Attribute to L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise

30 Dec 2017 10:15 AM

It began Friday night with a light dusting that started coming down as I was departing my place on another brief stopover between work and my Uncle’s place in C’ville.

I volunteered to leave 2 hours early at 9PM because another snow event—possibly like the one that buried Erie this week was on tap for sometime around midnight and it would be better to get off the road before then. Had considered bypassing home but I forgot to feed the cats on the earlier leg and it also proved a good decision because the greenhouse fan I ordered was there waiting on the porch.

However the new device turned out bigger and heavier than expected and less suited for the intended purpose plus there is some assembly required as the power cord is not attached. It’s been so long that I cannot remember how the existing fan of that design came. I don’t remember any assembly other than mounting it on the ceiling beside the Modine. I may end up moving the current fan down to serve the intended role of the new one or just keep the new fan as a future replacement and find something else. What I really need is a Vortex fan like the one I had.

Will have to reassess when I get back home again tomorrow afternoon when the roads are passable again.

It started as I was leaving my place around 10- to 11-ish and the prediction is 1-inch to 3-inches by afternoon. Second thought as of Saturday morning the prospect of getting back home is looking questionable. Close to the upper amount predicted already overnight and still coming down.

May have to wait a while for the roads to get cleared and will definitely be hiking back into my place if I go this afternoon. As much as I loathe having to live in C’ville, this morning it’s actually the better place to be. A lot less shoveling involved to get out and on the road.

Now to decide what else to do today while I await the crews to clear the roads. Could probably work on my story and another book review. Will wait on the Norseman’s article because I might want to cover another major snow event or two. This one in conjunction with the extended cold snap is fairly newsworthy but more is likely yet to come.

12/30/17 8:47 PM

Never got off the ground today. Never even got out of Uncle Budd’s place until just a few minutes ago to sweep about 4 inches off the porch and wheelchair ramp and then my car. Luckily it started but I’m probably going to have to get a new battery. It seems to be loosing it’s cranking power in colder weather that used to not be a problem.

I attribute my failure to launch to being bummed out by the combination of the weather and my disappointment with the fan that arrived last night. I was counting on getting something that would be ready to go with just a little Jerry rigging to get it in position and found it almost requires a repairman for install. What I really need is just another vortex fan like the one that stopped working after I let it sit idle in the greenhouse for the summer. It’s so frustrating how they discontinue a product that is so useful for my purposes. Like they also do when they change styles of plastic containers I use in my husbandry practices. I guess it pays to get extra whenever you can.

So I mostly watched videos all day. Tomorrow I’ll have to at least get out to my place and allow time to shovel my way in. Good thing again that I discontinued the outside furnace because it would definitely be untenable right now.

I probably didn’t help things by my choice of fear mongering documentary topics—life after people—what happens when a super comet smites the Earth or if the sun becomes a red giant in our time! The last one about a crash program to build a space ark to evacuate Earth in the path of an incoming neutron star!

Sunday 12/31/17

Hard to believe it’s almost over and done with. The year that is. It’s going out with a helluva bang in the way of a winter storm that just deposited a lot of white stuff that I had to shovel off late last night and if that were not enough; another one is on the way! So much for the predictions that snow was going to be a thing of the past on Planet Earth!

See “Snow in Texas Is ‘Pretty Cool’ for Children Seeing It for the First Time” by Christopher Mele in the New York Times

This is the one I linked to from Ice Age Now. It’s brutal all over! For me—besides being snowed in at Uncle Budd’s all day yesterday my car died this morning and I had to get it jumped and a new battery!

And I’ve got some digging ahead of me to be able to get back into my place.

1/1/2018

Happy New Year? Not so much right now with the isobars moving deep down into the Southland and frigid air entrenching over Greater Appalachia. And sheer hell in Wisconsin directly in front of the gates to Arctic Hell. It’s even snowing on the beach in Corpus Christi! Not surprisingly, Al Gore and most other global warming alarmists have been hard to find these days but we did hear from Bill Nye the Science Guy who according to this article in Breitbart, is giddy over the prospect of blue states looking to implement measures to deal with Climate Change on their own and impose economic sanctions against climate deniers in red states. Hum—is this constitutional? I don’t think so.
“Bill Nye: Blue States Will ‘Impose Economic Sanctions’ Against Climate Change-Denying States” by Pam Key.

