WinSol +

Note: This year has so many unpredictable moves to it and uncertainties along with record breaking trifectas that our grandchildren will be talking about 2020 - hopefully.  OR this is just the beginning.... nahhh  no fear mongering here (please!)   June-August was not bad at WinSol. And then it was. We were smoke free until mid August which started a 2 week  record  breaking heatwave that lasted into mid-September. I recorded the highest temp ever here at 95F for several days. But the morning low of 77F was the real kicker – another new record. How can one cool a house down passively when the outdoor environment is so hot?  (answer below) The bedroom has extra polystyrene insulation and double curtains on all the windows. The homemade swamp cooler (4 computer fans blowing cold air from a small water pump) was a godsend!   C onsidering all the fires around California, it was sheer luck that we didn't have much smoke or a close-by fire.  W...

The summer doldrums are with us.  Summertime and the livin' is not so easy in a CoronaVirus infected world.  WinSol's mode of operation has always been 'shelter in place' so it's a bit easier.  But, like everyone else we miss the socialization and inviting people to visit and help. Summer 2020 Daily morning temperatures are at least 10 degrees cooler than last year -  it's very tolerable.  The added insulation covering the bedroom windows makes it a nice cool place for daily siestas. So far haven't need the homemade evap cooler. Roofing project The BIG project this year is removing the entire roof and clearing out all the carpenter ants/wasps and their chewing of the polystyrene insulation.  For the last 3 years it's been 'raining' tiny white particles inside the house - ant chewings!  It's like having dandruff on everything - what a pain. This project is like putting on two 4,000sq.ft. metal roofs:  take off all steel panels, remove insulati...

...a fred rant, enjoy!... A BIG underlying root cause for our overly violent society - esp in the USA - is language.  Our everyday sayings and casual conversations are unconsciously laced with all kinds of war-like terms and violent sound bites. Have you ever said any of the following? When push comes to shove Give it a shot Adding insult to injury Take a shot at it Hitting on an idea Something to shoot for Deadbeat Right on target Take a stab at it Need more ammunition Shot in the dark Bullet points Push over Take your best shot To be brutally honest Shot in the dark Soften the blow Shoot off your mouth Beats me Gun shy That really bombed Gunning for trouble Pushed over the edge Under the gun Blown away Whole shootin’ match Killer smile Shoot the breeze Kick the bucket Son of a gun Set the world on fire Shooting holes in the argument Pick your battles Armed with the facts That real...

I finally did it.  (fair notice:  this is a Fred rant) After years of bitchin' about god MZ's*   over the top decisions and continued ignorance of common decency and human morality - I DELETED MY FACEBOOK ACCOUNT . [ It's not hard - just click on the down arrow in the upper right, click on Settings, find 'deactivation' somewhere (that's the hard part) and keep insisting on permanent deletion as god MZ tries to sway you away.   God MZ will still keep all the info he's collected over the years and above all your facial recognition and posts...]  Supposedly you'll have to stay away from FB for 30 days and then supposedly all your data will be deleted.  That's a bunch of big BULLSHIT - if you believe that, i have some land on the moon I'll sell you cheap :-) on the downside , I won't have access to some wonderful, loving people and businesses that live on FB.  But enough is enough.  Those wonderful people need to get woke.  really woke....

Do you really want to go off grid? what does that mean? putting your phone in airplane mode?  buying a remote island?  For most people it's about leaving the mainstream city and doing the off-grid full monty - like almost homesteading.   For me it was about getting off the 'dreadmill' : the hamster wheel of modern living. Now is the time.  why?  because  the sky is blue,    because the sooner you make the move, the happier you'll be    because it's way cheaper than the mainstream lifestyle       because there's a creeping breakdown of infrastructure services, ever            escalating fees & taxes and regulations, growing disparities in our           society, and now the COVID19 pandemic           because the earlier you start making mistakes, the quicker you'll learn          ...

we homosapiens are programmed to be tribal - we define ourselves through social circles – from families to communities to countries.  Over eons we have set up boundaries and raged battles within and across those boundaries. Modern tribes can range from a group of strangers at Starbucks or 100,000 screaming soccer/football fans and everything in between. Music concerts are as much about the experience of thousands of people elbow to elbow than it is about the music and a stage one can barely see.      will we ever see this again? This COVID19 pandemic has pulled the rug of human contact experiences out from under us. I miss that human experience.  Living alone in a remote forest sanctuary has many, many blessings, but I direly need human contact at least once a week – even something as lame as sitting in a crowded Starbucks. Lately I’ve enjoyed waiting in long lines at the market. Hey, it’s as close I can get to human contact(lessness?). I...

Color me rosy.  I think we'll be better off going thru this global pandemic than before.   Not the clean air, not the lower fossil fuel use, not the open roads - no, my optimism is grounded in our psyche. The only good thing that Freud every said (in my limited opinion) is that people will do anything to distract themselves from being by themselves:  they'll go shopping, to the theater, to a concert - anything but being alone with ourselves. Cuz then we have to deal with our internal demons, our disappointments, our ... everything that is us:  our own mental health. This morning I was standing in line at the grocery store and noticed the person in front of me frantically looking around at every product display within eye sight.   And then i looked at other people in line, and there were quite a few people also glancing around.  I had that urge too - did I forget something?  is there something else I need to buy?  And it dawned on me tha...