Cody’s blog

The days are getting shorter, and my batteries are no longer getting enough charging to keep the fish tank going through the night. Monday morning, the electricity went out at around 7:30 am because the batteries had gotten too low. Since my generator is still not hooked up to the system, I couldn’t use it to charge the batteries and had to just wait for the sun to charge them up. Spent the morning doing housecleaning, and the electricity finally came back on at around 12:30 pm. So, about five hours for the sun to do the job.

Tuesday I was okay, but Wednesday the electricity was out when I got up in the morning. It was back when I got home from work—presumably, it came back on sometime in the middle of the day, as it had done on Monday. So, obviously, this wasn’t a one-time fluke—I’m just not getting enough sun any more. I emailed my solar guys Wednesday morning, and they said they’d get someone out to hook up the generator and the remaining solar panels as soon as possible. Automating the generator and running the line to my mom’s place will have to wait until the boss gets back from an out-of-town job he’s on, and has time to come and do it. But at least I’ll have a little more charging, and generator backup.

Meanwhile, I’ve put the fish tank on a timer to shut the filter/pump off at night and back on in the morning. I figured, if the electricity goes out, the tank is off anyway for a minimum of five hours, so I might as well shut it off at night and save the electricity for daytime when I need it. Going without electricity for two weeks last fall proved that the fish can survive without the filter. I’ll use the battery-operated airstone at night and change water a bit more frequently until the guys can get out here to hook up the generator.

It occurs to me that I could even continue to shut off the fish tank at night throughout the winter. As long as the water stays clean and the fish aren’t harmed, it would save a lot of propane if I didn’t have to use the generator every other day from October through February. Hm. We’ll see what happens once the rest of the solar panels are hooked up. They may be the boost the system needs to provide enough power through the winter.

I also took a bucket of soapy water, a rag, and a squeegee down this morning to clean the dust, mud, and bird crap off the solar panels. They were quite dirty, so that may also help with the charging. I don’t know if  it will be enough to make a difference, but it should help some.

My cat is insisting on sitting in my lap, so I’m having to type over him. Big silly lump.

I have an appointment with my financial person this afternoon. I made the appointment last week, before the big stock market shenanigans. Will be interesting to see what she has to say about all that. I’m not really worried. I’ve been through these things before, and the only thing to do is just sit tight and ride it out.