The Good And The Bad!!

Good Morning World!!!  Sounds cheery, right?  Not so much in real life.  There was a marathon Elks meeting last night that went on forever!!  There's craziness in the world and it effects the Elks Lodge just as much as it does everyone else.

I mean seriously, why in the world would the City send out a petition to every business asking them to AGREE to a property tax increase of well over $3,000 a year just to provide you with "aesthetic" changes and "general marketing" when you are almost entirely OUT of the "zone"?  Guess what ... we voted a resounding NO, as I'm sure every other business did likewise.  It makes you wonder!!

That late night is going to make it a two-cup morning as I take in a big whiff of onion processing (I do love THAT smell) and make sure there are no tuxedo wearing critters back in the yard.  I've already gotten a couple of calls about how to get rid of them!!

The question has come up about PG&E, whether they get any extra electricity my panels produce.  I am hooked up to the power system and boy do I love watching that meter run backwards!!  One minutes it says 840 kwh and the next it says 827.   

At this point there is no possibility there will be any extra.  I'm pretty sure I'm using way too much with my AC's set to 80 degrees.  Until they hook up their meter, they don't know how much I'm creating.  The "extra" comes into account when I'm not using much power and the system is producing a lot, like in the spring and fall.  That amount is banked and I draw from it during the summer months.  If there is any leftover at the end of the year, it goes directly to PG&E and I am NOT paid for it (which is why they don't care how many panels you put up).  

It's a numbers game, right up my alley.  If I use MORE than what I produce over a year, they send me a true-up bill in December for the balance.  It seems every state is different, such as Arizona not allowing more panels than what's needed to equal what you used during the last year.  If you overproduce, they DO pay you for the extra.

So much more than I ever cared to know!!!  With the next five days predicted to be 105+, I'm definitely glad I was able to get it done now.

I spent a good part of the day cleaning up my local residents leftover dinners.  From the looks of my entry way, there must be a million baby spiders filling their tummies with gnats.  It's always fun to pick them out of your hair for two hours after sweeping the carcasses away!!

And just like THAT .... another problem reared its ugly head.  My alarm panel began to beep at me.  For every euphoric UP, there must be a down!  In the past it's been a bad backup battery.  I replaced it a few days ago, only to have the yellow light and beeping continue. 

This time I spent 30 minutes pushing buttons going through every programming section I could find, to finally discover there was a COMMUNICATIONS issue.  Uh oh ... that's the reason for the system ... to notify the monitoring service.

When I called them and asked for a tech, I finally got one who said he needed to run a test.  You know what that means ... screaming alarms going off in the neighborhood.  Okay ... if I have to.  I set it off and OH MAN ..... the noise was epic.

Instantly I got a call from my neighbor.  Boy did that make me feel good!!  But I couldn't answer it because I was on the phone with the alarm company.  I ran outside in my flimsy spaghetti strap house dress to see the neighbor's husband coming across the lawn.  How embarrassing!!  I told him everything was okay ... it was just a test.

So here's the deal ... the alarm company got no message of an alarm at all.  That's a nice feeling, eh?  Apparently my system is from the days of 3G phone towers.  Those have now been taken down and replaced with 4G so my system doesn't work, other than make a lot of noise.

The choice is simple ... sign a 3-year contract and get it done for free or pay $150 for the upgrade.  I haven't decided yet which I'll do, but they are coming Monday to provide a new updated panel.  Fort Knox will soon be back to normal.  In the meantime, I better not have a fire when I'm not home.

Dinner was quick and tasty.  Air fried thick pork chops, done in 14 minutes.  Boy do I love that fryer.

There's much more stuff to report on, but in the interest of not boring everyone senseless, that's it for today.  I'll recoup a little this morning from the late night before meeting up with the contractor one last time.  No worries, I have him on speed dial.