well...tiger woods replaced michael jackson as the biggest dope on the planet, but (right now) at least he's still alive and can be kicked around for a while. isn't it great that some celebrity always steps into the spotlight with some stupid action so that the newspapers can get that revenue they need.
one guy who always is good for buffonery is, of course, the pope. midnight mass at 10 o'clock?! does this mean jesus was really born on the 24th? or did his papalness just want to be in bed when santa came? or was he just trying to get "out of town" before the barrier jumping girlfriend caught up with him. hmmmm...do i sense a tiger thing with old benny baby? maybe a different chickie in each confessional? stayed tuned...those newspapers may stop bleeding red ink if this keeps up!

for anyone traveling up I 93 to the lakes region the 104 diner on rt 104 in meredith is worth the stop for lunch or breakfast. it's about 2 miles off 93, and is the former bobby's girl. part of the common man family, the menu is familiar, and the decor, while maintaining a diner "feel," has the same comfortable manner as all the C-Man restaurants. prices are moderate, lunch specials every day and the best burgers cooked to order. iced tea comes in a very big glass, the chips are the rustic, crunchy kind and all the ice cream comes topped with a dollop of whipped cream. for more reviews on the 104 diner go to yelp.com and "search".

since the windmill went up there is nothing new to say with regard to it except that it could be classified as the most expensive "lawn ornament" in bradford. this year has not been especially windy so it sits idle frequently. during 2 exceptionally windy days last week it recorded 30kwh which is great. our electric bill last month showed a decrease averaging 3 kwh a day over the billiung period. this month should be even better.
re: the pope ....has taken none of my suggestions and has said nothing really ridiculos (that i have read about), michael jackson is still dead...although people are still making money off of his image/name, etc., the weather here is warm for nov./dec.....so little to write (rant) about.
i'm thinking of turning my attention to my Yelp site: http://www.yelp.com/?user_details?userid=_QAcYLklSLZJbCtyT5T7kq ( then click on "my profile" to find me) and review restaurants, brew pubs, etc. and...maybe i'll throw in a couple on this blog also.

The "Bird" in Repose

since i've received a couple of requests to show the finished product in its entirety here 'tis.

The Bradford Windmill Team

Will and Jim from Atlantic Air in Lebanon, Erich from Lake Crane in Webster, and Bradford neighbor and electrician Mike. All did a great job and showed lots of know-how. highly recommended group!

Up and Spinning!

bradford's first windmill was up and spinning in a stiff westward breeze at about 3 o'clck on july 22nd. hooking up the turbine and placing the pole went smoothly with on a couple of minor adjustments to the bolts. town bldg. inspector Trudy Willette was quick to arrive and give us final approval and a cert/occup.


looking at the pole before it went up gives some idea of its 45' length.




Mike wiring up the turbine and Will getting the bolts ready.

Erich Lake, Webster NH crane operator skillfully (and carefully) lifts the pole and turbine to "swing" it into position to be affixed to the base.

More Pope Benedict (Bashing)

wow, with all the peophile priests to deal with, the vatican finances in a mess and all the souls that need to be saved you'd think the pope would be pretty busy. but, nope he gets time to publish a 144 page encyclical calling for a new world financial order, more "ethics" (that's a good one re: the priesthood) and demanding that industrialized nations decrease their energy consumption. and, he urgered wealthier countries to increase development aid to poorer countries (like we don't give away jillions now).

here's the good part though...el benny says: "There is an urgent need (for) a true world authority" that can manage the global authority, guarantee the environment is protected, ensure world peace and bring about security for the poor (from AP). wellll...guess who that might be?! (and..... doesn't that sound a little like another german from the 1930's?)

of course, he provides no details how that might all be structured, maybe he figures he'll get answers through prayer (or a burning bush).

this guy has no clue. from the zapping of joan of arc through the inquisition and right up to kiddie-diddling priests the church has managed to fuck up just about everything it administers and the pope now has all the answers how to fix up a screwed-up world.

how's this....firstly, have all the cardinals sell off those gold rings they wear and give the money to the poor, ditto on the popemobile, and all the world tour costs. then, lets sell off all the land the church owns, and re: energy...how much does it cost to cool and heat all the cathedrals/churches/church offices, etc.? could be a big energy reduction there.

lastly, benedict should take a page from michelle obama's book and dig up a little garden plot on the vatican grounds and grow some veggies. would be a good example and maybe he could set up a little stand to sell his produce to help stem the financial losses of the vatican. yup, the vatican's financial statement (issued just a couple of weeks ago) show a deficit for the 2nd year..$1.2 million loss. and this is the guy calling for a new world financial order?

