The weather report at the beginning of the week predicted a week of heavy clouds, which mostly didn’t happen until today. The past three days have been partly cloudy and snowy, but with plenty of sunny spells to keep the power system happy. Today is so dim I’m running purely on batteries, so I won’t stay.
Nothing going on here, of course, except that Little Bear further injured his paw going down the stairs yesterday and I’m afraid I may not be able to avoid taking him to a vet. It’s been sore for a week but he gave something such a powerful whack at the foot of the stairs that he cried piteously for several minutes, scrambled up the stairs and refused to go back outside until hydraulic pressure forced him out*, and he hasn’t been seen to put any weight on that paw since. Still hoping he’ll heal on his own, especially since I have no really good way to get him to a vet and God knows he takes up enough space in the Lair without a Cone of Shame.
LB’s travails are just putting the final polish on my grumpy mood: It’s not going to climb above mid-thirties outside so the reloading shack is frigid and I was hoping to fill some of those hundreds of polished, sized and primed cases that have been waiting a week for powder and bullets. I learned an hour ago that the cold killed the batteries in my powder scale and I was afraid the scale itself might have died, but bringing it back to the Lair for a warm-up and new batteries seems to have healed it so I could go load ammo. But damn it’s cold in there. Can’t do anything entertaining that involves electricity and I don’t have a book I haven’t read half a dozen times, so I’m bored. Maybe I’ll bundle up and go for a walk with Ghost, then make bread. Maybe I’ll just make bread.
One thing for sure, that ol’ voltmeter on the wall tells me I need to finish this and turn off the ‘pooter. Tomorrow, maybe. Stay warm.
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*Yes, that’s plagiarism. Also he did not turn down the afternoon Jeep ride. LB the Amazing Tripod Dog’s** super power is that presented with the open door of a jacked-up Jeep he can suddenly leap like Nijinsky no matter his physical condition.
**More plagiarism
I keep forgetting to ask what the wind situation is out there in the netherlands.
Could a wind powered generator be very useful to augment your solar panels? Depending on velocity, you may be able to construct a very cheap wind gen using an automobile alternator with an internal regulator.
Joel, do you need some reading material? I am downsizing the library here. What types of books do you like, and I don’t mean paperback or hardcover, but rather mystery, science, history, science fiction? I could send a care box and you could give the books away after you have read them.
Cookix, when I moved here nine years ago there were wind generators everywhere. Most have since gone away in favor of larger solar panel arrays. We do have quite a lot of wind here but it’s less dependable than sun. The gennies have lots of moving parts to go kerblewie, and you ought to see what happens when they get hit by lightning. Or come apart in a gale-force gust.
I have seen those things. And anyway I’m down in a hollow where there’s none of the uncluttered wind a generator really needs. If I need more power I’ll add more solar panels.
Ilo, I’m always looking for something I haven’t read over and over. I’ll send you an email, since I believe my maildrop addy has changed since last we corresponded.
He’ll always appreciate Harlequin “novels”…
}:-]
LOL, Mark. I don’t read them. I am, however, a dedicated fan of both Dorothy Sayers and Madeline L’Engle.
And ML, I just wanted to say that I agree about any nazis, fems or otherwise. I enjoy being a female, and I certainly enjoy the fact that there are males. Makes things so nice and balanced.
Happy New Year to you.