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Going to be a beautiful Saturday for a drive out in Rensselaer County 🛻

Get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure and whatever comes my way.

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Going to be a beautiful start to the weekend for doing some driving around. Partly cloudy and 39 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around 2 am. ☃️ I do wish I could go out camping, but things are going to be muddy after the rain, plus I’m thinking a week from next Thursday of heading up to the Adirondacks for a three-day weekend, assuming they don’t get a shit ton of snow up north in the meantime or it’s pouring rain all Easter weekend. 🐇

Things are going better since I’ve been doing more research 🛖 on housing options, and realizing I have to be more flexible on my thinking — even if it means a longer commute then is ideal to live rural. 👨‍🌾Spending a lot of money on gas ⛽️ and burning through cars 🚗 every 8-10 years ain’t fun, but I may have to push closer to 35 mile commute rather then the less 30 mile commute I was going for. The thing is in 8 years from my next car purchase in 2025, I’ll have built up my solar system and there will be far more options for electric vehicles. 🔌 I really like some of the options for modular cabins, especially the smaller ones built to code for residential use at a factory and delivered to the site with full interior built. Right now I’m quite enthralled by the Zook Settler and similar style small-one floor code-compliant pre-built residential cabins. I am thinking one floor, no basement, smallest size for a smallest possible electrical and heating demand. I like the wood-walls, that won’t sure the dirt like drywall, and the metal roof for fire safety and insurance savings, lest an ember fall on the roof.

Then get an EPA-certified, efficient wood stove and a small heat pump and use one of the bedrooms as a mechanical room — for batteries, split-phase inverter, well pressure tank, and maybe eventually a washing machine and computer equipment. 🔋 If I get serious about the map making business, I might eventually get an used plotter. I am thinking the heat pump can be used when I’m not there to keep things from freezing in winter. ♨️ Wouldn’t run much though, as I’d keep the temperature low on the heat pump in the winter, 🌨️ and the thing is a cabin built to 2018 federal energy standards, as required by NY State, passing blower efficiency tests, 🌬️is going to have minimal heat loss. I am going to need a quality gasoline generator like a Honda, which will have remote start, which can be triggered off inverter on low battery, which can keep things from freezing up in winter if I’m away for an extended time. Plus as much as I personally loathe air conditioning, the climate is warming 🌎️ and it sure would be nice to come home to on that sultry summer nights, especially when the batteries are full and it makes sense to be keeping the cabin cold rather then wasting the solar energy. 🧊 Use a standard electric refrigerator and probably a gas stove converted to use propane — and in winter, sometimes use the wood stove to atop. If I’m only using propane for the stove, I can get away with 30 lb propane tanks, that I can throw in the pickup and get filled at any propane retailer rather then paying a big truck to come out there and be dependent on one supplier. That said, it’s going to be a lot of money, but I’ve saved for a long time, done well in the markets. What I’m building is far smaller then your typical suburban home and will consume far less energy, especially fossil energy.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 54 degrees at 5pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 5th. West wind 5 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 82 was set in 1990. 13.4 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄

At any rate, that’s all fun and games, 🕹️ though first I have to find land that I love ❤️‍🔥and is a good fit for me. The commute thing sucks, but I want to find a place that feels like and will be my home for the rest of my life.  🚗 I am exploring Rensselaer County today, not because that’s necessarily where I will move, as I’m biased towards the Hilltowns of Albany County, but as far as birds eye distance goes  🦜 there’s more remote country, closer to work then in the Hilltowns, being that work in Menands. 🐐 The roads kind of suck and traffic in Rensselaer County, (Hoosick Street and NY 7) but as a property owner, the conservative politics of land of Joe Bruno would suit me well. 😃 What’s good for my business, as I like to say, might not necessarily always be good for myself. Not only do I want to look at a list of parcels I’ve seen listed in Hoosick Falls, Petersburg and Grafton, I also want to explore some of Petersburg State Forest for mountain biking, hiking and camping 🏕️ 🥾 in the future. It’s fun to drive the back roads.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.9° from the due south horizon (-25° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:26 pm with the sun in the west (263°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (269°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:04 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 53 seconds with dusk around 7:31 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the southwest (215°) at an altitude of 73° from the horizon, 239,018 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:05 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.

