I got the blue one!

Removed the golf cart batteries from the old battery house.  Now all that remains of the old power plant are a gutted house, remnants of my wind turbine towers, and an old busted solar panel.

The new recoil assembly arrived and it was a perfect fit. (I'm glad they picked out the blue one for me - black would have been so boring.)  Got the batteries all cleaned up and positioned.  65,70,38,0,B

slide puzzle

I used to say any project here was like a Rubik's Cube.  Getting anything accomplished involves a lot of "stuff moving".  I decided today it is more like the old number slide puzzle since it is really a two dimensional game when it comes to shifting things around so everything can fall into place.  The first phase of the battery shift was deciding to do it.  The second phase was today's project - make room for them.  Before I take the bad batteries completely out of service, I figured it would be a good idea to set up the golf cart battery bank right next to them so I can switch the charging back and forth if I need to.  Creating the "right next to them" turned into a half day project.  56,63,50,0,B

battery shift...

Getting ready to take my flawed battery system out of service and replace them with the batteries that are sitting charged but idle in my old wind farm battery house.  I have kept these 3 year old golf cart batteries charged up but really haven't been using the juice very much.  Gonna clean up all the contacts and fire 'em up to see how they do until I decide on different batteries.  Note: my little experiment in rammed earth on the battery house has held up quite well after 8 years. 67,75,41,0,B 

turning chinese...

My cheap 10" tablet just started going wonky yesterday.  It suddenly decided to boot up with the root menu only - in Chinese.  A quick search of the internet and I was able at least to find out what the menu means in English... no real answer as to why it is happening though.  Also learned how to pop off the back - a rather delicate maneuver.  I did happen to discover that the volume up button appears to be broken in almost permanently pressed mode and pressing different combinations of the power and volume buttons makes the tablet have a mind of its' own.  If I can manage to repair the volume button without breaking the whole thing, while I'm at it - I might just try rerouting the antenna wire outside to see if it boosts the range.  Can he fix it?  55,65,27,0,B 

took a shot...

Three years ago I set up a new system with my solar.  I took a chance with deep cycle marine batteries from AutoZone and I seem to have lost the bet.  One of the batteries shit the bed back in July.  The other three are just barely OK but no longer holding a charge very well overnight.  I am waiting on a deal from a local guy on some AGMs to replace these next month.  (My original set of golf cart batteries lasted 6 years - but I  have 2 AGM batteries that are still going strong after 9 years.)  Because of that, I have been having to run my generator for about an hour after sunset and again in the early morning if I get up before sunrise.  About a month ago the pull rope broke and I replaced it.  This morning I got up way too early (5 AM) and decided to fire it up.  Now it seems the entire recoil assembly is about to shit the bed as well.  Took me about a half hour to get it to crank after fiddling with it in 26 degree darkness.

As soon as I got it started I went online and found a replacement on Ebay.  I ordered it at 6 AM, it shipped out at noon, and will be here Thursday.  They even called me at 8:30 AM to say they were very sorry but the red one was no longer in stock - all they had were blue and black.  I told the nice rep that it didn't really matter and they could flip a coin and choose a color for me.  By the time the sun came up I felt like I had already put in a full day.  Our latest 2 day cold snap ends tomorrow.  Looking forward to a nice warm Christmas.  39,44,26,0,B

Fall in the desert...

Daniel 2:21 And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

Goal Tending...

Something I have shared with visitors is my long term goal of setting up a camp on my property out in the Solitario with the Airstream.  I bought the 20 acres about 5 years ago only because it was dirt cheap.  The problem with it is that it takes quite a bit of time to get there - I have only been out there 3 times.  I drove out today taking the normal route - an hour of the trip is on back country dirt roads.  I ventured out so I could mark the other 3 corners of the property (I found a section corner already marked the last time I went out there).  I also marked what perhaps someday will be the center of an airfield.  Part of the plan is to doze a 400' circle in the center for a landing zone.  

There is an alternate route that is shorter and doesn't quite take as long but there are 2 creek crossings and the roads are horrible.

The ultimate plan plan is to just fly there with the paramotor.  At 6.61 miles away line of sight, it would only take about 15 minutes to get there by air.  61,83,60,0,W