Retirement Projects
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Ottawa had metered water, billed quarterly with no averaging, and assumed all consumption ends up as waste water billed at the same rate as water... So watering the lawn ended up being twice as expensive. They also had "fixed charges" so even if you consumed zero water during a quarter, you got tagged regardless.Our water consumption is averaged from December through April. They call it the Winter Quarter even though it's a third of the year. We pay wastewater fees for all water measured during Winter Quarter, then during the rest of the year we pay whatever is lower, actual use or winter quarter average. Wastewater is about twice as expensive as water, and the utility assumes any "extra" water I use when it's not winter is used outdoors. It is. Irrigation, pressure washing, dumping hot water....
When I moved, getting onto a decent well and having septic was a goal... with enough land so I can garden etc..
This place was built in 1977 so it's only 45 years old. The previous owner added an attached garage with bonus room above it back in 2007. At that time, they upgraded the panel to 200amp. They also moved the laundry from the basement to the main floor but did not remove the old wiring and plumbing... so I have a 220v outlet robust enough to run a dryer next to hot and cold water supply... I'm thinking the hot water tank install will be easy-peasy.My house is 75 years old, and it only has a 100 amp panel. I can't expand my electric system; that's one reason I don't have an electric car. No room on the panel. However, if I took the water heater off the panel, maybe there's enough amps to run a tankless unit.Many years ago, a colleague asked me, "How long do you have to be on vacation before it saves energy to turn the water heater down or off?" I am surprised I had to think of it at all - it's the very first time that the element would have turned itself on to keep the stored water at temperature. Let it cool five degrees or 70 degrees - it still takes energy to raise it. It takes more energy to raise warm water by the same amount, so you're really better off letting it cool completely; just means it will take a while to heat back up. I can't do that on my water heater; the thermostats are inside, and they're kind of finicky.
Some of the new models are actually "smart" appliances so controllable to that granular level via smartphone. Imagine if your hot water tank cooperated with your phone so as soon as you were half a mile from the house, the tank automatically reduced it's thermostat by 10 degrees... and then comes up again when you come back to the house.0 -
Triceratops is in mid-Winter bloom.
Yes, his feet are dirty: He's a triceratops.
It's a hobby because (1) I tend it, and (2) my Dremel and I made the pot out of a plastic toy I bought on clearance.
Pretty sure it's Mammillaria sp., not positive which one, maybe M. gracilis fragilis 'Thimble Cactus'?
I've also got 4 different orchids flowering at once (of around a dozen total orchids, so a good fraction), and a pink Christmas cactus in bloom - some nice mid-Winter cheer.4 -
For some reason, that dirty feet comment made me laugh out loud!!
When I was in Texas last, I transplanted a number of cactus found in the wild into a planter on our property. I wonder if I have any pictures of that? Hmmm....
Found a picture of them before I transplanted...
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For some reason, that dirty feet comment made me laugh out loud!!
When I was in Texas last, I transplanted a number of cactus found in the wild into a planter on our property. I wonder if I have any pictures of that? Hmmm....
Found a picture of them before I transplanted...
Those are beautiful!
A very limited range of cacti grow outdoors here in Michigan - Opuntia sp. mostly, maybe entirely? - and they usually get pretty ratty vegetatively outdoors in this climate. I do envy the SW US their beautiful variety. (But to be fair, we can grow some lovely things that don't thrive there.)
This is one I have outdoors (all year) in a trough, shown flowering in June. (I made the trough, too - out of "hypertufa", a sort of lightened-up cement mixture.)
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For some reason, that dirty feet comment made me laugh out loud!!
When I was in Texas last, I transplanted a number of cactus found in the wild into a planter on our property. I wonder if I have any pictures of that? Hmmm....
Found a picture of them before I transplanted...
Those look like the Hedgehog Cactus we saw in Grand Canyon when I was on a trip down there in March 2015. I've been in March and May; both were great. April would be off the hook if it was a good cactus bloom year.
