BMN week of Feb 11th - 15th

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 11th 2008

Good Morning

It would appear that it was warm last night, so warm that I woke from some hellish dreams and opened the front door as well as the back door to let some of the excess wood stove heat escape and the cool night air in. We're still waiting for the ground to thaw enough to let our water flow again. Patience we have, but every passing week without running water is more difficult than the last. Let's see according to the weather station at Las Vegas Airport sunrise was at 6:51AM and sunset will be at 5:37PM. I don't know, but I guess the days must be getting longer, they sure are getting warmer. This weekend was beautiful. We're expecting our water to begin to flow any day now. Anyway, we have our fingers crossed.

Today I am going to Slim's house to help work on his skid steer. I'm sure he realizes I have ulterior motives in helping. Sometimes I'll volunteer for a project just because I believe in it. This time though, I want to learn how to operate the Bob Cat. We have a lot of projects here that need the services a skid steer is made for, not the least of which is piling more dirt on top of the water line. Some day I hope to get us one of these handy little toys. I imagine several projects we could move ahead on if we had the proper tools. A friend of ours who is a general contractor came by to see us this weekend. He was here about another local issue, but we also talked about the new shop quite a bit. Jose urged me to get a backhoe in to dig the foundation at least two feet deep. Coincidentally Slim's Bob Cat has a backhoe attachment. Ah, you are beginning to see how my mind works.

I have built my share of buildings here at the ranch and even helped Jose and Slim build on their projects. In the past I was such a control freak that I wound up doing most of the work on my house by myself. I'd like to think I've progressed and I need to do things differently for a number of reasons these days. Of course I'm not young and bullet proof anymore. I can't work all night long either. More importantly, I hope this renewable energy workshop doesn't take ten years to build like my last two houses. Jose has the experience to make a project happen and move to completion on time. We are lucky to have Jose owe us a big favor at this point so his services won't cost us. Now all I have to do is get out of the way and let him take over. Easier said than done. Truth is Jose doesn't want me to get out of the way, he needs my input to make this building the building I envision. It is just that I can't keep up.

We were talking about the timbers this weekend. I mentioned that the cross timbers need to be tall enough for my chin hoist to have room for lifting vehicles and pulling engines. The way I visualize things is crude and terribly slow. But it's the way I always did it. Jose rattles off numbers and ends the sentence with a peak in tone suggesting that the last was a question. Right. I nod my head. That sounds good to me. Can we get a piece of graph paper out so I might follow what you said past the fist set of numbers. In my mind, there are bearded Amish men pounding wooden pegs in massive timbers laid out on the ground. I am trying to visualize what kind of structural joints the Amish carpenters will use to hold the timbers together, and Jose rightly so is suggesting roof pitches and economics of the outside wall dimensions, by keeping everything within four foot by eight foot scale.

We'll work this through and my respect for Jose is such that I will begin to draft the timbers and interior specifications and let him go with it. I need to place surveying flags on the hill where I want to build the shop. I prefer a south facing slope for solar gain, but the wind is much more consistent further north. Choices choices! We also have been offered a barn which needs to be moved from over by the airport 10 miles away. So we actually have two buildings to plan the location for. This is going to be a busy Summer here at Las Tusas Ranch. For this reason I will keep the size of my RE workshop as small as possible. At this point I am thinking twenty four feet by thirty feet, with one wall on the south side being a series of thermal pane sliding glass doors I've collected over the years.

Time to get out the drafting kit and see what I remember from college and the last building project. This time I will only do rough sketches as Jose can put the basics into his 3D architectural software or his head, and fine tune it all.

Okay, it's only Monday and better leave something for the Tuesday BMN.

My son, Austin made a new Tusas 2008 block print last week and he ran off a few dozen tee-shirts yesterday. I'll go down the hill and take some pictures for ya tomorrow.

See the rest of the newsletter at http://outfitnm.com

Sincerely,

[spinningmagnets]

I am a newbie, and haven't built anything yet, but...

Go for the solar gain, and have your windmills wound for higher voltage (48?) rectify into DC at the battery. Higher voltage and AC travel better. I'm still learning...

