The Path

Yesterday I got the path I'm installing on the west side of the property more-or-less wrapped up. All the heavy work is done. Early this AM the Old Amigo figured out a way to trim it out nicely. I met the new neighbors... a young couple with two little kids. Great that we'll have some children in the neighborhood again. Nicki, that's the wife, came over and asked me what I was doing. "Trying to make the view a little bit nicer from your new kitchen," I replied. I think she liked that.

Angel volunteered to go over to Henry's to get more "Mt. Shasta Medium Bark Chips". I bought five bags there, but it wasn't enough to fill the frames to the right level. Unfortunately, now the guy at Henry's says that they have never heard of this product. Go figure. I still have a big pile of bark shreds from when I rented the shredder, but that's more useful for mulching. It's too fine to be placed anywhere that is exposed to the wind.

We'll get it dialed in. Even if we have to go over to Sequim and get some bags from HD, we'll figure out a way to wrap this up and make it look good.

Today is cool and windy, the dog days of August masquerading as autumn. It is nearly time to dismantle the bird netting over the main garden. Yesterday I chased Young Bambi and some of his friends out of one of our flower gardens three times. OTOH, we had a visit from a pair of bald eagles. They rested near the top of one of the big pines just north of us. Spectacular.

Well, I need to read some material for a job I'm bidding on. It looks interesting and the gig is with a startup with some smart guys. Could be fun.

Press on.

Energy Update

Went through all our electric bills this AM and updated my energy use spreadsheet. The Old Amigo was curious about something. Yesterday, you see, we received our notice from Puget Sound Energy that our annual production credit would amount to just over $700 for the previous 12 month period. That's in addition to the monthly bill reductions we get due to instantaneous PV output. Then there is the sale of Green Tags. That's not much, and it prevents me from "making any claims, public or private about our home being 'solar powered' (the Amigo is not claiming that!)"

Anyway, with one thing and another, I figure our total energy bill is about $1100 less per year than it would be if we didn't have that PV system on our roof.

We installed the system when the Republicans' renewable energy policies were in effect, which meant (big surprise) that businesses could deduct a percentage of their installation from their taxes but homeowners could deduct a percentage up to a (modest) total number of dollars. It's better now: homeowners and businesses get the same deal.

So I figure that we're getting a partially tax free financial return of about 4.4% on our PV system investment. Why tax free? Because we're not generating income; instead we're lowering costs. That's not bad. Plus, it's locked in as long as the price of electricity doesn't drop precipitously. I suppose that's a possibility. Do I hear hysterical laughter at that prospect?

Several times people have asked me "when's the payback?" for my PV system. This was usually asked with a somewhat superior smirk that implied I was stupid for installing the system at all. The implication that something that wouldn't pay for itself in five years or less was a waste of money. Now I've decided that the whole payback question is bogus.

We have to buy electricity anyway. The house is energy efficient (HERS index ~50... we use about 6.3 kW-hr/sq. ft.), so we're not using the PV system to offset a profligate use of energy.

If you were to invest in a bond fund that gave you a 4.4% rate of return that is likely to rise with energy prices, you wouldn't be considered stupid.

Would you?

The West Side

More progress on the path I'm installing on the west side of our garage. Yesterday I was able to level a space 3' x 8' and lay in a frame of treated lumber. Now I'm in the process of filling the center with ~4" of dirt.

The dirt is over on the east area - the newly terraced bit where I have 550 landscape blocks stacked. That project is in line after the path and garage-west cleanup/beautify. Anyway, I needed to get the dirt moved. That means the wheelbarrow. First wheelbarrow full, I noticed that the tire needed air. Seriously.

So I rummaged around in the garage to find the air hose. That took about a half hour. Then I hooked everything up and fired up my air compressor... first time in about a year. Turns out that one of the fittings was damaged slightly in our move, so there's a slight leak. It's still good enough to hold some air though. Got the wheelbarrow tire pumped up. Then the tires on the hand truck (one of those was completely empty). Finally I pumped up the front tire on the bike.

Then I bled the air compressor and opened the water valve on the bottom of the tank and put everything away.

Then I hauled four more wheelbarrows of dirt over. I think another ten or so will do it. Then I'll wet everything down and let it sit for a week. Then I will be able to pull up the frame and lay in some landscape fabric. When the frame goes back down, another 24 square feet of path will be ready for bark chips.

Little by little.

Teaser

You may have noticed that the frequency of my posts has fallen off a bit. Well, there's a reason for that: I've been working on a novel. Alternate earth thing. Kind of an adult fantasy w/ a bit of horror thrown in. I'm 275 pages into the first draft with a target of ~500 pages. Unlike my first attempt (about 20 years ago) this story has an outline and even has an ending that's sorta worked out... sorta.

So anyway, my good old buddy LLM suggested that I post a little sample in the blog. This is from a couple of hundred pages in. Remember, it is a rough draft. As I read it there are things that I want to change, but right now I am focusing on getting the story told. Then I want to go back and tighten up the writing.

