Arrrrgh! Dogs!

Yesterday, I posted about natural stick railings and how attractive they are.  I mentioned that Pam noted that Ruby loves sticks, and she might look at the railings as her personal chew toy.

Well, yesterday's blog was sort of prophetic, only it wasn't Ruby, it was Olivia.  And it wasn't a stick, it was a piece of our parquet floor.  Yep.  She also chewed it up in our bed.

While Olivia was getting yelled at real good, Chevy came over to the head of the stairs to see what all the fuss was about.

So now you've met the dogs.  Ruby and Chevy the pit bulls, and Olivia the floor chewing German Shorthair Pointer.  I think they'll all love living in the woods in Bleecker where there's more sticks than you can... well... shake a stick at.

Natural Wood Railings and Ruby

I saw a photo of a natural wood railing posted on Facebook today by Wholesale Log Homes.  Although we don't intend to build a log home, they post many great ideas applicable to what we want our place to look like, like these...

I think that's absolutely beautiful.  They're made by a company called Mountain Laurel Handrail.

They're woven mountain laurel, but there's no reason I couldn't make my own railings using our own trees as a resource.  One downside of building railings using branches is that our dogs LOVE to chew up sticks, especially Ruby.

Meet Ruby.

Ruby might look at a rustic wood railing like a toybox.

If she can't find a stick, she'll play with what's handy.

No, I don't know why she thinks a five gallon bucket would make a good toy.  She's a dog.

Tonight's Sunsets

We're presently living on a boat in Georgia's low country.  One thing we love about it here is the gorgeous sunsets.  We're going to miss these when we move to Bleecker.

And then just a few minutes later...

We're hoping to have a nice view in Bleecker.  We're having it logged now, and hopefully we'll have a nice view across the valley to the mountain.  We won't see any sunsets, but will see sunrises.

Game Changing Solar Technology?

I've been calculating our planned home's energy needs.  What I've come up with is a need for 50 245 watt solar panels.  That's a lot of panels, and a lot of real estate.  I remember reading about new technology last fall, but for the  life of me I couldn't remember the name of it.  Well, I found it.  It's V3Solar.

One problem with flat solar panels is that they're rarely optimally positioned unless you have an expensive tracking system.  The performance of photovoltaics also decreases with heat.  V3Solar has come up with an ingenious way around both of these problems, and are claiming their system yields an astounding 20 times more energy from the same number of cells.

Rather than me describing it, watch this video.  Prepare to be amazed.

If it's truly 20 times more efficient, that means that I'd need 20 times less panels.  I could get by with three of these.  They even have "trees" to mount these things on to take up less space.

Probably scare the crap out of the chickens, though.  And my neighbors in Bleecker would think aliens moved in.

On again Off again. The Grid.

Blog Layout:

First, the layout.  This blog is pretty new.  I have another blog that documents our buying and fixing up an old boat and cruising down the east coast from Albany, New York to Brunswick, Georgia.  I'm very happy with that nautical looking layout, but it wouldn't work for an off-grid cabin in the woods.

So I've been tweaking the layout, moving things around so it doesn't look quite so cluttered, but at the same time it will be easy to find what you're looking for.  I also enlarged the size of the text because my old buddy Bob couldn't read it.  There's always reading glasses, Bob!

Off-grid versus On-grid:

In my research into off-grid solar energy, I'm getting a bit overwhelmed.  Not by the technology (although I figure I need 50 245 Watt panels, so there might be an issue here), but by the regulations and the bureaucracy.  I've learned that NYSERDA rebates require that you sell excess power to the grid, so there may go the off-grid thing, and we may wind up running power lines for a quarter of a mile and do grid-tie.  The utility company has to buy my power at full retail, and since I'd generate lots of electricity in the summer and not so much in the winter, that might be a good thing.  I wouldn't need the huge battery bank since the grid would be my storage.  Still, though, there's all those other charges buried in each utility bill to consider.

It's stuff like this that is telling me I might want to contract with someone well versed in solar.  Or maybe, more appropriately, in solar red tape.

Energy Efficient Appliances

I've been working on sizing our solar array.   Right now, I have it down to 52 245 watt panels if our furnace doesn't have a fan.  I need 20 more panels for that.

We use about 900 kilowatt hours a month on Drift Away.  I'm guessing close to 1,500 with a 1,000 square foot house.

Pam doesn't need a large refrigerator.  She says 10 cubic feet is fine, but she wants it frost free.  New refrigerators are much more energy efficient than they used to be, but still consume a lot of electricity.

So I'm now on a hunt for energy efficient appliances.  I know they must be out there somewhere.  I even posted on "Our Energy Independence Community".  If their forums are anything like the sailing forums I sometimes frequent, I should find some in depth answers there from people who have already researched this to death.

As I'm writing this, Bleecker New York is getting pasted by a snowstorm.  Between 12" and 18" is forecast.  With that much snow, tree branches come down taking power lines with them.  I'm more determined now than ever to keep our place off grid.

Oh, and now snow storms have names, by the way.   The Weather Channel decided so.  This one is named Euclid. That's not much fun.  I think they should name them after movie villains   Imagine getting hit by the Terminator Blizzard?  The Hannibal Lecter snow storm?  Now that would be memorable.

It's Christmas, fer Pete's sake

I lived most of my life in upstate New York and enjoyed many white Christmases there. I now live on a boat in Georgia. It's forecast to be in the 70s on Christmas day. There is nothing white nor traditional about Christmas for me here.

One holiday tradition I have, though, is to think back on Christmases past that I spent with my family.  I particularly like the photo below.

It was 1959 at my great-grandma's house in Lansingburgh, NY. My grandfather is on the left, next to my great-grandmother, then my mom (she was only 30 and "expecting" with my sister), and my dad's uncle. My grandpa had his glass of beer as well as a cigarette. Behind him are Christmas cards taped around the doorway. A small copy of the Last Supper is on the wall on the right. A jar of my mom's canned pickles is on the table. I remember this day well, even though I was only nine years old.


They're all gone now, but I have many fine memories of Christmases past to remember them.  The laughter, the love, the food... the joy of being a family.

I hope today's Christmas will be a memorable one for you and your loved ones.  Merry Christmas to you, from everyone here on Drift Away.

Honestly, I'm looking forward to Christmas 2013 where I hope I'll be posting to this blog from Bleecker, NY... sitting in front of a roaring fire in the wood stove, snow falling outside... me complaining about the snow and cold..  a Norman Rockwell kind of utopia.

Yes.  I am a hopeless romantic.  I enjoy being a hopeless romantic.  I am the king of hopeless romantics. If there was a hopeless romantic flag, I would fly it proudly.  If you're a guy reading this, c'mon... admit it.  You know it's true.  You miss the ghosts of Christmases past.  There's nothing about Christmas memories that makes you less manly.  Go ahead.  Today is a perfect day.  Dig out your old photo album from 50 years ago and think about Christmases past.  The funny parts, the loving parts... it's Christmas, fer Pete's sake.  It's OK.

- Dave