Keeping the duck dog busy. Final update, 10/26.
- Thread starter tod osier
- Start date
Brad F said:
Thanks Brad, to be honest, I'd be pissed were the culture not radically different than we are used to - that is part of the reason for the move. We have spent a lot of time in the community we bought in to and while we know we wont' ever be accepted as locals, the people are great and welcoming. The winters are long and brutal, the summers are insanely glorious but short. Our plan is to put in at least a 1500 square foot heated greenhouse on the site to be able to continue gardening. Gus will be in college when we make the move, one of the reasons we bought so early is to make the place familiar and home for him - we will see if that works. Yes, we are ready and if it isn't for us a new adventure will then present itself somewhere else.
Eric Patterson said:
Thanks Eric, you are partially responsible for the move. Not that it wouldn't have probably happened, but the spark that lit the flame to hunt in the west was generated here so many years ago. I had travelled West for work, I'd travelled West for birdwatching, but I hadn't travelled to hunt. That first bird hunting trip, which was basically planned here showed me what I was missing.
Nice place Tod! It is very exciting.
I wondered about the gardening and what you would do....the green house makes sense. Can you pretty well garden in a green house year round up there or will it have to be heated to do it?
Is the house totally solar? Or does some of the solar get sold back to the power companies?
I wondered about the gardening and what you would do....the green house makes sense. Can you pretty well garden in a green house year round up there or will it have to be heated to do it?
Is the house totally solar? Or does some of the solar get sold back to the power companies?
Phil Nowack
Well-known member
OK!
Phil Nowack
Well-known member
Just put down field turf.. lol
Dani said:
For gardening in the northern latitudes there is the Persephone period, which is the time when there is less than about 10 hours of sunlight per day. Plants can't really grow then, even if it is warm enough because not enough light. Where we are the period is November, December, January (both CT and WY), so you need supplemental light to have plants actively grow. I would think we would take that period off in WY rather than have supplemental light then. We would definitely need to heat at night during parts of several months. Feb, March, Sept, October as guesses. Heat would be propane on a thermostat, but we could also have supplemental wood heat - maybe. You can also have plants in the ground through the Persephone period (plant in fall and get them going as soon as there is enough light in spring), but I don't know how that will work in a super cold environment like WY. Jen does that all the time here. Spinach works well here. Get it going in the fall and cover it during Persephone and then it gets going in the spring and it is way ahead and producing early.
House is on the grid, but solar will cover it many months of the year. Heat is 100% electric, which comes in to play. We really don't know anything concrete, since the array was finished in April and it hasn't been through a winter. We have some solid guesses. Calculating based on past heat bills and estimating kWh (there was a lot of estimating done because since we didn't own it the electrical company and solar company would give us firm numbers), our guess that solar will cover everything in summer and 2/3 in winter. Since it was installed in April, there has been no bill other than a service charge. We accumulate kWh credits for what we put into the grid beyond what we use when we overproduce and get them back tit for tat later when needed. The only sticky widget is that the electric company settles up once a year with you on extra credits in January and they settle up on a pennies per dollar rate, SO any accrued credits that you have are erased in January if you don't use them before then. So you accumulate all summer and then use them the accrued in Oct, Nov, Dec and any left over are essentially wasted. We don't know how much we will accumulate in summer, we could do that calc, but it seemed unneeded at that point. If we didn't have to settle up on the credits, I'd think it would be pretty close to zero electric needed from the grid given the calcs we did.
We have learned a lot about solar with a lot more to learn about a lot of other stuff.
Tod
Does having your own solar array prompt you to consider buying an electric vehicle?
Eric
Does having your own solar array prompt you to consider buying an electric vehicle?
Eric
Eric Patterson said:
We have a Prius hybrid that I absolutely love. It is just a great car, handles well, great acceleration, quiet, cheap to run. It isn't a plug in. We were thinking that we would probably get some sort of hybrid SUV to get a little more ground clearance, since all the houses we had looked at were on a dirt road, but this house is right on a beautifully and well maintained county route.
No way with the distances needed to drive out there a full on electric would be something I'd consider (3 hours to Costco
), but a plug in hybrid small SUV to go along with a 3/4 or probably 1 ton dually would work well.I'm holding out against an electric vehicle on general principle. Old fart stuff. Not a denier, but I'm stubborn.
