Monday, June 23, 2008
Obsessions
When we are at the cabin, Lynne accuses me of having certain obsessions. To me, they are not obsessions as much as “practicalities” that need attention in cabin life.
The biggie is electricity. The cabin is powered by solar electricity. We have 8 solar panels on the roof that can generate about 28 Amps of current at 24 Volts for charging eight 6-Volt batteries wired into two banks of 24 Volts. The total capacity of the batteries is about 800 Amp-Hours of use, but to prevent complete discharge and a shortening of battery life, I like to make sure we don’t ever use more than about 400 Amp-Hours of that capacity without recharging. So, I closely monitor the battery Amp-Hour usage, current drains of various tasks, and the battery voltage. Now, that does not sound like obsession, does it?
After all, if we lose electricity, we lose lights (we could use lanterns and candles), we lose TV and Internet (we could read by lantern light), we lose water since the well pump is electric, and we lose the hair dryer (disaster.)
So, I am frequently opening the utility room door and peering at the system statistics. And, I run around the cabin turning off lights if they are not necessary. If we have some electricity intensive activities going on like vacuuming the floor or taking a shower, I will start up our back up generator, especially if the batteries are “running low.” Cloudy days are particularly frustrating for me and for Lynne since my attention to practicalities drives her crazy.
We have a wind generator, but it is not currently installed atop its 64-foot tower and wired into the system since we don’t want to leave it running when the cabin is infrequently used. But, when installed, it provides an extra boost to the electrical capacity of the house--especially since it can run day and night and because we get so much wind here. But, without it, my attention to the solar electric system is even more intense.
I’m accused of other obsessions, too. Things like “chores"--I try to do one or two chores each day, usually in the morning. Chores are things like cutting and splitting wood, painting something, repairing a fence, deep cleaning the cabin (which takes lots of electricity), etc. I think these are necessary practicalities since, left undone, the cabin will deteriorate and life here will be less comfortable. I think Lynne is a bit better with the chores than the electrical system obsession.
On this trip, I was also accused of having an obsession with getting the satellite Internet running. I may post more about that saga later, but I was very focused on getting it to work because I knew we’d actually have a less stressful time if we could check in on our house in NJ, if Lynne could blog, and we could stay in touch with the outside world. Obviously, that obsession eventually paid off, or you would not be reading this message which is being created on my Mac at the cabin. And, since this consumes a few watts of electricity, I will now sign off.
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Saturday, June 21, 2008
Walks
We are at our mountain cabin for a bit of vacation. The cabin is remote, powered by the sun. But, we have a few luxuries like satellite TV and (finally) satellite Internet. Still, there is not much to do other than a few chores around the place, reading, putting together puzzles, talking, and walking.
We take a couple of walks a day. Some walks are on the roads here, which are decomposed granite. With each step you hear “crunch, crunch, crunch”. There is not much else to hear other than the birds and the wind through the trees. Often, we just walk along side-by-side saying nothing, just listening to the crunching sound of our feet.
Other walks are through the woods. These can be nearly silent until you step on a stick and “SNAP!” The woods range from the “deep dark woods”—mostly pine and fir trees, very dense, with a pine needle carpet underneath, to the meadows of tall, green grass, a babbling brook, and aspen trees so big and old that I cannot wrap my arms around them.
Lynne just reminded me of a third kind of walk--the “sage walk.” We have a lot of high prairie land that is just covered in sage brush. This time of the year, it is covered with a wide variety of wildflowers too. Walking through this can be challenging. First, you have to weave through the dense sage, picking a path between bushes. Someone tracking the walk from a distance would think we were stumbling around randomly. And, it is tough to walk because we don’t want to step on the wildflowers. So, between weaving through the sage and avoiding the flowers, a sage walk can be more challenging than climbing the hills or navigating the deep, dark woods.
Here we are on a “crunchy” walk.
The dogs like to go on walks, of course. Alex and Hailey, our two remaining Berners are very good on walks. They don’t range far and they come when called. We’ve had others like Bart and Bode who liked to “go walkabout” and disappear completely for long periods of time, to stragglers like Daisy and Milli. Milli would accompany us on the first part of a walk and then take a shortcut home only to be waiting for us, flat on her back, in the driveway when we returned. Daisy liked to follow Lynne, literally stepping on her heels at times.
Walks are great times for “getting back to nature”. Especially if we stop walking for a while and just stand there and look around. The details we see on a walk are inversely proportional to the speed of the walk. I guess all of life is like that. The faster we go, the sooner we accomplish our goal, but we see very little of what is really going on in the world around us. The slower we go, the more likely we are to see a new wildflower, hear the song of the Hermit Thrush for the first time this year, see the old Horned Owl fly through the dense forest, find a rare and tasty mushroom.
Walks are a refreshing mixture of memories, sights, sounds, and spiritual renewal. At 8600 feet in hilly country, they are good exercise too!
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Friday, May 09, 2008
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
The other night, Andy, Dick and I went to watch the Yankees lose to the Indians at Yankee Stadium. That is not why we went, of course. We went for the hot dogs, popcorn, beer and peanuts. And, we had optimism the home team would win.
This was a special event for me for a couple of reasons. First, this was only the second pro baseball game I’ve ever been to. The first was to watch the Rockies play the Yankees at Coors Field in Denver many years ago (the Rockies lost a lot back then.) The second reason was that this is the last year the Yankees will play in the current Yankee Stadium and I wanted to experience a game there before they tear it down.
The current Yankee Stadium was built in 284 working days in 1922 and 1923 and opened on April 18, 1923 in a game against the Boston Red Sox. Babe Ruth, a recent acquisition from the Red Sox hit a 3-run homer leading the Yankees to a 4-1 win. It was Babe Ruth’s popularity that drew over 74,000 fans to the game at “The House That Ruth Built.”
A new stadium is being built right next to the old one. It looks beautiful. And, I look forward to a game there next year.
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Sunday, May 04, 2008
Morel
When in Colorado, I spent hours walking our mountain land each Spring looking for morel mushrooms. There are two types in Colorado, a “yellow” or “white” morel that grows at lower altitudes, usually along stream banks under Cottonwood trees. And, the black morel—a mountain mushroom that grows in mixed forest—a rare treat indeed. I never found a sample of either!
Imagine my surprise and excitement today when I was planting a few flowers by the front door of our house in New Jersey when I discovered this treat:
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Thursday, March 13, 2008
Shopping Around Pays Off
Since our recent trip to Cancun, we’ve been exploring Mexican food more. And, not the typical Tex Mex or even the food like I grew up on in New Mexico. But, more fish and pork and sauces.
Some recipes call for slow roasting meat wrapped in banana leaves. So, I went in search of banana leaves. I started online, of course (although we did check to see if Goya had any in our local ShopRite.) Banana leaves come frozen in 1 pound packages. The worst deal I found online was for one package for about $5.00 and, since they must be shipped frozen, about $40 in shipping. The best deal I found online was for 3 packages at $3.50 each ($10.00 minimum order....) and $30 shipping. So, that would be just over $40 for 3 one pound packages.
Lynne had a great idea suggesting I check a local Asian food market that is less than a mile from where I work.
Sure enough, they had one pound packages of frozen banana leaves, imported from the Philippines. The woman dug one package out of the freezer and rang me up. $1.29 including tax.
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