Uproar in Utah's Dixie

I get the local paper on Fridays so that I will know the true movie times, which can be wrong online.  I know this by experience. 

The top two stories on the front page in last Friday’s paper were about the agony created in St. George by renaming Dixie State College (DSC) after it merges with the Utah University system. 

When moving here, I think I was one of the few new people who understood where the name “Dixie” came from.  In 2005, when we put our Fairfax, VA house up for sale to move to St. George, Utah, our realtor handed us a recent Washington Post article about Dixie State College.  “You have to read this,” she said in a shocked voice.   Here it is:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/04/AR2005100401349.html

In summary, this article describes the Confederate symbols on the DSC campus:  a statue with 2 Confederate soldiers, one holding a flag; the Rebel nickname with a Southern Colonel mascot; a recently eliminated Confederate flag as the college flag; slave auctions as fund raisers, etc. etc.  It was a play on the word “Dixie,” which originally referred to the warm climate in SW Utah, the soil color (instead of being southern red mud, it’s red sand here), and the fact that the original Mormon polygamous pioneers grew cotton.  Among these pioneers were a few southerners.

We moved to St. George right after DSC changed the Rebel mascot from a good-old-boy southern Colonel to a Hawk (a red-tailed hawk, to be exact).  With a new college president came another change.  The nickname, against popular vote, changed from “Rebel” to “Red Storm.” 

As one student put it, the nickname "Red Storm" reminds her of “that time of the month.”

The new mascot became a cross-eyed bull coming out of a tornado as the mascot.  The doe-eyed bull costume failed at its introductory game.  Here is a link that may give you a chuckle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnxe_eeqIis

So, seven years later, the town is once again divided.  The locals want to keep “Dixie” in the name; most of the people from outside the area want to eliminate “Dixie” from the name.  And the college is now spending tons of money on a consultant who is gathering data and opinions about the new name. 

It’s true that this area also has a Dixie National Forest and many businesses named a “Dixie” this or a “Dixie” that.  But I don’t think any of them ever raised a Confederate flag or held slave auctions.  Nevertheless, remaining on campus to this day, is the Confederate soldiers holding a Confederate flag statue, which shows that the college still hasn’t completely rid itself of negative Confederate symbolism.  I’m surprised how many people don’t understand that. 

It will be interesting to see what happens. 

Horoscopes are a bunch of hooey

I don't know about you, but I always read my horoscope to see how my day is rated.  I then compare it to how I think my day will go or how my day went.  It usually coincides with my mood, but I know it's all a bunch of hooey.

That point was brought home to me on Black Friday.  My Salt Lake Tribune horoscope read:  "As you set out to do some Christmas shopping, allow your creativity to emerge. You could be overwhelmed by everything you have to do. Nothing can ease the pressure like diving right in, but remember to maintain your budget. Tonight: Be naughty and nice."  4 stars.

But I didn't participate in Black Friday.  I had a Green Friday.  My hubby and I went south out of town to Blackrock Mountain on the Arizona Strip.  We hiked on the northern part of the Parashant National Monument and came upon a gigantic bull skeleton.  We reasoned that he probably had a good, long life and died under a huge ponderosa pine.  No feed lot for him. 

The only people we saw the entire day (including the drive out and back) were 5 seniors from Mesquite, Nevada who were out exploring the back country on their golf-cart ATVs. We were greeted with:  "I'm not lost, but I don't know where I am."  So my husband explained the roads to them while I chatted with a husband and wife encased in a plastic breathing mask--did I tell you that the Arizona Strip is almost all dirt roads?  It was all rather strange.  But I digress.

On my birthday, I got the worst "day you were born" horoscope ever. This is also from the Salt Lake Tribune.  "This year you often become angry and frustrated if you feel that others are not being as sensitive as you would like them to be. Recognize that you are more dynamic than in past years. People could be taken aback by this new strength and energy."

What kind of horoscope is that??  Should I just undergo a lobotomy and get it over with??  Start psychotherapy?  Take valium?  Where is the helpful advice in that? 

But I like my sign:  Sagitarius.  And my purpose:  make a difference in the world.  It also fits in nicely with my personality, which is INFP or INFJ depending upon the day.  (This is from the Myers-Briggs Personality Profile.  If you want to learn your own personality profile, here is a great website:  http://www.mypersonality.info/ ).  Again, I digress.