For the Easter weekend, 🐰 as I was noting, I really want to get out of town to go to the Adirondacks. The burn ban doesn’t apply to small campfires, and I don’t think it’s going to be bone dry up north at that point based on the forecast. 🔥 Plus I really want a good fire to help myself sleep better  🛌 and burn up some of the accumulated papers. I have nothing but disdain for the burn ban, but I understand the fire risk this time of year, as I know how easy it can be set your yard on fire, and as a future property owner I don’t want that to happen. 😐️ You can say what you want about New York State, but it pays my bills and it’s my home. Building standards mean I will end up with a quality, energy efficient building even if I have my views on the gun laws and open burning restrictions. Happy March 16th.

Tonight will have showers, mainly after 2am. 🌧 Low of 41 degrees at 6am. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2023, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1916.

One month 📅 from now will be Average High is 60 🌷 when the sun will be setting at 7:40 pm with dusk at 8:08 pm.

Snow and Ice Covered Truck Trail

Keeping moving forward 👣

One of my fears is that I will get stuck in the process of buying land and building a cabin on it. In many ways, it’s a much more complicated and drawn out process then simply looking at a house, going through a well established path of real estate agents, title searches, house inspection, and traditional mortgage but it also turns out not to be an impossible project without many construction skills or equipment.

In some ways buying raw or minimally developed land (such as an old trailer site or badly damaged home with some infrastructure), especially with cash is a much harder road to hoe. While I haven’t totally written off getting a mortgage — there are tax benefits, namely you can reduce your total income by the amount you pay in mortgage interest — the cost of money these days makes it seem like a waste. And I worry about getting ripped off, and regulatory issues more generally as all of this world is very new and complicated to me. I’ve always preferred to pay with cash, it’s generally cheaper though it will involve cashing out stocks and paying a shit ton of Capital Gains taxes.

Where I am today

Right now I am at the stage at studying parcels that are currently on the market and giving it some thought. What is out there without a home? What are the prices? How far from work? How close to neighbors or potential neighbors who could complain about things to the town? Since drafting my first draft of the homestead and cabin on Saturday, I think I have a better idea — the priority being having the right redneck kind of neighbors, general distance from neighbors, ability to homestead with livestock and have bonfires, ride an ATV around the property, heat with wood, compost, garden and use on-site solar to avoid being tied to growing expense of the dirty power of the electrical grid. Buy and build what I actually want, even if that’s somewhat more expensive then I’d like to spend and not what other people want from the property.

I’m teaching myself LibreCAD so I can draw my vision for the home and the property that I want in a way that is presentable to potential sellers or their real estate agents, town building officials, and architects. I am not a very good hand drawer, and knowing at least some CAD and floor plan design drawing techniques will be good to illustrate my vision to the appropriate people. While I am sure not all of my ideas can be implemented due to regulatory and cost reasons, being able to have a clear idea of what I want on paper, in an easily readable form will make it much easier to obtain what I want.

