  So, last Friday lunchtime he hopped into the van and drove off to the farm in order to get the construction of the walls of our power room started.

He was meant to be back on Sunday... today is Tuesday...

He just got so carried away with what he was doing he couldn't leave.  Guess it was a case of so close...

Day 2: one wall is complete

Day 2: all walls are complete, now it's time for the roof

Day 3: roof is on and door frame is in situ

Day 4: Plaster is complete and the door is hung.

This little power room has been re-inforced with all sorts of things, so they can huff, and they can puff, they will never blow it down / break in!

Our off-grid power room is finished, next time we will transfer all the contents from the roof to the room, and get it wired into the distribution board which is just inside the wall of the house behind the power room.

RMan even found time to start on the framing for the patio "roof".

We haven't quite decided what we are going to use as a roofing material, as we don't want to permanently darken the inside of the house just because there is a solid roof above the patio.  We have been thinking along the lines of something which is "removable" - either wind up, or take down.

But we will be using some Working for Water black wattle poles to string along the inside.

There is no rush to make a decision - we have a good few months before we have to worry about the heat again.

All in all RMan, I'm impressed.  Well done!!

We're moving forward... :-)

Where were all the easter bunnies then...?

Sorry about the delay in posting, but RMan and I contracted a head / chest cold from our (caravan) guest at the end of the weekend and we've been completely under the weather this week.

But, Ah! - the 4½ day weekend was a brilliant break.  If only we'd known that this last Wednesday and next Monday were also holidays, we probably would stayed for longer...  Shows how badly we needed a break.  I have never forgotten a public holiday before LOL

But, it was just as well that we went up to the farm this past weekend.  My lemon trees needed our help - big time!

From a distance all looked well, but as I got closer I noticed that the new growth at the tops had been munched, and on closer inspection, I discovered by whom, or should that be, by what...

One of the penalties of farming part-time!
It may be the most gorgeous colour,
but it's not welcome in my lemon tree grove

One had even munched enough
and had gone to hide in its' pupa

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for handing over a tithe of what I grow, but judging from the visible damage done, several tithes had been taken.

So I whipped out the balance of an eco-friendly solution which had been given to me by Diane of Starke Ayres Garden Centre in Rondebosch for the treatment of Wooly Fruit Fly.  (I have googled whether methylated spirits is eco-friendly and have found various sites where it is stated that it is - this is one of them).  The recipe for the solution is:

methylated spirits   {we mixed up roughly 1.5 ltrs methylated
water                    {spirits / 4.0 - 4.5lts water
5ml (1 teaspoon) Kombat® (which contains natural pyrethroid 20gm/lt)
Fruitfly / 5 lts water
5ml (1 teaspoon) dish washing liquid / 2 lts of mixture (this helps the above solution stick to plant leaves)

RMan did the deed - spraying them with gusto.  How many did he find - oh, approximately 40!

Plump and juicy - he should be - my small
lemon trees provided the sustenance...

But - it worked.  The next morning they were all spread out on the Weedguard - in fact the ants were carting them off to their underground nests!  They (the ants) didn't seem bothered by the mixture.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of that as my camera batteries were flat (I forgot to charge them before we left - idiot me!).

And, before the weather changed, we managed to get another row of lemon trees planted...

You can see in the above photo how the first lemon trees, (furthest from the camera, next to the shade cloth windbreak) which were planted during the 1st week of January this year, have thrived.  They have grown 4 or 5 times bigger in the intervening 3½ months and are beginning to peep above the shade cloth windbreak.  Obviously, lemon trees with ambition!

The area was desperately in need of some rain, so, as if on cue, the next morning we woke to the following scene...

(Taken via my cell phone camera)
Clouds forming in the north west - a sure sign of rain

By early evening the signs were confirmed...

(Taken via my cell phone camera)
Over the Langeberg Mountains the skies were
still clear, but over the farm drizzle had
just started falling

RMan quickly managed to get the foundation laid for his outside power room - we currently have the charge controller / inverter / batteries in the roof of the house - not a good idea! The batteries do give off sulphuric acid fumes, but we had no-where else to put them at the time. Hopefully, next time we go to the farm we will be able to build the walls, take the measurements, and have a solid / intruder proof door made for future isolated, but easy access to the equipment.

The welcome rain which fell for the next two days put paid to working outside, which was fine, because we had plenty to keep us busy inside.  I varnished and then RMan installed some extra kitchen shelves (above and below the counter) and he re-did the solar panel / charge controller and inverter connections (I'll be writing more detail on that in my next posting), finished the electrical wiring inside the house and installed the plugs / light fittings...

(Taken via my cell phone camera)

So now we have 220v available from any plug / light fitting in the house!  To celebrate we switched on a pure copper lamp I had purchased off Bid or Buy for ZAR70.00 (+/- US$ 10.00)

(Taken via my cell phone camera)

It was very scruffy and after a good polish (with sifted wood ash applied via a damp cloth and a dry buff with a clean soft cloth) the true beauty of this little lamp became visible.  It is a brilliant little light which gives of the most amazing mood lighting, with pinpricks of rainbow colours (why rainbow, I have no idea) illuminating the wall.  The inner light globe holder and the on / off switch are made of Bakelite - a sure sign of the age of this lamp.  I'm very happy with this purchase - or should that be theft??  I'm sure, if the lady who sold it to me knew how perfectly it would clean up, and if she'd seen how it worked, she would've charged more.  And naturally, being copper, we won't leave it lying about at the farm when we're not there!  It's going to be schlepped with us and will therefore become a very well travelled little lamp LOL - just like our car radio hi-fi - some things are just not worth taking a chance on...


Seem to recall a Sting CD was playing when
I snapped this pic on my cellphone

We have discovered that we will need to purchase at least 2  - 3 more 105 / 130Ah deep cycle batteries in order to run the freezer on freeze setting 24 hours a day.  However, we do have enough power during the daylight hours to run it on "chiller" setting (it is a multi-function chest fridge / freezer).  In fact "chiller" setting got so cold that 5lt bottles of water, placed on the floor of the freezer, froze solid.  That provided more than enough chilling to get the contents of the freezer through the night - switched off.  And chilled RMans beers to perfection too :-)

Our "absent" neighbour was actually home briefly this past weekend, and another neighbour, Frans, made a special trip to see him in order to give him "what for" regarding his cattle / animals which had wandered up and down the sand road looking for grazing / water.  I have a feeling the SPCA may be making a trip down the sand road to our "absent" neighbours farm in the not too distant future...  But we did manage to give his dog Ou Nooi (Old Lady) and his cat (which MKid named Maxie, but who is actually called Rusty) good hearty meals whilst we were there, and I left a huge pile of food for each.  I hope they eat it before the field mice find it...  I have also asked Frans and Roy to please put a bowl of something out if they see either of them. 

It was just as well we contacted the Easter Bunny (via text message LOL) to find out if he could make a very special early visit in Cape Town before MKid went back up country at the end of March - because we didn't see a sign of him this past weekend...  And I guess he would also have got wet.