And what’s wrong with Bill Nye? Does he have a death wish to starve or be buried alive in a snow blitz of the next Little Ice Age? Or the next big one? If he is right about warming—much of the Deep South will still be far better off than the northern blue states would be if things went the other way as they seem to be right now. Plus the red areas on the map are less populated and hold the lion’s share of natural resources. But any sane person who lives out on the land does not want to play that game because they don’t want to be inundated by refugees if the welfare state or power grids collapse and urban areas are rendered unlivable.

I am also following some other stories that suggest that what we are seeing and experiencing now may be the start of another Little Ice Age caused by a solar minimum. There are also sources out there who believe that the government at the behest of global elites is deliberately misleading people by telling them that the planet is warming when it is actually getting colder—dangerously so. With the intent to deceive large numbers into being unprepared and likely to perish in a scheme to reduce global population to their idea of more sustainable levels.

Thank God we have who we have in the White House. At least we now have a fighting chance to prevent global elites and environmental extremismitsts from using Mother Nature as a weapon to mass murder millions or even billions of human beings. Which would likely happen if you have a political party in power that is beholden to such interests during a time of unprecedented frigid weather. And shame on environmentalists! They used to actually promote self-sufficient living and alternative housing before they sold their souls to central planners for a place at the table of power. Much like black leaders and the union bosses who have embraced the same.

It’s really sad when you consider that these were institutions that once had the well-being of their members or communities at heart.

6 degrees currently. Was down to zero this morning. And there is worse to come.

I did make it out to my place to check on things and shoveled part of the way in before the bitter cold overwhelmed me.

Thursday 1/4/2018

I suppose this is the best place to pick up where I left off early this week. Been kind of a busy one at work and between physical exhaustion and lack of motivation I have not gotten much done outside. I have yet to finish shoveling the way back into my place though yesterday I finally visited the greenhouse on the way to work.

My green oasis on the midst of the frozen wasteland.

Despite the plants being a bit blemished and stressed by neglect and some of the mistakes and mishaps over the last couple years—including a few recent insults that they are slowly recovering from—it still looks quite heavenly inside with the hardier ones holding on.

Was pushing 70 when I was in there to do a much overdue watering. Some of the Boston ferns were showing signs of drying out. Hope I got them in time. What I really need is to spend an afternoon checking everything and giving some of those plants a good soaking.

Everything else is holding up so far. I’m kind of in limbo waiting for the final round of this bout of Norseman’s Hell to run its course this weekend and it promises to be a doozy. Highs in the single digits and subzero lows for the next several days before the polar air finally gives me cause to thank God & Greyhound. It should return to more seasonal norms next week which will feel like heaven after this.

Have been parking off property to tend my place. I was going to make a run out this morning to shovel out and make a run to the bank and other payday stuff before taking Uncle Budd for his blood work but running out of time so I’ll probably go out later tonite and make a day of it tomorrow since it might snow some with the passing of the coastal storm and then I won’t have to do it over again.

I feel like I’m finally about to pick up with the preparation for the coming season. Once we get through this round and into smoother sailing for a while.

7:24 PM

Winter Storm Grayson. That’s what they’re calling this “‘Bomb Cyclone’ Swirls Across US East Coast in Stunning Views of Earth“ by Sarah Lewin. You have to admit it looks pretty amazing from space. The storm is not affecting us much other than a little bit of snow from the backwash coming around from the north. Our man problem is the cold air flooding in from your direction which is what is turning the storm—a nor’easter into a real monster ravaging the Atlantic coast. Our high was probably 16 and it will not make it out of the single digits tomorrow and we’ll be in minus territory at least one day before this nasty gift from the gates of arctic hell finally gets out of here.