Maybe the best way to judge my progress is to have a rough time table :

Going forward

  • Late Winter 2024
    • Apply for conventional mortgage to learn more about the process, see what credit resources are available and investigate conventional properties in rural areas sold by conventional realtors.
    • Read library books on the process of buying a home
    • Start the conversation with friends about what their experience is on buying rural land and homesteads, what resources they used, what contractors and banks they utilized
    • Draft up on paper what I am thinking I want my “practical dream” homestead and house would like so I can present my idea to various friends, colleagues, realtors, and town officials.
    • Change from buying additional stock to saving in an a high-interest savings account
  • Spring 2024
    • Turn my paper draft of what my “practical dream” homestead into a CAD project that I can present to others to get feedback.
    • Learn more about the process of building a home by reading and talking to people, specifically the process of working with an architect, getting town approval, selecting a quality, reliable contractor.
    • Learn more about building materials and methods, including what is the latest in affordable off-grid solar.
    • Continue to study properties on the market and tax records, write code to analyze the pros and cons of various properties.
    • Grab the latest list of tax-delinquent properties from the county, match against county tax maps and records, and see if there are properties worth pursuing. Write owners listed on tax records via certified mail.
    • Drive the back roads, looking for abandoned or vacant properties then pulling up their owners from the tax records, searching to the internet to see if the owner passed away or what the story is about the reasons for being abandoned. Write owners listed on tax records via certified mail.
  • Summer 2024
    • Develop a list of properties that meet my desired criteria and have been preliminarily vetted using publicly available GIS data like tax maps, LiDAR, orthophotography — new and old. Run my analysis code on the slope and direction of the land, along with consulting DEC wetland maps, distance to other properties, especially other homes, and other potential nuisances such as junk yards, barnyards, dumping grounds.
    • Reach out to property owners and realtors to confirm the property is still available and to get tours of the land, sharing my vision for the land.
    • Work with an architect to draft plans for the cabin
    • Develop a short list of contractors to build the home
    • Develop a short list of companies to drill the well, put in the road/improve the road, put in the septic tank and leach field
    • Meet with town officials to discuss my vision for the property, including showing a draft architectural drawing, or at least my own concept
  • Fall/Winter 2024
    • Work to close the deal on the land after title searches, consulting with a real estate lawyer, getting the land perc tested for septic, speaking to neighbors about their experience with drilling wells and other potential nuisance concerns with the land, such as something they’ve heard about the land like dumped toxins or flooding that is non-obvious from public records and GIS data.
    • Do not renew my certificate of deposit but keep those funds in a Savings Account, possibly start cashing out some of the stocks and bonds I have saved, reserving funds to cover Capital Gains taxes.
    • Try to close the deal on property, paying with cash if possible. While I will have to pay a full year’s worth of taxes on the undeveloped property, having it on the bag with tentative approval for the cabin for plans would make it worth it.
    • Potentially have some infrastructure work done on the property — improving the road, water well, septic, etc. Might make sense to wait until the new year due to delay Capital Gains tax hit.
  • Late Winter/Spring 2025
    • End my lease for the rented apartment and move out onto the land, camping or using my truck camper (assuming this is allowed — it’s possible at that point that Big Red will be replaced but can be taken off the road, used for hauling gear around the site and camping out of).
    • Live on the land, getting to know it well. Maybe get chickens and rabbits for eggs and mea, a shed to store things including the well pump and gasoline generator.
    • Have finished the infrastructure improvements, especially the driveway/roadway to cabin, site foundation.
    • Work on getting the septic and water put in.
    • Work with contractor to get town permits secured to build the cabin.
  • Summer 2025
    • Work with the contractor to have the cabin built to the point it’s habitable with water and septic and plumbing but not fully complete inside, work with building inspector to get certificate of occupancy based on minimal legal completion
    • Get the cabin to the point where it’s waterproof and secure, start to move inside
  • Fall/Winter 2025
    • Get woodstove and propane heaters professionally installed and up to code
    • Have cabin fully insulated and ready for winter so pipes don’t freeze and I have a comfortable place to spend the winter
    • While I don’t anticipate having the solar done at this point, I can string up extension cords from the gas generator, a few small solar panels and batteries, use small portable lighting through the winter — rather live “without electricity” for a winter to really get to know the land and spread out the tax costs
    • Finalize the design of the solar equipment, inverter, and batteries
    • Work on completing parts of the interior such as flooring and walls, working with an electrician to do the breaker box, while doing some of electrical wiring myself with review of the electrician and town building inspector.
  • 2026
    • Have internal electrical wiring and fixtures finished and approved by the electrician and building inspector.
    • Obtain, mount and install solar panels, inverter, batteries.
    • Work to complete inside walls and flooring
    • Secure a full-size, energy efficient 120 volt refrigerator and full-size gas oven and range for the kitchen
  • 2027
    • Add additional solar panels to the system
    • Add a chest freezer for storage of meat in unheated shed or building overhang
    • Build a shed or small barn, start adding goats and/or maybe hogs to the homestead
    • Various site improvements