Way back in the Dark Ages I had my personal Star Chart done by a Czechoslovakian gypsy I met at a youth hostel while traveling in Greece.  After days of analysis and discussion about what type of person I was and what I would become, he finally realized that he did not figure the hour of my birth properly.  It was an hour or two off, which made everything different.  He was too frustrated to go back and re-do it but I still have a copy of what  I could have been if only I was born at the correct time.

Looking at it rationally, why should a daily horoscope fit one out of every 12 people on the earth on that particular day?  Or the birth date horoscope fit one out of every 365 1/4 people (I'm looking at Leap Year when I say that)?  Isn't the lining up and pull of the planets different on various places around the world?  

And why should that particular arrangement of faraway planets determine my life's journey?  Don't the effect of barometer highs and lows surrounding us every day have any say in the matter?  Now I'm really digressing.

In spite of all my ranting, I just checked my horoscope.  It has nothing to do with what I am going to do today, but it least my day is rated 4 stars!

How I Beat Sleep Apnea

It's been about a year since I stopped using the CPAP (Continuous Positive Air Pressure) machine.  In fact, I don't know whether I really needed it to begin with.  My story:

Over the past few years, I had found it increasingly difficult to swallow pills and sometimes felt like my throat was closed up, making it difficult to breathe.  My husband told me that I was snoring a lot, especially when sleeping on my back.  At the same time, one of my brothers had been diagnosed with sleep apnea and was put on a CPAP machine.  My family has long suspected that our father, who loudly snored and snorted his way through the night, also had sleep apnea.  But what drove me to the doctor was waking up with my heart pounding and gasping for breath.

My doctor found that my blood pressure was sky-high.  I had never had high blood pressure before--but I was fairly freaked out about the panic attacks I had been experiencing.  Finding nothing else obviously wrong, she referred me to a sleep doctor.

The sleep doctor put me through 2 sleep studies: the first one without and the second one with a breathing mask.  In both studies I was hooked up to wires that measured leg movement, sleep position (back, side, stomach), eye movement, brain waves, breathing and a microphone for recording snoring.  I got copies of both studies, which I compared.

Without the breathing mask, I had several episodes where I stopped breathing for 10 seconds or longer.  Most of these happened when I was sleeping on my back and were labelled as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).  That type of sleep apnea is from blocked airflow and is common in obese people.  It also becomes more common as people age.  My results indicated that I had mild sleep apnea.  However, my sleep quality was good because I went through all five stages of sleep, including the dreaming REM sleep.

With the breathing mask, I did not have any OSA but I did have central sleep apnea (CNA), "which results from a problem with how the brain signals the breathing muscles. This type of apnea can occur with conditions such as heart failure, brain tumors, brain infections, and stroke" (Web MD).  That's scary stuff!  My sleep quality was also poor and I did not attain REM sleep.  Nevertheless, the doctor prescribed me a CPAP machine.  He also gave me speech pathology exercises, which I performed daily.  They didn't seem to make a difference, however.

So, I used the CPAP machine for at least 4 hours a night over 90 consecutive days, as required by the insurance company.  However, that machine never agreed with me.  First of all, I looked like a monster!  Talk about a self-esteem killer.  And almost every morning I woke up with a bloated feeling and burped all day.  I tried a face mask but it was too tight and uncomfortable.  I then tried a nasal mask and slept better, but still felt bloated the next day.

The doctor had started me off with a pressure setting of 7 (the machines go from 4 to 20).  I told my neighbor, who uses a CPAP machine, about my bloating problem and he said the air might be blowing into my stomach.  So I called the doctor and he lowered it to 6.  Same bloating problem.  Then he lowered it to 5.  By then I also had an upset stomach all day combined with burping. The doctor prescribed Nexium, but I didn't want to take drugs to combat the side effects of a machine that I was really starting to hate.  Instead, I tried eliminating coffee, then wine, then anything acidic I could think of--to no avail.  That CPAP machine was ruining my quality of life!  So into the box it went.

