Good Morning!!!! 52F @ 5:15AM. Windy. Thunderstorms likely, accompanied by heavy rainfall at times. High near 55F. Winds S at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
I had to look at the calendar this morning to make sure it was Valentine's Day instead of Groundhog day. First thing I noticed is that there was no water pressure, just like yesterday morning. Well actually, the first thing I noticed was the rain hammering on the roof and the wind shaking the windows. Just like yesterday, another Pacific storm moved in overnight, and it's bringing big winds and rain with it. We did hit the 3" mark for rainfall yesterday, and so far there's just shy of another inch in the gauge, with no sign of any let up anytime soon. There is a difference this time around: David has turned on the faucet for the Pineapple Express, and the temperatures are much warmer as a result. So from that aspect at least, life is good! That and the rainfall is enough to interrupt the satellite internet signal, so I read when it's coming down hard and hit the send key when a lull comes along.
That was a good article on the ballast factor, Top. Thanks for the link. I'm more than happy to give up 10% on efficiency for the convenience of the plug'n'play LED tubes. I also suspect the lower current draw of the LEDs will be easier on the ballasts, so maybe they'll last longer than they normally would?
In addition to all the other haywire stuff around here lately, yesterday afternoon the weather station feed to the Davis display in the office conked out. The display in the bedroom was working fine, so it wasn't the sensor array outside, and when I picked up the display in the office to check the connections, it revived itself. I don't like those kind of fixes, and I suspect I'll be revisiting that particular issue sometime in my near future.
Glad your plantings are getting along well with the weather back there, Drew. With your early start, do you have any plans for a second planting this year?
Trip to town for supplies today, but I need to pack the GPS first so I can mail it back to have the front panel buttons and dim display repaired. I was also going to drop off the new/old gate opener arm, but with the replacement arm still blowing fuses, I'm going to wait until the weather clears enough to work on it again.
Hang in there, gang, Friday's comin'!