I hope you enjoy it.

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She supposed, by the pulsing orange light that lit the alien landscape around her, it might be day in this world. Today, she tracked something larger. Something the size of a dog, but with bigger TEETH and a wiry, bristly coat. These things were all TEETH it seemed. They must have some senses, for they detected her and snarled when she neared. They’d seemed to have no eyes, though, or discernible ears.

She had climbed far up and lain very still and when one of these things had scuttled beneath her perch, she had dropped, thrown a large rock upon its back. There had been a satisfying crunch and a hissing yelp.

Alicia neared her prey. It still lived. Still had TEETH. But she reached forward like a snake and in one movement grabbed its hind leg. It tried to snap at her, but she turned in a flash and dashed its head on the stones. Over and over she did this, long past sensing any movement in the thing.

Then she began to feed. It had little power, but it was meat. It was blood and bone and gristle. She fed for a time and then clutching what was left to her like some hideous doll, she moved back across the boundary into the Place.

She wandered long but eventually found what she sought: a place in the rocks where she could fashion her lair. Of course it was already inhabited, but she enticed its current tenant, something long and sinuous, out with the smell of the prey she had brought from the boundary world.

If Alicia retained any capacity for love or enjoyment, it was love of the hunt -- especially the ambush. She made her way around and above the entrance to the place that she had marked as hers and there she waited. Barely breathing, unaware of the rank smell that surrounded her, unaware of what she had become, she waited.

The long, sinuous thing nosed from its place in the rocks. It could smell the carrion Alicia had left and it was hungry, but it was also cautious. It would move out and then dart back at some shift in the misty light, at some distant sound. Alicia waited. Two or three times, the sinuous thing almost reached the rent carcass before it retreated. Alicia waited.

Eventually, the thing’s hunger overcame its caution and it emerged fully. It was at least seven feet long. Easily the biggest prey she’d attempted. A risk, but worth it for what it might bring to her. Alicia waited until a split second before the thing’s jaws had closed on the bait. And then, committing herself fully to the attack, she leaped from her perch.

Somehow, the thing sensed her movement, and turned so that its belly faced upwards. Alicia had enough time to see that its belly featured barbs -- probably venomous -- that protruded several inches and then she landed full on its exposed neck.

Her initial blow did not kill the thing, but it stunned it. It tried to recover, tried to bring those barbs to bear on its tormentor, but Alicia had already sunk her teeth into the flesh just below the jaw. She reached underneath the thing with her right hand to hold the bottom of the jaw and force it back against her knee. She added the strength of her left arm pressing down in concert with the pull of her right.

Still it struggled, but clearly it was weakening. Alicia bit harder, burying her face as fluids gushed around her, blinding her, filling her nose, coursing down the front of her once beautiful body. She continued to bite, continued to bend the thing’s neck back and back and back until it finally snapped.

The long, sinuous thing, shivered and lay still.

If in life it could not overcome its attacker, its life force was strong and as that life force flowed into the thing that Alicia was becoming, it rocked her back and she lay panting. She panted the way one might expect a mother to pant in childbirth, but instead of birthing a child, Alicia was transforming into a twisted version of herself. Had another hunter come by just then she would have been helpless, but the helplessness passed quickly enough and strange energies surged into her.

And then she fed with abandon.

550 Stackable Landscape Blocks

It took the guys from Henery "Do It Best" Hardware two trips to get these blocks unloaded into the south side of the yard. I unloaded about a quarter of them. Angel did some too.

Local lore around here is that since Henery's is the only game in town, they think they have a license to gouge, price-wise. While some things may indeed be pricey, we have found them to be pretty darn competitive in most areas... and they delivered these bad boys for free!

Bill, the master bulldozer guy from Shold Excavating leveled this area beautifully. It will be a pleasure to work with the landscape blocks to begin terracing this part of the yard. That part is very cool. Once this bit is done, we'll double the size of our gardenable area. Bill also leveled the area to the immediate east of this, and we'll be able to terrace that as well... or perhaps add raised beds. Haven't decided on that bit yet.

But all is not perfection in garden-land. As I was getting ready to type this, I looked out the window to see a young deer looking for forage right in the middle of this area. Now we're right next to nature trails and open space, and the deer have lots and lots of grazable space. The thing is, they've become overly used to humans (some people tend to treat them like pets) so they tend to pillage gardens.

Our main garden is fenced. It is likely that we will need to fence this area as well once we're ready to start using it. So far the deer seem to take the path of least resistance. There are plenty of things to eat -- in our yard, the neighbors' yards, on the trails, and in the city parks and greenbelts (to say nothing of the state parks and national forests). We are, after all, at the edge of the continent up here. So the deer won't go hungry if we limit their access to our edibles.

Energy Update: July averaged over 20 KWH/day of PV energy production.