Merry Christmas!

 It's almost here.  I'm sure the kids are going crazy wondering/hoping for various gifts.  Us old folks are just trucking along hoping to wake up again in the morning.  

You might note that it looks gray outside.  That's rain.  Yes, it does rain in the Nevada desert but not much!  This chart shows something around 1/2 an inch a month (say, a centimeter).

All this weather talk reminds me of our solar panel investment.  The total cost was around $29K but our electric bills have been running the $25 minimum that our coop charges us.  Yes, even if you produce more electricity than you use you still get to pay $25 a month for the honor of being on their system.  Anyway, this shows the electric production by our panels since their installation in late May.

I really like how steady the decline is from August to November.  I'm thinking December will be pretty much in step.  

One of the things we really like about living here is that we have mountains all around us.  One of the unexpected things is that we can see quite distinctly the movement of the sun from one season to another.  We all know that the Tropic of Cancer is the latitude marking the northern limit where the sun's rays are directly overhead on June 21st and the Tropic of Capricorn is the southern limit on December 21st.  What we get is a very distinct proof of that change because we have mountains that mark off that difference.  Here is sunrise in the summer from in front of our house; the mountain is just south of the sunrise.

This is sunrise in December from the back of the house.  The mountain is way north of the sun now.

There is just a huge difference that you just don't see if you live in a city.  It's amazing!

Well, it's time to wish the world a Merry Christmas and a GREAT New Year.  Here's hoping things are a bit better all the way around.  Take care!

Wow, 2 posts a month!

Yeah, I'm at a new low in posting I think but I've got an excuse....  Talk about a dull life!  I used to have a dull enough life but recently I've been sitting around taking pain pills that make me sleepy.  Now, if that isn't a recipe for dull I don't know what would be.  

However, recently I've gotten off the pills and I've even tried driving.  The driving isn't going too well though because I'm having trouble turning my head and sometimes you've just got to do that in traffic.  Happily my wife is an excellent driver so our local restaurants haven't missed out on too much of our business.  I have a nap in the morning then we go out to lunch then we come home and I have a nap in the afternoon.  Now that I'm off the pills I'm hoping to go back to a mere 8 hours of sleep every 24.  

Recently I've been reading about people who don't want to be vaccinated for COVID or even wear a mask to prevent the spread and some of the reasons they give.  The big one is always that it is a violation of their rights.  Bah, humbug!  We have laws that you must wear a seatbelt in your car; there's a violation of your right to get thrown clear of the accident.  We have laws that you must have a driver's license; a clear violation of your right to endanger others.  We have laws regarding ownership of property; another clear violation of your right to take what you can.  As Arnold Schwarzenegger pointed out 'with freedom comes rights and responsibilities' including caring about your fellow citizens.  He also pointed out that 'freedom and duty have always gone hand in hand'.  Yea, Arnie!

As some of you may remember, we had solar panels placed on our roof a couple months ago.  It's early still but so far things seem to be working well.  Our electric bill has gone down to the $20 minimum payment that our electric coop requires.  That means we are generating more power than we are using.  We'll see how things are going in six months when it is cold and there are fewer hours of sunlight.  There were a few hiccups along the line with the electronic tracking but they seem to have been worked out.

Anyway, that's all the news from dullsville.  Keep safe and keep washing those hands! 

A laugh a day

 Well, we can hope it will keep the doctor away!  

I think my county has some kind of dumb commissioners but at least I'm not living here!  I mean, really?  At least it makes the rest of the country look better.  And it makes me want to go out and buy more Coca Cola not that I need the sugar. 

Here in Nevada we have an official mystery.  The body of a young boy was found by the road between here and Las Vegas.  At first the authorities thought they knew his identity but later that boy was found alive and well in Utah.  So now we have an unknown child dead and abandoned.  So sad.  The FBI has been looking at missing children from all over the country for heaven's sake.

I've got a few blogs that I read almost every day and here I found one that refers to my town!  It was published quite a while ago.  Here is a link to the not unfair review.  I must say that not a lot has changed in the last 11 years so I guess he doesn't need to return.  I really liked the comments though especially where one woman started in on 'fortification' at our local brothels.  I get the idea she has a problem or three.  Actually I've never visited any of our local sex businesses but I doubt if there is much fortification going on in them.  Per my earlier comment on dumb commissioners, the owner of one of the local brothels was a commissioner who was elected to the state legislature a few years ago but he died before he could take office.  Apparently that bothel has gone out of business.  Check out the photos. 

Weatherwise, we are in the 105F range most days.  Yep, welcome to summer even if we aren't quite there yet according to the calendar.  Our solar array is slaving away most of the time.  We had to laugh at yesterday's production.  We had a bit of a cloud problem about midday.