Getting to the doctors office and then shopping was no great problem. I went home for a couple hours after we got back. Hit some blowing drifting snow along the way so I diverted across the dam and around the lake to come in from below rather than above like yesterday.

It’s pretty desolate out there. Cats never showed up like they did the previous day and night and there was still food leftover. Hopefully they are hunkered down good or the neighbors took them in for the next few days. I did not do much there. Just gather up some more stuff—books and my mini iPad and some jars of rice to use up.

In the shorter term I just hope to keep my head above water this winter and the end to this ongoing cold snap can’t come soon enough. I just hope my greenhouse can last long enough for me to be able to afford another propane delivery. The house it probably going to be ok for a while since I’m running it at 58 degrees. I bumped it down to 57 to make it run a little less while I was there this evening. Won’t go any lower than 55 and will probably wait until it warms back up a little before doing that.

For a while down in C’ville we were having trouble keeping up with the cold. It was dropping into the low 70s and high 60s with the thermostat set at 86! The solution was to adjust the thermostat on the gas boiler which was set at 120. So I bumped it up to 160. The problem was the same as with the outside furnace trying to heat my place at that setting in frigid weather.

Looking ahead to future winters I’ll be filling my oil tanks in addition to getting plenty of wood and coal. That will be the solution to the issue of keeping up in colder weather. The oil furnace is much better at that so I’ll just go to oil during these cold snaps and use the heat exchanger to transfer some heat to keep the outside boiler tank from freezing up. That’s what experts on these systems recommend for when you go on vacation or have to work overtime in the winter. Better than emptying and refilling the tank and priming the lines over and over again.

Tomorrow I’ll try to get in the greenhouse for a few hours and maybe finish clearing out my lane. The latter is iffy. Depends on how I feel about working outside in single digit weather.

Friday 1/5/ 2018 5:30 AM

Watched the latest Issac Arthur video last night: Colonizing the Sun—I kid you not! Makes me think of an old ethnic joke about astronauts from Poland planning a trip to the sun. The punch line comes when someone raises the issue of it being too hot to land on; they say “We’ll go at night”! Seriously speaking you can get pretty close to the sun in a spaceship without too much in the way of heat issues if you have adequate protection from cosmic radiation. It’s a matter of heat transfer which is hard in the vacuum of space so anything that is in shadow will stay cold. Like the cold trap for ice formation in the polar craters of Mercury is the same as our moon. So all you need is a nice reflective umbrella and some radiator panels in the shadow.

Also looked up some specs on my new Vk 12 fan. I should have ordered the 8 inch one because that looks like the one I already have. It’s prewired too which was how my first one came. I should have taken more time to research my purchase rather than assuming it was the same based on appearance. So now I’m considering calling the company to see if I can do an exchange.

Thinking more about the greenhouse. This is a good time of year to get it tidied up and work out the various issues. Right now I need to move some plants back away from the front because of frost issues. Some of them are looking unhappy as it is. Eventually I want to get all the remaining orchids moved back under the overhang above the pond where it is warmer and less subject to sun scorch as well. What I need is to rig some electrical conduit or wires that I can put o rings on to be able to slide hanging plants back and forth to inspect and take care of them. I’m thinking all I need is a long 2x4 across the back wall with mounting brackets and short pieces of the same on the center beam toward the front.

Nearing daybreak and it’s down to two degrees. Only 8 for a projected high. I’m feeling a slight chill in here. May have to kick the boiler up to 180 for a few days to keep up better. Hope I won’t have issues with my car or getting into the greenhouse when I finally get enough willingness to venture out of here later in the day. Might have to do something to thaw the door of the greenhouse if it is frozen shut.

4:20 PM

Finally got in here but probably won’t get much done today going on 4 pm.

After taking care of a few matters in the house I started a letter to the equipment company about the matter of exchanging the fan for a smaller one like I have mounted up high beside the Modine. But before I sent it off I thought maybe it would be a good idea to take another look at the one I have running first.