In 2017 I saw something that I think is what the story of the Burning Bush could have come from. There was an Ocotillo up on a ridge above the shady place way up behind our camp we were hiding out from the heat in. The sun was below the rim, but it had an eerie effect that made this Ocotillo appear to be on fire. It lasted a long time.2 -
Nothing more beautiful than the desert after a rain. (I lived in El Paso, TX for a bit.)1
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Meeting my wife, who was born and lived most of her life in Texas, meant learning about Texas.d_thomas02 wrote: »Nothing more beautiful than the desert after a rain. (I lived in El Paso, TX for a bit.)
As a Canadian who has rarely seen cactus in the wild, my first trip to Texas was to the rural area outside of Dallas, it was fascinating to me to see cactus being used as landscaping in some places... and treated as an annoying pest elsewhere.
The biggest thing I found was how the Hollyweird depictions were shockingly inaccurate. They don't even get the accent right!! We built a house in Horseshoe Bay close to Marble Falls in the Hill Country... and yes, the Hill Country is very hilly... go figure!!
Our property slopes and backs onto a green space... a dry gulch which only gets wet when winter storms pours a big dump of rain on the area. There isn't much topsoil so very little place for the water to go... so it flows downhill, running through gulches like behind our place. Trees tend to gather around these gulches and gather as much moisture as they can get... In the shade of those trees, a proliferation of other plants...2 -
Even though it was a little on the chilly side, it was such a nice sunny day. It really wasn't even that cold; upper 30s. I also am healing nicely, and I was cleared to do more physical activity.
On my way home from the post office, my friend was doing some yard chores; pruning was one thing. I've been putting off pruning my fruit trees. The very BEST time to do it is when you have the shears in your hand. Best time, for the most part, is during dormancy generally around here January through maybe late February. So the time is right. And I was feeling good enough. And like I said it wasn't raining and was a blue, blue day. I went to the neighbor's house and borrowed the orchard ladder and got busy on the Bartlett Pear, Chojuro Asian Pear, and Stella Cherry. I could probably do some more work on the cherry, but now with the spotted-wing drosophila, I don't get much fruit anyway. I still will need to prune the Italian Prune Plum. I decided not to push myself too much. I don't want to overdo things and get in the way of my healing.
It's also about time to start clipping branches from the Mt. Fuji flowering cherry to bring inside to force into bloom. Maybe I'll wait one more week.
As I was out working, I thought that if a lovely day like this happened one year ago, I wouldn't be able to get pruning because I'd be at work. I just now realized that's not completely true because I used to work four days per week ten hours per day; Monday was the last day of my weekend. But the idea held true; not having to work is awesome.2 -
Update on the mushroom farm.
Production is ramping up nicely. We currently have one non-paying customer. Non-paying simply because they'd like 5 lbs. a week and my business partner and I wanted to be sure we could supply a reliable 5 lbs. a week for at least two weeks in a row before we started charging them.
That means weighing the produce. I have a scale. Bought it new last year. Electronic. Runs on AC or on its own internal battery. Good for Farmer's markets and such. I set it up for the first time when I bought it, turned it on, hit the button to switch it from kg to lbs. and there it sat... turned off, until I turned it back on a month ago.
I don't leave it on. Just when we harvest and then I turn it back off.
One thing that has bothered me for a while, the YouTubes I watched of other growers show them weighing flushes of three maybe three and a half pounds while my flushes, which look to be about the same size, weighed in about one to one and a half. Quite the frustrating head scratcher.
Yesterday my business partner and I were talking about the possibility of recycling spent fruiting blocks back into new blocks (similar to recycling paper). Plenty of nutrition left in those old blocks either in the half broken down sawdust or in the mycelium. The main reasons to retire fruiting blocks from the grow room are; the blocks have lost most of their moisture, or the blocks have become contaminated (bacteria, mold, or fungus gnats which can be a real problem in the summer). The question was, at what percentage can we recycle old blocks into the new block stream (50%, 25%, 10%) without affecting the quality or quantity of the flush.
