Summer \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Solstice Moon<\/p>\n
We are in the realm of the sun. \u00a0Heat and light. \u00a0Green and growing things. \u00a0Long days and short nights. \u00a0Glad to be here and glad it’s a short time. \u00a0Heat oppresses me much more than cold, which goes a long way to explaining why I continue to live here.<\/p>\n
Captured energy from the sun comes in many forms: \u00a0sugars, carbohydrates, meat, gasoline, heating oil, wind, hydrological. \u00a0Among humans a favorite form of storing and dispersing the sun’s energy is the generation and distribution of electricity.<\/p>\n
Even in the heat and light though access to electricity can vanish. \u00a0Be cut off. \u00a0Just ask the folks in Minneapolis after last weekend’s storm. \u00a0We rely on regular electricity for our air conditioner, refrigerator, freezer, computers, kindles, televisions and various other small appliances and lights. \u00a0It’s an important part of our life. \u00a0I couldn’t write and distribute this blog without it.<\/p>\n
And it works well nearly all of the time. \u00a0But when it doesn’t. \u00a0Uh-oh. \u00a0That’s why we wentto the expense sometime ago of installing a natural gas powered generator connected to the gas line feeding our home. \u00a0We would have no water. (We have our own well.) No A.C. \u00a0No lights.<\/p>\n
The electricity was not flowing along the circuits necessary for our irrigation clock and out to the machine shed aka honey house and the kid’s playhouse a ways beyond it. \u00a0Had to be fixed, especially the irrigation clock. \u00a0The white haired guy who ran electricity to the playhouse and installed some lights for us came out. \u00a0We wandered around, guy time you know. \u00a0Hmmm. \u00a0Head scratching.<\/p>\n
In both cases thank god it was g.i.f. related, that is, ground fault interrupters had tripped. \u00a0I didn’t know there was one in the garage; it’s hidden under shelving. \u00a0One fix.<\/p>\n
The sheds. I know about the g.i.f.s. \u00a0There are two, one in the garage and one in the shed. \u00a0I had reset both of them and still couldn’t get power to either shed.<\/p>\n
“It’s confusing,” he said. \u00a0Each building has to have its own cutoff switch, a switch that turns off power to the whole building. \u00a0The switch in the honey house has only that function, but you can turn the light off in there by either the pull chain or the switch. \u00a0However, once the switch is thrown all power is off the honey house. \u00a0So, if you use the pull chain, the light won’t light. \u00a0And, if you turn the bulb off with the pull chain, even restoring electricity to the shed with the switch won’t turn it on.<\/p>\n
And. \u00a0The playhouse gets its power through the same line as the honeyhouse. \u00a0So, shut the switch off in the honeyhouse and no power to the playhouse. \u00a0Plus. \u00a0The playhouse, as a separate building, has to have a main power switch. \u00a0Which it does, sitting right next to the light switch and looking identical to it. \u00a0Can you see the confusion here?<\/p>\n
So. \u00a0I went out to both sheds and put blue masking tape over \u00a0each of the main power switches. \u00a0This will reduce the likelihood of anyone using them as light switches. \u00a0Which starts the whole cascade over again.<\/p>\n
And all this just to distribute what the sun offers free to us all. \u00a0Strange, isn’t it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Summer \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Solstice Moon We are in the realm of the sun. \u00a0Heat and light. \u00a0Green and growing things. \u00a0Long days and short nights. … Continue reading GFI!<\/span>