Windmill Electrification

(if there is such a word as "elec..tion"). anyway, mike and i ran wires from the house to the pad using mike's "shop vac" method. that is to suck a piece of string from the condiut at the pad to the kill switch on the house. we used a small piece of plastic tubing to be "enticed" by the suction and unfortunately it kept getting stuck at the bend in the coduit just below the kill switch. however, yours truly figured out how to "jump" it through, and saved us from having to "fish" it out. running the 4 wires through was easy and they were connected at the house and "bundled" at the pad (waiting to be spliced into the tower)

since the tower will be the tallest structure around we drove four 8' copper rods around the pad base and ran no. 8 stranded copper wire to them. once we see how the tower is configured (access door lug, etc.) we will decide how to attach ground.

so.....we're all set for tower delivery on monday, and unless the weather is really bad on tues. the unit goes up and gets turned on.

paperwork: PUC has a 5 page application for rebate ($3 per watt, up to $6K) that requires notary stamp and bldg. inspec. certification. PSNH net-metering has 1 page app., requires bldg. inspec. certification.

More Windmill Progress

recently we had a day that it wasn't raining so hard (in the morning) that the trenching for the wire to the house could be done. that consisted of going from the windmill pad through the "orchard" under the fence and through (with permission from her) the perennial gardener's (faux wife) territory. then across the lawn (such as it is/was) to the "kill switch box" at the house. the "turf" was laid back to be replaced after trenching and yours truly reverted back to his ditch-digger days and tackled the "under-the-fence" portion.
neighbor Mike mounted neighbor Dick's tractor and dig (and backfill) we did until a mid-afternoon thunderstorm squashed the project. Fortunately, we were quite close to finishing with only a few feet left to fill in.

Jim Rock from Atlantic Air Power and his capable assistants Will and Isaih came and removed the templates from the tower base, added some new nuts and washers and prepared the site for the tower which is scheduled to be delivered the week of the 13th.

the next project for mike and me is to run the wire from the house to the base. more to come!

michael jackson.....still dead

i'm quite sure that by now everyone on the planet is aware that the "pop king" has departed for heavenland where, perhaps, once and for all he can resolve his nose issues. i feel somewhat sorry for those who felt he would arise from "the dead" and give us a little fancy footwork before he popped off to never-never land. or, for those people that thought maybe barack (aka jesus/the savior) would wave a hand over him and "boot" him up.
but, i really feel sorry for the media/press because he is, in fact, dead and after awhile they won't be able to find another michael story to write about to tell us, once again, that he's dead.
maybe octomom could announce she's pregnant....that should be worth, at least, a week's worth of print. can't wait!
(BTW....if you click on my swimming fish area you will feed the fish...try it)

A Windmill for Bradford, NH

previously, i have used this blog-space for random thoughts (with touches of facetiousness...uhm, maybe some sarcacism), but this one is in a more "serious" vein since it's about Bradford's very first wind turbine (and, in the words of the prophet, may there be many more).

i should note that if i were to name where we live i would call it "Windy Acres", and i am no particular fan of wind (even though it tends to keep the bugs away). i have always considered wind as the "criminal element" of the natural world (think hurricanes, tornados), and if i were spiritual i would consider it a force from the "other side". from a more earth-bound sense it is harsh on my plants, keeps the temperature (especially in the springtime) lower than other local temps and frustrates working outside with materials lighter than cast iron. (hyperbole you say? try putting down black plastic, poly. row covers here. leads to mucho foul language).

ok, on to windmills.

after a "slight amount" of fuss/time trying to determine which town board might be responsible for permitting windmills i was ably assisted by Trudy Willette (code officer assistant...who actually does all the work) and Chip Meany then moved my request through the Select Board

and, ...away we go (no negative comments/protestors from abutters).

the unit is a Skystream 3.7 on a 45' pole which is rated to produce 2.4kw when the wind 8mph or more. it has three 6' fiberglass composite blades and rotates clockwise looking upwind. the company installing is Atlantic Air Power, Lebanon NH which, i found, offers the best value for this type of installation. Jim Rock, the owner, is a very easy guy to work with and has good experience with various wind turbine installations in NH and Vt

here's how it works....... the "bird" converts the power generated by the blades to AC power which feeds directly (via conduit-encased wire in a 2' deep trench that goes through a "kill switch"....for the fire people...) into the main breaker in the house. if that power is enough to satisfy the electrical needs of the house at that time then the power goes back out of the breaker into a "net meter" (supplied by PSNH) and PSNH gives credit for the power generated. Once more electrical need is warranted then that is captured from the grid (PSNH).