So Tod, how quickly are you able to acclimate travelling back and forth from the coast to 7,500 ft? At that altitude I start to feel it in an airplane after only an hour or so. I guess once you move there it won't be an issue. Are there adjustments you'll need to make for growing your plants? Somewhere I recall reading that when adjusted for temperature differences, many plants don't do as well at altitude as at sea level? Maybe lower atmospheric pressure, so less CO2 and lower evapotranspiration?
So Tod, how quickly are you able to acclimate travelling back and forth from the coast to 7,500 ft? At that altitude I start to feel it in an airplane after only an hour or so. I guess once you move there it won't be an issue. Are there adjustments you'll need to make for growing your plants? Somewhere I recall reading that when adjusted for temperature differences, many plants don't do as well at altitude as at sea level? Maybe lower atmospheric pressure, so less CO2 and lower evapotranspiration?
SJ Fairbank said:
I acclimate pretty quickly, I think I'm better than I was years ago, but I was also fat back then too. I used to wake up in the middle of the night searching for air the first week or so, but haven't in years. My plan is to spend enough time out there that I'll stay adjusted to altitude from here on out.
. I'm driving out in a couple weeks and bringing Skeet, who is 12 now and who's breathing is a somewhat labored and I'm hoping it doesn't stress him too much. We will see on the plants, there is no serious history of vegetable gardening in the area. Depending on how you calculate there are only 30 or 50 frost free days, so greenhouse is a must. I have no idea how altitude will impact vegetable crop production when the rubber hits the road, but I think it will be OK given what I've seen there. The number of greenhouses there has exploded in the past 5 years in the area and people are growing all kinds of stuff in them. They seem able to produce all the stuff we would grow, but I'm sure there will be issues of some sort. Lotta learning to do, but we are pretty good at that.
Yup, I was fat back then too. Still am! LOL No doubt a contributor to my feeling the effect of altitude. Plus age. Hope Skeet does ok, I hate hurting my buddies. Last week Gunner's feet got all beat up chasing grouse. He's just getting back to normal today and he's only 4.
I'm sure you'll figure out the gardening. If others are doing it, it can't be too difficult. One more adventure.
I didn't see anybody else ask, do they have ducks? Asking for Skeet. [smile]
I'm sure you'll figure out the gardening. If others are doing it, it can't be too difficult. One more adventure.
I didn't see anybody else ask, do they have ducks? Asking for Skeet. [smile]
SJ Fairbank said:
How'd you find the grouse numbers this year? I haven't heard anything at all about the year. I'll probably be here next fall, so I'll plan a trip up.
There are more ducks there than I would expect, I was in town cutting meat and there was a pretty good amount shooting on the saturday opener in september and it continued through the beginning of the week. I doubt it is great, but probably better than here.
tod osier said:How'd you find the grouse numbers this year? I haven't heard anything at all about the year. I'll probably be here next fall, so I'll plan a trip up.
There are more ducks there than I would expect, I was in town cutting meat and there was a pretty good amount shooting on the saturday opener in september and it continued through the beginning of the week. I doubt it is great, but probably better than here.
Good number of birds, I'll call it better than average but not exceptional like two years ago. We're heading back in November, to hunt birds and rot on a stump looking for the last deer in northern Maine. Sometimes the best bird hunting is in November, if they aren't all budding. I will say that the highlight of last weeks trip was our poor shooting. They say you always remember the ones that got away, lots of those memories made. On three occasions the little buggers taunted us by holding in front of the dogs until we were inside 10 yards, then flew across in front of us in open cover. No feathers cut, we are true conservationists. [whistle] We collected quite a few too, but the best of it is the dogs anyway. My buddy has a setter and we have a pointing lab. We bicker over who's dog is better, who the hell cares how many birds we shoot? Two withered carcasses staggering through the woods on broken wheels. Who's mixing the drinks tonight?[smile]
The duck hunting sounds promising. Agreed, it doesn't take much to equal or surpass the gunning here.
Todd Duncan Tennyson
Well-known member
Tod,
Congratulations on a great bull, a prime specimen.
If i was running that dog with me when I was out for big game, I'd be sure to tie on a blaze orange Bandanna so nobody would think it was something for the table.
I know it doesn't happen often, but it does happen and what a terrible deal that would be.
You are going to be living large and enjoying some fine elk steaks for a while.
Well done.
Congratulations on a great bull, a prime specimen.
If i was running that dog with me when I was out for big game, I'd be sure to tie on a blaze orange Bandanna so nobody would think it was something for the table.
I know it doesn't happen often, but it does happen and what a terrible deal that would be.
You are going to be living large and enjoying some fine elk steaks for a while.
Well done.