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!

Small Town Fun

 Our town is really pretty unusual.  There are about 40,000 people but they are spread across a valley that is almost 300 square miles.  That makes for lots of open space as I'm sure you've seen in some of the photos I've posted.  The 'downtown' is five or six blocks long with little bits here and there that are kind of on their own.  The people are predominantly pretty right wing.  My wife and I registered as Republicans so we could have a vote on our local lawmakers; the Democratic (or Independent) candidate doesn't stand much of a chance.  Open carry of firearms is legal in Nevada and you will usually see two or three people carrying firearms if you visit the grocery store.  Officially it is an unincorporated town and the town board was dissolved a few years ago so we only have a county government.  The county seat is in another, much smaller, unincorporated town that is about 170 miles north of us.  Much of the county is taken up by the Nevada National Security Site where a lot of nuclear tests were conducted.

One of the attractions here is ballooning.  Las Vegas used to have a company offering balloon rides but running balloon rides in an urban environment wasn't working out so they moved here.  There is also a locally owned ballooning company.  Once a year we even have a Balloon Festival and that was just last weekend.  Unfortunately it was quite windy this year so even though there were lots of balloons around they weren't flying!  However, yesterday was nice and quiet and I saw this guy.

If you think it sounds cool here; you're wrong!

That was on April 30 and 99F is 37C.  Oh my, it might just be getting to shorts and tee shirt weather. 

Thanks for stopping by.  Keep washing those hands and wearing those masks.