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

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning to all! Low of 28, only going up to near 45 today. Another cold front coming across tonight, dropping high temps into the 30's for tomorrow. No precipitation is expected.

Hearing about your electric bills makes me feel better.... our highest electric bill was $285 last month... basically due to the DIL running 2 small electric space heaters in her home office. The normal avg is only around $200 for the big house (thank goodness not my bill anymore), our new cottage is only about $60 / month for electric, $20 / month for LP gas, $40-80 / month for water, depending upon how much I water the landscape.... I guess we live pretty cheap...

I cannot believe how hard it is to payoff loans.... spending another few hours this morning checking to make sure payments went through....
After spending the time yesterday waiting and then speaking with a customer servive rep, getting the confirmation of payoff on our RV, this morning their site shows that we still owe $0.71... really? Where is this from... we used all of their numbers, confirmed by the rep.

Had to use "docusign" at another financial institution to 'confirm' that we wanted to pay off the loan..... DUH!.... that's why I sent you the full amount! ... Of course they asked if we wanted to take out another loan..... NOPE!

Drew, congratulations on being debt free! a real accomplishment! :thumbsup:
We still have a truck payment, thought about paying it off, but the interest rate is so low, it really wouldn't save that much.... may do it in 6 months or so.... rather keep the money in the bank....

Today is 'staple removal day'... WooHoo! I hope I am not disappointed and I am able to gain a little more range of motion without them and the wound dressing. The dressing is a long strip of rubber / silicone encompassing a strip of gauze type material. I wish I could get some of the adhesive that is used on it.... it hasn't peeled or loosened over the last 10 days.... I hope it won't be too much trouble to get it off! 34 staples need to come out!

As I type this, still waiting on hold for over an hour with another financial institution to fix yet another screwup on their part.... something so simple has become so difficult.... I guess they want to keep their customers in debt.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable day!

 

[Buppies]

Had numerous skin cancers from 10 stitches to over 150. This one will wait on biopsy but by tone of doctor I would say another one

RNG they keep finding areas never the same

LS getting staples out a nice milestone sorry some lenders do not get it

 

[riptides]

Dang buppies, I thought you had that beat by now. Sorry. Prayers your way. Stay positive. I know it gets tiresome.

Had numerous skin cancers from 10 stitches to over 150. This one will wait on biopsy but by tone of doctor I would say another one

RNG they keep finding areas never the same

LS getting staples out a nice milestone sorry some lenders do not get it

 

[toppop52]

Buppies, I wish the best for you. I’ve been lucky and only had one on my arm that was malignant. Both ears and forehead have/ had precancerous lesions that are treated with chemotherapy cream.

I had to fill two low spots before they became sink holes. All this rain had washed dirt from around one of the septic lines going to the mound.

Looks like I’m going to have to move my topsoil pit over a bit, I’m finally into the clay layer. That soil is so rich and fine that I have to mix it with other dirt or it’ll get like cement when it dries out, but you could grow broomsticks in it and not need fertilizer. The closer to the creek the deeper it goes, it’s about 2’ deep 40’ from the creek.

 

[Thomas]

Your working the dirt already least month an half before I can consider.

 

[Thomas]

Buppies.
"This one will wait on biopsy but by tone of doctor I would say another one"
...........................
Fingers cross and positive thoughts also pulling for you for negative report.

 

[Thomas]

Balmy 42F almost t shirt wear cloudy now quick passing shower later tonight.

No snow nor ice on the driveway while greasing the Kubota red squirrel decided to check out the grease gun.little fellow didn't care to have grease on his paw. :laughing:
Looks like feet up recliner evening watch yester year movie.

Enjoy the evening all.

 

[daugen]

Perseverance sees Jezero Crater rim in 36deg Mars panorama - YouTube

Look Helen, there's a Martian!

pretty amazing photography

 

[RedNeckGeek]

Perseverance sees Jezero Crater rim in 36deg Mars panorama - YouTube

Look Helen, there's a Martian!

pretty amazing photography

A buddy of mine that works at NASA Ames posted this the other day...

Looks a lot like the places I'm fond of visiting on the motorcycles. I'd feel right at home on Mars, I guess!

Considering the great photos we can take with our phones these days, it's no wonder NASA is getting such spectacular shots.

Thanks for sharing the link, Drew.:thumbsup:

 

[toppop52]

Your working the dirt already least month an half before I can consider.

It was 59 today, 55 yesterday and 52 predicted tomorrow. We are predicted to be above 50 on 11 of the next 14 days. But I don’t trust much past 5 days forecast.