11/17/2019

Thoughts On A Sunday

The early deep freeze has continued, with temperatures we usually see in January making themselves felt. We didn’t see above freezing yesterday, the overnight temp was about 16°F, and we reached just over freezing (34°F) today. While the Old Farmer’s Almanac says we’ll have a milder winter, I have to ask “As compared to what?” If -20°F is cold, is -15°F ‘milder’?

The cold temps did make it a little more difficult to make repairs to The Gulch’s front stoop. It was necessary to strip the decking from the stoop and the Trex planking had loosened and rather than refastening it, the decisions was made to lay down some new Trex to give the stoop a fresh look. (The old Trex was looking tired, had rust marks where the nails that were used to secure it to the frame were located, and the color no longer complemented the color The Gulch.) But now the stop looks pretty good and should be good for another 15 years or so.

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Considering the colder than normal temps we are experiencing, it seems like it would be a good idea to post a link to an important article that tells us how to tell if your firewood is seasoned.

I received a phone call from the folks who bought The Manse from us, asking for some advice about firewood. The Manse has a decent woodstove and they were planning to use it but weren’t sure whether the firewood they had was ready to burn. Fortunately for them the firewood they had was seasoned well enough for them to use. I did suggest that in the future they spend the extra money it would cost to get kiln-dried firewood as it is always ready to burn and gave them the phone number of a local supplier. Fortunately, the garage of The Manse had a rack built in to store firewood inside, keeping it out of the weather. The nice thing is that it could easily hold 3-½ cords of wood.

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Ken Lane (aka Wirecutter) over at Knuckledraggin’ relates the heartrending story of the unexpected and sudden passing of his beloved dog, Charliegodammit.

As I wrote in the comments, “They do work their way into our hearts, don’t they? I know there will be a Charlie-shaped hole in your life, much as anyone that has lost a four-footed and furry family member experiences. Bring him home, WC. Bring him home.”

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The Barrister is running an unscientific Scientific Survey for Guys.

The topic of his survey? What do you sleep in, if anything?

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I like this description of the Lord High Inquisitor Adam Schiff (D-CA): “Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff isn’t a constitutional scholar, but he plays one on Impeachment TV.”

His latest trick? Trying to redefine “bribery” so he can impeach President Trump. The problem is that his definition of bribery doesn’t even come close to the definition in the dictionary or the law books.

What a putz.

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Why doesn’t this surprise me?

The California legislature is working hard to make the Pyrite State a Third-World nation by further dismantling its energy infrastructure.

With its green dreams of an emission free state, California has not even been unable to generate enough of its own electricity in-state and imported 29% of its needs in 2018. The bad news is that imported electricity comes at higher costs and those costs are being borne by residents and businesses alike. California households are already paying 50% more, and industrial users are paying more than double the national average for electricity.

The future of electricity in California does not bode well as the State has chosen to not challenge the closure of the States’ last nuclear zero emission generating plant at Diablo Canyon, and 3 natural gas generating plants in Southern California.

With NO plans for industrial wind or solar renewable intermittent electricity projects to generate “replacement” electricity in-state, especially with the huge land requirements for those renewables, there will be a need to import from other states greater percentages of California’s electricity needs in the years ahead. And as you guessed it, more costs to the consumers and businesses who are already infuriated with high costs.

Making the cost of energy unsustainable and the supply unreliable helps no one. As the problems get worse, I have no problem believing that eventually even the high-tech elite will abandon California because remaining there will no longer make economic sense. Once they leave, California is done.

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Who’s next on the #Resisters hit list?

Attorney General William Barr.

Why? Because he said something they didn’t like.

So, what’s the problem? Are Democrats upset that Barr is describing them to a T? The article features multiple tweets by multiple unhinged Democrats being unhinged, forgetting what happened January 20, 2009-January 19, 2017.

Deranged, all of them.

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And that’s the news from, Lake Winnipesaukee, where it feels more like January rather than mid-November, ice has been forming 4 weeks early on some of our ponds, and where the Trusty RAM 1500 will be getting its annual undercoating a couple of weeks early.