Friday,
January 26, 2007 10:43 AM
I'm having
some fun this morning blogetterie' (don't look it up). I'm
amazed how much fun the day is when you're doing things you
want to do, even when A. they are good for you, B. they replace
spending money, and C. and are done in the SUNNNNNNN! Moving
to shorts today. I think it may be a permanent move.
So, I was out for a morning walk and along this bank that
was bulldozed up to form some sort of wall around an old trailer
park people have been dumping trash. I saw this sort of shopping
cart there last year and it is still there in exactly the
same position. Also there is a kids toy big wheel something
with fat tires and simple axles. See what I'm thinking?
As soon as I'm done with this and a little web work I'm headed
over to a Pow Wow - which I think is another flea market with
an Indian theme. You know how I am about spending money -
on other than solar, or Mountain House number 10 cans of freeze
dried chicken - but I'm putting out the bucks to buy some
shiny silver wire or nickel to adorn Barstick. I took him
for a walk this morning and he trashed talked that other stick.
Funny, I don't remember the cat being as talkative as the
walking stick. What's up with that? How long have I been out
here? Also, thank you to the many people who have reached
a consensus that I look best in the box welding hat. I thought
it was rather dapper too. That is what you meant, right?
Thursday,
January 25, 2007 7:46 PM
I've
been sketching various petroglyphs from my photos, getting
ready to decorate Barstick.
Just
doodles really as you can see, but boy are they hard
to capture. They are really light yellow on brown sometimes
white on light brown. They were pecked into the rock
and therefore are not lines. \
I
have to change them to black on white or sort of black
on yellow. I'm going to use a brown pencil or black
depending what I can find in my art
supplies
These
are a few of the important glyphs from my perspective.
I'm thinking 1, 2 and 3, and maybe the moon or the double
circles above, which I think are sun and moon.
But
let us return from mystery and look at the BIG TENT,
as this was my second day walking over. I'm sorry I
just can 't bring myself to take pictures in the tent
yet, but I did better at not being nauseated. I also
have a snap or two from the top of Q mountain. . |
I started
this morning by not going to coffee and I slept in until 7:30pm,
almost sun up. So I treated my body to a nice walk up Q mountain.
I brought my number two walking stick, not a contender to the
Barstick of course. I'm glad I had it because I found myself
on the steepest path up with is sort of a crawl and scramble.
On the way down I was happy to have the stick. Pics please!
You can just see the Q on the right hand side of Q mountain.
|
From the top of Q, my morning walk today, you can see
la Casa Blanca (in the red circle). |
These are Palo Verde beans, and pods above. I decided
to see how hard it was to grind them. |
I
had beans going in every direction. You can see the
little bit of yellow flour (shredded seed) |
I steeled my courage and walked back to the big tent.
Here I am coming in the back way. It was all too horrible
to photograph. Walkers, wheel chairs, the halt, the lame,
and the blind, all come to be healed at the shrine - THE
BIG TENT |
Here's just a general shot of the whole caboodle in use.
The HF panels are charging the two little batteries in
la Casa Blanca, the water tank is near empty and I'm siphoning
it into the water tank in the Safari, the trailer is hooked
up and the bike is locked in place. A Going Concern. |
Thursday, January 25, 2007 2:58 PM
Ran Prieur, who is a hell of a lot smarter than me, has been
boring me lately so I haven't been reading him as much. However
today, in another post that I don't find particularly germane
he did have this piece. Oh, and I fully admit that sometimes
I just don't know what he is talking about - which may be the
root of my boredom in that case. But this one paragraph caught
me today. Smack!
| So
where are we going next? It can be frightening and depressing
to drop out of the dominant system and have nowhere to
go. But it's also exciting, and a great responsibility,
because we have some power to decide what the next world
will be like, to lay down paths that will become highways.
- Ran Prieur - his
blog today. |
Thursday,
January 25, 2007 11:20 AM
I'm back from my hike up Q mountain - it was perfect exercise
in that I didn't die or fall off. I went up the steep way.
Found a question from Rick regarding unisolar versus the Harbor
Freight set for a small emergency or starter solar set. Here's
what I said, edited just a smitch.
| Yes,
I think the unisolar's the most bang for the buck today
for Oregon and the price if you can get them at $328
or less including shipping, is very competitive. Mark
did test his Unisolars at noon, directly pointed at
the sun was getting amperage that corresponds with 56W
here in the winter (the panel is rated at 64W)- remember
the sun is still low in the sky - it is winter even
in Q -more air to absorb the sunlight because of the
low angle.
So I do believe they put out 64W in the summer. I also
think that both the Harbor Freight and the Unisolar
- being film, will loose 15 percent of that wattage
in the first year then stabilize. So I would guestimate
a stable 50W /panel on the Unisolar after a couple of
years, and 35W for the Harbor Freight (HF) after the
same period.
Do the NUMBERS!
So you have $200/35W is $5.71 /W for the HF 3 panel
set and $320/50W equals $6.40 /W for the one panel,
big, Unisolar. I think the Unisolar is a better deal
because it produces better under clouds (no glass on
the front), it is nearly unbreakable, and because there
is no glass on the front and it has a texture like fiberglass,
the angle of the sun will be less critical to absorption.
The HF set I had to point right at the sun, and when
I tilted it dropped quick. I think that is from the
cheap glass on the front that is reflecting the light.
.
With the Unisolar you still have to add a charge controller,
but you can get 7 amp controller down here in the BIG
tent (or on line) for 15-18 dollars. I would buy the
Unisolar through Ebay and keep trying until I get one
at $288 plus shipping.
