Weather Topic!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Glad you're back - another two weeks and I would have had to start searching obits. A sad habit I picked up from our shared trauma with Mr. Underdog.

It's ok, I knew he was in London... I'd just forgotten for the first week! To be fair we do have modern technology like the internet in the UK, so I'm sure Mr Zs could have checked in here!! 

[Zzzptm]

To be sure, I had suspended most of my Internetting in favor of having time with the missus and/or sleeping.

Fun moment from my trip: Meeting David Baddiel at Stonehenge!

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

Fun moment from my trip: Meeting David Baddiel at Stonehenge!

Stonehenge is great. I quite like David Baddiel too.

Any other touristy "must sees" ticked off your list?

[Zzzptm]

Stood on the Greenwich Meridian - tick!
Cutty Sark visit - tick!
Kew Gardens - tick!
Tower Bridge - tick!
Did a cheap bus tour so... Big Ben, St. James' Garden, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Number 10, Winchester Palace - tickticktickticktickticktickticktick!



Favorite museum was London Transport Museum.

[Zzzptm]

MEANWHILE IN TEXAS

Fall is here! It's noon time and only 61F out there AND we had a partial eclipse today! Used my special eclipse-viewing glasses and got a great view of the spectacle. We had 70% coverage here in Dallas. Next year, full 100% eclipse in April!

[Charger]

You should have gone up to Diddly Squat too while you were around... Or to that pub just between Salisbury and Shaftesbury....


Bit windy here at the moment...one might even say bit stormy...but just a bit.

[Zzzptm]

We did try to see the Taskmaster house, but couldn't get the time into the day we were out by Kew to do it.

[KiloDeltaCharlie]

We have Storm Babet sweeping across the north of the country and Scotland, lots of wind and rain with associated flooding and downed trees etc there's a rare Red weather warning in parts of Scotland. In the south we had a lot of rain, but not much in the way of wind, so hasn't affected us too badly.

[Zzzptm]

Creeping back up to 90F here in Dallas today and tomorrow, but rain should be coming next week.

[Charger]

Cold cold cold. Northenly wind and 4C (40F)...COLD!

[Zzzptm]

My solar panels are finally running and generating power - sunny day in Dallas got me around 37 KWh of electricity.

The hold up was due to a part that took weeks instead of days to arrive.

[Vyn]

Do you have a battery for storage of the charge generated by the solar panels or does it just run straight into your mains?

[Zzzptm]

Straight to the mains, battery storage is too expensive right now. Would still need a separate generator to run power in the event of a general outage.

[Vyn]

Straight to the mains, battery storage is too expensive right now. Would still need a separate generator to run power in the event of a general outage.

Makes sense. I've lightly pondered solar panels over the years, twice seriously. First time was years ago, and a doctor at the hospital I worked at had just installed a bunch. I started looking into it, then asked him some questions. The upshot: way too expensive for me.

More recently I ran across a guy on youtube explaining his setup. A couple of panels for $600, and a storage system for $1800. The storage system was plug and play. I determined I would need more than what that guy had, but the cost was still reasonable if it allowed me to unhook from the utility.

The guy is in Germany, so I looked into the laws where I'm at. No go. Doubtful that the plug and play approach ever will be a go, for several reasons, so that system is out of the question. And like you, I found that an appropriate battery system at this point is simply too much $$$.

When the situation changes such that I can be self-sufficient regarding energy needs, I will be all over it. I know solar panel tech improves all the time, and so does battery tech, so hopefully sometime in my lifetime

[Zzzptm]

May want to check out if there's incentives for solar in KC. Texas has its own power grid (and the woes associated with it), so there are big incentives here from the state but even bigger federal ones.