Good morning!!!!

/ Good morning!!!! #101,521  
BEF, looks like a success 🤙
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,522  
Hey Kyle
Thanks.
Well, Was restraining myself from political, but Solyndra kinda nails it.

Haven’t heard of the Trillium, not even on the Outback forum. A lot of people have spent lots of money on Trojan over the years.

Generator vs battery when grid tied. I’d say lot of factors to consider, fuel costs being high on the list. A good cost analysis but don’t know how you’d factor in some of the variables. Cheap, available fuel today could be unavailable at some point.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,523  
So looks like I got me a big erector set. Remember those? Always wanted one, but guess it was not in parent’s budget, but there was one at my grandparents house that I enjoyed for years

The big pieces
IMG_0956.JPG

The littler pieces
IMG_0957.JPG

Wife kinda caught me involved
IMG_0939.JPG

Still some deburring yet and likely some adjustments as I test fit.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,524  
oh my, I'm up even earlier than I thought...:rolleyes:
having first coffee and not going back to bed, so today will be a nap day I guess.

Rick, do you have a charged water line out there? Will it reach?
I'd really suggest that....happened to me once and ever since I always soak the area around the pile first with hose, then keep
a hose on the ready. Surprising how fast fire will creep along dry grass with some wind behind it.

Friend in Bucks County just got power back after almost 36 hours out. Has a 7500w gen hard wired into house with an effective if non code
interconnect. He is a very careful guy with an engineering background. They are cold up there now, I'm sure he had his fireplace roaring.
They are in middle of house remodel too, and the lights go off....backup gen kept crew working.

all my heaters are sure on, sucking up electricity and propane like the gluttons they are.
Had some nice low utility bills there for several months, now they start jumping back up.
Have tried to use passive solar by opening all shades on sunny side of house; the kitchen bay window lets so much light in
it will warm the kitchen by five degrees. The kitchen area will cool off slowly over the night and help delay the
heaters coming on.

I would so love to heat with wood. Am giving away several cords of seasoned stacked wood to landscaper or they will rot on my racks.
Plus, I have more wood to split waiting to go. Took me a while to get ten year old Huskee splitter to start yesterday, BS 1250 carb showing its age, some
jet was plugged a bit, but got it going, and after five minutes of burning some fresh premium loaded with Sea Foam, engine smoothed out and
was back to normal.

Splitting wood on a log splitter is a favorite job of mine. As someone who grew up with steel wedges, which we always kept losing in the woods,
never got smart and painted them a bright color, but if you've banged them for years on end, a logsplitter is just a much, much better idea.
All those wedges that would shoot off into the weeds when I hit them wrong on the second swing...yeah, I've had enough of that.
I'm lucky I can still do the log splitter if I'm careful picking logs up and simply saying no to the giant ones.

3am. Have bills to pay. Maybe that will make me sleepy...or not. Main tax bill sitting on desk staring at me. Not due til first of year.
But quarterlies are due then so I pay this one early to stagger the hits on checking account. The non insignificant cost of being a tax paying citizen.
Many don't have that pleasure, they are really missing out. :rolleyes:
going slightly astray here...I admit to having real issues with corporations and the wealthy using tax loopholes to avoid paying taxes.
There are some visible examples of that which don't set good examples in my mind.
It's as if the tax code was built just for this kind of evasion, subverted over time.
Clean that up and give me a balanced budget and I'll be a happy man.
Isn't likely to happen though. So our brackets pay the bills.
Definitely a significant line item for a retired guy on reduced income.
But I think of my sister in California who got her power back on after five days out, and I think of
paying all that money, way more than I do, and wind up with such dysfunctional government and infrastructure.

My local roads are all getting repaved, smooth as glass, big white lines on them, makes night driving so much easier.
So I see where my taxes are going. They do roads well here...and winter doesn't wreck them like further North.
As I bounced up and down over the road repairs and bumps on roads in PA when I was just there, am thankful that doesn't happen here.
Southern Virginia has nice roads, rolling hills with glass smooth roads, nice to drive on. Just less people here, which is nice in itself.

Good morning all. As I have now put you to sleep...
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,525  
Good morning.
The temperature is dead on 32 and going to a high of 39°F. Wind W 13 gusting to 19 mph. A mix of sun and cloud.