Every time I pass a cabin in the wilderness

Lately every time I pass a small hunting cabin up in the woods on a trail I have to stop briefly to observe it and reflect about my future in the wilderness. A simple time, one where I can enjoy the adventures of a more natural life in a place of my own free of all the distractions and tackiness of modern living. It often spurs me to see if I can somehow find more money to save and invest.

I really enjoy working with 12 volt power on my truck and would welcome the challenge of wiring a house with a simple 12 volt system. I could use boost and buck converters to power everything from my laptop to USB power ports through out. Maybe use an inverter to power a refrigerator but I want to avoid working with potentially much more dangerous 120 volts as possible. My focus would be on minimizing my consumption of power and energy as much as possible. I could build a custom highly efficient lighting system controlled by Bluetooth using common Chinese components you can order from the internet.

What I like about the hunting cabins is they are small and simple to clean. Muddy boots aren’t a problem. No hideous carpet. I’d rather have a floor you can shovel our like a barn – but maybe a gutter track is a step too far. Gawd I hate cleaning unless of course it involves hauling stuff out back and burning it. Plan to do that with a lot of junk when I have land. Everything is always dirty and needing cleaning in my apartment. I much rather have simple things to clean and a small space.

I would want to make sure that I had a well insulated building though, and an efficient modern wood stove. I like building fires and heating with wood give me such a chance. I also would want to have hot water primarily for showers but also for dishes. Got to be able to get cleaned and washed up. Paper plates are fine but hot water really helps with pots and pans. Instant on hot water heaters that run on propane are becoming common so that’s not a big deal. Having a good water supply is important as hauling water is a lot of work, but there are many ways to collect, pump purify water.

I’m totally fine with outhouses or a composting toilet system, they work fine as long as you keep them separate from water. I can always use a bucket shitter inside during the winter and dump it out in the outhouse in the morning. Shit doesn’t scare me.

I’d have a big fire pit out back for summer evenings out back enjoying the stars and so I could burn my own trash. It would be great to sit out back all summer long with starry skies. I’d crush and save up the tin cans and beer cans for recycling, maybe get a few bucks at the scrap yard and only take a small load maybe once a year to the transfer station. I hate landfills, this way I could have no part of them and get to play with fire to boot. As a single guy who doesn’t buy much in packaging it’s not like there would be that much to burn at any rate.

I can’t imagine I would ever have internet at home but I would most certainly have a smartphone for the necessary purposes and for updating my blog. I could always use a public library to connect to the internet to upload videos after work. And no I doubt I’d ever own a television as I hate staring at a screen watching a mindless program.

Cat Mountain Cabin to be demolished by DEC

Twenty two years ago on this September 11th 🇺🇸

Hard to believe it was 22 years ago that I was a freshman in college at Hudson Valley Community College on that day with the bright blue skies, listening to Amy Goodman and seeing those terrorist attacks on television at my college statistics class before college adjourned for the day and I spent it just walking along High Point Road in Berne, looking up and noticing the skies without airplanes above.

Good morning! Rain showers and 69 degrees in Delmar. ☔ Calm wind. The dew point is 65 degrees. The skies will clear Wednesday around 11 pm.

