Sunday, January 24, 2021
The H word
Wednesday, January 20, 2021
To the limit
Monday, January 18, 2021
Thursday, January 14, 2021
Because too much brown is boring
Back to the valley of death
Tuesday, January 12, 2021
Sunrise over the Colorado River
As seen from my room at the Edgewater Hotel & Casino, Laughlin, Nevada. I'm on my way to Death Valley and didn’t want to camp in freezing weather if I didn't need to. The hotel was built back before guests had a bunch of electronics they needed to plug in, so the room is short on outlets. And since they want you to be gambling instead of sitting in your room, there’s no desk, just a small table with no outlets nearby. So I moved the table across the room. Good thing it’s small. Oh, and their standard free wifi is slow. They charge for a faster connection. Nice sunrise view, though.
Monday, January 11, 2021
The college of electrical knowledge
Many times electrical savvy nomads have asked me how many Amps my solar setup puts out. I could only answer that I didn’t know. One reason is that the whole concept of Amps refuses to stick in my brain for some reason. I’m good with Watts and Volts, but Amps…? The second reason is that I didn’t have anything measuring Amps for me. Can’t give anyone a number I don’t have.
But that has changed. (Well, at least the second reason has. I’m still an idiot about Amps.) I spent part of my second stimulus check on the meter that replaces the face plate of my MorningStar charge controller. Remove the old plate, plug the meter into the waiting receptacle, screw the new meter/faceplate in place, and… presto! Not only the Amps, but even more data i don’t understand. Yet.
Sunday, January 10, 2021
Out of the funk and into a canyon
Thursday, January 7, 2021
Absent and unaccounted for
Lately my mind has been wandering around a lot of place the rest of me hasn’t been. And none of those places was worthy of a blog post. Or appropriate for public consumption. But i’m here. Things are fine. I hope they are for you, too.
Monday, January 4, 2021
Oh yeah, that's what warm is
No, it’s not real winter here in southern Arizona, but it’s chilly enough at night and early morning that I can’t go around in sandals, shorts and a t-shirt. And I’ve acclimated enough to not need serious winter clothing or bedding. I run the stove for a couple of minutes to cut the chill in the Rolling Steel Tent and all is good.
But those times I have access to modern plumbing I get a little shock to the system. Oh, I didn’t realize how cold my hands were. The hot water feels really nice, warming me to the bone. Mmmmmmmm, yesssssss…
Sunday, January 3, 2021
That’s better
This morning I took my sweet time getting out of bed. I was so happy to be bundled under the covers while breathing cool, crisp air. But I started thinking about breakfast. Cinnamon & spice oatmeal with a pile of dried cranberries? Or corned beef hash and eggs with cheese and salsa? Well, neither if I don’t get up.