Today is a firewood piling day. I chucked in about 2 cord yesterday, that needs to be piled before I can get any more wood in.
Homeownership, what a misnomer that is. We might own our houses, but we only rent the land. Property tax might as well be called property rent and mine is paid up to March when the first quarterly bill comes in.


Have a good day all
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,526  
Morning all. Up at 2:30 this morning. Need to figure a way to sleep later. 29 right now heading to high 40's.

Another busy week done. Spent most of yesterday cleaning up the leaves and branches from all the wind and rain we had. Also managed to put away all my implements and get the snow blower mounted on the tractor.

Need to rearrange the garage so I can get the plow off the pallet and into it's winter spot.
Plan on relaxing a little bit today depending on the wind conditions. (more acorns to pick up if it's nice out)

Have another trip into Boston for work this week.(I hate driving in traffic!)Back to my coffee now,enjoy the day.

Happy Birthday to all I've missed and I hope everyone is safe and healthy!
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,527  
Good morning all. Looks a good day ahead with no rain and with a bit of luck the soon the sun will soon persuade the mist to lift.

Bonfire day (November the 5th) is midweek, so we had fireworks going off last night and no doubt next weekend and Tuesday too. I moved the sheep off before night fall to a field that is less exposed to any bonfire parties in town, though they will have to get used to all the fireworks by the time the houses are built on the dairy site.


River Ranch County Park Binkley & Barfield, Inc.

Wow! Our hiking club SIG trail blazing has been asked by the county to help develop the same system we have for the neighborhood. I got the call this morning, exciting times coming.

If they haven't spent all the $40 million, could there be some shiny new machinery coming to your SIG ?

" the Ecofan is spinning like a hurricane hit it "
Wng, are you trying to compete with Rick's burn piles ? Try a little less firewood if your wife keeps getting pinned to the wall by the fan blast :laughing:
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,528  
33 high of 53 today no rain till next Friday

Prayers for all
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,529  
River Ranch County Park Binkley & Barfield, Inc.

Wow! Our hiking club SIG trail blazing has been asked by the county to help develop the same system we have for the neighborhood. I got the call this morning, exciting times coming.

That's a huge park for a county park, and nice looking. Congrats on the SIG getting involved. Do large tracts like that really sell for $10K per acre in that area, like the county paid?
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,530  
At 2 am I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. ........

So I’m up at 11:30 last night?
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,531  
Glad your Shingrex vaccine finally came in, Wng, been waiting a loooooooong time for mine. Not looking forward to it after hearing of your experience, though.:confused:

Costco had a lot of this second dose of the vaccine. The first shot didn't have negative side effects, but both my wife and I were feeling flu like all day yesterday after this one...might have been the combination of getting the flu shot at the same time.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,532  
2019-11-03, 0600

32 right now...high in the mid-40's today...

Need to finish getting leaves out of the gutters today...that's about the main thing.
Also, pack my gear for a three day training session in CT (Tuesday through Thursday).
That'll be about it...
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,533  
Drinking first cup of coffee. 34° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 45° with some periods of sun. Made the mistake of stopping at the cemetery before church service yesterday. Good family was at chuch to support me. Much better in afternoon with GD cleaning house and me helping. Lots of leaves on the ground. But to wet to blow and pick up. Will get Trak-Vac setup on mower today. I still have a gas blower. See if I can get it running. Then use it or sell it. NASCAR in afternoon.

David, that is going to quite a setup.

Rick, beautiful place. Take care of them marshmallows. :eek:

Buckeye, not sure what time it is. Maybe still yesterday.

Kyle, I have a 10 pack of those bubbles. But only one tool that uses it. I should get rid of it too.

Don, nice park. More seat time?

Wngsprd, I try not to get my shots on the same day. Still have not decided about the Shingles shot. Had Shingles in 2004.

Phil, hope you make it in and out of the traffic mess in the big city. Best part of retirement. Stay out of high traffic areas.

Looking, don't get me going on taxes.

Drew, they are improving many of the area roads here. But traffic backups have been a problem. Luckley us that live on the back roads know our way around them. The city people do not like to get their vehicles dirty.

