February 8, 2012




Tilting the solar panels, before. . .

  

. . . and after.















On Monday it was time to tilt the solar panels to a different angle for maximum power from the sun.  For the winter sun, they are tilted all the way down.  Depending upon one's location, there are four specific dates on which to tilt the panels half way up or down.  For us the suggested dates are the 5th of February, May, August and November.  Tilting them this month makes me feel like Spring is on the way, especially since the days are so obviously getting longer.

Larry and Elsie drove up Monday evening and we played "marbles" again.  The guys are really suckers for that game.  So far the girls have won four out of five times. . .  Lots of fun and a very enjoyable evening.  Plus they brought us 1-1/2 dozen eggs!  With lots of variety in both size and color.

Had to go Down There on Tuesday to get my mouth checked out by the doctor (oral surgeon).  I had referred to him as a dentist but that is a misnomer as he is both an MD and DDS.  Everything seems to be healing just fine, and we had a few minutes to chat about our life on the mountain.  The doctor was very intrigued, and his assistants thought it was so cool that I was wearing my Carhartt winter overalls.  Well, it was 20 when we left Rose Camp at 9:00 am, but 39 Down There by noon.  Did some shopping, picked up the mail, got lunch, and, of course, a vanilla latte.  It was 30 when we arrived home and got an ecstatic greeting from the dogs.  JB had discovered that Fred Meyer had rice tortillas so for dinner we had BLT wraps.  Very good as long as the tortillas stayed warm.

It was a beautiful, sunny day so the drives down and back up the mountain were invigorating and gorgeous.  When we came back up last week after my dental surgery, I barely remembered the ride back up, except for the colors.  Reminiscent of that old Mother Goose and Grimm Sunday comic where Grimm (the dog) is curious why cats get so excited about catnip.  He gets into some and as his eyes glaze over, his comment is, "Ooohh, the colors!"


And speaking of colors (white), I am fascinated with the way the surface of the snow changes with the temperature.  It can be just "regular" snow after it falls, or crusty with ice if it has melted a little.  Or shimmering with little ice crystals like it was on Sunday (see photo below).  Every day seems a little different.  When I let the dogs out at 5:30 this morning it was lightly snowing, but now the fog has moved in.  

Thought for the day:  This history of liberty is the history of limitation of government power, not the increase of it.  Woodrow Wilson

Snow crystals