I turned to the internet and found the website http://www.ihatecpap.com/  After reading through that, I decided to try using Sleep Right strips (since I have a deviated septum), and sleeping on my side only.  (I absolutely love sleeping on my back, so that was difficult to give up).  Both of these changes decreased my snoring and enhanced my sleep quality, but I still couldn't swallow big pills very well and had trouble breathing sometimes, even during the day.

At my next dentist appointment, I told her my story.  First she suggested using dental appliances and then she looked in my throat.  She told me my soft tissues were sagging in the back of my throat!  She gave a mirror.  I looked at my almost closed throat and then at her completely open throat.  No wonder I couldn't swallow pills.

She recommended that I should see an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist about surgery to remove the excess tissue.  Although I did get as far as making an ENT appointment, I did not want surgery.  Then--what do you know--I broke my right ankle and had to cancel my appointment.

Stuck at home with an elevated foot and the laptop on my lap, I began to explore other options, such as learning the didgeridoo.  Several explanatory youtube videos later, I knew that I did not really like the sound of the didgeridoo, did not have the desire to learn how to play it, and would never be able to master the circular breathing required to play one.  So then I turned to exercises.  I knew that the speech therapy exercises hadn't worked for me--but would there be other exercises that targeted the throat?

I read that singers rarely had sleep apnea because singing kept their throat tissues tight and then happened on a website that advertised a 3 CD set of singing exercises "specifically designed to reduce snoring caused by lax muscles in the upper throat." Just what I needed!  The website is:  

http://www.singingforsnorers.com/  

I ordered the set but wasn't ready until April to get started on it.  Once started, I sang the  exercises daily for one month before going on to the next CD.

These exercises have made a big difference in my life.  My throat tissues have lifted--I can even see the top of my throat again when looking in the mirror.  I can swallow pills again, too and I sleep a lot better (still on my side, unfortunately).

I finished the daily singing of the third CD in July.  I had emailed Alise in June, told her my progress, and asked her how I should maintain my throat muscles after finishing her program.  She said that I would need to continue to sing the exercises a 2-3 days a week for the rest of my life.  That's OK with me, but my poor husband!  I try to sing when he's out of the house.

The Animal Parade is published!!

Hi Readers,

I just discovered a free publishing and distribution service that is part of Amazon.com that was called CreateSpace when I wrote this post and now called KDP.  I used the process to published my first ever children's book!  It took me days and days to get it set up but I am very pleased with the result. Here is the book and its description:

The Animal Parade 

An illustrated animal alphabet book. 

Poem and pictures by M A Florence, poem with Lynnette Smith. 

8.5" x 8.5" (21.59 x 21.59 cm), Full Color on White paper, 30 pages

Juvenile Fiction / Animals / General

"Follow the animals as they dance to a Samba beat and form a parade on a city street."

 

The Animal Parade can be found at:

 https://www.amazon.com/Animal-Parade-M-Florence/dp/1479170488?ref_=ast_author_dp

I can also buy it in bulk directly from KDP at a reduced price and try to sell it on my own. 

 

My co-author Lynnette sent me the following comments from The Animal Parade readers:

 

Andre (1 1/2 years) loves the colors.
Brendon (5 years) loves the rhymes.
Anton (7) liked it more when he heard it read to him but had trouble reading it himself.
Byron giggled but lost interest in the middle of the book (letter M).
Elena (Croatian, aged 53) was tickled pink.
Octavio's father told him the three things he must do in his life:
1) write a book;
2) build a house;
3) get married. 
Jerome thought I was teasing when he saw the warthog.  "No way, there's no such thing."
Coletta (a nurse from Kenya) had never heard of a mongoose or a jackal.
Kylie calls it "My animal book" but only asks for it when Grandma is there.
Raymond think the snake is "cool.'
Jon thinks I made up the aardvark.  He says, 'No way, Nett.' "

Cooling down the garage

Hi all,

When we built our house, we kept costs low by putting cheap carpeting in the living room and bedrooms, doing our own landscaping, and not insulating the garage.   That was the only way we could afford to build our own home because we couldn't sell our old house, had to rent it out, had to get an home equity loan to avoid a jumbo loan, etc. etc.

