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Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Whoever Said the Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen are in Seattle was Not Here Yesterday


my front yard, yesterday


my back yard

24 comments:

  1. I heard about snow in your area in the news and wondered how it affected you. Snow is beautiful, isn't it?

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    1. It is very pretty. I forget that when Seattle gets snow like this that it often makes the news, elsewhere!

      Delete
  2. Ha! A friend was sitting on the tarmac at SeaTac Sunday for 2.5 hours waiting to be de-iced long enough to take off for Fairbanks. She finally made it home very very late. That snow sure is pretty, though! We've had only one 3-inch or so snow this year. With it being 80 yesterday, I'm finding it doubtful that we'll get more. :(

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    1. Hi Cat,
      80 degrees! Oh wow!
      We've had a lot of little snows this year. This one surprised me. I'm thinking I need warmer weather. I'm glad that your friend made it home okay.

      Delete
  3. May not have blue skies, but 'live and learn' was correct saying it sure looks beautiful! It is almost spring! kind of..sort of..well we can hope!
    Lisa

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    Replies
    1. Hi Lisa,
      I'm wanting spring, too! It has felt particularly cold to me this winter. It is almost spring, though, almost.

      Delete
  4. Brrrrrrr! That looks cold. I hope you enjoy it. :)

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    Replies
    1. Hi Belinda,
      It is cold! I'm enjoying it while it's here. It never lasts long!

      Delete
    2. Same here, Lili. It never lasts long.

      Delete
  5. It sure is pretty hope you get to stay home and enjoy.
    Blessings,
    Patti

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    Replies
    1. Hi Patti,
      Only two of us were home yesterday. I had made my errands on Sunday afternoon, so I did get to stay home. Our street does not get plowed, so it is not much fun to drive in. And one daughter had quite a time with the buses, yesterday. It will be gone soon, though!

      Delete
  6. I was thinking of you when the news broke about snow and power outages in your area, and hoped you and your family stayed safe and were not too inconvenienced. Your pictures are postcard beautiful!! Must have been exciting too.

    Here, we got some serious drenching yesterday that was very much needed to rejuvenate our garden and clean a thick accumulation of dirt on our solar panels. I can't remember when it last rained like this. Just the other day, I asked my husband if he thought our energy production was being compromised because of all that dirt. So my concern was alleviated!

    Enjoy your snowy day!!

    YHF

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    Replies
    1. Hi YHF,
      Our power went out in the night, so I don't know how long it was off. Ours is usually a short outage, though, compared to other places in the area.
      How did I not know that you have solar panels? Is this why you had the extra amount that you could use at the end of the year, or lose it? What do you think of the panels? Has there been any drawbacks, aside from the initial cost to install them?

      It sounds like the ran did some good, for you. A watered garden and cleaner panels. All good!

      Delete
    2. Yes, we're on our sixth year with our solar panels and every year we've had about $250 over production and lost it at the end of the year, except last year, our first year of retirement, our overage was reduced by quite a bit. This year is our breakeven point on our investment, so for the remaining 14 years, we will have free electricity. We don't own the panels, so we are not responsible for any repair issues. We opted for this plan because it was the simplest, lower cost alternative (not lowest) as opposed to spending a fortune and dealing with phantom tax deductions. As self employed, we already utilized a generous retirement deduction to lower our taxes, and looking further into the future, we wouldn't need any additional tax savings in retirement. Also I didn't want my husband going on the roof to inspect the panels or have to change the micro inverter every 10 years, this way a technician from SunRun comes every year to check the panels since the solar company profits from maintaining optimum production. Talk about skins in the game.

      Recently, we signed up for a Time Of Use (TOU) trial plan with our electric company, so hopefully the overage will be significant again since our daytime consumption will be 10 cents a KWH cheaper under this TOU plan. We thought that maybe one day we could squeeze an electric vehicle charge into our usage and still zero out. Another savings has been a water heater shut off control that the electric company installed about 20 years ago that discounts our electric base charge $3/month, and that is in addition to solar net metering and TOU. We have learned that it pays to act quickly when a program is first offered because often the program becomes less generous as participation increases. I'm hoping that TOU will become permanent. It was offered to the first 5000 applicants, and maybe the rates will be baked for this trial group.

      YHF

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    3. YHF, I know other areas have time of use. We don't have that here, yet. I imagine it will come eventually. Electricity has been relatively cheap in our area, as it has primarily been hydro powered.

      Do you heat with electricity in winter? Is it cold enough to use heat in winter, there? An electric car sounds like it could really work out well for you.

      Delete
    4. No, we don't have a heating system installed. I don't think we would ever need one. I hardly need to wear a sweater or long pants indoors on even the coldest morning. But the humidity and stickiness during summer months are almost unbearable.

      I wish we had some way to cut our water use because our water bill keeps increasing due to higher sewer charges. We try every which way to conserve water use, but our monthly use is still 4-5 kgals every month. I recently read an article that water poverty is an issue all across the states because the percentage of a family's income spent on water utility is rising much faster than income due to expensive maintenance costs of aging infrastructure spread over fewer households as older population centers thin out. Not much we can do to alleviate cost when the cause is due to aging. Just like the impact of aging boomers on health care costs. Not even increased market competition can bring down medical costs when it is the result of aging demographics and boomers needing more frequent use of medical services.

      YHF

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  7. I've actually enjoyed this year's snowstorms in Portland as we don't often get much snow. The plus for my husband and I is that we don't have to drive in it, being semi-retired. When they were predicting yet another one on Sunday that didn't happen here, I realized I was happy about it not happening this time. I am ready to move on to spring--I've also felt like it's been extra cold this winter. The snow sure is pretty though! Have a great day, Lili!
    Mary

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    1. Hi Mary,
      So, it hasn't been just me, feeling it has been more cold than usual! It has just seemed like every time I have to go out, the thermometer has been "stuck" in the 30s or very low 40s. Some years, I'm eating my lunches on the deck in February. Not this week!
      However, as it is now into February, spring will be along shortly. I should be able to take forsythia cuttings in 2 weeks, for forcing. And before I know it, it will be time to plant the garden again.

      Have a great day, Mary!

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  8. beautiful winter scenes!!!
    have a nice day,
    regina

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    1. Hi Regina,
      It is beautiful, isn't it?! I guess the beauty makes up for it being so cold. Have a lovely day, Regina!

      Delete
  9. You've probably had more snow than we have had lately! It's been a weird winter around here. I'd like a really good dumping of the white stuff. Enjoy the beauty while it lasts!

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    1. Hi Kris,
      Be careful of what you with for!! Winter isn't over yet! It is pretty, though. Just slick in places yesterday.
      Have a wonderful day, Kris!

      Delete
  10. Wow, Lili,
    How much did you get? That looks like my winter almost every day, all winter long. This year we have had snow, then thaws and melting, then snow and today is raining so snow is melting.

    I tried reaching a customer in Burley yesterday and had trouble getting through. I wonder if the lines were down.

    Alice

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    1. Hi Alice,
      it looked like 4 inches. It's not the most we've ever had at once, but the most we had this year, at one time. Everything comes to a stop, here, when it snows this much. School is canceled, city buses go on snow routes (lots of hills in our area), businesses close early. You would think we were in a major blizzard, here. But then again, I think the county only has a handful of plows, so many roads do not get plowed.
      I hope your day is off to a great start, Alice!

      Delete

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