Catching the earlier express bus 🚍 downtown so I walk 🚶 in the Plaza before work as it’s really not a particularly nice day. Kind of a dreary autumn day, though at least not so hot. Certainly not the crisp, clear day of 22 years ago. I don’t want to go back to those days with all trials and tribulations ahead of me as I started in college, 🎓 it’s kind of nice to be in the midlife even if things aren’t perfect every day. That was quite a time, when so much possibility ahead existed, when I was learning so much and changing so quickly. I was bad yesterday, didn’t get my steps in, 👣 but this morning I plan to do the stairs maybe twice at work, and walk the Plaza in an attempt to get in 10,000 steps for the day.

Twenty two years is a long time ⏳ even if in the grand scheme of things it’s not. 14 ½ years from now my mom was pointing out I will be 55 years old and if I’m still working for the state at that point I’ll have in close to 30 years and can collect my Tier 4 pension if I decide to do alternative things. 💵 Maybe move out west, have that off-grid homestead property I want. By then I’m hoping to have $1.5 million in assets put away though some I won’t be able to tap until 59 1/2 (IRA) but it’s still young enough that if I stay healthy and continue to improve my physical shape there is a lot of possibilities at that age. September 11th in 2001 seems like just yesterday but it was a long time ago now. 🏙

Today will have showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 71 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 24th. Maximum dew point of 67 at 1pm. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1931.

Listening to Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning while doing my morning walk 🚶 around the Plaza. I’m actually surprised there is less of a police 👮 presence as there was in years past on the anniversary. I guess September 11th has been forgotten but then again it was more than a generation ago now – and I’m sure the threat analysis by terrorism center kept the color code green or blue. I remember that day so well, listening to the attacks live with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, followed by that somewhat old lady troublemaker sounding Rezsin Adams who read 📖 from the Nation Magazine like she did every morning after Democracy Now on WRPI. It’s been decades now since she was kicked off the radio, 📻 and going on three years since her passing. It’s good I got to know her when I was at her house folding the Save the Pine Bush newsletter.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 52° from the due south horizon (-18.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:38 pm with the sun in the west (271°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (277°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:15 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:41 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:17 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 70 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 44 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday, after a few hours of cussing including on Facebook 🤬 and playing around with controls on my bike and some internet research, I got the bicycle shifting smoothly again. ⚙ 🚲 I think what happened is a snagged the front derailleur cable on some bushes when I was riding at the back country at Thacher Park, plus over the past 750 miles or so of riding, cables have stretched. I think it’s good enough for now, though come the end of the year, I’ll take Blackie to the shop for a full tune up — the gears professionally adjusted for smooth shifting along with the wheels trued again. 🚵‍♀️ If I have continued problems with noisy operation or rough shifting, I will just take it back to Steiner Sports to get tuned up and maybe that cable replaced in the front. Sucks I have to put more money into the bike already, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not going to cost that much, even in these inflationary times. The gear adjusting is actually pretty simple to do, I can’t imagine they would charge a small fortune for 5 minutes on the bike stand to index the gears.

I also glued back together the lid on my mini food processor/chopped 👨‍🍳 and it’s working fine after shattering yesterday, but I got looking at getting a full-sized food processor with a dough blade and a big enough motor to knead dough. I would then “retire” my mini-food to my camping supplies, as it works well enough now glued together but I really want something for more power for at home, especially if want to use it to help automate the bread and dough making processor, make chickpea and red lentil flower, larger batches of hummus, etc. 🍞 🍌 I don’t mind kneading dough, but it sure would be convenient to dump the ingredients in, have things kneaded for me without a full bread machine. Looking at $60 model at Wally World, which is not a super high-end but should do that trick with enough power, assuming my dough aren’t so sticky and far more powerful then the 70 watt mini processor.  Truth be told I don’t need the mini-food processor for camping, but I sure like the sauces it makes, and how it mills the oatmeal perfectly for oatmeal-banana pancakes, and perfectly scrambled eggs. And it really has minimal current draw on the inverter.