This morning we did have a lovely almost-a-sunrise.

We got down to 79F last night.  What would we do without air conditioning?  Have a good one and keep washing those hands.

Memorial Day 2021

 Happy Memorial Day 2021!

We are planning a quiet day but you never know.  There are a few clouds over in the east but we aren't likely to get either rain or cold!  Our cactus is still pretty happy.

I said the local utility had installed our solar array.  What I didn't show was the additional electronics that was needed.  The stuff in the (rather lousy) line is all new.

And the round dial to the right was replaced as well.  Now it goes backwards if it must!  

Of course there is a reason for all this.  It's warm here!

Yes, over 100F  (37.7C) in May!  It makes a/c a real friend.  

And to celebrate all this, we are leaving!  Well, for a bit.  That should give me the opportunity to take a couple of photos.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands & keeping safe.

We did it!

 It is totally amazing to me but last Thursday we had a group of four technicians from our local power coop start climbing around on our roof and yesterday we actually started producing our own electricity!  Amazing stuff.  Also I haven't had to write a check that large in some time!  But this is this morning.

It's kind of hard to see but somewhere around 06:00 the cells started generating electricity.  It should be doing it's all by now. 

We have plenty of south-facing roof so that's where the solar array is mounted.

The original design was a bit different but the foreman of the installation crew could see where we would get a lot of shadow from the chimney so got permission to place the array as you see it.  It will be interesting to see our electric bills this year compared to last year.  

I couldn't find a food bank who wanted/needed our old refrigerator so I put it on the Marketplace on Facebook.  Sure enough, we had a person who was happy to come get it the next day.  So that's another bother removed.  Gee, I'm going to have to get to work on finding more projects.

Nevada is slowly abandoning the mask mandate as more people have received their COVID shots.  The 'Mask Required' signs are coming down and more people are not wearing masks.  I'm hopeful that things might return to normal here one day.  Whether it is too soon or the vaccine isn't good enough or whatever; we'll just have to see what happens.

I read an article this morning talking about the large number of Republican's who agree with at least some of the Qanon stories.  The article mentioned Satan-worshiping pedophiles who the Qanon folks believe are running our country.  Really?  OMG!  What kind of idiots are coming up with this crap?  I'm just amazed.

In more amazing news, some people in Eastern Oregon are talking about their area should withdraw from Oregon and unite politically with Idaho to create a Greater Idaho state.  I do understand, a little, what they are on about.  The northwestern portion of Oregon, around Portland, is much more urban and liberal than the eastern portion of the state.  Of course urban equals lots of votes and rural equals not so many votes.  So whenever a vote is taken on a law where urban and rural needs are different, the people in the rural areas don't get their choice.  That's the reason each state has two Senators; so that rural states would have a voice equal to more populous states in the Federal government.  I don't imagine that Greater Idaho will come to be but maybe Oregon can make some changes for it's rural citizens.

I guess that's all the news this morning.  Thanks for stopping by.  And keep washing those hands; at least that is simple hygiene!

Slowly coming along

 Kind of like the rest of the country things are slowly coming along here in Nevada.  People are gradually going out more and some places have given up on requiring masks.  Tables are even being brought back into restaurants!  What a thrill.

For us the big thing that is going on is that we are getting solar panels placed on our roof.  This house is all electric and some of the things are pretty hungry for power.  We run the a/c a LOT in the summer and heat in the winter.  The bill can be in the $300 range but that's not the real problem.  My wife and I both feel that we are in a prime area for solar power so why aren't we using it???  So we ordered a setup back at the beginning of April and just today the crew showed up to install things.  They are thinking they will be done on Monday or Tuesday of next week but that simply means we'll be ready to be inspected by two or three different interested parties.  We should be good to go by early June if everything goes according to plan.

For excitement we are enjoying watching our cactus as they flower.  We have 2 plants in the entire yard:  both cactus.  There is a short one.

And a tall one.

I'm pretty sure that the shorter one isn't getting enough water especially during the winter.  It turns red in the winter then turns green when I'm watering it.  A hint, maybe.  Sorry but I don't know the botanical names of either of them.  

We've also purchased a new refrigerator.

Yes, they are almost identical on the outside.  The old one is in front with the white magnetic dry erase board that we bought to cover a couple of scratches.  Now we couldn't live without it!  The old one is 11 years old but the real reason it is being replaced is because the ice maker/water dispenser leaks.  We are hoping to find some charity kitchen that might like it since the rest works just fine.  

Obviously it's pretty quiet around here so we are making our own excitement.  Too bad it costs so much money but if we can't take a trip to Europe we may as well fix things up around home.  Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and keeping away from sick people!