Solar Babies and Teasdale

Hey, so it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy, but I appreciate the opportunity to jot down some of my thoughts as things transpire. Well, this is more of a post-operative...post I guess. Anyhow, let me catch you up. Have a seat will ya? I'm not sure how much time I have. We just arrived home about an hour or so ago from our trip down to Capitol Reef. See this year we decided that going in February would be a better idea that buying 80.00 in flowers and going to a movie and dinner. So, last year we went down to this place in Teasdale and rented a cabin. It was a lot of fun and the kids enjoyed it, so we figured we'd do it again, this time a little later in the year.

So let's see, since last we spoke I started a new project. Yeah, I'm full of projects. Oh, I got a new job too. I'm still with the Guard, but I'm the S-1 of a Brigade now. That's a fancy way of saying, "Personnel Officer". What else? Oh, I put my packet in for Major, so I should be promoted soon. Which is nice, because we could really use a little extra ching-ching lyin' about so we can do a little more around the lot and perhaps the house. So, to that end, the lot I mean, I bought a bunch of batteries. Wait, lemme back up a little. See, I bought a couple of solar panels from Harbor Freight last month. They were on sale for about 169.00 a piece so I picked a couple up. I dabbled a little with the idea of a solar recharge for our trailer batteries a couple of years ago, but I only purchased a 15 watt trickle charger. So, we went up to Currant Creek with the family over the 4th of July last year and I wired up four, vice two batteries to the trailer, along with my charger and it sort of planted a seed in me.

OK, let me just lay it out for you. See, I can't get power on our lot, until we get water. We cant get water, until we have a septic system. We cant have a septic system...uh...until we have water??? Yeah, you heard me right. It's a vicious cycle of stupidity. I'm trying to out-dumb the County of Duchesne, but I'm afraid they're going to win in this regard. Usually I can out-dumb someone. They ask me a dumb question, and I ask a dumber one, until both of us regress to basically reptilian responses and gutteral exchanges. So anyhow, we filed for our taxes, and believe it or not, but when you have five kids, and you haven't changed your deductions since 2003, chances are you've over-paid and you have a sizeable chunk of change coming your way. So, this year, after Turbo-Tax and I went to work, we had a nice dent in what we needed for my 6500.00 septic system, and what I had anticipated to be a 2500.00 water connection. Well, as it turns out, the water (private) that WAS 2500.00 last year, sold their last share, but the City water, at 7800.00 for a connection fee was still available. (Lucky me). So, I told the contractor to just put in the Septic and we'd get the water later. He informed me that is not an option, and that we needed proof of potable water to the lot before we could pull the permit for the septic. So, I said, fine. Whatever. Just put in the water this year, and I'll do the septic next year. Yeah, no dice fellah. Turns out, you can't have the chicken, without the egg. You can't have the egg...without the chicken. So I'm right back where I started from. And...as you guessed it, not a pot to p....in.

So, we decided instead to pay off some bills. Here's the good news. We'll have all the kids' braces (x3 of them) paid off, our single credit card again at zero, and Stacey's eye surgery paid off. Plus, if you act now, we can pay our tithing (which we planned to anyhow) and pay for our Teasdale trip and have a couple hundred bones to put back in the lockbox for the Zombie Apocalypse. No rest for the wicked I tell ya.

So, during this whole discovery session, I purchased those aforementioned two solar panels from Harbor Freight and planned a little experiment at the lot. See, here's my plan. Two 90 watt solar panels, charging 7-10 deep cycle batteries. Then I purchased among other things, an inverter, to turn the DC, into 110 AC, so we can run the microwave, hair dryer, TV etc without firing up the generator. So, all told, I had three batteries from last year, and purchased four more. Yeah, I used my Navy Federal Account Slush Fund (I dump a 100 bucks a month into it for just such an occaision via alotment) Anyhow, so I then ordered through Amazon.com a solar charge controller (30 amp) and the inverter at around 80 bucks. The batteries were about sixty bucks a piece. Then I'm going to build a stand for my panels to get them about six feet off the ground, and a little shed to put the battery bank in. I'm actually incredibly excited about the whole deal to be perfectly honest. Well here's the kicker. Stacey really wanted this Honda EU generator. They're normally about 1200 bucks new. So far I've spent around nine hundred on my little experiment and I still need to build a shed and do some creative wiring to make this whole thing work.

