2010 - Day Twenty Three...

Well, I am kind of proud of this fact...we have now had TWO days of self-sustainability since we installed the wind turbines. That does not sound like a lot, since we installed the turbines about 240 days ago, but it is better than most folks can say about their houses. Yesterday, we used a total of 22 KWhrs of electricity off the grid, and we sent back 25 KWhrs of electricity back to the system. I am not sure how much electricity we produced yesterday, but it was definitely one of our better days, and today looks pretty promising too. Since we have had the turbines operating, we have produced thousands of KWhrs of electricity, and we have reduced the amount of carbon that we would have needed to produce that energy by thousands of pounds. Okay, so that got me interested, and so here are the facts: Since we have installed the turbines, we have produced 2,791.2 KWhrs of electricity, and kept 2,847 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (assuming we were getting our electricity from a coal source, which we are). This month, we have generated almost 400 KWhrs of electricity. We certainly used a heck of a lot more than that to power our house, but it is a start, and it is free. Okay, well, the turbines were not free, but you get (I hope) the idea. It is free after the initial payback of the equipment, which I figure to be about 350 years. Whatever... I will temporarily step down from my soapbox.

Today was my second bee keeping class, and we are getting closer and closer to having our own bees. If you remember, a couple weeks ago, I got our five hives, and we got them all set up and ready to go. We are pretty much ready, but I will need to buy a few more items before the bees get here to have what all I need immediately. I think the bees will be here the end of March or so. I am a little bit concerned about doing this all alone (not sure if I can get Jody in a bee suit or not), so I have been putting out the word at the class that if folks want to experience this, they are welcome to come out and help. I have a couple folks that I think would like to come and work with me on it (Nic and Diane) and I think the Instructor (Konrad) may be available too. I tell you, this bee keeping stuff is pretty darn interesting. I am posting a couple photos from the class today, and the first one is me hold the smoker (bee marijuana) that calms them down and curbs their aggression. Another interesting fact: the color white calms the bees, and color black pisses them off. Who knew? The second photo is a shot of the interiors of the hive and the bees up close and personal.

When we got back to the bee warehouse, we did a tasting of honeys from around the world. Tasmania, Italy, and a variety of other honey from around Texas. It was pretty interesting, and I have to admit I have never eaten just nothing but honey before...I have always had honey on a biscuit with butter. An interesting concept. Some of the honey was really bitter, and left a bitter aftertaste in your mouth. Commercial honey producers heat their honey (almost a pasteurization process) so it will have a longer shelf life. Raw, natural honey last anywhere from three to nine months before it starts to crystallize. When it does that, you just put it in warm (up to 130 degrees) water for a while and it will flow easily again.

Jody and I are heading to an auction tonight in Georgetown. I think on the way we are going to stop at the Dairy Queen for a spoiler, and probably get something to eat after the auction. I do have my eye on a couple things at the auction, but I am going to try my best to NOT GET CARRIED AWAY in the process. Calm is the word. So, that is it for now, I will report the goings on of the auction when we get back.

Okay, we are back. RATS! The auction was kind of a bust. We had gone there to bid on a few particular things (one thing in particular) and it was not there. They said they had decided not to bring it because there had been no on-line bids. Well, that is because I intended to bid in person at the auction. I did not want to bid on-line, because I did not really care for anyone knowing that I was particularly interested in purchasing it. Maybe I am just crazy, or do not really understand the auction world. Whatever...

Tomorrow we are planning on cleaning out the martin houses, and I will need to feed the cattle and take a fresh bale of hay out to them. Stay tuned for cow photos. They are getting a little impatient, they have not been featured in the blog for at least two weeks, and they are not happy. They have very delicate sensibilities for such large creatures.

Okay, here is another sunset photo, this one I took just at 6 o'clock. I expect sunset was officially just a few minutes past six. This is the good thing about being out here in the country, nothing gets in the way of you and nature. That can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on nature at the time. Now, if it is a tornado (not uncommon up here) it can be a bad thing, but thankfully, there are a lot more sunsets than there are tornadoes, so I will take my chances.

Deeds, Changes, Actions, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!