POWER
Have you ever driven to two hardware stores just to match and a buy a few right-sized screws or one more butt splicer? Done did that DIY Duh Dance more that once this summer -- but on August 21, 2013, I crimped up the last in-line fuse on a red wire and called the intrepid Winford over to spot me while I piled the ring terminals on my battery posts. Good thing he was there -- I couldn't get all the terminals to fit on the positive post, due to a heavy ground lug. He boosted me over the finish line by finding an adaptor to extend the positive terminal capacity, and yeehaw woohoo! All the lights went on -- I am charging my house battery by the free energy of sunlight!
And can charge the cellphone, the camera, and the laptop, play the radio, juice the speakers, etc. Under the plastic horse below is my "Widget Board" where the battery snoop, the solar charge controller, the switch to the cig-socket bank, and the inverter switch are all at-hand. The second photo is of the battery, cables, inverter and fuses stashed under my dinette seat where I sit to eat, paint, read and write:
Now I can see by the light of the sun when only the stars are shining. I will be leaving my job at the trailer park and returning to sage brush and silence at the end of September. Where I can recharge my soul-batteries, walk and breathe and sleep, and where poems and paintings appear in my mind commanding my happy attention.
PAINTINGS
This summer my air conditioner kept me comfortable inside my trailer for painting, instead of running off to fish in lakes at cooler elevations. A good match for the season, since the fishing in Bishop Canyon lakes this year has been frustrating, almost futile, due to lack of water. I have stashed my rods and tackle box for another place, another time ...
Thunderstorm in a canyon
Bishop Canal, autumn
Water trees in a waterless year
Red Horse and Rider
G'bye Bishop, next post from somewhere else. Dear reader, please say a prayer for me for a safe transition!
