More on electric usage....

We're in one of the longest heat waves I've seen (Ok, *maybe* we'll only be very high 80s Weds-Sat...but all intents and purposes it'll be a week+ of 90 degree weather).

Monday July 2 left for work, 5517kWh on meter. Left A/C at 76.

Came home from work, 5522kWh on meter. Not bad.

Didn't check Tuesday morning, but got home and it was:
90 outside
111 in the attic
76 inside
5532 on the meter.

The 12kWh/day for the June bill was the 2nd lowest June bill I've had -- so I'm pretty sure this mini-split isn't costing me anymore than I used to spend running the sump pump o_O

Putting the Mitsubishi mini-split to the test...

Weather: 90°, Hazy, Hot, & Humid.

3:30 PM: 79° Inside, 5361kWh on the meter

Run both heads

4:30 PM: 67° Inside, 5363kWh on the meter

Now I don't know if those are "short" or "long" kWhs -- i.e. did I go from 1.0 to 3.9, or 1.9 to 3.0?

So best case 1.1kWh and worst case 3.9kWh

At 23.15 cents per kWh, we're talking under a buck.

The post I can't figure out a title for...

o_O

Mortgage Time...

Using the new counter to make sure I have all the paperwork for the bank tomorrow to apply for the mortgage to finance the counter. So meta.

Patchin' and Paitin' and assundry other stuff

The Great Wall of Media:

The new counter is great for rolling out dough :)




So we went from a cold, wet spring to summer without an in between...it wasn't that tall, then it was. My mower can handle it, though Saturday morning I just jump started it and did as much as I could before rain arrived around 9am. I take an extra long Memorial Day weekend and sharpen the blades and the rest of routine maintenance.

I took down the perimeter shelves a week or two ago.

The walls were full of nail holes, sheetrock anchors, etc. So I went to town patching.

Not all of it dried Saturday into Sunday, so one night this week I need to finish sanding the walls.

But the ceiling is painted :)

I hacked Google...

Ok, rather I found an oddly specific search while trying to find a picture that no longer links correctly on this blog -- and every male in the returned results is either me, or George R. R. Martin.

I win the internet.

Electric Usage Update #2

Five lowest electric bills since 1/1/2007:

Month	kWh	Bill
11/17/2015	271	$60.93
06/19/2007	273	$53.81
02/18/2016	279	$69.44
05/21/2007	295	$63.56
5/18/2018	299	68.52

I figure my sump used to account for $20-30 in a typical month. Summer months had A/C, "shoulder months" like October, April, May when I might use an electric space heater in lieu of lighting the wood stove could be high some years, low others.

11/2015 and 2/2016 were low because of the drought hardly ever had my sump running, while cold enough I was burning wood.

Now my electric bills over the years have quite a bit of variability -- 664kWh/month average, but with a standard deviation of +/- 304kWh.

I'm hoping once I'm back to using the wood stove, this month's bill will be my new Fall/Winter/Spring bill. Summer being higher due to A/C usage.

Deer & Sausage....

Some nice Sausage & Peppers, sausage from Campbell's in Griswold.









And some deer I wish were sausage. Not looking good for my daylillies this year since they seem to have already developed a taste for them:

Counter Work

Finally got the first coat on a large portion of the counter. Needs six hours before re-coat, hoping Thursday before work, then Thursday evening to sand it with 400grit and coat again...then it needs 72 hours to cure.

Once it's cured, I'll move on to the smaller area by the stove.

Media center taking shape :)


And I'm not sure I'll get to painting this weekend, but I hope my sprained wrist will be good enough to prep the rest of the living room (take down the perimeter bookshelf and patch all the holes) and have it painted by the following weekend so I can move stuff back in from the pod!

The Will Spring Ever Get Here Picture Dump

It's been a looooong month since 3/13 (when we had a solid 18" snowstorm) of just complex problem after complex problem at work...or being sick. And no truck as they do a couple thousand dollars in repairs to it.

So what would 4/11 bring? Ice fog. We would have ice fog on 11th of April.

I did capture some nerds in their native environment at work.

Couple days after the ice fog was this weird, low cloud. I assume it's a contrail, but it was super low for a contrail.

Trucks came back home on Saturday!

Sunday is Tax Day and I needed a new printer...but hey cool, I can print direct from my iPhone to the printer!

Of cable & clean counters...

Kindle charging on the media center mid-week...

How do you break it to the fridge that while it wants me to replace the water filter, it isn't actually hooked up to a water source?

Holy shit, did I clean the counter? Like just move a couple things and I could sand it and finish it? Oh yeah, time to work on taxes instead...

Cable guys here to move the service from the temporary pole to the house. Called Friday, and got scheduled for 3pm Sunday o_O

And move the location it terminates in the house while they're here. I will finish cleaning up the media center wiring later.

They also had a cable company thing to do on the pole, removing a filter that they no longer need to have on the line.

Media center continues to slowly take shape:

Media Wall Work...

Matt Kivela, it's an old Indian word for "One who makes a mess."

But finally got to work on the electronics wall, fitting in the left over butcher block as I could. Easy enough to replace it again in the future as funds allow, although it didn't really come out that bad looking and probably will be fine once stuff is on it.


Now of course I need to clean the rest of the counter tops so I can sand and seal them too.

This needs a second coat tomorrow, then it has to cure for 72 hours before I can start using the shelves.