in order to stabilize the pole we needed to dig an 8' x 8' x 4' deep "hole" which is to be filled with concrete which will hold the steel rods/bolts that the pole is attached to. and, we need that 2' deep trench from the turbine site back to the house. the first consideration....what to do with all the dirt/sand from the hole, and there is lots and lots of it! ditto the trench, but that is back-filled so it doesn't represent a disposal problem. we are fortunate to have both enough place to get rid of the sand and to have very sandy soil to make digging easier (although the sandy soil is no great shakes when it comes to growing fruit trees. doesn't hold moistute worth a damn).

so...there's the dig (with a bit of trench showing) and the conduit affixed in approximately the center of the dig.

the next step in the process is making up the apparatus that will hold the tower in place....steel rods, bolts, rebar, concrete, etc. and that was ably handled by Jim Rock and his helper Will.

once the bolts, etc. are in place, all leveled, etc. the concrete is poured to within 6" (or so) of ground level....this way you have very little of the base showing once the project is complete.

above picture has Jim lubricating the bolts (on a day full of showers) after the concrete has been poured. now we wait for the concrete to cure, Atlantic sends in the order for the tower and, hopefully, by mid-july we're up and running.

a certain "femme fatale" who examines her head in minute detail on occasion has recently updated her blog with some thoughts on wasting time/idleness and, underlying, her "guilt" in not being a more productive entity when playing solitaire. ah, the irony of it all.
does she realize, in her ruminations, that she has joined with some most respected minds that have relected on this same subject?
as far back as the old testament as in ecclesiaste (10:18).... "by slouthness the roof sinketh in, and through idleness of the hands the house leaketh", or from a christian perspective John Bunyan's admonition..."an idle's man's brain is the devil's workshop".
in a secular vein voltaire stated: "Shun idleness. It is the rust that attaches itself to the most brilliant metals". benjamin franklin offered "idleness and pride tax with a heavier hand than kings..." and john quincy adams felt he had pinned the tail on the donkey with "idlenes is sweet and its consequences are cruel".
samuel johnson in his essay "The Idler" asks "who can be more idle than the reader of the idler" to which i might add...who can be more idle than the writer of being idle?
didn't bunyan have souls to save? why was he wasting time coming up with nifty quotes? voltaire could have been writing another "Candide" to make some money, and if jqa hadn't been wasting his time doodling perhaps he could have worked on the slavery situation.
so...and i plead guilty to responding to this crafty woman's blog... is not blogging about idleness the equivalent of playing solitaire? should she not be engaged in purposeful business, or at least, as mother ann would say..."hands to work, hearts to god" (although one could support the argument that praying is idle behavior).
however, having said the preceding, my own thoughts on the subject would run contrary to the good mr. buyan (of "Pilgrim's Progress" fame) and the ethic of "work is it's own reward", because i can say, without the femme's guilt, that idleness has its own rewards...reflection, imagination, occasional profound thoughts and is good for the tired, aching body (caused by non-idleness). as virginia woolf so eloquently put it: "yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top"
so idle away ms. smc....it is relaxation for the brain!

i'm not quite sure what geographic region t.s. elliot was thinking about when he penned the wasteland, but march actually is "the cruelest month" and has been for many years. in a lot of ways march and november are pretty much arkansas kissin' cousins....windy, snow (off and on) cooler to cold, can't grow anything....and you think you should be able to.... and so on.
so....here i sit f*&kin' around on a computer when i should be digging in the soil, cleaning stuff up or doing anything outside. we are truly a 3-season state....july, august and winter!

just in case you're interested (with easter coming up pretty soon)..... a while back pope benedict xvi declared that Hell is not a metaphor, but a real place where the damned (and only those "saved" get to heaven, so the damned includes jews, muslims, hindus, etc.) actually burn in everlasting fire. "It really exists and is eternal" said the pope, "even if nobody talks about it anymore".
but, recently the vatican announced men who go to Hell will have their souls pelted with fire and brimstone, but women will be punished by having their souls "broken on a wheel".
rather confusing i think ....how many times can a woman's soul be broken....given this is for eternity. and....who gets to break them? contract labor? angels with fireproof wings?
and, which is the better deal fire/brimstone or breaking? i'd suggest there is some discrimination here....no specifics for gays, transgenders...and how about little 5 year old girls who died and had lied to mommy? the wheel? or eternal spanking?
i think jesus (or maybe his brother barack) should look into this very carefully. or, at the least, update the pope. breaking on a wheel?? hasn't this guy heard about waterboarding and electric shock!?