Maybe I’ll go ahead and try the new one and see how it works. It might be better to have just a little stronger air flow up high and mount it out in front of the Modine where there are less obstructions in the way of trees and hanging plants. And move the smaller Vk 8 or whatever it is down low by the column on the east end to replace the vortex fan. Then it will be in an easier position for replacement since it is almost as old as the greenhouse.

If I’m unhappy with my electric bill running the VK 12 I can repurpose it as a temporary exhaust fan for the greenhouse or even the house during heat waves.

Going to consult Bruce and see what he thinks also.

9:50 PM

After giving it some thought it looks like I will stick with the VK 12. When I looked at the existing fan up behind the Modine the output seemed actually a little wimpy the more I think about it. My fear is that a more powerful one will dry the plants out. The fan on the Modine blows the heated air quite briskly so I figure I’ll just put the 12 beside it and angle it toward the back corner above the Waterland enclosure on the east end so it will continue to push warm air against the insulated walls rather than the glazing on the front end and around the door. Then I move the VK 8 to the position where the Vortex fan used to be to push some of the warmth back toward the Modine where the thermostat station is. That is the cooler end of the greenhouse in winter because the heater and the fan blow toward the east making that the warmer end. Having a temperature gradient is not a bad thing and in some ways good because it created a mix of warm and cool microclimates for different kinds of plants.

The best strategy will be to experiment a little with different positioning to see what works best for both the plants and the environmental control and energy efficiency. If the 12 turns out to be too hard on the plants by drying them out I might be able to install a dimmer switch to slow it down. They sell those for various greenhouse applications.

While I was in there the heater came on twice. It was late in the day and I had unfortunately missed the best part of being in there because I lingered a while to talk to the visiting nurse. Still this brief visit was a morale booster as it reminded me what a nice little oasis I still have in the Frozen Wasteland and that is still worth hanging onto. Checked the gauge on the propane tank on the way down and was relieved to find it was still at 20 percent. That should get me through the ongoing polar outbreak that thankfully will abate in a couple more days. If I put aside some money I should be able to get enough propane next pay to get me safely to spring and then all I have to worry about is the oil for the house and I have a little more leeway on that. The January thaw should help too in easing fuel consumption.

There is some light at the end of the tunnel with possible highs in the 50s coming later next week. I expect to start seeing some damage on the palmetto leaves as it warms up. This long duration of arctic cold and the subzero conditions still forthcoming will surely take a toll on the leaves and may defoliate the plants entirely. But they will come back and it would take a string of continuous insults for several consecutive years to deplete their reserves and kill them. That may happen if we do end up going into an extended solar minimum. If that happens there is the option of putting up some kind of insulated structures or cold frames to shelter them during major cold snaps. I’m also investing in the shorter varieties that can be pot grown and greenhoused in the winter.

As for the Brief History of Climate that I’d love to someday lecture along the lines of Stephen Hawking’s: A Brief History of Time—there is not much of that left this week going into the weekend for a long drawn out lecture at the end of an already long article. Furthermore I’m working long hours Saturday and Sunday and need to call it a night.

To quickly put the alarmist world view of people like Al Gore, Michael Mann and Bill Nye I offer this link to a graph of the mean global temperatures going back to the beginning of Earth’s 4.5 billion year history. As you can see for much of the early part; temperatures were running way higher than the baseline of what is considered the modern norm. From a huge upward spike after the demise of the dinosaurs there has been a gradual downward trend over the last 50 million years to the start of the Pleistocene when the Ice Ages began.

Note that during some of the interglacials like the Sangamon between the Wisconsin and Illinoian Ice Ages the peak of the warmth rebounds close to conditions that prevailed before the decline in the upper Pliocene and also fairly close to the ten degree rise in 2100 that Al Gore and company are sounding the alarm over in their fear mongering documentaries. Have to ask, would you rather have a ten degree drop and a return to the conditions of the LGM during the Wisconsin Ice Age with a pitifully short growing season and glaciers at your doorstep?