I am a little worried about money, 🤑 but this week is a pay week and my credit card bill gets retired on Friday automatically, so that will help restore my credit limit. It’s funny but when you do the Autopay, it does it the date the bill is due, so it really covers the cost of summer vacation now. Plus I’ve had more costs with inflation, high food and gas prices ⛽ and a lot more summer travel over the past few months — to say nothing of getting more spices and kitchen supplies for doing more cooking. 🥘 But it’s good as eating healthier is an investment in my future. And it most of my concerns are short-term, if I have to move money around for a few days from a rainy day fund, it’s not the end of the world.

Tonight will be scattered showers, mainly before 7pm. Patchy fog after 2am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 19th. Maximum dew point of 66 at 6pm. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 36 occurred back in 1875.

I think I might have a bladder infection 🚽 as I am going to the doctor’s this afternoon to get checked out. For a while I was chocking going to the bathroom at night and having to stop so much when traveling to just eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables with farm stand season underway, especially all those aciditic tomatoes and peaches, 🍑 🍅 but I was talking to my parents this weekend, and I think it’s best to get it checked out, especially before it could spread to my kidneys. Turns out it’s a simple test, and then antibotics if necessary. And then relief from pissing all of the time. It’s kind of bad that I can’t go anywhere these days without needing a pee break every hour or so, especially in the morning. Maybe I need to cut back on the coffee but I think I might also have an issue — and I’ve noticed some soreness since Friday.

Cool almost autumn like weekend ahead. 🍂 Maybe the North Country will have it’s first hints of autumn this weekend. I thought about heading north, but I think I’d rather wait for more color. It will be refreshing after all the heat and humidity of late. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 72. Maximum dew point of 53 at 12pm. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 75. Maximum dew point of 58 at 12pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 75 degrees. 😀

This weekend I would like to head out of town. ⛺ Maybe Rennselearville State Forest or hammock camping at Cole Hill State Forest is an inexpensive option, I know mom wants me to go apple 🍏 picking with dad come Sunday. Not totally sure, the sunsets are so much earlier this time of year. If I want to head north, it’s best to take off Friday and just leave early that day to get north. That said, I think I’d rather wait until there is more color for a trip up north. 🍂 I wouldn’t mind a couple of quiet nights in the woods, even though the nights are much longer now, and some trail riding.

Looking ahead but not forward, next Monday is 7 PM Sunset 🌆 with dusk at 7:28 pm. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 80 and 62 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 74 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1891.

Tree on Bank of Lake Ontario

The truth is …. 60 Hz Alternating Current Kind of Sucks

The truth is …. 60 Hz Alternating Current Kind of Sucks

Power Lines

In North America, 60 Hz is the standard of alternating current. It was a rather nasty compromise between frequencies, chosen as a “sweet spot” between:

  1. Line losses due to high-frequency currents – The higher the frequency of AC the greater loses due to impedance caused by the voltage and current becoming out of sync due to the induction created by the line (time it takes for the magnetic field to appear and collapse on the wire). It’s not practical to send 400 Hz over any length of wire due to losses.
  2. Size of the transformer needed to step and step down voltage – The higher the frequency of AC, the smaller the transformer needs to be. The magnetic energy in alternating current “exists” in the alternating voltage, so if the voltage is alternating faster, a small transformer can move more power.  Smaller transformers use less copper, they’re cheaper to build, and they’re generally more efficient.
  3. The ability to power light bulbs with minimal smoothing. Incandescent bulbs can be powered directly from 60 Hz alternating current, as it takes more then 1/60th of a second for an incandescent bulb to cool down enough to notice the crossing of zero point. Additionally, with 60 Hz power, a relatively small capacitor can be used to smooth out rectified power to drive an LED light, for fixtures that use a large number of LEDs in series.
  4. The ability to power low-power AC motors. 60 Hz alternating current can and does drive many AC motors, but it does require relatively large motors compared to motors operating at 400 Hz. Not only do 60 Hz alternating current motors require much larger coils then 400 Hz motors, they are less efficient.