[Boss]

I too lean toward the solar gain from the south facing slope. My shanty is on top on the hill now, the driveway is along the divide of north and  south sides. I see snow on the ground on the north facing slope, brrr. But dang it, the wind howls through there whereas the south facing slope is protected by trees. Torn between the two.

I will be building wind turbines in this new shop maybe I should go with the test tower on the windy side and live with some voltage drop. I still need to do surveying. When I do maybe I'll find out it isn't so far to have the shop on one side of the driveway and the tower on the other.

 

I like the look of this building. A reader of my newsletter sent it in as an example of timber construction, I'd rather have the sun hit the building, so I'll leave the cute little porch roof off.

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 13th 2008

Good Morning

Hellofa day yesterday. The weather held out for my working outside. That was nice, and I got a lot accomplished because of the warmth, but it was mainly working for other people kind of stuff. I did talk with Slim, the sawyer about cutting the timber for my new renewable energy building and he in turn spoke with his guy who works in the forest for him. They will come out in a month or so to look at the trees we want to cut. I hoped Slim would do the skidding and hauling but he doesn't have the equipment to do it. I also hope we have enough mature trees to make a few loads on a semitrailer. I suppose it depends on how far apart the trees can be located and still make it economical for all of us. Slim said this is the same guy who felled, skidded and hauled the last batch of trees back in 1999 when we harvested timber for the addition on this trailer. My how time flies. Anyway, that area was dense with mature trees, this time I do not think we have a specific area of the forest with enough trees for a good harvest like that. This doesn't mean we don't have the timber, we do. I am thinking of the Crestone, but don't know whether that is too steep for the skidder (tractor for moving logs.) As soon as the weather clears up and the ground dries out a bit, dad, Jackson and I will begin to mark trees.

I know what a lot of people think about cutting trees, but try to remember that trees are a renewable resource. They will grow back. A mature Ponderosa Pine does not grow as large as they used to. Modern day pests and environmental stress kill the mature trees when they get to be seventy five to a hundred years old, depending on the conditions of course. We had hoped that after thirty years of pruning and thinning our forests, they would be further along. However, these forests were so poorly managed when we arrived in 1971 that it was everything we could do to make the mess of trees a forest again. We feel that many of the trees were stunted permanently. I wish we had more pictures of the forest when we got here. Many of the tress looked like a Japanese Bonsai master had been at work for decades on each tree. Well this is glorifying the damage done. That was then and here we are, three decades later and the results are in: The Rodgers' boys forest management program is working. The forest, as many of you have seen, is once again vital and growing. Maybe not fast enough for my parents or even my brother and me to see a full scale harvest of timber, but the next generation will have a very healthy forest to do with as they see fit. My feeling is they won't be harvesting trees like we envision, more than likely we will be dead and buried by then so it will be their baby to deal with.

A legacy is a strange thing to consider. I know how I would deal with the inheritance of a vast tract of land, because I have. I can't hope to live as long as my father though. He is pushing ninety. For better or worse, my brother and I have been here on the family property since they bought it. I have children as well as my sisters have children. In the next generation, the land trust is placed. Having been here with Mom and Dad I have a good idea how they see their children and our relationship to the land. This by the way isn't the reason we were skipped in the trust. We all were consulted and we can change it if we decide some kind of action is merited. The point is, how do we as elders envision the next generation's interests? Sure they can do as they see fit, however they all need to make decisions about the land together. I am talking about while we're alive, but less vital. Maybe this is what is keeping dad invigorated. Can you image being bed ridden while your no account kids tear up the place of your dreams up?

To be sure, the forest needs to produce something for the people. After the family gives the consent to log a few dozen trees for my new shop project, perhaps there will be enough trees worth saw logs to make enough money to rebuild our main road. Last time we harvested timber we made a thousand dollars over and above the lumber I needed for this building we are living in. The road is a major concern of Jackson, and we all agree the driveway took a beating last year with those freak hail storms. We never knew how much soil a gully-washer of hail stones could move until last year when we saw it first hand.

