Good morning!!!!

[rswyan]

43F and sunny @ 09:00, calling for a high of 53F for the day ... which will no doubt bring lots of melting action ... :thumbsup:

Squirrel invasion this morning ... four out on/around the feeder (which is now empty ... ) and a couple more heading that way, one on the back deck railing and several headed up out of the woods in his direction.

Drew another 20 gallons or so of water yesterday, front glass on another tank cleaned off, fish fed again, removed empty 10 gallon tank from the living down to the basement.

Missed Trash/Recycles pickup yesterday but did get the recycles hauled up to the can at the road. Trash will have to stay in the garage until next week.

Getting tired of the video signal dropping out on the monitor on this computer and having to fiddle with the HDMI cable so I found what looks to be a decent monitor on closeout at BestBuy and ordered it ... should be delivered by Friday.

Late afternoon I happened to look out the living room picture window and noticed we had another visitor to the bird feeders:

So I grabbed the Savage 320 and snuck downstairs and very quietly opened the sliding glass door. A couple moments later, Rocky joined his ancestors in the Great Beyond, courtesy of two No. 9 Winchester Super Target loads.

Grabbed the pitchfork and took the Kubota around back and hauled him up to the burn pile and dumped him on top. He'll probably be gone in a day or two.

No idea what will be on the agenda for today ... but doing a little clean up out in the garage is a definite possibility, given the temps.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable, productive, and safe day ... :thumbsup:

 

[rswyan]

You guys are doing a really great job ... of turning what could be a non-political discussion, political ...

Awesome ... :thumbsup:

:laughing:

 

[NHBX]

"My problem with the å*µreenies is they never want to veer from the gospel of wind and solar. Truly sustainable sources such as geothermal, nuclear and in some areas wave/tidal energy gets ignored , all they want to talk about is wind, sun rainbows and pink unicorns."

Almost spit my coffee across the room on that one, don't forget green alligators and humpty back camels.

 

[rswyan]

My problem with the å*µreenies is they never want to veer from the gospel of wind and solar. Truly sustainable sources such as geothermal, nuclear and in some areas wave/tidal energy gets ignored , all they want to talk about is wind, sun rainbows and pink unicorns.

Personally, I don't have a problem per se with geothermal, wave/tidal, or even nuclear for that matter.

Of course, nuclear does have some very serious issues, as far as safety and waste disposal goes. I suspect some of that will be ameliorated as technology advances.

 

[rswyan]

RS is the only way to go all green is to be all electric.

Going "all green" surely isn't something I'm advocating at this point.

As far as the future goes, who knows for certain what it holds ? :confused3:

But being greener is certainly a worthwhile goal (IMO)

Because all electric heat uses 4 times as much energy in deep cold (below 35˚F) as the unit uses to air-condition the house.

Those electrical resistance strips really make the meter spin don't they ?

Is your house all electric?

No - we have NG as the primary energy source for heating (both water and air)

Electric for lights, cooking, and cooling.

 

[riptides]

Biggest fusion reactor is only 93 million miles away. Or 149 million klicks...to be PC about it.

 

[LouNY]

And she is cooking with gas this morning, bright and shinning, feels good in the windows or outside with no breeze getting to you.

 

[rswyan]

As far as consumption here goes, looking at the electric bills for the last 12 months, it shows that we have an annual usage of between around 18,000 and 21,000 KWH.

We converted over to budget billing this past year, to eliminate the summer bill spikes from cooling. They estimate your first bill based on past usage and then continue that for a total three months. First three months were $191.00. That was adjusted about a month ago to $220.00 per month (probably as a consequence of heavy cooling usage in late summer last year) At the end of 12 months, there is a "settle up" adjustment made to bring it even.

On the NG side, the annual usage ranges from around 103 MCF and 125 MCF.

What months are incorporated into the "annual usage" (electric or NG) all depends on what month's bill you are looking at.

Leaving out cooling, I suspect our average monthly electrical usage is (and has been) high ... but I'm not really sure what is driving that. Refrigerator/freezer could be partially be a culprit as it is pretty old (30 years ?) The old TV that we recently replaced was certainly inefficient compared to the modern flat panel that replaced it.

We've converted almost all the lights that are regularly used here in the house at least over to LED, although there are few incandescent and compact fluorescent stragglers. And I make it a point to turn off lights if there isn't anyone in the room.

 

[Looking4new]

My hydro electric bill is on equal payments, $124.oo/month year round. $1488.oo/year. It reconciles in July. Approximately 25.25 kwh/day. No A/C, no heat pump, none of the exotic ways of heating just an oil furnace and two wood stoves. With a $3500.oo credit, I really don't worry about the juice that much.

 

[sodamo]

65°F and .98 inches rain.

Off to Konaside for Costco run. Down to last bag of dog food.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day