The
Unisolars triple junction film is made here in the US
and the cheap aluminum frame is added in Mexico and
they are shipped back up. The HF set is Chinese all
the way and I saw them in the big tent - same exact
panels labeled as Coleman with a better plastic frame
holding the three together with a BIG TENT show price
of $220 and a "retail" price of $279. That
did not include the lights or controller of the HF set,
so HF is a better deal. I did like the plastic frame
though. |
Thursday, January 25, 2007 8:17 AM
Good
morning desert bunnies, the sun is up and I am finally too.
I'm finally reaching a natural rhythm of sleep and waking after
the false dawn. My body loves not being punished with getting
up at a certain time. Several things this morning are banging
around the attic room.
When I move the DC welding project which, given the crudeness
and I suspect the box head picture, TJ has labeled "primal
welding." I don't know if that was a complement. BUT I
want to get to the point (oh please!), it was FUN! It isn't
knowing or learning or the warm feeling of being able to take
care of a problem wherever it occurs - oh yes- it's nice but,
when you strike the ARC the feeling that you have hold of the
tiger's tail, it is delicious. It is just like the feeling you
got, get, setting off firecrackers only it goes on and on. That's
why I welded my own bracket, just because it is fun.
So much of my website strikes many of you as gloomy. I hate
to say it, but that is YOUR perception. It is all FUN for me.
Writing it, preparing, learning skills, tracking bunnies (I
have not written about that as they make a complete fool of
me), welding, even probing the depths of who we are and what
we will become. I'm trying to move my close people, you, into
a position of greater flexibility for an uncertain future, yes,
but mostly I'm just here having a good time with it.
Life has all these random elements that are out of are control,
even when we are control freaks. Each day life brings me the
chance to laugh at myself, and boy to I enjoy it. That's why
I put the box picture up. I, we, are absurd and beautiful animals,
even if we are bread mold eating the substrate (earth). I'm
reminded of this because blog reader T asked me to look at the
quote of the day from Abraham-Hicks.
Here is the quote in its entirety: (Note for Evalyn, when do
I use its or it's - I forget?)
|
All is well, and you will never get it done. Life is supposed
to be fun. No one is taking score of any kind, and if
you will stop taking score so much, you will feel a whole
lot better -- and as you feel a whole lot better, more
of the things that you want right now will flow to you.
You will never be in a place where all of the things that
you are wanting will be satisfied right now, or then you
could be complete -- and you never can be. This incomplete
place that you stand is the best place that you could
be. You are right on track, right on schedule. Everything
is unfolding perfectly. All is really well. Have fun.
Have fun. Have fun! --- Abraham |
Wednesday,
January 24, 2007 8:35 PM
 |
The
top one is the broken bracket that used to connect to
the rear axle of my bicycle and allow the Burley trailer
to connect to an off road frame. TJ thought it up and
made this prototype out of some light tubing. It was
only to see if the concept would work, but you know
how that goes! It broke about 3 weeks ago and I have
been trailerless and bereft!
Below
the broken bracket is a mild steel tent stake that I
stole from la Casa Blanca and a washer that fits the
rear axle of the bicycle.
Mission improbable, make the bottom look or act like
the top. |
Above,
had to purchase this - welding rod. 6011 which is very
common but not so easy to use. I used to be quite good
with it. |
Left,
the arc welding rod. This is the most common rod, and
it was $15 for enough for many years. Above that batteries
are connected in series, positive to negative, then the
jumper cables were connected positive of one battery and
negative of the other battery to the jumper cables - being
used as my welding cables. |
You
can't look at arc welding - at the molten puddle because
it will burn your eyes, so you use at least a number 10
glass which was $1.29. I could have bought a very nice
helmet with all kinds of tricks for $250. The box was
free. Fit pretty good too. I made the whole myself and
taped the glass onto the box. |
That's
some ugly weld, Harry! Three runs are deep enough, but
I was making and breaking all over the place. I would
like to have had one more battery, raising the voltage
to 36V, but I was much better on the second pass and the
second weld on the bracket (see below) was pretty smooth.
It's like sex, it all comes back to you. |
 |
On
the left you'll see that the voltage after the first two
welds was 25.1V (remember we're in series and each battery
when fully charged is 12.6V. If you look at the pictures
above you'll see that the starting voltage was 25.5V.
That means I could have done a lot more welding with my
two battery DC rig. I set it up with positive clamped
to the piece and the negative clamp holding the rod.
You'll also notice the leather gloves which are necessary
so that you don't burn (and sun burn - ultraviolet) your
hands. This little DC voltage didn't cause as much spatter
as usually (with AC arc) so I didn't get to set things
on fire as I usually do. |
Here
I've taken the straight tent stake with the welded washer
to a rock and beat it senseless until it bent into an
upward curve. I then bolted it up and tested it. I wanted
still more curve so I took it off and beat it between
two big Q rocks with my little hammer until it gave up
and made a greater curve. I installed it and took it for
a ride across the boonies. Held fine, but I wasn't done
yet. |
Here
is the bracket completed but not yet painted. I finished
by adding a hanger bracket on the top. I just used vice
grips to hold it in place and welded the joint of the
tent stake and the rod where they crossed. That is why
I love welding. Clamp, buzz, done. I admit it is not beautiful
but it much much stronger than the previous bracket and
it was made of salvaged materials, salvaged batteries,
a cut up jumper cable and purchased rod. Success! |
As
ugly as the bracket is, I'm quite proud of it! I'll
paint it flat black tomorrow so that it disappears even
when the trailer is not attached. I was quite pleased
with the day's work, remembered a lot and learned a
lot about DC welding. It ain't purty, but I didn't burn
the trailer down either.
Right:
Nothing I can say will add to that picture. |
 |
Write
to you tomorrow chicklets!
Previous
Blog >>>
|