Airplanes traditionally use to 400 Hz power, as it saves quite a bit on weight for their electrical motors and transformers. Likewise, traditional automotive alternators generate power in the 400 Hz range, before going through a bridge rectifier and a series of capacitors to smooth out the voltage to direct current. But transferring 400 Hz power, or for that matter boosting and bucking high-current DC can be difficult and prone to electronic failure compared to traditional mains frequency transformers.

But increasingly, we are seeing more uses of high frequency alternating current and direct current, especially in consumer devices. Most modern electronics are powered by switch-mode power supplies, which use high-frequency transformers (as high as 1,000,000 Hz) to safely step down voltage in an isolated fashion. More motors today are driven using inverters, which similarly create a higher-frequency current to provide more power with loss copper and less losses. Controlling the frequency of the current, allows motors to be precisely controlled in their speed, it’s more efficient and accurate then simply chopping off part of the sine wave using thyristor as was done in the olden days to control motor speed.

March 20, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Spring 🌷! The sun passed the equator as the most direct spot its hitting the earth. 🌎 Three weeks to Good Friday ✝️. Rain showers and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔March showers bring April mud. 👢 At least now I have good boots for that purpose. There is a south breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 am. ☃️

Today will have showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 5pm. ⚡ Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 71 degrees at 5pm. 25 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 20th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 4pm. South wind 11 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Should be fun to watch from the Coronavirus office. 💦A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 55 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 2012. That would be nice. 7 inches of snow fell back in 1944.❄

With the lack of sun ☀ might be another tight day for power to run my laptop for work 💻 but it worked out yesterday and should be okay today too. It turns out that my laptop draws less current than I originally expected, but I should fix the plug 🔌 on my DC to DC car charger for my laptop this weekend to further improve efficiency by cutting out the inverter loses. I have a he adapter but I accidentally broke the plug on it. The main thing is figuring out which is the hot and ground on the plug when I splice on another plug. I might eventually be getting an assigned computer for work should the shutdown extend multiple weeks but I was told that the computers were back ordered.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 47.5° from the due south horizon (-23.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Shorter than Mini Mike, a fact the folks slinging cow poop in their spreaders appreciate. 💩 Soil science is fascinating, been studying it lately, reading more about it online. Did you see that video that Our Wyoming Life posted about Mini Mike and agriculture a few weeks ago? The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:31 pm with the sun in the west (265°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (271°) starting at 7:05 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:36 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:09 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 64 degrees. The dew point will be 54 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 14 mph with gusts up to 25mph. Today will have 12 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms before 7pm, then a slight chance of showers between 7pm and 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 31 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 29th. Northwest wind 14 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1956.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 44 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 16th. Northwest wind 9 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 1921. 6 inches of snow fell back in 1905.❄

So tomorrow I’m going to the recycling center ♻ to get rid of my bottles and cans 🍶 and then finish going through my camping gear and getting ready for the upcoming season. ⛺ My sleeping bags have been hung up to air out, my camp stove cleaned. I thought about going to Aldi for groceries and Schodack Island for a walk 🚶 but I don’t know, it might be crowded.

Looking ahead to Sunday, sunny, with a high near 41. North wind 3 to 6 mph. ☀ Typical average high for the weekend is 46 degrees. Assuming that I don’t have other things to do in the Pine Bush, I am thinking of hiking up at Partridge Run for the bulk of the day, probably mostly on the dirt roads because the trails will be muddy unless of course I wear my boots. I like doing more nature study and observation. 🐦

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Good Friday ✝️ when the sun will be setting at 7:32 pm with dusk at 8:01 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 50 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 56 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 1922.