So, I know we're upside down on this whole deal, but I could give two-chits to be honest. It's really a fun little science experiment, and I'm really enjoying to the figuring on how to wire it all up and how long this will last. How many panels I need, and how many batteries are sufficient for our needs. So I'm enjoying it. Anyhow, I needed a shed anyhow, and so I have plenty to do this next Spring to keep me occupied.

Where were we? Oh yeah, so we went to Teasdale this weekend, it was cold but we had a great time. We rented a little bigger cabin this time, and we hung out with our friends each night and watched a movie and ate dinner together. Not necessarily in that order. We hiked six miles round-trip to a waterfall, and we drove down into the park on another day when it was really cold.

Hey, listen, I gotta cut this short. Everyone needs a bath and I've got to get re-engaged again. I hope you enjoyed by little rant, and if you see me feel free to ask me what the hell I was thinking with creating more work with the solar power deal instead of just buying the high-speed generator.

Anyhow, all the best and see you later,

J

Something Beautiful...

I wanted to write something great today. I've wanted to for a few days actually. Well, longer really, but it's been sort of twirling around in my head for a while trying to get out, with no real venue to speak of. You're probably aware by now that I have taken up piano lessons. I'm in my fourth week and already I'm making great strides (if I do say so myself). I'm learning all sorts of things about C,D,E,F,G and chords and timing and staffs and grandstaffs and what not. Additionally, I've had opportunity become of some things that have transpired at work, to assess what my next step is for work life, home life, etc. I've really tried to focus on being better on my scripture study, speaking kindly about others, forgiveness, being forgiven, being helpful and other things. Sometimes I feel like I'm a totally different person than I was a couple of years ago, sometimes I feel like I'm right back where I started again.

Well, anyway if you know me, you've probably seen a change in me. Some for the good, and some I need to still work on. I think that's why I took up the piano this year. I want something beautiful in my life. Something creative. Dont get me wrong, I'm totally surrounded by incredible and amazing, and yes, beautiful people. My spouse is without doubt the most beautiful of those blessings in my life. So I suppose it only stands to reason that she's also teaching me to play the piano. OK, so, I'll let you in on a little secret. Well, I think you dont know, but you probably already do, I love to sing. Yeah, I know, not that tough, not that cool, not that manly, but whatever. I love to sing some of the church hymns because they have a powerful message and they touch me deeply when I sing them. But lately, that's not enough. I think it's one thing to share in someone else's words and music and learn from them how their heart feels about this or that.

So, what I'm finding is that learning the piano is going to be quite an endeavor. One which I'm prepared to put the time in for, because I feel it's worth it. See, I'm ready to create again. For a while there, I was dead inside. Yeah, I know, I've had moments of great clarity, and moments of sheer terror at what I might find out about myself. I really lost all desire for anything. Not really a depression per se, but more of a loss of self. See, I used to leave little yellow stickies all over the house with artist's misconceptions about some project I wanted to work on. I draw sheds and I draw windmills and I draw technical schematics for patio's and other engineering stuff. But for a long time I lost that. We'd go up to our lot by Fruitland, and about all I could create was to cut a pad out with a backhoe to clear the sage brush. I was pretty well dead inside for ideas and any spark of excitement and personal growth.

Well, I guess what I'm saying is I'm getting that back. Two nights ago I sat almost straight up in the bed with a way to mount my solar panels that I bought for the trailer. Oh, you should see my vision too. It's simple, yet elegant, and efficient. I know, hold your applause 'till the end please. So, last year I bought two 225 gallon water tanks. One for a trailer, and one for the lot. See the idea is to fill up with water at my dad's place, then haul it over to my lot, and pump it in with a 12 volt pump into the one next to the trailer. Yeah, I acquired a metal stand that's about four feet off the ground to put this thing on, so that it gravity feeds into my trailer. Then we (dad and I) planted some trees. Then I drew a whole slew more of schematics with how to plant a row of maples for a wind-break, and a watering system. This Spring I bought those solar panels and yesterday my dad and I went over to my trailer at Camp Williams to put one together and see how it ticks. It's beautiful man, I tell yeah. At the end of the day I plan on having six 12v batteries and my two 45 watt panels charging. Then I'm going to get an inverter to run 110 off of it, and see how it works. I also have plans to buy a 600 watt windmill next year if I get the money in time.