However, we did put some energy saving features in the house when building it:  a radiant roof barrier that reflects heat, passive solar windows, and a geothermal heat pump (a 200 foot loop of pipe in the ground that uses the earth to heat and cool).  We love these features and have found that our energy bill is half of the local, smaller, Energy Star house that we finally sold!  And we're still waiting for the next electric bill that will show us how much energy we have saved by putting in the solar panels.

Since we moved in, my attention has been on improving the house, including cooling down the garage.  Since our mojave desert climate consists of regular temperatures over 100 degrees from late June through August, the garage doors face southeast, and the outside wall faces southwest, our garage cooked during these months.  If it was 100 degrees outside, it could also be 100 degrees inside.  It also doesn't help that all the approved home and garage colors in our HOA are dark ones!

For my first attempt at reducing the garage temperature, I had solar screens installed on the 3 square foot diameter windows.  I don't know if they did much good although solar screens are supposed to reduce 75% of the heat (or thereabouts) while still letting in light.

Second, I contracted an insulation company to blow in insulation into the outside walls.  That procedure resulted in about a 5-8 degree heat reduction compared to the outside temperature. One drawback--the garage doesn't cool down as much at night.  One other plus--the garage temperature is very comfortable in the winter.

Third, we planted some trees that will eventually shade the outside wall.  "Eventually" is the key word here, which can be translated into "the trees are still small."  

My last trick, just completed about a month ago, involved painting the garage doors with Hy-Tech insulating ceramic paint.  I found this paint on the internet when I was actually searching for sound insulating paint because--although I love our geothermal heat pump--it is mounted on the garage side of the second bedroom wall and pump noise travels through the wall.  More on that some other time.

Anyway, I bought a bag of Hy-Tech ceramic microspheres to stir into a gallon of flat outdoor paint for only $15--much cheaper than the blown in insulation, I must say.  From the brochure:  "Hy-Tech insulating ceramics are a result of the NASA technology developed to combat the extremely high temperatures that the Space Shuttle experiences during re-entry . . . ."  It is "a ceramic insulating additive, that when mixed with the paint creates a barrier to heat."  


The ceramic microspheres look like talcum powder but are in fact little hollow ceramic balls.  The additive should be stirred into paint that has been poured into a larger container because it expands a bit.  Also, the additive makes the paint thicker so I added about a cup of water to it.  I painted on 2 coats with a roller, which resulted in a suede-like surface.  So far it's holding up well.  The best part of all is that it reduced our garage temperature about 3-5 more degrees.  I tested the heat barrier theory by touching the garage door when the sun was shining on it--and it was extremely hot.  This stuff really works!!

Self-publishing--I'm finally doing it!

Hi all, I decided it's time to publish my third and best manuscript, Red Flag Warning.  Since my writing group, The Writers of Chantilly, has used Infinity Publishing to publish their anthologies and I am happy with their work, I downloaded their "how to" book last week and made an appointment to talk to a representative.  He called today and I gave him my credit number.  So here I go!

Below is a brief blurb, synopsis, biography (of me) and possible front page photo:

Title of Book:  Red Flag Warning

Author Name:  M. A. Florence

Blurb: 

An arsonist at large.  A coworker murdered.  A forest fire out of control.  What began as Sophia’s first field job in years quickly became an inferno of trickery and intrigue.

Synopsis:

Sophia Davis had trepidations about her new field job in a tinder-dry forest.  Add eccentric co-workers, wildfire, arson and murder to the mix, and her misgivings turn to alarm.  Increasing suspicion and distrust from her colleagues and the local community push Sophia to search for the real culprit.  As she uncovers secrets and traces clues, a strong storm system pushes through and a red flag warning, unknown until too late, puts Sophia’s life on the line.

Set in the precarious mountains and wide-open valleys of eastern Oregon, Red Flag Warning showcases the realities of wildfires in our western forests today.

Author Biography:

M. A. Florence has an MA in Biological Science and currently teaches classes for the University of Phoenix.  She has worked as a botanist on field crews for the Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service in Wyoming, Nevada, California and Oregon, as well as botanical contract work in New Mexico.  Her previous publishing credits include short stories and poems in numerous anthologies and literary journals.  She now lives in southwestern Utah with her husband and two cats.

