At the pond

From our pond Aug 11, 2013  2 bass and a perch.  We stocked the pond with baby fish about this time last year and here are some of the results.

Caught a coyote in my snare and a bull frog migrated to our pond.  I also put 100 bull frog tadpoles in about a month ago.   Now we have crayfish, catfish, perch, tadpoles, bass, tilapia and minnows.  Little by little it is becoming a well stocked pond.

Summer 2013 Aug at the Farm

Solar Panels was a no brainer

Solar was an offer too good to be true!   Looking into solar I found CPS, our utility company, would pay up to $25K on the solar panels in the form of a rebate, so I bought the max that I could to use all the rebate.  So $25K of solar panels, with the rebate, were free.  All I had to spend was the $10K for the installation and the US Gov gives me 30% of that back in a Tax Credit.  Total out of the pocket $7K for a system that will produce about $200/mon for 40 years... A no brainer!  

As the cost of everything goes up with time, because the value of the dollar goes down, the $200 / mon in savings is only going to get bigger!

I have a grid tie system, meaning no batteries.  Batteries are costly and require maintenance and will only last highside 6 yr till you have to replace them.  So CPS the utility company becomes my battery backup system.  During the day the panels make electricity and the meter runs "backwards" and then at night we get home and start using things and the meter runs forward.  The goal is to have my daily use equal my daily production.  zero bill.  

I think you can get the jest of my plan from that.  If I have too few panels I will add more till I get to a zero monthly use, with NO plan to sell back to CPS.  I want a zero bill.  Now I have 60 panels so we will see how that does.  Lots of sun should mean lots of energy.  By the way it makes my electric car energy really free from the sun!  LOL

Be blessed, Billy and Jan 

Least Work Garden Ever! 2013 April

We Got Solar Panels Hooray!