Coffee 9-10-11

With the rising "pond" across the street and all the water we are being literally inundated with mosquitos here. You can't go outside for more then a minute and they are on you. I had the window fan running, now they are in the house. The cellar window is open, resting on the hoses for sump pumps #3 & 4. I just went down there to check the pumps and have several new bites. Little bastards!

are there any problems w/eee or west nile virus from the mosquitos down there we just lost a pretty good man up here from eee, started w/ headaches then 1 wk. later he was dead, they stopped all activities on town fields after 4:00 pm

Yeah, same here.... 24 hours after Irene passed thru, the mosquito population exploded.

Wood'nCoal wrote:With the rising "pond" across the street and all the water we are being literally inundated with mosquitos here. You can't go outside for more then a minute and they are on you. I had the window fan running, now they are in the house. The cellar window is open, resting on the hoses for sump pumps #3 & 4. I just went down there to check the pumps and have several new bites. Little bastards!

I have not heard of any reported cases...so far.

I hear they don't run well on ethanol. Drink more BEER

Best Coffee Ever ! Must have some skeeter&tick repellent in it 'cause I aint been chewed on yet since I drank the day-old stuff this a.m. ! Good to be home and at Freddy's once again !

That sceeter & tick repellent will cure damn near anything that ails ya if you drink it right down.

Freddy: thanks for the coffee and eggs, I'll pass on the sausage, I love the stuff, but it is guaranteed heartburn in three hours.. so I have learned not to indulge myself.
I've never had ChokeCherry jelly, in our area, chokecherry's are trees, with a small berry, but I don't see the birds going after them very often, they must not tasste very good.. a real cherry tree however, is burried in birds once the cherries are getting ripe.

What a week !! Reading about the flooding really make me think just how bad Mother Nature can mess up our lives..

I've been monitoring the flooding in Hershey, I recognize almost all the areas that are shown on U-tube Videos available on the net. One intersection of HershyPark Dr and 322, of which there are at least 6 Videos, I've been through every October at least 10-12 times. I've bought fuel many times at the 'Sheetz' gas station. I've had dinner at the [underwater] PizzaHut.

Thankfully my buddy and family who lives in the Hershey area, moved two years ago out of the neighborhood he had lived in for more than a decade, and bought a place in the country, on high ground. He and his family were stranded for awhile, he coould not get out to any stores, etc for about a day.. Had to get creative with driving routes in order to get around. But everyone and all the possessions/buildings are ok.. If he'd not moved, it would be a different story, his old neighborhood had lots of flood damage, and many were stranded for days.

I can see that the AACA national meet in Hershey is going to be a bit different this year. If the Swatara Creek damaged the bridges any, it will be a driving nightmare. The Hersheypark is all paved now, but the public parking area was on the Swatara Creek's floodplain, and it still is under several feet of water. So I have no clue what will be done for public parking.. It's always a problem, this year a really big problem.. I guess they will have 2wd and 4wd-only parking areas.

Freddy: how about an update on your electrical grid, it's final appearance, it's performance and any suggestions for those who are contemplating doing the same?

Time to get to work.
Greg L.

Well... my solar array... It's working! Here's a photo from today. I can't get a straight on pic as there are trees in the way. They don't block the sun, but they do block the view from the ground.

The stats: 6,900 watt system, using Enphase micro inverters. It is thirty, 230 watt panels. (Four are on the garage & not in these pics) Here's a website for those that want to see my system: http://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/publ ... /hg3n22712

On August 5th the power company put a new smart meter on my house. It looks like a traditional meter, but will run backwards, and sends readings to the power company through the wires. We use about 650 KWHs a month, year 'round. Since that day the array has produced 100% or our power and also pushed 550 KWH's out to the grid for which we get 100% credit. So, as the days get shorter, or the panels covered with snow, we will have some credits to use. This year the credits will run short, but as we get more time under our belt it should supply all of our power all year. We are hoping for an 11 year payback. A few weeks ago we got a notice that the electric rates are going up. I jumped with excitement... "Yes!". This will shorten our payback.

I another weeks or so we will get our first 30 day bill. That will be the day we find out just exactly what the minimum bill is. I think it's around $8 a month. Even if it's $12, that's better than the usual $130!

I think yesterday was a record day for saving up credits. It produced 43 KWHs, but we did not use the AC at all. Our record day was 48, but we burned over 20 by running the AC. Today looks to be similar. So far, so good.

It's not for everyone. You won't see any in Fl as the power rates there are so cheap.

Good for you Freddy, I'm envious.

Been a busy weekend over here. Finally got the Blazer project going, & the engine is now OUT! Took a day off to go fishing with a buddy of mine yesterday .... but I think it would have been better for both of us if we had just stayed home! More on that later ...

So I was happy to find that the newer Jimmy "true" Vortec engine block is basically identical to the old one. I was able to easily swap the oil filter hoses over, so I can continue to use the current filter location up on the driver side fender, instead of under the front of the engine, as on the Jimmy. During that swap I encountered what oil was left (this thing burned a quart every 50 miles ... hence the project), if you can call it that! Looks like it came out of a Cat diesel! Also found that the motor mounts will only be 1/2" higher than the old ones, so I'm hoping clearance issues will be minimal. I'm tempted to just toss the engine in tomorrow & be done with it .. but this little voice in my head is telling me to pull the oil pan & fix the leaky gasket ... and throw 2 new head gaskets in as well. But I'm betting the body will rot off the frame before those leaks become an issue. They're more of a weep than a leak. What's making me think of doing head gaskets was the squirt of water or coolant I got when I removed the drain plug. It's highly likely it was due to condensation due to where it was stored, as the exterior of the engine has rusted heavily since it was placed there 9 months ago. I'll have to decide tomorrow ....

As for the fishing trip, we had planned to fish near my place, which is a 45 minute drive north for my buddy. Well, after trying 3 lakes that were closed due to flooding ( ramp & parking lots gone! ), we tried on last lake. It was open ... but there was a line! We said the hell with that. Ended up going back to my house to get the truck, & I followed my buddy down to his area, which had no flooding whatsoever (another strange quirk of MA ... ). Got out there about an hour later than planned, but within the first hour I ended up landing a 4 pound largemouth!

From there the day went downhill. Ended up fumbling with my pole for some unknown reason, & it slipped out of my hand & went straight to the bottom of the lake. A $220 setup too. After an hour of casting a giant treble hook out on a string, I actually snagged it & got it back to the boat. Only casualty was a broken tip, which can be repaired. I used the Pflueger reel the rest of the day, but it lost it's former smoothness - I'll have to tear it down & re-grease.

Then after that, my buddy did the exact same fumble with his $400 Ipod. It's at the bottom of the lake, completely unrecoverable. He had 8 straight days of music on the thing too.

And neither one of us had a drop to drink. We're smart enough not to give the state any more of our money for nothing!

Heyyyy, nice fish Smitty! BTW... Looks like you forgot to shave for a week!

Antifreeze in the oil? My money is on the intake gaskets...nearly ALL of them fail on those engines.

SMITTY wrote: I actually snagged it & got it back

Lucky! Why would you even think you could? LOL Good move. Nice fish! An Ipod for a fish, huh? Seems it was only about $100 a pound.