Good morning!!!!

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Wngsprd,

I hope your instruction manual has more than just cartoon figures and 50 languages...like one I recently had to use.

It’s actually in English, but German would have been fun ! Usually these manuals are in Spanish ! There are pictures of the pieces along with with a white paper dot on the part to help identify! Problem comes up when the white paper dots fall off ! Hey, we are motoring along on this thing ! Best not finish it too quick, then we will be having sleepovers !

 

[buckeyefarmer]

ran to the other side of the mountain and picked up half bushel of Red Haven peaches. yum. Counted around 70 peaches in the box.
Stopped at a lumber yard over there and looked at their ceiling boards. They can order the 8" but only stock the 6", they carry both v groove and beaded. $22 for a 16 ft 6" board, I assume 5.5" coverage, forgot to ask. The 8" is 7 1/8" coverage. I went out in the yard and looked at it, looks nice compared to what Lowes had. Did not price their Timbertech deck boards.
They also carry Mr Cool AC units there. Thinking about one of their AH units for the 3 over garage rooms. Already have the ductwork separate for those rooms. Neat store.
Was going to eat at a local diner over there, but with peaches in the car, I opted for taco bell on the way back. Major disappointment over real food, but it was quick.
Did check the flow on the upstairs geo unit, it is moving water. Had a thought last night that maybe the pump went out, but I think that will shut down the unit.
siphoning out the water softener tank, will tackle that soon.
cantalopes have gone crazy this year, have around a dozen large ones about to get ripe.

 

[RedNeckGeek]

RNG, sorry to read about the lender and MVD woes. What happens if you pay off the loan? Is the equipment leased? Are you free to use anyone to service it? ---- just looking to broaden my scope of knowledge---- way too many programs out there. Some that don't make sense to me....

Here's how it worked here. SunRun sells the homeowner a solar power system consisting of solar panels, inverter/charge controller, and battery bank for about $40K, including installation. A company called GoodLeap pays SunRun, and structures a 20 year loan to the homeowner. For the first 18 months, there is an option to make reduced payments on the loan, say $160/month. This allows the homeowner time to take a solar tax credit on that year's federal income tax, which was about 20% of the solar power system cost. If after the first 18 months, they choose make a lump sum loan payment equal to the solar tax credit, the payment stays the same. If they fail to make the catch up payment, the loan payment goes to $210/month for the duration of the loan, and that's what the sellers did here.

My purchase of the home was contingent on me assuming the solar loan. So far the solar power system has offset 100% of my electricity usage, with a small credit that accumulates each month. So I've effectively fixed my monthly electrical bill at $210/month for the next nineteen years. That makes sense to me, as PG&E has substantially increased electrical rates in just the past year, and has asked for another increase to cover the costs of making the electrical grid safe.

If I pay off the loan, the loan payments stop and I still don't have an electrical bill. But with a 1.5% interest rate on the loan, I can instead buy Treasury Bills with a 5+% yield and end up money ahead. I don't think that will always be the case, and since there's no pre-payment penalty on the loan, I can make that decision at any time. I don't think I'll still be in this house in nineteen years, and can also make loan assumption a condition of sale when the time comes. I don't think many people would turn down a 1.5% interest rate loan in the current environment.

That federal tax credit started phasing out a few years ago, so I don't know how much is left, or if it has been reinstated. And from what GoodLeap just tried to get away with, the current rate on their loans is likely well above 1.5%. The solar power market has matured to the point that many electric utilities are trying to discourage customers from installing solar power. It has left the power companies holding the bag for costs associated with maintaining the grid, and daily gaps in generation capacity as the solar power system output tapers off with the setting sun. Electrical storage systems is one answer to that problem, and I get regular "offers" to let the utility tap into my battery bank so I can "participate" for mere pennies per kWhr. No thanks, not when they're charging me $.40/kWhr during those same peak hours.

 

[rswyan]

71F and the 2nd torrential downpour of the day @ 13:30. Calling for a high of 82F for the day, LWS reports the high earlier was 78.3F and the precip total so far since midnight is 1.98" ...

Rain has eased up some ... but is still coming down steadily.

No watering required for the foreseeable future ...

Groundhog hauled up to the brush pile yesterday then into the shop for more fitting and fabbing.

Got the grapple mounting bar placed on the top of the bucket, centered, and then clamped down in place.

After that I got the grapple "claw" mounted up and pinned onto the mounting bar:

Then spent a considerable amount of time cleaning up the left mounting bracket with a snagging wheel on the grinder.

At that point my neck was killing me from having my head bent over grinding and I was hungry so I called it a day and headed down to the house for some spaghetti that The Woman had made.

Deer inside the garden fence perimeter this morning apparently, munching on tomato plants ... ... Woman chased them out ...

She also reported there was yet another groundhog out by the bird feeders this morning ... ... so my work isn't done on that problem.

Have some bills to schedule and then it will be back up to the shop.

New hosta ring around small oak tree, mulched:

Hope everyone is having a decent Wednesday ...

 

[daugen]

RS your place is looking good, glad you don't have to water.

had a nice lunch with my brother, had fish and chips at Irish place, nibbled on fish and that was it, having been out to
breakfast with another friend this morning. My brother got me two free tickets to the car show here, which I mailed to my
friends in DE who are coming up here to New Hope that weekend.

some strong storms expected this afternoon.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon RNG,

So I've effectively fixed my monthly electrical bill at $210/month for the next nineteen years

RNG, so my question is how long do the panels last or start to degrade to the point they are no longer cost worthy or effective ? If they degrade after 20 or 25 years how much are you truly saving ?

 

[daugen]

skies got dark, a few sprinkles and very light rain now, not much
looks like another dud

but Amazon made it better by bringing reading material for the rv bathroom, and a game
of Scrabble I thought would be fun to bring with me.

 

[daugen]

three days after I see the St Louis Zoo with Paul, I go within a mile of the Kansas City Zoo and Aquarium.
I'd love to spend an hour or two in their aquarium and they have this humongous parking lot right close
to the main building.

 

[Looking4new]

Have you tried Permethrin?

Works good on mosquitoes and black flies, on your clothing ONLY. If you have cats DO NOT use it near them or you will have zero cats. Dogs and horses it is okay.

 

[TractorGunn]

Works good on mosquitoes and black flies, on your clothing ONLY. If you have cats DO NOT use it near them or you will have zero cats. Dogs and horses it is okay.

I have zero cats, but good to know, thanks!

BTW, I think people don't understand how permethrin works, because they think that if ticks get on their clothes, then it is ineffective.

That's not how it works, here is a video explaining it, and it is effective: