At school, the teachers and kids are back at it again. I heard some geese overhead as I paddled today. The evenings are noticeably cooler. The lake water has odd chilly patches here and there which haven't been there all summer. The seasons are changing, moving from summer to fall. That's okay with me. I love the change and what it offers, but it does bring to mind that I'll soon be paying bigger electric bills again and have less to spend on essential kayaking stuff.
I was over at a friend's place yesterday. He moved into a new house a couple of years ago and is quite proud of some of the innovations in the place. For one, his annual electrical bill is only a few hundred dollars, not the thousands I pay! That's because he heats his house by extracting heat from circulating deep well water, which he then uses to warm the floors of his house. His garage, a separate building, is heated in similar fashion, but the heat source is a greenhouse attached to it. As the greenhouse warms up during the day, water pipes overhead warm up and the warm water is then stored in tanks. It is then pumped under the garage floor whenever the temperature in his garage drops below a set point.
This may not seem to be kayak related, but if one can save money in one area, it surely means one can spend it in another. With a system like that I could be going to more kayak symposiums and taking more trips to far-away places, buying new boats and lots of related gear. The trouble is the system would require another mortgage to purchase and install and that's the rub. Perhaps I'll listen to the geese overhead, paddle boats I can build and wonder why the water gets colder patch by patch in the late summer. That won't cost too much.
1 comment:
I like this picture, it makes me want to go out and kayak. but its raining and the sea is under a misty gloom. I wonder too about your ducks and the avian flu, there was a big hoo-ha about it here which seemed to fizzle out, and nothing really has been affected, of course they could be covering it up but not sure why they would.
nice idea saving money on bills, but there is the part of having to spend money to save money. I think all new-builds should include things like this and solar panels, windturbines etc. and I think the stone hut might be a bit chilly, here's the pre-history version http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/
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