Book Excerpt:

With growing apprehension, I stared at the wispy, caramel-brown smoke column surging up from deep within the Dragon Mountains.  I hoped it was not another arson, like the one we had in these same mountains a few weeks back.  Fire investigators had traced that fire’s origins to a campfire deliberately set at the edge of a forest thicket.  Upslope winds, or perhaps the arsonist’s own breath, had fanned the flames into the bone-dry forest, burning over two hundred acres of pine, a few squirrels and at least one fawn before it was brought under control.

Today the smoke appeared to be coming from the Rock Creek area, where we worked last week.   The forest there was also dry and thick as dog-hair, and the narrow meadow straddling the creek had already turned to straw.  Rock Creek itself barely trickled.  It wouldn’t produce enough water to put out a campfire, much less a forest fire.

This summer comprised eastern Oregon’s seventh year of drought.  Our normally lengthy growing season had consisted of a dozen weeks in early spring and now, in early July, the parched meadows and heavily littered forests had become tinder-dry, primed for a spark. Under conditions like these, a stiff breeze could turn even a tiny blaze into a raging inferno.

I called out to our crew leader, “Hey Debra, it looks like there’s a fire over by Rock Creek.”

“That’s nice,” she said, hunkered over her foot square study plot.  Without pausing, she plucked out a grass-like plant from the cracked earth and examined it.  I watched her identify the plant, write down its abbreviation on the data sheet she had secured by a clasp on her clipboard, and then calmly reach for another plant.

Irritated with her dismissive attitude, I thought again about how much I didn’t want to deal with Debra on top of all the problems arson and a possible early fire season would entail, and added to it my new burden:  Jackie. Jackie had been hired to replace our crew’s soil scientist, Tom.  Today was Jackie’s first day and she already seemed to be rubbing everyone the wrong way. 

I glanced at the smoke column again, noting how much it had thickened and darkened. The fire was growing.  I sniffed.  Yes, wood smoke was definitely beginning to overpower the usual fresh pine-scented breeze.

I called out again, louder this time.  “Debra, I don’t think we should wait on this fire.  If you’re not going to call it in, I will.”

She expelled a long, exaggerated sigh and then squinted up at me.  Her stiff, wide-brimmed straw hat hid her slanted, dark brown, East Asian eyes and most of her short, thick black hair.  But it didn’t hide her frown.

“All right, Sophia,” she said, speaking with a slight lisp on the letter ‘s.’  She could never pronounce my name quite right.  ‘Sophia Davis’ came out ‘Thopia Davith.’  

“I get the message,” she continued.  “I’ll make sure it gets called it in as soon as I finish this section.  It’s almost time for lunch, anyway.”

“Good,” I said, happy to have at least that settled.  Bending down to count plants again, I tried to push out the fretting that had been casting a shadow upon my thoughts all day.  I was working on a soil-vegetation inventory crew miles away from my two teenage children and a husband who loved to fight fires.  What if he was called away to fight this one?  How would I manage everything then?

As the familiar feeling of dread crept over me, I told myself to stop it right there.  This was just a solitary smoke column, for gosh sakes.  And it might be a natural fire, not arson. 

I visualized a single lightning strike on the talus slope above the creek, a fire that wouldn’t go anywhere, and I consoled myself with such platitudes as ‘you’re making good money, you can finally be a botanist again, you should be grateful you even have a job.’ Then I forced myself to focus on the reason I was out here to begin with.

On hands and knees now, I baked under the unrelenting sun and swatted at biting insects while classifying, counting and tabulating the meadow vegetation before me.  But my task couldn’t keep that growing fire far from my thoughts.  When was Debra going to call it in?

Finally, Debra stood up, dropped her equipment into a tidy little pile, and stomped over to me across the brown grass. I sat back on my feet and looked up at her.

With a scowl on her face, she snapped, “Okay, I’m done.  As soon as you reach a stopping point, get Tom and Jackie and meet the rest of us at the road for lunch.  I’ll tell Luna about the fire on the way up.”

Relieved, I nodded my acknowledgement and took a brief break to watch slender, long-waisted Debra stomp off through vegetation so dry that it crackled with each step.

I soon completed my last entry and laid down my clipboard and pencil.  Standing up, I stretched the kinks out of my back.  It’s no fun getting old!

Possible front cover photo:

Image from the website article:  http://dels-old.nas.edu/climatechange/mountains.shtml

Title:  A wildfire sweeps through Bitterroot National Forest in Montana.