I guess my point is, that I've come alive again inside. It feels really good and I'm excited about it. I'm so busy working on plans for a septic tank, and now a waterline and the tax money to enable us to do that is already on it's way. Oh, see I was nervous that the taxes would only pay for a septic tank, but last week I found out about a water connection I could get that would allow us to have both water and a place to put it this year. I'm pretty stoked about the whole deal to say the least. Then I also have my solar panel and battery pack project, and my brain is working again to create what I consider beautiful things. See, to me, I've already seen the vision of what our little place is going to look like. A metal building for our trailer to go under, a septic tank and a yard pump to fill the water up, a timer to water the trees, fencing around it and a split rail fence around the parking area. I have the kid's play house which needs a little tweaking and a safety railing. Guess what? It's all coming together.

I love working on things. Figuring out problems, coming up with practical and efficient solutions is really my thing. Yeah, I realize it's really geeky, and guess what? I just dont care. It's really something that gives me a creative outlet for all this stuff that goes around and around in my head all day.

So, about the piano lessons. Here's how I see it. I want to be a well rounded person. Yeah, I'm already a little tubby around the middle, but I mean mentally, emotionally, creatively and especially now, spiritually. There are so many valuable and worthwhile things in this world. So many things to occupy our attention. So many possibilities. I could just as easily make this year a study on human anatomy and basic chemistry. Or I could learn about Civil War history. I could start work on my MBA like I know I will start this year. So so many opportunities. But I've decided to focus instead on those things that bring my family and me the greatest satisfaction. These kids aren't going to live in our home forever. Anything I do needs to include them and maximizing out time together as a family. I am going to take more leave this year and take Josh fishing and camping more. I'm going to hook onto that trailer and drag it away from our lot a couple of times this year. I'm going to learn to be a better mentor for my son's football program and less of a side-lines yeller.

Oh, and I promised you I was going to tie that piano thing in. I'm going to add something beautiful. See, with the septic tank, and the solar panels and those things, I satisfy my need for necessary creation. I satisfy my inner geek at working through the calculations for Ohms Law and the angle of the solar panels and the cheapest but best way to mount them. I get all that. The water line allows me to start planting. Planting of course in and of itself is really a metaphor for life isn't it? The walnut trees I plant this year, will twenty years from now provide shade for Josh's kids. I imagine a tire swing from one of them. Putting up a fence allows me to get a goat. Yeah, I said a goat. Stacey's always wanted a miniature goat. So, if I have water, and a fence, why not a goat to chew down the weeds around the fences? Hey, this is our dream, get your own. But the piano...the piano is something I've never considered. See, I have an ability to write things down. I can make people laugh, I can tug at their heart strings. But once I've written it down, I have to re-read it and then critique my spelling, my grammatical infractions and it loses it's luster. I'm a thinker but more than that I'm a "feeler". I feel things that remind me I'm still alive, I'm still here, and I'm still learning.

That's what I really want from the piano. I want to be able to open my heart up and pour it out through some of my favorite songs once I've learned them. I'll give you an example, you know the theme from, The Man from Snowy River? Yeah, I'd like to be able to play that. I'd also like to be able to play some of the songs from, "Phantom of the Opera." I already told I like to sing, but there's a part of my person that's not being expressed or explored. That's what I'm hoping for with this experience. Perhaps I'm not going to be any good at the piano. Perhaps I might be really really good. I just dont know yet. But I feel like there's an aspect of my personality that's languishing and needs to be exercised. I love the military. I love the responsibility, the life or death reality of my work. I love writing. I love bringing someone into my world for fifteen minutes while they read my intimate thoughts. I love creating and engineering projects, so I love to work on my lot...but most of all, I love beautiful things. I want to be able to play in music, what I hear in my head when I'm 2 days from a trailhead in the Uintah Mountains. I want to put into play what I feel when I walk through golden aspens in late September as the wind plays on the leaves and I smell the beginning decay of the season. I want to put into music what I feel when I see my children, engrossed in watching, "Bambi" for the very first time and to see her expression when the birds flutter and sing and Bambi discovers a skunk named, "Flower". These are the moments that are fleeting. They're one of a kind to say the least. They are special, and they are a manifestation of the reality of a Heavenly Father that must also rejoice when he sees me learning and growing and making righteous and Heavenly choices.