Today I go back to the dentist. They called yesterday to remind me of my appointment today and also say either part or all of my new teeth were in. I'm still quite unclear what they are doing, but it has been two months since I paid them and I still do not have one set of partials. The receptionist said, if they had time they would yank the final molars from my lower jaw in preparation for making the lower mold and hopefully give me the new uppers to try out  today. I'll believe it when I see it.

We'll see.

We still have people registering at http://outfitnm.com thank you. I am closely watching the new users register. I'm sure every registrant is a person so far. I will make sure no spammers get in. As of today about half the people on my BMN mailing list have signed up for the new web based newsletter. So if you haven't and want to show your continuing support of the BMN please register at http://outfitnm.com

So there it is for another Wednesday BMN.

Sincerely,

Brian Rodgers

[spinningmagnets]

Also consider PV placement (you may not think you'll use it now, but it may become affordably available without warning from an auction, etc).

PV must be near the battery, battery must be near the home. South face will give you the best solar heat and maximum solar electric in winter.

I'm collecting posts with info on sending higher voltage wind/hydro AC a considerable distance, then transforming/rectifying at the battery. I don't know how yet.

 "There's no such thing as a free lunch" -Milton Friedman

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 14th 2008 Valentine's Day Edition

Good Morning

My visit with the dentist was awfully difficult. I actually told them that I wasn't going to make another payment until they showed me my teeth. The hygienist said she understood I was only getting the uppers. Grrr, No. The business office, I complained, made me pay them an unexpected $250, two weeks before Christmas to insure that I received a complete set. I also told them to show me what they had ready before numbing my jaw in preparation for yet another extraction. Yes, they were polite enough, but I had to caution them that this level of bureaucracy was too much for me to understand. Nell, my wife works her rear off to supply us with insurance and I pay the co-pay, but this is too long to wait for teeth. "You need to talk to so-n-so over in the business office..." Argg. I am rapidly losing my ability to articulate.

In the end, they admitted that both sets of partials were paid for and in the plan. I nodded. For some reason, unbeknown to yours truly, the dentist needed to remove two root tips. Apparently these tips bothered him a lot more than me.

I am getting in the habit of asking if a procedure is absolutely necessary. What has this got to do with fitting me for teeth so I can chew? As it worked out, the root tips were not coming out and not for the lack of trying. Christ he pushed so hard on my jaw I thought it was going to break. After pounding my mouth for what felt like an hour, he said, at some point we decide that more damage is being done than the good that'll come from trying." What? Do they have a special course at dentistry college for idiotic sayings? One dentist told me, "A healthy tooth won't hurt." Brilliant. Now, where are the teeth I paid for?

I feel much better than I expected this morning, possibly because of the above rant, sorry. Also, our French drain just cleared, which means we are back in business with running water and open drains! I already finished one load of laundry and washed the dishes. Life is so much easier with water! In case anyone is interested in how we thawed the drain pipe, I'll tell you the trick which worked twice this year. I poured boiling water with Ice Melt Crystals in the pipe where the washing machine drains. The idea being the Ice Melt changes the temperature at which the water in the drain freezes. It took it a while but it finally worked again. I am not sure what is in this product, probably rock salt, but whatever it is I've been pouring it in steadily and used about a pound of it altogether. The other ideas that you were so kind to share probably would have worked, but you know how it is, I need to make my idea work, grin.

I am in the process now of figuring out my day. The plan was to work at Luna Community College this afternoon. If possible, Kevin and I were going over to the metal shop and try out the plasma cutter for our second wind turbine. But now all the weather guessers are calling for severe Winter storm this afternoon and our firewood pile is pretty much gone again. We have a standing dead Pinon tree we didn't finish cutting last time we went out for wood. I may try and go for it this morning, and it may be by myself, as I don't know what schedule Brittany and Desi have this morning. Jackson will go, so I won't be alone. Murphy's law suggests that if I go this route and replenish our firewood, Winter will be over. Nevertheless I shouldn't take the chance. Ominous clouds are appearing in the northwest sky.