Image courtesy of John McColgan, USDA Forest Service.

Weeding the Mojave Desert

We have a terrible problem with annual weeds in our neighborhood.  The cheatgrass, annual bromes and filaree have been marching south from Idaho at a steady pace, turning our mojave desert shrubs into fuel ladders.

These annual grasses proliferate in the winter rains, just like on the golden rolling hills of California.  At this time of year--again just like California--the grasses and filaree dry out, leaving dense fine fuels in the spaces between the shrubs and under the shrubs.  In addition, many of the shrubs put their energy into growing up and out while the lower branches die.  Dried grasses, dead branches, a spark, and the wildfire begins.

Unfortunately, mojave plants are not adapted to wildfires.  The joshua trees, blackbrush and barrel cactus will die when burned, leaving more room for annual weeds.  Over time, frequent wildfires may wipe out a lot of the mojave species, as well as the desert tortoise. (See photos below).

So I weed--a lot--and the result has been very rewarding.  The native perennial grasses are coming back, the shrubs are filling into open spaces, and the native flowers, such as desert marigold and purple phacelia, are becoming plentiful.


Then we found out that we have gophers.  We may have to trap them, although I hate doing that.  On the other hand, I don't want my plants to die.  The gophers killed some Mormon tea plants already. The landscaping guys that water the desert willows and mesquite on the lots around ours pointed out a gopher eating up one of our desert willow roots and put a trap there for us. 

After reading my weeding timetable, you may find the reason I am so behind on writing this blog:
Late February--began weeding while teaching 2 large online classes, while wearing my ankle brace
March--weeded about 2 hours per day, weather and time permitting, while finishing up the classes and beginning another one, wearing an ankle support.
April--continued weeding without any ankle support.  Last week I weeded for 4 hours and sunburnt my lower back.  It's peeling now.  How exciting.

                                                     

Solar Power reimbursement, beginning tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.

I will send an email to Rocky Mountain Power containing my filled-out Utah Solar Incentive Program Capacity Reservation Application Form.  Yep, that's what it's called.

Over a month ago, my hubby and I decided to check out getting some solar panels put on our roof.  We're already trying to reduce our impact on earth by building a house with a radiant roof barrier, ground source geothermal heating/cooling, and xeriscaping instead of a lawn.  We've always been interested in solar, but didn't have the money to add that when we were building our house.  Then  manna from heaven drifted down in January, enabling us to go forward.

I called our neighbors with solar power for a referral and then called the contractor they used to come out and give us an estimate.  I followed him around in my (broken ankle) boot and watched with trepidation as he climbed up onto our flat roof, tromped around on it, and then jumped down.

"Don't break anything," I shouted.  He laughed, because the jump was only about 4 feet on that side of the house.

He told me that the parapets were high enough to hide solar panels over the living room area, which would give us room for about 3700 watts.  The next day he emailed a cost estimate:  $19,000!

At first hubby and I said it was too much.  Then we checked into energy-efficient credits.  A residential energy efficient property credit from the feds amounts to $5,730 and from the state of Utah, $2,000.  And if Rocky Mountain Power picks my email in their lottery tomorrow, we will get an additional incentive of $4,960.  Wow.

One problem with Rocky Mountain Power:  they say the lottery is open from 8:00 a.m. March 1st to 5:00 p.m. March 14th.  However, our contractor says that, judging from past experience, it is REALLY over at 8:01 a.m. on March 1st.  Only one minute is needed for all the allotted applications to be chosen.  So tomorrow morning I will be sitting in front of the computer with my forefinger poised over "send" and my eyes on the computer's clock to strike 8:00 a.m.

The whole procedure is fascinating.  We will be plugged directly into the grid.  On days when we use all our available wattage generated and need more, we will be sucking electricity into the house.  On other days when we generate more than we use, Rocky Mountain Power will be sucking it back.  Once a month, we will see our energy usage and bill decrease by at least a third and once a year they will issue a check for the amount of energy they bought from us. 