I got the smoke detectors installed last Sunday along with the last of the electrical outlets (except under the island)...but I waited till I got back from Easter at Pam's to actually flip the breakers on...I have such confidence in myself :D



Next up: Find the remote control and power cord for the TV. *sigh*

Shelby Kivela's Moth Story

Things I stumble across.

I listen to the Moth frequently, so there is a good chance I had heard the story on the radio, but I don't think they usually use full names identifying the speaker.

The Big List of What Was Done...

See if I can remember it all:

Basic house history:
-- Built originally at Groton Sub Base; Assessor lists it as 1949 but it is likely as World War II housing;
-- Moved after the 1955 floods to Putnam as emergency relief housing;
-- Moved to current site 1965;
-- Suffered serious fire damage in 1978 and was repaired at that time;
-- Minimum work (structural, electrical, plumbing) needed to make house financeable performed in 1999 (when I bought it).
-- Sauna was built during or just before World War II (I have a news clipping mentioning the bonfire held here on VJ Day). This is due to be rebuilt in the next round of work.
-- Summer Kitchen/Screen Porch was then built off the Sauna. This was torn down 2016.


2017:
House very much needed new shingles. In order to have a good surface to attach the new shingles the following was needed...or while we were at we might as well also do:

-- Replaced sills as necessary, ~40%
(~20% sills replaced in 1999 still OK; remaining original sills OK)
-- Closed off broken basement windows that were, anyways, inadequate to provide proper ventilation
-- New bulkhead door
-- ~40% of floor joists and subfloors replaced
(Remaining floor joists were sistered in 1999)
-- New tile floors over new subfloors
-- New carpet rest of house
-- Siding and sheathing removed
-- All existing (2x3) studs were sistered by 2x4s
-- All insulation replaced
-- New sheathing and vapor barrier
-- New siding (CertainTeed Monogram 0.046")
-- New windows (Marvin, except one Pella over kitchen sink)
-- New exterior doors
-- ~50% of interior sheetrock replaced
-- Complete gut and rebuild of bathroom
-- Existing roof (shingles, sheathing, 2x4 rafters, etc.) removed
-- New 2x12 "box" built around and on top of frame in order to support new roof
-- New roof (2x10 rafters, sheathing, 100% water and ice barrier coverage, lifetime GAF shingles)
-- Kitchen ceiling vaulted, ~30% of living space under vaulted ceiling
-- New kitchen cabinets, sink, countertops, etc.
-- New Hot Water Heater
-- 90% of plumbing replaced.
1999 plumbing left unchanged: supply and drain pipes for washer, drain pipe for kitchen sink.
-- New 200A electrical service, replaced 100A service installed in 1999
90% of electrical wiring replaced.
Nothing not up to current codes remain.
-- Mini-split HVAC installed, two-heads
-- Wood stove chimney re-installed and extended
-- New Mantle & Hearth for wood stove



"Phase 2" to do after we get the mortgage refinanced:
-- Re-roof detached garage
-- New deck
-- Replace existing deck with patio
-- Rebuild sauna / storage shed

Peepers 2018

Arrived on March 29, 2018.

Movies....

4/20 Super Troopers 2
4/27 Infinity War
5/18 Deadpool 2
5/25 Solo
7/6 Ant Man & The Wasp

Damn you Disney (and whoever puts out Super Troopers) for planning to suck my wallet dry with movies over the next few months. Before the Marvel movies started coming out, I could go five years without seeing five movies in the theater.

Super Hero Bowl

https://youtu.be/K9G9lfA8fa8

Periodic Pic Dump...

I love clear, consistent directions. Ugh.





So Connecticut's tax problems, slide #1.

That 1.6% of the income tax returns in Connecticut represent 30% of the income in Connecticut means the income tax is quite volatile (especially since much of the income is in the form of capital gains).


Slide #2

At the same time the folks in this bracket pay a very low percentage of their income in taxes. They can't consume all their income (so very little of it is spent on items subject to sales taxes); their homes and cars in state are only going to be worth so much (so little relatively paid in property taxes), and their income is largely capital gains instead of the higher-taxed earned income.

Meanwhile the folks at the bottom spend all their income, and if they have big assets those will be cars and homes subject to property taxes. So a much larger share of their income goes to the government.


Slide #3

Fair or not, at least those lower income brackets are a *consistent* source of revenue, as the higher you go the more volatile it becomes due to capital gains (and losses) predominating. As lower and middle income brackets decrease and the highest incomes increase, state revenues based on income taxes become more volatile.

Of course Malloy & Company are whining and whinging because what seems to be a "rat" was slipped in by the Democratic (!) co-chair of the General Assembly's budget committee which requires starting this year that the state smooth the receipts from these high income earners over a number of years so we don't get wild swings in the revenue allowed to be counted in any given budget year. So this Fiscal Year we're looking at a $200+M deficit just because we're not allowed to count higher-than-expected, higher-than-average revenue receipts. (A "rat" is a part of bill slipped into it during the wee hours of the morning immediately before passage, that "no one" knows how it got in the final bill voted for minutes later.)
Named storms (real named storms -- like Hurricanes, not those cable TV weather channel named storms) that have hit the U.S.):


I love this photo. I also know enough about dogs and photography to deconstruct it -- and that the Dalmatians belong to four different owners, all of whom are strategically placed to keep the Dals behaved. Who kept the girl behaved, I have no idea :D