....where my life stories will be and where my personal "honey-do" list will grow!
Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Beach House in the Pines...
Tuesday, April 26, 2022
Easter weekend by the sea.......
Easter was a very special one for me this year. I finally made my dream of staying by the sea in my tiny beach house a reality! It has been a long time coming and was so very worth the wait. It was a perfect mix of weather. When I arrived on Saturday, it was blustery and overcast. Early Easter morning with the shining full moon it was calm and serene before the sun even rose above the ocean.
It was time for me to appreciate living in the moment. Something my best friend knew how to do. I wish I had learned it from her while she was still here on this earth, but grateful that I chose to live it on this trip. I took the time to reflect and to breathe, to take in the beauty of my surroundings, and to thank God.
In this upside down world we all live in now, perhaps learning to appreciate living in the moment is something that we all need to do. Take the time to do what makes you happy and appreciate it for we never know what tomorrow will bring.
Wednesday, December 15, 2021
I'll take the mountains...
My Beach House had a temporary home recently. She was nestled in the mountains of VT while awaiting her credentials. In as much as I cannot wait to enjoy staying in her while at the ocean this year, I couldn't help but love the way she looked in the pines...
Wednesday, February 17, 2021
I'm getting The Beach House bug!...
This winter has me feeling a little restless and dreaming more of warmer, sunnier days ahead. While snug inside by the wood stove, although I love being warm by the fire, I find myself thinking of what I could be doing outside like working on things on the beach house or getting the Scotty Gaucho ready for camping. I write list after list of "things". Then I realize I cannot do some of those outside things right now due to the weather, so I force myself to do those inside things that I keep putting off because I keep adding to my outdoor dream list! I need to just let time pass and do what I can during each cycle. One part at a time vs pinball machining everywhere!
This afternoon, the temperatures got up into the 40's and I took this opportunity to get out to the Beach House to conduct a winter solar/off-grid experiment.
I've had my solar panel on the roof for about a year now and it is hooked up to my deep cycle battery, charge controller and inverter. But, I also have a heavy duty extension cord running from the house for when I get the inspiration to go out there and read or clean or re-arrange. Recently, I watched one of Will Prowse's live streams and he talked about the life of a solar panel and how if it is hooked up but no power is being drawn off of it through the battery, it will degrade much faster by just absorbing all the sun's rays and not utilizing the power. Enter my experiment....actually it is my second experiment.
The first experiment was to hook up a small LED lamp and monitor the battery performance during a full week's worth of sunshine. I plugged the lamp into the inverter and turned it on. Every day, I watched the monitor show me the smiley face of "everything is fine". I was pleased! What I did not take into consideration was that over 5-6 consecutive days and nights, the battery didn't have a down time to charge. I left the light on 24/7. On the last day when I checked the monitor, it had a sad face and there were zero's across the board. The inverter shuts off automatically so there was no fear of damaging it.
On to the second experiment....I plugged the lamp into a timer and I will monitor the results of the light only being on for two hours in the evening and two hours in the early morning. This will give the battery the recharge time it might need during the daylight hours. I will let you know how it went when the experiment is over.
Sunday, October 4, 2020
Tuckertown.....what a town!
After discussing the thought of another yard sale, Carolyn Sally and I decided we wanted to have one again but in a different location. Sally offered her yard. We set the date. Last weekend was not only the two day yard sale, it was a time to