So, we turned on the scale to weigh a few spent blocks. Wow, that was a lot of weight lost! Let's weigh a new fresh sterile 10 lbs. block waiting to be inoculated... Wait, what?... Less than 5 lbs.? That can't be right.
Come to find out that blasted scale reverts to kg every time it's turned off and the indicator that shows which mode it's in is microscopic. ALL my produce weights to this point have been low by a factor of 2.2 times, the conversion of kg to lbs.
Last week was the first time I thought we'd come close to what our customer wanted with 4.6 "lbs."... but that giveaway was actually over 10 lbs.!! We've been hitting or surpassing his order for the last three weeks! {facepalm}
Aggravating to say the least.
I've initiated a scale check protocol for each time it's turned on from now on. I'll check and record the weights of some SCUBA weights that have been in the back of my closet for decades unused (2, 3, 4, and 5 lbs.) before weighing produce. These aren't calibration weights per se (although they do weigh to within an ounce accuracy). This is more a check that units are in lbs. and the scale is giving consistent results over time.1 -
Those SCUBA weights aren't accurate unless you submerge them in saline solution at least every six months or so. I suggest putting them on a belt and hopping in the ocean.
Funny story. Good thing your customer wasn't paying yet. Make sure they know that the normal order will actually be what they ordered.
Maybe just switch the business to selling by the kilo. "Hey man, how much for a kilo of those killer mushrooms?"
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I love mushrooms but I know that I could eat 5lbs per week. lold_thomas02 wrote: »Update on the mushroom farm.
Production is ramping up nicely. We currently have one non-paying customer. Non-paying simply because they'd like 5 lbs. a week and my business partner and I wanted to be sure we could supply a reliable 5 lbs. a week for at least two weeks in a row before we started charging them.1 -
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I’ve been busy1
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The boat is gorgeous.
How does it paddle?0 -
It handles nice. It’s a Bear Mountain ‘Red Bird’. At 17’6” it’s a lot of boat for solo camping, but I like it a lot.1
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Wow, @Farback - you HAVE been busy . . . and productive. Another absolutely beautiful boat, and I'm sure you're enjoying those decks (not to mention the cats enjoying their scratching post/climbing tree). I like the shelf, too. Wondering what the rolling caddy is for, I admit - I can think of quite a few uses where it'd be handy.
Nice work!0 -
My Wenonah Voyager is 17'6" and it handles quite well. I really love it. It actually maneuvers better than my 16'6" Wenonah Advantage. I had to sell the Advantage to make space for the Voyager. It's super fast, but just wants to go STRAIGHT. It also sheds wind better than the Voyager. The Advantage went to a good home - it is being shared by two friends and stays at one or the other's house from time to time. They said I can paddle it when I want to. They got a very nice deal on it.
The Voyager does almost everything the Advantage does and more. It hauls gear.
I have a 17' ultralight Encounter, and it's for sure a "lumpy water" boat that will haul a month's worth of gear. It's a very different boat than either the Voyager or the Advantage - and it's in between in length at 17' even.
The Voyager:
The Advantage:
The Encounter:
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Wow, @Farback - you HAVE been busy . . . and productive. Another absolutely beautiful boat, and I'm sure you're enjoying those decks (not to mention the cats enjoying their scratching post/climbing tree). I like the shelf, too. Wondering what the rolling caddy is for, I admit - I can think of quite a few uses where it'd be handy.
Nice work!
The trolley is a kids book display unit I built for a friend. Their Librarian in their community was retiring, and this was a gift.
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Wow, @Farback - you HAVE been busy . . . and productive. Another absolutely beautiful boat, and I'm sure you're enjoying those decks (not to mention the cats enjoying their scratching post/climbing tree). I like the shelf, too. Wondering what the rolling caddy is for, I admit - I can think of quite a few uses where it'd be handy.
Nice work!
The trolley is a kids book display unit I built for a friend. Their Librarian in their community was retiring, and this was a gift.
That's a great idea!
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