What did you do today? - 2020 version

[MRG]

Woke up to this guy at the window.

Today is hot, 92°F, it's air-conditioning day!!!! We have central air, not many houses do here, and generally turn on the AC once a year. Tomorrow looks like we won't need it so that's the plan.

Went to Durango this morning. I let the vehicle do most of the driving. I was able to see more of the beautiful scenery that I'd seen the last 50 times I drove this route.

 

[Zig56]

I am still alive and well, and still hiding from the COVID virus, plus the hot weather here. It is 116F (47C) here today.

Been babysitting my solar system and its battery. Bought an additional 2.6 kW worth of panels to add to the installed 5.5-kW array. Did not want to climb on the roof to install the new panels in the heat (I ran out of room to do another ground mount), so just laid out 7 new panels on the pool deck perimeter, and ran some jury-rigged wires from them to a new additional charge controller.

I thought I would have plenty of juice for that 2nd mini-split, and I do, but there is not much excess power to store in the 22-kWh battery to carry through the night. One day, when the high of the day was a mere 105F and the low in the morning was 80F, the battery had enough charge to run the house through the night until sunrise again. Son of a gun! But that is not true anymore, when the high is more than 115F (46C) and the low is 90F (32C). Man, that is hot. Now, I run out of solar juice at around 9PM, and everything switches back to the grid.

Still, I have quite a bit of shading due to my own 2-story home and the neighbor's tree, so will have a bit more juice when I install the additional panels on the roof, instead of laying them around the pool as I do now.

And in order to store more juice, I just acquired another 7 kWh worth of lithium battery. It will not be until next summer that I know if the panels produce enough juice to fill up the total storage of 29 kWh. In any case, a bigger battery will not be worked as hard in terms of charging/discharging cycle depth, and will last longer. More is always good. Same with battery as with money.

PS. I saw the sad news that Khan passed away. RIP.

I’m glad to see you are alive and well, I missed hearing about your adventures.

 

[Gumby]

Did you have to do a 14 day quarantine when you got to Maine?

No. When we went up early on June 27, the rule in Maine was either 14 day quarantine or a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of arriving in Maine. The young wife and I got COVID tests here in CT on June 24 in the evening (both negative) and got to Maine within 72 hrs. On July 3, the Maine governor changed the rule, so that people coming from CT do not need to quarantine or get a COVID test. So I got a very long swab jammed unbelievably far up my nose pretty much for nothing. But it could have been worse; I could have come up positive.

 

[W2R]

I am still alive and well, and still hiding from the COVID virus, plus the hot weather here.

So glad you are doing OK!

It is 116F (47C) here today.

It's 104 degrees in the shade today.

Here in my New Orleans suburb, it was 103F today.

Today is hot, 92°F, it's air-conditioning day!!!!

Hot? hot? Just you wait! Summer's not over yet.

 

[MRG]

So glad you are doing OK!


Here in my New Orleans suburb, it was 103F today.

Hot? hot? Just you wait! Summer's not over yet.

We generally run the AC one day a year. Tomorrow its supposed to be upper 80s and then it goes middle 80s to low 50s at night for the next couple weeks. Kinda normal.[emoji16]

 

[Koogie]

Lumber. It's the new toilet paper.....

My local Lowes this morning. The HD wasn't much better.

 

[MichaelB]

Lumber. It's the new toilet paper.

Just watch out for the splinters ..

 

[aja8888]

What the heck is everybody doing with the lumber? There's no hurricane coming this way? Maybe building an Ark?

 

[MBAustin]

Yesterday we had placed an order for a takeout dinner from one of the best restaurants in Austin and I thought it would be a good idea to take DH's van to pick it up as it hadn't been out in awhile. Well, it had been longer than I thought and the battery was low enough that it would't start, and DH has a medical appointment tomorrow. So today started with a call to AAA (my 4th battery jump this year ). Tech said I should drive it for 45 minutes to fully charge but the only errands I had to run were within 5 miles. So I just headed down towards the airport to check out the new toll road construction. Lots of progress since the last time I was down that way mid-May. On the way home, picked up a letter to answer for our prison ministry and a prescription for DH plus a graduation card and gift card for a great-nephew.

Had some leftovers from the (very yummy) dinner for lunch and finalized the agenda for a ZOOM committee meeting later today. Now just surfing for a bit. One downside to COVID is that I'm spending so much more time on my computer that I now need my reading glasses again. Bummer.

 

[aja8888]

Yesterday we had placed an order for a takeout dinner from one of the best restaurants in Austin and I thought it would be a good idea to take DH's van to pick it up as it hadn't been out in awhile. Well, it had been longer than I thought and the battery was low enough that it would't start, and DH has a medical appointment tomorrow. So today started with a call to AAA (my 4th battery jump this year ). Tech said I should drive it for 45 minutes to fully charge but the only errands I had to run were within 5 miles. So I just headed down towards the airport to check out the new toll road construction. Lots of progress since the last time I was down that way mid-May. On the way home, picked up a letter to answer for our prison ministry and a prescription for DH plus a graduation card and gift card for a great-nephew.

Had some leftovers from the (very yummy) dinner for lunch and finalized the agenda for a ZOOM committee meeting later today. Now just surfing for a bit. One downside to COVID is that I'm spending so much more time on my computer that I now need my reading glasses again. Bummer.

Why not get a $40 Battery Tender and connect it to your van if you only drive it infrequently? The trickle charge will keep the battery fresh and eliminate calls to AAA.

 

[TrvlBug]

Lumber. It's the new toilet paper.....

My local Lowes this morning. The HD wasn't much better.

We had a couple of custom trellises built a couple of weeks ago by some carpenters. 'Blow that dough' trellises. Very labor intensive. The lumber was more than the labor .

