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  1. johnElarue

    Best foods to stock up on?

    Recently I was rotating out some old stock and ate some 2006 and 2008 expiration sardines and mackeral, no problem , yum.
  2. johnElarue

    Bug out bag who has one?

    I've got 2 near the front door, but not very serious ones. Water, snacks, rain gear, gloves, lights, candles, TP. We're prone to flash flood or landslide.
  3. johnElarue

    Most unusual item in your "stash"

    A large sized can of grizzly bear pepper spray
  4. johnElarue

    Solar Install - Story From Start To Finish

    Great to hear!
  5. johnElarue

    Black hose solar water heater for shower only works great.

    Sounds good, try an insulated picnic cooler with spigot. I did something similar this fall when our bath was being fixed, not super warm the next morning however, but if you add a kettle of boiling water it is bearable
  6. johnElarue

    We're freezing! What about kerosene heat?

    I lived with only kerosene heaters for 5 years. The first few were not so bad, but it eventually drove me out of the house and to get a woodstove. If you can find something like this http://www.alexyokohama.com/Products/Kerosen_Fan_Heater_FH-6740H.html they are pretty safe and fuel...
  7. johnElarue

    SS Garden thread 2010, post your pics here!!

    Thanks, the black ovals are heavy duty plastic, rice paddy borders. The tires are on tatami mats to suppress bamboo grass, a nasty invasive weed.
  8. johnElarue

    Storing my "taters

    I store them in the crawlspace under the house in a plastic storage bin lined with newspaper and a sturdy bbq grill (like hardware cloth?) on top, weighted down with a rock. Once a week when I take a basketful out I mix them up. It doesn't get below freezing down there and they last from...
  9. johnElarue

    Who has solar panels?

    The panels are all installed and have been making power for about 2 weeks, not running many loads but it's all set up. Here is the new wiring box.
  10. johnElarue

    splitting cedar logs for rails or posts - new video

    Sorry, I mean green- fresh cut, not dried.
  11. johnElarue

    SS Garden thread 2010, post your pics here!!

    Nice pics everyone, No field to till this year so I'm concentrating around the house cedar logs front garden experimenting with tires this year partially shaded "forest garden" in progress
  12. johnElarue

    splitting cedar logs for rails or posts - new video

    Hi Paul, I take it that is greed cedar? Great videos, keep them coming.
  13. johnElarue

    Energy Tax Credits available for windmills and more

    Yeah they are more expensive even though they're made here so, yes we do pay more, for most everything. The credits on the vehicles are nearly the same though. The Mitsubishi MiEV plug in EV is now available, 40K. After credit it's 30K, yikes. Not nearly reasonable. I'm wondering if EV's...
  14. johnElarue

    Energy Tax Credits available for windmills and more

    We @got 2-3K off a heat pump hot water, all electric house system from the gov't here, but I'm in Japan, sorry.
  15. johnElarue

    Thermostat--your winter LOW

    Wow! that was a great and bizarre read. Dunno how they do it. Living in a non-central heat culture here, as some people also choose to do on this thread, makes it all the more strange.
  16. johnElarue

    XPC - Tell Tales

    Nice tales, When I was in school I used to blow off class at least once a month and go to nearby state park to let off steam and relax. One day I was swimming in a good sized lake a coupla miles in and I climbed up on a nice rock to eat my lunch and catch some rays. From directly behind my...
  17. johnElarue

    Who has solar panels?

    Yeah, I know what you mean kinda. I wish we'd done this from the start when building, .... "if I knew then, what I know now " xpc, thanks for the advice on the controller. It has a float charge, but doesn't have an equalization charge, or bulk . But isn't bulk the same as regular charge...
  18. johnElarue

    Who has solar panels?

    So I wound up getting the 15A MPPT for about $75.00 , in testing everything is fine. Using a single AC Delco Voyager 115AH marine battery. Seems like I can only get it charged to 12.62V, which is approx 92%, which is fine with me. Running some Cfl's now and it's down to 12.58 or 88% give or...
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