Suntastic Solar Power!

When we signed our solar panel contract we were told it would be about six months before they could be installed.  Sure enough six months later we had a total of 14 panels secured to our roof, but still had to wait about a week and a half for the panels to be operational. This past Wednesday, only a few days after the power company "ok'd" our set up, the City of Phoenix gave us the thumbs up and initiated our green power generation.

Our panel set up works like so.  The bright and glorious Arizona sun beats down on our panels creating a DC current. I'm not entirely sure how said current is created, but its created, which is good enough for me. The DC current is then transformed in our inverter to an AC current, which provides power to our house.  Our power demands initially consume the power that is created, after which, excess power produced is sent out to the energy grid.  I will not say we are minimalist power consumers, but we certainly make a concerted effort to keep our power use to a very reasonable amount.  Because of our consumption pattern, we will likely be giving back to the grid most of the year, with the exception a few summer months.  For the brave souls who have visited us in the summer or even late spring months, you'll be glad to know that with our green energy production comes a slightly reduced guilt regarding the use of our air conditioner to make our house a bit more pleasant than before.  I have no doubt Jackson and the kitties will also be delighted with this anticipated temperature adjustment.

We can monitor our power creation on a website that shows daily, weekly and total power creation. To the rightt are two days, Saturday which was a lovely warm, sunny day, and last Wednesday, a very gray day that included snowfall. I'm impressed that we still managed a minimal amount of energy production.

For instant gratification we can also sneak a peak at our digital power meter to see if we are consuming or producing power.  When an arrow is pointing to the right it means we are receiving power from the utility company, but when its pointing left it means that power is being received by the utility by our panel's generation. 

Can you imagine if every house in just the state of Arizona required owners to have a few solar panels?  Heck, the state would power the nation!

Longest legs ever...

A proper looking Mr. Jackson enjoying last weekend's warm weather.



Snow in Phoenix?!?!

Sometimes Jonathan and I are mocked by relatives and friends when we report that its cold in Phoenix, but just yesterday it was cold enough to snow! The storm initially woke us up around 2 something Wednesday morning, but was kind enough to pause while Jackson and I enjoyed our morning run/walk.  We turned out to be quite lucky since only moments after walking inside, a wave of rain crashed down on Northview.  Throughout the day the skies would darken and a light rain would, spontaneously become a deluge.  

Around 4:00 that afternoon I started hearing rumors of snow in the valley.  Sure I thought, north valley perhaps, but turned out Central Phoenix was also blanketed with snow!

I didn't see too much snow in person, but here is a picture of my usual route home at about 3:30 PM. (Photo is taken by a co-worker's wife)

By the time I got home, the only snow remaining in our backyard was in one of our planters (don't mind the dead plants they were over taken by an invasive moth), in our poor little Sago Palm, and around the solar panels (more on those in the next post)



                             



                          

If you look near the blue pillar, you can see blue skies nearby 

 

Just in time for sunset we were back to our usual clear blue sky.

Hello gravity!

For the first time today I felt the true strength of gravity. No face plants to the sidewalk nor visits to the scales instead, this afternoon I had a dentist appointment.  After plenty of Novocaine, and a little bit of work it was time for a short break while my temporary's mold set up.  I turned ever so slightly in my chair to rise and was struck by the force pulling at what felt like my walnut stuffed check.  I leaned away, the pull dissipated, and back again, and smiled, albeit lopsidedly, when it felt like the left side of my face was steadily dragging the rest of my face in a southern direction. Who would have thought a visit to the dentist's office would be so entertaining.

Staying on the grid

What have we been up to lately?  Doing a mighty fine job of enjoying our weekends!

Two weekends after Sonoma I wore my very first official NFL jersey, Ravens number 27 (the one and only fellow Rutgers grad, Ray Rice), while I yelled, cheered, and occasionally pouted my way through the Superbowl. Yeah it was pricey, but the cost was well worth the Raven's victory!!

As of late, our lovely desert state has been a bit wet and chilly, so unfortunately our shed progress has been a bit lacking.  This cold weather has also left us crossing our fingers in vein for the well being of our plants which have taken quite a beating during the recent freezes.  A few cactus have bit the bucket and one of our backyard trees is far from looking its finest.

Deciding to break from routine, this past overcast Sunday we took a road trip to check out some land that Jonathan has had his sights on for a little while. We share the idea of eventually having a small place north of the valley where we can escape the valley's heat and enjoy some open land, however this past road trip might have helped sort out some of our differing "expectations" of said properly.

With Jackson buckled in and comfortably settled we started our trip north to Peeples valley. Silly me, upon hearing it for the first time I thought "Peoples", and it wasn't until I took a closer look at my photos that I realized it was quite the Hippie altruism I had been expecting. We passed through Wickenberg managing not to stop for another Tiki, and continued along past Congress before we started switch-backing up the mountainside.  Now I've seen many a documentary that includes the vile nature of  feed lots, but its not often that you see one in person.  The feed lot, seen to the left, is far from the road, but its still quite a sight. I think it looked worse the first time I saw it, under full sun, coming down the mountain last spring, because it doesn't look quite so offensive on the way up.  I'll admit, I find them quite disgusting, and it makes me think for a moment if eating beef is really worth it... but its only a moment because I know I'm a happy little carnivore.

 

 Eventually we made it to Peeples valley and and turned off the paved road to begin a short off road adventure.  It didn't take too long before we crested a few hills past the tiny town to find spacious lots and open land. Yet, despite its rugged beauty, the farther we traveled from the paved road the more I started realizing I just might have more standards for this property than I'd expected.  Not that I got a bad feeling from the area, but it just didn't feel right.  I wasn't exactly sure what I wanted from this eventual retreat of ours, but I knew I likely wasn't going to find it where we were.

Back on the main road we decided to continue on to Prescott for some lunch.  Having recently learned of a new nano-brewery in town we made our way to Granite Mountain Brewing.  I enjoyed a beer cocktail, a Shandy, made with their blond ale and some sort of locally created sweet-lemony reduction/simple syrup, while Jonathan tried their darker brews.  Their small bites menu contained many items and/or accouterments made from either the beer itself, such as a unique mustard for pretzel dipping, or the beer cheese sauce on the nachos, or from the spent grains from the brewing process which were used to make the bread for my sandwich.  Tasty brews and tasty bites had us wishing we could continue to support them more frequently, and may have aided in my quest to keep our eventual land purchase semi near a town with a little life and culture.

Before we headed back to the valley we walked Jackson about, but only for a limited time seeing that the snow falling all around him was making him prance a bit. He couldn't seem to figure out why cold little rocks (corn snow) were falling on and around him, and didn't much care for the chill in the air. As we got closer to Central Phoenix the clouds dissipated, leaving us with a partly cloudy, mostly sunny late afternoon. Not quite the eureka trip Jonathan may have been hoping for, but another good weekend none the less.