Good morning!!!!

[Looking4new]

Good morning, the temperature is 25ｰF and headed to 30. Wind SW 3 mph. Weather advisory still effect. Still calling for 5" or so and still nothing, this is good.

I have to go to North Bay this afternoon. Rescheduling is out of the question.

I have all the paperwork necessary to do my taxes, now I just need the ambition to get it all together and sent it to the accountant. I put the income and expenses into a cover spread sheet (the accountant takes my numbers without the proof and runs with them). I save him a ton of paperwork (going through my expenses) and in return he saves me a ton of money. I should get a healthy rebate, I hope. As in previous years the rebate should buy me a new wood furnace and a power washer. The wood furnace expenses will come off the taxes I will be paying for 2021, the power washer not.

daugen, don't ever sell March short. We've had some of our biggest snow storms in March, the good thing is that the snow doesn't stay long with the warmer temps.


Have a safe day all

 

[ronjhall]

Poured first cup of coffee. 31° with cloudy skies this morning. Heading to 44° with mix of sun and clouds. Yesterday high of 47° when sun was out clear a lot of snow of open areas. Should see a lot more melting today. Got at my taxes yesterday. No pleasure in that. I owe Uncle $$$. Will go over it again before sending any $. NO rush to file. Going to get a haircut today. First since before Thanksgiving.
Male partner of yesterday's camera hog.

David, is 20 kwh for your house and rental? Not to bad. I average about 17 kwh in winter and 24 kwh for cooling in summer. Furnace and water are NG. I also heat my shop with NG during the winter. My bill for January was $212 for gas and electric. I can monitor my electric usage by the minute with electric bridge that supplier (DTE) provided me. Gas usage is given to me by the day. I would like to go off grid. But the cost is prohibitive for me. There is so much waste hauled to the dump everyday around here. You would think someone would come up with a good way to use it for cheap energy. GEOthermal, if that happens the next thing we will hear about is earth cooling off to much. :confused3:

RNG, good explanation of green energy. Wish it was simple as going all electric. My son and I have discussion on how the trucking industry could go electric. He got to drive a Electric Mustang yesterday. Was impressed. But it will never replace his Shelby Mustang.

Drew, I keep hearing about moving second shot out to make more shots available. J&J says they can make over 4 million shots available each month when they get approved. With all 3 of the shots being made it should make them more available. I am glad I got both shots. 2 weeks ago today I got my second shot. Still wear mask everywhere I go.

Randy, talk about small planes. I remember taking small planes to get to remote airports for work. I gave it up. Rented a car instead.

Buppies, looked at my 15 day weather report. Looks like it's back to normal Great Lakes weather. Snow at night. Melt during the day. Hope you are not needing any more surgery.

Everyone stay safe and healthy.

Good Morning All.

 

[Eric Salop]

RNG, Sodamo, you both show how incredibly expensive the capital costs are for a regular home when there is no reliable grid supply.

We only have solar panels for making hot water, all electric comes from the grid.
Our total electric consumption for the last year was 6,219 kWHr, which cost us 893 pounds (about $1,250).

How does that compare with others ?

 

[NHBX]

Good morning all

31 now highs in the mid 40’s with some sun this morning and increasing clouds as the day goes on.
Yesterday’s cleanup went quick, as expected the sun came out and finished the job. I may put the loader on and move some snow banks while the ground is still frozen. No real plans for today just putter around and enjoy the fresh air. I noticed yesterday the sap buckets are out spring is coming!

David - nice write up on your solar system. It’s nice to see a real world perspective without all the extreme opinions, thank you.

Stay safe and healthy
Enjoy your day everyone

 

[riptides]

30 outside this AM, heading to lower 60's. Cleaned up pastures last night, fence line work, added to burn pile.

Rescued younger daughter, looks like car blew the head gasket. 280k miles, looks like a call to the junk yard is in order. It was a 2003 Hyundai. Oh well, not sure how she is going to get around now, looks like she will be shopping for a car today.

txdon - Total electric, heat pumps, ranging from 20 seers down, 4 units including a mini-split. 1 portable, window a/c only. Probable coverage area, around 4000 square feet. Average bill 433.00. Biggest usage difference Feb 2016 610.00 vs Oct 2016 201.00.

buppies - that's great news. Good to hear.

Hope all have a good day today. Be safe and stay healthy my friends.

 

[ronjhall]

RNG, Sodamo, you both show how incredibly expensive the capital costs are for a regular home when there is no reliable grid supply.

We only have solar panels for making hot water, all electric comes from the grid.
Our total electric consumption for the last year was 6,219 kWHr, which cost us 893 pounds (about $1,250).

How does that compare with others ?

I totaled up my last years bills for electric. Surprising how close my numbers are to yours. 6,196 kwh and $1,235. I have a NG bill also. 904 CF and $360. Which includes last months high bill when furnace was not functioning properly.

 

[daugen]

the sap buckets are out :thumbsup:
something a New Englander understands vs Texans.

Texas gets its sap from the ground by way of big drills...

 

[Thomas]

33F cloudy low 40's for high chance quick rain shower later today.

Outside chores done E muffin time. :licking:

Plans for today...Pickup load grit put in the shed for up coming icy driveway,walk around Kubota checking and greasing,see what the day brings.

Enjoy the day all.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Interesting question, Eric. The system here has only been in place for about 8 months, so I can't trot out an average use figure with much accuracy. What I can do easily is look at last year, which had about three months of hot summer weather and three months of cooler fall/winter. And for those months, average electricity used was in the neighborhood of 26.5 kW/day. Didn't quite break even with solar generation, as it was a long, smokey summer, and lots of Watts went into the A/C unit. We had ten days of man made power outage, and I did run the generator to keep up the fridge and yes, even splurged on the A/C.


Recall I added solar panels to the array late last year, so there are 20% more Watts available now when the sun shines, making energy break even more likely going forward. Indeed, so far this year it looks like the system has managed to put a few Watts into the energy piggy bank.


As to what the energy costs, due to the Byzantine way the utility calculates use, who knows? I get a twenty page paper bill each month, but the amount due is always zero because the reckoning comes once a year on a True Up Day, which is the anniversary of when the grid connection was made. Each bill does have a balance, and I think the last one was something like $5, me owing them, of course.:confused2:

One change I can make, and probably should, is to use battery power at night. That would save purchasing power from the utility during the time of low use, and give the batteries something to do as well. That usage pattern would be much like what David is doing, and would mean keeping a closer eye on charge levels when the rainy weather comes. Being lazy and somewhat distracted with other things, that hasn't been a priority so far.

 

[Buppies]

34 high of 65 today more wind. This house is not as air tight as it should be avg $2400 electric $1200 gas

Lots to do today

Prayers for all our Country