Day 795. I think that I am about ninety-nine percent better from that lingering ailment and it feels good to no longer start my day with a coughing fit first thing in the morning. I think that a good part of my recovery was those handmade remedies those friends so kindly brought me and I administered to myself until they were all gone. I also think that all the dandelion and purple dead nettle I have consumed recently played a part along with me getting outside and getting plenty of exercise. My muscles all ache from all the physical activity but it is the kind of ache that tells me 'I am emerging from hibernation and feeling quite alive.' Which overall is an awesome feeling and as much as I enjoy my winter downtime I also enjoy it's inevitable end.
This winter was pretty fantastic actually (and comparatively) and I feel like it really gave me the solace and peace of mind that was lacking my first two winters here. Those of you that have helped make that possible thanks a bunch because my mind damn sure needed it. I know that I should not get too excited because there is undoubtedly about another month of chilly weather to get through here and there is still the chance of more snowstorms and hard freezes. Lately there has been some really sunny/warm days but the wind has had quite the chill to it regardless and a few times it left me running back inside shivering and putting on more layers as rapidly as I could. Regardless of all that I do love springtime in the mountains especially with the sights and sounds of nature stirring all around me.
Recently someone asked me what my 'big goals' were for the year and even though my brain was fuzzy from being rather sick at the time my answer was essentially to capture more springs, create more large scale water storage and create a high pressure gravity fed water system that I can use to drive my micro hydro-electric turbines or possibly even a larger turbine system. Having gone this winter with no gasoline generator as a backup electricity source has really shown me just how much my original inclination (one I have had for many years even preceding actually living off-grid the last few years) is that solar by itself just is not enough. Hopefully I can accomplish this 'big goal' this year and if not then maybe I can at least get closer to accomplishing it.
The work that I have previously done developing the high elevation springs for such a system has definitely bore fruit and one spring in particular has flowed very consistently throughout the course of not just one year but two years now and at this point I feel good about it's 'reliability'. For my purposes with the hydro-electricity it really only needs to perform well in the winter but year-round is even better. At this point I have most of the needed resources to get a good water system setup off that spring and hopefully I will be able to slowly purchase the rest of the stuff I need long before the next winter. None of that project is 'plug and play' though so I am not going to feel too deflated if I don't have an operational hydro-electric system by next winter but damn it sure would be nice!
Sometimes to get from point A to point B with a project I feel like I must traverse the rest of the alphabet first but really all I do is slowly acquire all the necessary resources (or figure out how to improvise them) then slowly implement the plan that I have in place to utilize those resources. I like to avoid having a bunch of 'one day' projects and what I mean by that is having piles of stuff around and continually saying 'one day I am going to do this or that with this stuff'. I would much rather keep my eye on the prize and accomplish my damn goals instead of just flapping my jaw about them. For some folks though I understand that the fantasy of doing things is much more satisfying than actually doing those things especially since 'total inaction' equals zero chance of failure or success...but go figure!
Anyway all that stuff aside the layer of frost outside is slowly melting and it is looking like it will be yet another bright sunny day mixed with chilly temperatures...the kind of weather that is perfect for my solar panels to really crank out the electricity and be super efficient. Hopefully at some point today I will even get the chance to hook up my beat up old mixer to my little amp and play some loud Irish music just because I can.
I hope that everyone has a great day. Be well and repeat after me: You might be Irish but you aren't this kind of fucking Irish!
