Daily Archives: April 14, 2008

Great Work, Politics, Weather +Climate

Megafarm Hydroponics

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54 bar steep fall 30.20 0mph SSE  dewpoint 18  Spring

               First Quarter Moon of Growing

A 28 degree spread between 8:00 AM and right now.  We still have patches of snow, but they lie now mostly in the shade or north facing slopes.  The tulips, daffodils and iris should continue their growth.  The magnolia buds look pregnant.  Some of the garlic has broken the surface, about 7 bulbs.  It’s starting.

The generator now sits on its little pad on the west wall of our garage.  The electrician has been here all day.  He cut into the garage wall with a reciprocating saw to splice the transfer switch into our electrical panel.  This transfer switch plus a sensing device discovers a power outage, waits a beat or two to be sure the electricity is really off, then turns the generator on and transfers itself as the power source for the house.  When the power comes back on, it senses that, too, then transfers the generator off-line and runs it a bit longer to cool it down and allow it to shut down smoothly. 

It’s not ready to go, yet, however.  The next step is to run the gas line from the new gas meter (not installed yet) up through the garage ceiling and down to the generator’s fuel intake.  The next step after that is–pay for it.

The Megafarm hydroponics (the second and larger plastic tub) has begun to function, too.  I filled the reservoir with seven gallons of nutrient solution, smoothed out a kink in the tubing connecting the pump.  It needs to get set on a two hour cycle soon, but right now, I’m filling the growing bed and shutting the pump off by hand.  It has a few lettuce plants and three tomato plants.  This is all still experimental, but it feels like we’re headed in the right direction with it.

Kate has prepared snacks and drinks for the meeting tonight.  All I have to do is meet and greet.  Should be fun.

Great Work, Politics, Weather +Climate

Oh, How the Activist Has Fallen

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30  bar steady  30.31 0mph N dewpoint 21 Spring

                      First Quarter Moon of Growing

A crisp morning, 26 as I went out for the paper, and, if we can believe the meteorologist, the day will end with the temperature in the high 50’s, headed toward 70 or close to it in the remainder of the week.  This spring has been so reticent, almost shy, that it may once again run from its aging parent, winter.  I hope not.  I’m ready for the joys and tasks, often the same at this time of year, of the growing season.

This evening I have a Sierra Club gathering at the house, a brief one hour meeting to hear about the legislative agenda and an opportunity to sign a petition.  Oh, how the activist has fallen.  In my former life I sneered at petitions and resolutions, both tools of liberals to give the appearance of doing something while risking nothing.  Now I host gatherings for signing one.  My hope is that it will lead to more direct political engagement further on down the line.

An electrician is here, prepping our electrical service for installation of our Kohler 12W generator.  It will run off the natural gas piped to our house by Centerpoint, eliminating the gasoline conundrums (going bad and service stations not working in a power outage) and the necessity of a propane tank.  I’m still not sure this is not a sledge hammer for a mosquito, but the first significant outage we have will prove me wrong.  Since that could happen any time, I guess the pro-argument is sound, especially since Kate has started making lots of money in her new work at Urgent Care.