 

[GalaxyBoy]

The little 4-legged dude needs prescription cat food. I placed an online order 10 days ago and hadn't heard a peep so I internet-chatted with them. Turns out the manufacturer is out of it and can't say when they will be able to fulfill orders again, and oh-so-sorry we didn't bother to let you know before you ran out. So I found some in stock locally and went out to buy all they had, which was only two cases. I guess I'm a hoarder, but the little dude has issues and changing diet isn't a good thing, even if we can find an alternative.

I also did the weekly sourdough baking (started a few years ago), took my daily 2.5 mile walk, and relaxed a bit. Still a typical busy day in spite of staying home most of the time.

 

[Walt34]

Well, it had been longer than I thought and the battery was low enough that it would't start, and DH has a medical appointment tomorrow. So today started with a call to AAA (my 4th battery jump this year ).

Why not get a $40 Battery Tender and connect it to your van if you only drive it infrequently? The trickle charge will keep the battery fresh and eliminate calls to AAA.

What he said. I have two of these, one is on my pickup truck all of the time, and since COVID stuff started the other is on the Honda much of the time too. Works a charm:

https://www.amazon.com/Schumacher-S...e&sprefix=battery+tender,aps,623&sr=1-35&th=1

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Oh, and I'll be going out to see if I can catch the comet tonight. It will be quite low, if I can see it at all. The next few nights will see it getting higher in the evening sky.

 

[street]

I am still alive and well, and still hiding from the COVID virus, plus the hot weather here. It is 116F (47C) here today.

Been babysitting my solar system and its battery. Bought an additional 2.6 kW worth of panels to add to the installed 5.5-kW array. Did not want to climb on the roof to install the new panels in the heat (I ran out of room to do another ground mount), so just laid out 7 new panels on the pool deck perimeter, and ran some jury-rigged wires from them to a new additional charge controller.

I thought I would have plenty of juice for that 2nd mini-split, and I do, but there is not much excess power to store in the 22-kWh battery to carry through the night. One day, when the high of the day was a mere 105F and the low in the morning was 80F, the battery had enough charge to run the house through the night until sunrise again. Son of a gun! But that is not true anymore, when the high is more than 115F (46C) and the low is 90F (32C). Man, that is hot. Now, I run out of solar juice at around 9PM, and everything switches back to the grid.

Still, I have quite a bit of shading due to my own 2-story home and the neighbor's tree, so will have a bit more juice when I install the additional panels on the roof, instead of laying them around the pool as I do now.

And in order to store more juice, I just acquired another 7 kWh worth of lithium battery. It will not be until next summer that I know if the panels produce enough juice to fill up the total storage of 29 kWh. In any case, a bigger battery will not be worked as hard in terms of charging/discharging cycle depth, and will last longer. More is always good. Same with battery as with money.

PS. I saw the sad news that Khan passed away. RIP.

Glad to hear from you, again NW-bound.


"And what did I do today" ah let me see, not a Damn thing. Lol There hasn't been many of them but today was a very lazy day.

 

[Calico]

I joined AARP today.

I will be signing up for Medicare in two months, and I discovered that in order to be eligible for the UHC Plan G and the Rx plans offered through AARP, I need to be a member (which makes perfect sense). I'd been meaning to join for a long time anyway.

I also realized this afternoon that I will be giving my retirement notice to my boss in exactly 49 days on September 1 - broke the 50 day barrier!

Last but not least, I gave thanks this afternoon that I have the luxury and the gift of working from home until I retire. If I had had to spend the last four months and the next six months tied to my desk in the office I would have lost my mind from the tedium and the silly office politics. Now, I can focus on just getting the job done without all the unnecessary social interactions with people. This is heaven for me.

Did I mention I'm 96% INTJ and 4% misanthrope?

 

[Souschef]

I am really stoked! I was watching the first episode of Tough as Nails on CBS. They had a railroad competition on the railroad I work on!. On the caboose challenge, I have been a docent on both of them and have keys to both cabooses. The last part of the challenge was between Fillmore and Piru California. we live about 20 miles west, and those are our mountains.
https://www.cbs.com/shows/tough-as-nails//

 

[6miths]

Having a major landscape job done so I have spent the last week alternating between creative consultant and grunt laborer. Have lost a few pounds and gained a couple others.

 

[Gumby]

Today, I found out that I have a first cousin I never knew about. It turns out that one of my dad's two sisters had a baby girl when she was young and single. She gave the child up for adoption. The woman's adoptive parents recently died and she decided to track down her birth family. She found my dad through a "23 and me" match. (He had submitted a swab right before he died in 2018.) Sadly, my aunt/her birth mother died of cancer in 1972. She was, however, able to track down my other, younger aunt and meet with her. My newfound cousin is two years younger than me, so I remain the oldest of my generation. I don't know if she has found her birth father.

 

[Ronstar]

DW is within a couple of months of FRA. We signed her up today to start receiving SS.

 

[Walt34]

Grilled some marinated chicken breasts on the back porch. Yum.

 

[street]

Had Zoom Board Meeting this morning. Then went to ranch and watered tree nursery, mowed grass around he place and picked wild berries. I also pumped water from crick into a tote for tree watering. Got home eat and went and checked my minnow traps.

 

[MichaelB]

I saw my mum today. She’s in a senior home that has been in full lockdown since March. She needed to see a doctor, my sister took her, and we met up in the parking lot of the senior home for a short but very fulfilling get together in the car. I’m very happy we had an opportunity to see each other.

 

[street]

^ that is awesome!

 

[audreyh1]

I am still alive and well, and still hiding from the COVID virus, plus the hot weather here. It is 116F (47C) here today.

Yay, you’re back! Welcome back!