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)