Happy Valentine's Day

[Boss]

Brian's Morning Newsletter

February 15th 2008

Good Morning

My brother and I found two or three large piñon trees yesterday morning. We cut and blocked the wood then hauled it with the F-150 back to the house. Now we have a a good size pile of dry wood again. Sure enough it looks Winter again outside. With the standing dead seasoned fuel wood stacked and under a tarp, I still had time to make the trip to town. I don't know if I mentioned it but our water and drains are all back to normal. Yesterday I fixed the 50 year old facet in the bathroom which was probably the culprit which made the gray water freeze in the first place. Yeah, can you believe it? Our little pink trailer is 50 years old this year. Who said these mobile homes wouldn't last? Anyway, the seat which the rubber facet gasket presses against to make the seal was so rough from decades of use that it was eating the rubber every time the facet was turned. I used a variable speed Dremal tool with a round stone cutting head to grind the valve seat. It worked well enough after two tries, then of course the main brass gate valve which by the way is only seven or eight years old began to leak because I turned the water off three times during this job. Oh and also for your information, if you are planning a plumbing project, avoid the modern in-line ball valves with the plastic sleeves. They work fine for a few years, but after that they get harder to turn and finally fail to shut the water off completely.

Now I was ready to head to town, firewood was in, two loads of laundry plucked from the solar clothes drier, folded and put away so the stupid cats wouldn't make a nest of the basket. Gotta love those cats. I was outta there. It takes me about twenty minutes to get to town. In route to Luna Community College where we were going to work on the wind turbine, I began to realize an important stop was needed first. Of all the places, I decided to hit Wal-Mart to buy flowers for my Valentine. Good idea, and Mal-Wart may be the king of shipping logistics, but their management of store personnel shows typical corporate bottom line economics. Indeed, they had loads of pretty flowers and I had fun picking out a little arrangement for Nell, but unknown to me was the horror of a terribly understaffed checkout counter. I picked up a box of laundry detergent and a armful of groceries and proceeded to stand in line for over a thirty minutes. Damn I wished I thought to get a basket. It was still a good idea. Yeah, it crossed my mind to go to the college and omit the whole Valentine flower thing. Sorry ladies, only briefly did the notion occur to me, I dismissed it just as quickly. She lit up like the flowers I gave her.

Right so now we know Brian is a good husband; laundry, facet fixer and top it off with flowers. Sorry guys, I had to do it. Finally, I arrived at the renewable energy building at Luna. Nick of time too. The administrator was touring the facilities. They were in Dennis' and Doug's algae biodiesel lab tossing out money for projects. Hey guys, do you need some input on the CO2 injection for the algae tanks, cause you killed Kevin's air compressor? Kevin and I reassembled the props for the wind turbine we built at the Otherpower workshop in Colorado. We were unable to mount the blades on the alternator because first, the ceiling was too low in the lab, then the stand was too low. We moved the whole assembly into the building entry way, but the props are too long for the base it sits on. We headed across a field to the metal shop on campus. No one was there, so we poked around behind the building looking for a slightly longer 2.5 inch section of pipe for the stand. Thanks to the EPA the campus doesn't have any good salvage material piles anymore. Admittedly it wasn't a well thought out plan to discard a ton of computer monitors over the edge of the hill behind (coincidentally) the renewable energy building.

So that was fun, but I didn't have enough time there and I promised Kevin I would allocate more time next week. Jessica and Kevin went with me to the NMSEA (New Mexico Solar Energy) meeting, which was really cool, because I felt like one of the few things I have contributed to this group is to get Luna staff and students on board like I said I would. In fact we had such a good turnout that the space at the Las Vegas Peace Center was barely enough to fit us all. Everyone is enthusiastic about this year's Synergy Fest. Our new group has strong leadership and appears to be on track, if not ahead of schedule. We had several more people at this meeting than last and the input was outstanding. This is really going to be a great Synergy Fest. While I was at Luna I spoke with the administrator about Synergy Fest and received a generous pledge of support. Mike also said we can use his unlimited access to KNMX Radio for advertising. We need to find a good sound stage and make a few radio spots for Synergy fest.

Okaly Dokaly, I have gone on long enough here this morning.

Y'all have a wonderful and hopefully sustainable weekend

Hasta la vista. See the rest on the BMN at http://outfitnm.com