Friday, June 5, 2009 - Happy Birthday, Sharry!
My older sister just turned 39 again, so Happy Birthday Sis. It turns out that Greg’s birthday was yesterday, so I paid for his lunch to wish him a happy 61.
The sky was clear this morning, but as the day progresses, it has clouded up and looks like it might rain. Every once and a while, the sun breaks through, but all in all, it is dark and cool (67), with a breeze.
Well, I finally did it! I got the modem and satellite dish to range and lock onto the satellite. What a pain in the you know what. At least now I know why it did what it did, and what to do if it happens again. That’s if I remember what to do later on. I can now get online and research the hot water heaters and other things that I have been unable to research.
While working in the sunroom this morning, I have had a chipmunk come inside to greet me, twice. With the pass through screen, they can come and go as long as the sliding door is open, and one has learned how to push his way through and explore the room. The second time he came in (I am only assuming it is the same one), Zack was laying on his bed by the wood stove and jumped up to get him. I gave him the command to “leave it,” and he did, allowing the chipmunk to escape back outside. They are really characters and watching them play is entertaining to say the least. The other day I gave Zack an almost empty peanut butter jar and he licked out all his tongue could reach and then left the plastic jar laying in the yard. There was still quite a bit of peanut butter in the bottom, so I put it on the woodpile for the chipmunks.
Yesterday, one tried to push the jar to his home and nudged it off the woodpile and onto the deck. He soon lost interest in it and it laid there. This morning, I have watched them climb into the jar and take a large helping of peanut butter and then scurry off to get their mouths unstuck. This act has been repeated many times and the jar is now completely clean on the inside.
I have also been enjoying the wild birds at the feeders, except for the Cowbirds, and have noticed that I am missing the Juncos. I thought I saw them after filling the feeders, but there isn’t a one in sight. They usually come in May and might have found another place to go when they discovered the feeders were empty. I am also missing the Robins, which are usually abundant by now. I wonder if it is a sign of some type?
It is now after 1:00, and I need to put the battery back in the truck, back it to the battery box, disconnect and load all eight batteries, drive to town and buy eight new batteries and repeat the process in reverse. I am not looking forward to spending $2240.00, but am looking forward to going 4 or 5 days without having to run the generator to keep them charged up. When they were new, they would last that long on one good charge, so I am hoping the new ones will do the same.
I will finish this tonight and send it, plus do my water heater research. If I take the time to do the research now, it will be too late to go buy the batteries, and while that may mean yet another trip to town, I would feel better about the purchase.
So, I never made it to town, as I started doing research on batteries. If I am going to spend over two thousand dollars, I want to make sure I am buying the best batteries at the best price. I am so glad that I did the research as I discovered that I can buy a better battery for less and the freight is even included. I will be buying AGM batteries, which are sealed, no maintenance long life batteries. In the five years since I set this system up, the improvement in deep cycle batteries has improved a lot. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat and the batteries have AGM between the plates instead of water. They don’t require any maintenance, other than keeping them charged. There is no off gases or fumes, no leakage, no water to add, and they will not freeze until more than 40 below zero. They seem to fit my needs completely.
As a result of this discovery, I stayed up until 12:30 in the morning doing research on which brand was the best to order. I found that Interstate Battery, the company in town where I purchased my original batteries, carries the AGM, but don’t have the best price. There are two companies that have better prices and will ship for free, so now I need to see how long it will take to get the batteries. Because they don’t have water in them, they can be shipped UPS, but weight is an issue. The ones I am looking at weigh 165 pounds each. I haven’t ordered them yet as I want to be sure that they are exactly what I want before committing to spending that amount of money.
I still have to research water heaters before purchasing one, and may end up doing it online like the batteries, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am tired and Zack has been pestering me to go to bed for the last two hours, so I’ll stop and get ready for bed.