So that's what I want. I want that part of me. I want to capture that, bottle it, and be able to play it back when I'm having a tough day. I want to be able to exact those moments a little more at will, and a little less by chance. I want that something beautiful for me and mine.

Anyhow, I should close. I've rattled off enough nonesense for today. I'm going to shut down the computer again and soak in my wife and kids. I'm going to enjoy the last fleeting hours we have before the world steps in and requires of us another hectic week. But before the end of the day, I'm going to sit down and practice my piano lesson, and then, after I think I've done the best I can, I'm going to ask Stacey if she has time, to play me something beautiful.

I hope you find something beautiful in your day too.

J

Salon Selectives...Salon Glow....

So there I was, last Thursday. Thought I'd sache' on over to the haircut place to get my ears lowered. Yeah, I know you're wondering why I keep going back to that place, but it turns out that Katie can cut a mean fade and I drill was coming up quickly.

So anyhow, I got my haircut, and again, Katie came through for me. She took a normally abnormal me, and turned me into the finest near-normal I can be. But I digress. Anyhow, so she always talks me into the rinse. Well, really she shampoos it but I dont want you thinking I'm some kind of fruity-pants so we'll just keep it to rinsing if anyone asks. Anyhow, so...I am lying back in the chair, the little brown towel wrapped about my neck, and of course she's fiddlin' around with the temperature. So, she puts what's meant to be a totally organic experience into my hair and commences to scratchin' me behind the ears. Well of course my left leg starts moving and I turn my head into her hand and my belly up thinking this is a pretty good deal for this ol' dog.

So, I'm sitting there, and she starts touching between my eyebrows. Which, I was thoroughly convinced was readily apparent there were two separate, and distinct brows. So she says, "This is really buggin' me, can we get rid of it?" So I'm a l ittle taken aback, and I was like, "huh?" so she says cautiously, "Well, you shave it dont you?" which I can't rightly argue with, however it's not like I have a uni-brow or anything, I'm just taking the onsie-twosies off to maintain that good-order and discipline look I've been cultivating. So I stammer out that yes, in very point of fact I occasionally, however slight or however inconsequential it may be, do in fact, rarely, if ever...sorta...shave it yeah. So she says, "Well let me wax it for ya. M-kay?" So, of course I dont want to hurt this poor lass' feelings, and you know what? It's only money right, and it can't really hurt, and...well...WHEN IN ROME?! Ya know?

So, anyhow, she pastes on this goop, which I thoroughly expected to be hot. Which it wasn't. It was luke-warm at best. It sets for a second, then she RIPS it off. Which, was a bit of a surprise. Not nearly as surprising as her going back for seconds..and...well thirds. So this whole time we're laughing about that movie, "40 Year Old Virgin" in which Steve Carell (spell that on your own time), has the same thing done on his chest and ends up with a bloody smiley face on his chest seeping through this t-shirt.

Anyhow, so...I go look in the mirror, and I dont see a remarkable difference between, "Before" and "After" but..ya know, whatever right? Just a little red circle in the center of my brows. So, anyhow, I go up front we check out, she doesnt charge me, so I over-tip her. Too easy right?

Well I get back to the orifice, and Ami, the Family Support Lady, says, "Captain K, what happened to your forehead?" To which I said, "Promise you wont laugh? The lady waxed it." Which, starts Ami laughing, almost hysterically. Well, back up. I SPECIFICALLY told Katie, that the only way I'd let her do this, would be if she swore it to secrecy, so none of the guys would make fun of me back at the orifice, right? Well enter stage-left, "Irony" AGAIN. Yeah, so now I have to spend the next six days explaining to everyone and their dog how it is that I've come to own a giant red diamond on my forehead, which...really is just a manifestation of the missing top-two layers of skin.

Yeah, it's that ridiculous. Anyhow, so I learned my lesson, and everyone gets a good belly laugh when I tell them what happened. So much for secrecy right? Yeah, anyhow, there's really no moral to the story I guess. Just another one of those, "WHY ME?!" Moments.

Alright I gotta go. I have piano lessons tonight. Second lesson and I didnt practice all weekend because I had drill. "C,D,E,F,G" both hands. Rinse, lather, and repeat as inspired.

I gotta go man.

J