Heat Wave

Well it’s hotter than the hinges of hell out there. Half the country is having a heat wave. It would be a bad time for the grid to go down.

My house, here in the Great North Woods of New Hampshire, has never had air conditioning. What it does have is big shady hemlocks and a breeze off the pond.

-and ceiling fans.

Never forget about the ceiling fans. It’s nice to have enough solar power to run the ceiling fans and other basic electrical needs.

Today is the day when my heating oil delivery comes in. It’s weird to buy heating oil in the middle of a heatwave but that’s really the time to buy. We are in volatile times so there’s no predicting what the cost or availability of oil will be by fall.

Currently I have three ways of heating the house: oil, wood, and electricity. There were plans to put in a heat pump but doctor’s visits are eating up disposable income right now. Such is life.

-Sixbears

Still Here

It’s been a minute. I had a lot of distractions to deal with but now find myself with some downtime.

Long story short I’m meeting with a surgeon on Thursday. I’ve a huge lump on my leg (apparently non-cancerous) that’s getting bigger all the time. It’s affecting my ability to walk properly and keeps me in low level pain. A simple operation should sort it all out.

As you can well imagine it derailed my plans to participate in the Scooter Cannonball, which is happening right now. Such is life -the best laid plans of mice, men and all that. I was able to recover some of my Cannonball funds but not all.

The news looks interesting. Let’s cross our fingers and hope for the best outcome.

-Sixbears

Break Time

I’m taking a Blogging break. Right now I’m thinking of resuming after the US election. Frankly, my preps are going to change depending on the outcome. 

If sometime major inspires me before then I might post, but don’t expect anything new for a few weeks. 

Be chill everyone. 

-Sixbears

Climate and power outages

Power is still out for many thousands of people in the wake of two hurricanes. People are suffering. It’s my belief that surviving without electricity is harder in the south that here up north. Fresh food goes bad rapidly in the heat. Fortunately there are many foods that can be stored long term without refrigeration.

The lack of air conditioning can be more of a hazard to life. Staying the shade and drinking lots of water helps. If you are young and healthy surviving without AC, while uncomfortable, is generally doable. The very young, the sick, and the elderly may need AC to survive. 

For that you need electricity, and not just a few watts either. You aren’t going to get by with a couple of solar panels and a solar generator. A gas, propane, or diesel generator will do the job -until the fuel runs out. For a lot of people in the affected areas getting more fuel is a real issue. Storing fuel in large volumes requires serious safety precautions. 

There are ways to make your fuel go longer. For example rather than trying to cool the whole house limit AC use to one room. Running one smallish AC unit will provide a safe place for the vulnerable. It might be crowded and lack privacy but your fuel supply will last longer. 

Where I live in New Hampshire AC is not an issue. My house doesn’t even have AC. A few fans suffice. Losing power is a winter issue. On the plus side, refrigeration is easy. All of outdoors is a freezer. Staying warm  is the real problem.  

Fortunately a woodstove doesn’t consume any electricity. Fire is primitive, one of first technologies, but it still does the job. In my case, living in the woods is a bonus. Firewood actually does grow on trees. 

-Sixbears

Not on weekends

It’s hunting season and I’ve been enjoying some bird hunting. However, I’m pretty much staying out of the woods on the weekends. The exception to that is the woods right behind my house as few people hunt there. That’s mostly due to people like me who don’t allow people to cross their land. Once past the small private land holdings there’s a good section of land open to the public -if they can get access. 

There’s an old saying that it’s bad form to shoot the dog. Every now and then some over zealous hunter will get excited and pepper his own dog with shot. That’s bad. What’s worse is when someone shoots their hunting partner. A guy was telling me how a relative of his shot his nephew. That was awful but the injuries were not life threatening. What was really scary is that the shot just barely went over the head of the guy’s grandson. 

Be safe out there.

-Sixbears

New House Build

A friend of mine asked me to check out some land he’s interested in. It has a decent gravel driveway and a cleared level area where a trailer is currently parked. My friend does not want the trailer so that would be the first thing to go. 

His real estate guy told him it would cost a minimum of $20,000 to connect to the grid. I’m assuming that the electric company doesn’t want new rural customers. Either that or they think that people are stuck and will pay whatever they ask. 

For $20,000 my friend could install a pretty decent off-grid electrical system. The site gets good sun and has excellent wind potential. Actually, he could probably get up and running for a lot less than that. 

Since it would be all new construction minimizing electrical usage could be built in. For example it could be heated using methods that don’t consume electricity. He’s thinking of putting in a woodstove anyway. There are propane heaters that don’t use electricity and could provide decent backup power. 

Oh yeah, the property comes with a pretty decent shooting range so that’s a plus. 

-Sixbears

Florida Sailing Days

My lovely wife and I sailed most of Florida’s Gulf Coast. We used to know that region well. Seeing it on the news these days is disturbing. My nautical charts are probably grossly inaccurate right now. Nothing like a couple of hurricanes to mess up a coast line. 

We sailed past Siesta Key numerous times over the years and it’s the very place where Hurricane Milton came ashore. Directly south of Siesta Key the damage is probably worse but I haven’t seen much footage out of there yet. 

There used to be a sizable community of hobo sailors anchored at Bradenton Beach. I can’t help but wonder what happened to those people. Many of those boats weren’t in great shape and probably couldn’t get out of harm’s way in time. Hopefully the people evacuated. 

The last time I sailed in Florida was in early 2020. We all know what happened that year. I cut our travels short. We we were in the Clearwater area when the disease news got disturbing. Rather than sail down the coast we loaded up the Oday 19 on the trailer and headed north. We haven’t been to Florida since.

We certainly aren’t going down there this coming winter. Our favorite places are currently ruined. It’s heartbreaking. Our friends in the Venice area evacuated and I’m glad they did. Right now I’m waiting to hear about the people we know across the state where it was still a Cat 1. Are you doing okay Spud? Some of our friends live a couple hundred feet from the coast at about a 3 foot elevation. We haven’t heard from them either. 

So while we aren’t going back this winter I must admit to wanting to sail Florida waters again. However, I’d do it in a tough boat with a lift keel that can handle shallow water. 

Of course, there’s always the possibility that it could be just as bad next year. We live in interesting times.

-Sixbears