In four weeks on April 17 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (285°) at 7:40 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 59 seconds later then today. In 2019 on that day, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 62 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 59 and 38 degrees. The record high of 91 degrees was set back in 2002. Nicer weather is just around the corner.

Looking ahead, Good Friday ✝️ is in 3 weeks, May 🕊 is in 6 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 11 weeks, Last Day of Session 🏛 is in 3 months, Summer ️⛱️ is in 3 months and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 10 months.

South

It Would Be Fun to Live Off the Grid All of the Time

My Part Time Off the Grid Life.

Basically during most of the weeks of the summer, I live off-the-grid in the form of camping in the Adirondack backcountry at various roadside campsites. In the back country, your pretty much up to doing it all yourself, with gear you have brought. It is a rare thing for a campsite to even have an outhouse, much less a picnic table. The best you can expect for is a fire ring. All else, you must bring in or implement yourself.

When I roadside camp, I generate my own electricity using a 800-watt inverter to power lights, my laptop, and other small appliances. The electricity, generated by the alternator, is stored in a deep cycle battery, and turned into 120 volt AC current with an inverter, much like it would work in an off-the-grid set up. While I’m basically converting gasoline to electricity, the principles are the same as solar or wind energy in an off-the-grid system. There is no power grid to keep the lights on.

In the backcountry, you have to cook your meals and clean up after without the benefits of running water or centralized electricity. You learn how to be self-reliant and learn to do without. Most campsites lack outhouses, so your stuck digging a hole in the woods and burning your toilet paper. Showers involve taking a dip in a creek, or hauling water up into woods, and taking a shower under a shower bag. Okay maybe that part isn’t as much fun.

There is no trash pickup, so you burn the burnable garbage, and bring the unburnable waste back home for recycling. If you choose to use stryofoam plates, you don’t have to worry about them sitting in a landfill for the next millennium — they burn just fine. You get to build camp fires to stay warm, for enjoyment, and to watch things burn. Fire is fun.

Daylight matters in woods, and you can here the birds and wildlife back there. There isn’t the traffic noise. It can be darn quite. In the wilderness there is non-stop beauty, as the natural world works it’s way around the cycle known as the year — as the world continues to evolve through each and every flood, hurricane, and tornado.

Traveling to the backcountry usually involves visiting a lot of out of the way places. Many beautiful small towns, and spending time in and around them. Small towns are really a world away from living in Albany, where people are connected to the land. When your in a small town in the mountains or in farmscape of Rural America, it really feels like your a world away from the city.

Rochester Hispanic Percentage

Someday to Live Off the Grid All of the Time.

Camping is a fun adventure in summer time, but I think it would be fun adventure to basically do all of the time. While certainly I would want to have running water, and good way to take hot showers, I really don’t want to be part of the grid, but instead be responsible to meeting my own needs by physical means. Rather then paying a distant corporation to generate electricity or pump water to my place, I’d rather be able to generate it on my own means — either by petroleum or wind, water, or solar.

Unlike some people, I do not have as much as a moral objection to the grid or even civilized society, but I think it would be a lot of fun to work directly with the technologies that power’s one life — and to live fairly minimally without all the gizmos and energy sucking gadgets that are common when people are connected to the grid, and get virtually unlimited electricity for very low prices. It is nice to have a system under one’s control — and not dependent on the grid beyond your control.

I like the idea of living off the grid, because you would get to use fire in almost every facet of your life. One of the things I like most about camping is the fires, watching the woods (and trash) burn up in the fire pit. I like cutting and splitting my own wood, and I’d rather be in control of my heat energy supply rather then sending a check off every month to some distant utility. I want to minimize my waste, then be able to burn my burnable trash, and haul my recyclables to the recycling center, rather then depend on a centralized service that promotes wasteful behavior.

I want to live in outside a small town, away from the big city. I don’t want to have to deal with big city traffic, public transit, criminals, and the sensationalization of the media on how life in the city must be.