Prayers and best wishes for all.

Good Morning All.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,534  
Friend in Bucks County just got power back after almost 36 hours out. Has a 7500w gen hard wired into house with an effective if non code. (Drew)

That is how mine is set up as well, long as you turn off the main you are golden.

30 headed to 55 later. Temps look to be up and down through the next 2 weeks, then I fear a winter event in the east by Thanksgiving.

Ellen is on her way to Philly for a Tiny house convention along with my step daughter. Frankly I prefer not living in a tool shed. LOL

Have a good day all and prayers.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,535  
29F frosty clear sky upper 40's for high.

Outside chores are done E muffin time. :licking:
Plans for today...Check game cams,quick trip to town,watch some nascar football,might even cook dinner...just putter.

Enjoy the day all.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,536  
At 2 am I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. Then an hr later it’s 2am, and I set it back to 1 am. ........

What I was doing wrong finally dawned on me.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,537  
Chicago had it right many years ago.......
Does anybody really know what time it is (I don't)
Does anybody really care (care about time)
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,538  
Good morning to all! Low only to 29, going up to 65 today. Next 2 days up to 67... WOOHOO! Then maybe a few sprinkles on Wednesday.

My son will be pouring a concrete slab tomorrow and again on Tuesday. Weather will cooperate for him. I will be again supervising, probably from the seat of the tractor! Forms all set/level, rebar in place....should be ready...

Randy, I too thought that I wouldn't be able to make a transition into a 'tiny home'. I kept telling the wifey "I can't live in a closet". Well, we are now 1 month in the tiny cottage. We went from 3600 sq ft home down to a 600 sq ft cottage. The first week was a learning experience, just trying to find where we put things... The new house is actually a tad smaller than my shop/garage. At this point, I am now asking myself "why didn't we do this years ago?". My electric and gas bills are less than 25% of what they were for the big house. Property taxes are 80% lower....there are a lot of 'pros' to it. All in all, I still don't think we could live in one of those road-able tiny houses. That's what the travel trailer is for!

Lots of stuff going on here...solar project, marshmallow toasts, road trips....hard too keep up!

Now having internet problems... The site keeps "reloading" on me, causing loss of 1/2 of what I'm typing....frustrating at best.

Everyone have a quiet, peaceful Sunday. Prayers for all sent out.
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,539  
If I were smart, I'd rig up my laptop to sit up front, and run live using my Mifi. I don't know if Google Maps has a live mode where it follows your vehicle, but
Garmin is good at that. What I object to is the micromanagement of routing such that it takes you off the preferred route to take a "shortcut". It's the shortcuts
that bother me. Yes, let me route on Google Maps and then upload that to the rv units. I could probably pull that off using the laptop, but again, don't know
if you can get a gps driven feed. Need combo of Google routing and rv software that will alarm if clearance or rv unfriendly conditions ahead.

Not sure about a laptop, Drew, but you can certainly use the Google maps app on a tablet or smart phone, and it will update position info in real time, as well as giving you voice prompts for turn-by-turn navigation. If the tablet doesn't have a cellular radio, you can use your smart phone cellular connection via hotspot software. But you'll need to figure out a way to keep both the phone and tablet cool, because if they sit in the sun on the dash, they'll overheat and shut off.

As far as your overhead clearance issue, if you mounted TV cameras on the front and back of the A/C unit, you'd have a perfect view of anything they'd run into well in advance of hitting it...
 
/ Good morning!!!! #101,540  
Yes, Tesla makes the Powerwall 2. I had 4 on order right after they announced. Info I read is good. Sadly, Tesla never released the off grid version even 3 years later and the grid tied version is not compatible with my system.

Two of the solar power companies I've contacted were going to supply PowerWall batteries. I wasn't interested, figuring if the same guy that owns the battery company can't make a buck selling cars, there's no telling how long his battery company will be in business and any warranty on those batteries could well end up being worthless. I also don't think lithium battery technology is mature, and price points are apt to drop significantly in the next ten years. So at this point, my first battery bank will be old school lead acid, more specifically AGM batteries. The current design calls for 24 @ 2 Volts & 1215 Ahr each, and each one runs about $700. Not cheap, but doable...
 

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