What I found surprising was that solar panels are most efficient at 65-75 degrees and lose efficiency at higher or lower temperatures.  I also got to see the contractor do a solar shade analysis.  He brought out a convex dome that shows the surrounding trees, mountains, houses, etc on the edges of the circle.  He set the dome on six corners outlining the future solar array and analyzed the solar shade at those points.  From what I can gather from the application information, it looks like we will have no shade at all on the roof.

One of the neighbors I talked to above monitors and records his solar generating and energy usage daily.  He puts all the data on a website he created.  I don't think he'd mind if I shared his website:  http://www.casteyanqui.com/ev/solar/index.html

If you take a look at it, you will be able to see his solar panels, and the charts and graphs he made detailing the ins and outs of his energy usage.  In comparing his solar panels with ours, we will have the same manufacturer, model and inverter but will have fewer (16 compared to his 36) panels.  According to his website, his total generating capacity is  8,280 watts while ours will be ?? because then you get into the math. 

According to our application, we will have an estimated 6068.8 annual kWh (kiloWatt-hour) production before the inverter, which has a 95.9% efficiency level.  This reduces our energy generation to 5820 AC kWh/year.  Then you multiply by the number of modules (16) and efficiency per module and get 3,438 Watts (per day, I guess).  At least all you electricians will know what I'm talking about!

The bottom line is that our solar array should save us about $550 per year at current prices.  It will only take us 20.5 years to break even (without winning the lottery) and 11.4 years if we win.  Wish us luck!!

Update:  even 8:00 a.m. on the dot was too late!!

Decisions for the Year of the Dragon

On January 23, 2012, the date of the Chinese New Year, I began my diet.  Over the past 2 months, inactivity combined with eating well, eating junk, and drinking wine expanded my waistline, stomach and rear end.  I had finally taken my boot off the day before to weigh myself and UGH--I had gained over 5 lbs and 2% in body fat since Thanksgiving.  Even the jean skirt I wore almost every day began to tug at my waist.


January 1st, being only one month after my ankle surgery, came too early for me to get motivated for change.  I was really mad that my classes would begin on January 2nd, knowing that for the next 9 weeks I would be teaching nonstop.  Teaching online classes is a all or nothing proposition and--because my last set of classes ended on Dec. 4--I didn't get the break I needed.  I was still in quite a bit of pain, and sitting in the easy chair with my foot on two pillows and my laptop and one or two cats on my lap became a daily routine.

In increments, my pain decreased, and the time periods standing and walking increased.  On the day of the Chinese New Year I was ready to get my life in order.

# 1  Lose weight.  Beginning on the day of the Chinese New Year, I weighed myself, took my measurements, and began my diet.  I reduced my calories to about 1200 a day by cutting out chocolate chips, tortilla chips and most carbohydrates. I can't let go of the wine, though.  But at least I changed from white wine to red wine.

On tomorrow I will begin Week 3 of my diet.  So far I have lost approximately 3 lbs., and 1/2 inch from my waist, stomach and rear end.   I hope I will eventually get back to my normal weight, where will I fit into my clothes and have more energy.  Perhaps I will push past that goal to lose some of those 15 pounds I've been carrying since I had the kids.

# 2 Reduce my workload.  Beginning with my next class, I am going to teach one class at a time.  I have been teaching 2 classes at a time for about a year now.  As I said above, teaching online classes is all or nothing proposition.  I spend 7 days a week online which really bites chunks out of my creativity.  After grading 32+ assignments and rating 32+ student's class participation every week, I don't have any time or motivation to begin a writing project.  For example, I started this post 3 weeks ago and it took me this long to finish it!


#3  Heal myself physically.  I've just dipped my baby toe into that path.  Now that finally got out of the boot and into an ankle brace, I can drive, shop, do my own errands and get into the hot tub!  A regular stretching and exercise routine is on the horizon.  I've been doing range of motion exercises for my ankle and stretching my back and neck already.  But I'm going to add more yoga stretches,  vigorous household chores, and walking daily.

#4  Heal myself mentally.  I added up all the stresses I've gone through in the last year and it reaches into the severe stress category.  Two family deaths and a major injury top the list.  I haven't had a chance to process everything yet and need the time to do so.  Therefore, I'm going to take a long break before I start another class, and stop listening to and watching the news. I need to decompress, spend some time daydreaming, get something done around the house, relax, and do some creative writing.  Wish me luck on that last one.