Solar On and Generating Power

APS showed up on Friday to inspect our solar panels and the electrical work.

Everything looked good so they connected the solar panels to our electrical system. We are now generating our own power.

This is a Smart Meter. It runs forward and backward. When it is running backward, we are suppling electricity to the power company. At the end of a year, if we have generated more than we used, we receive a refund check.

We will get a power company rebate and a federal tax credit for installing the panels. We expect our electrical bill to be 80% less.

Elk Problems and Garden Update

The elk damaged four of our newly planted trees. A member of our gardening class told us to hang a bar of Irish Spring soap on the trees...........apparently the elk hate Irish Spring. Good ol' Walmart had bars of Irish Spring.......it's phewy!....no wonder the elk dislike it.

We also put cages around the trees for some added protection. Their were two elk at the end of our driveway this morning. (It's always too dark to take a photo.) The herd that passes by in the early morning hours is 50 strong. The bulls bugle for hours.....we are beginning to sleep through it all.

We cleared an area in the fenced portion of our yard and set up two "square foot" garden beds that we purchased at our local nursery. We also set up an experiment....one bed has topsoil from Home Depot and the other bed is 3/4ths topsoil and 1/4 llama poop. We will be planting garlic, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

We set up the experiment because the llama poop has been great for the pumpkins, squash and cucumbers but not so good for the tomatoes. (The tomatoes were looking great until about a week ago. They have stopped growing and the leaves are curling inward.)

We will have plenty of pumpkins for Halloween!

Randy took Cooper on an early morning walk today. He was digging away in this pile of bricks. Randy couldn't get him to stop digging. After a few minutes a little chipmunk ran out of the pile and up a tree. Cooper has a very good nose!

The worst of the heat seems to be over with....it was 48 degrees at 6:00 this morning. The high today will be about 85 degrees.....so much better than our August temperatures. We don't have to use the AC anymore. We are still waiting for the inspection for our solar voltaic panels.

Solar Voltaic

Roland and Terry arrived on Thursday to start putting the solar panels on the roof.

Below are two of the solar panels.....we have 24. They each are capable of producing 240 watts of electricity.

The City of Payson came out to inspect the installation and make sure all the wiring was done correctly.

Roland was very happy that they got things lined up just right. From then on things just "snapped" into place.

They worked on Friday to finish the job.

Done! Arizona Public Service (APS) from Phoenix also has to inspect the panels before we can turn them on.....we may have to wait 6 weeks for that to happen.

The elk were playing in our yard last night......bummer........you don't want elk in your yard. They took out three of our new trees. They had a million trees to choose from and they had to pick our new ones.

Every morning a neighbor and his three dogs walk by our house. This morning a coyote was following them. This particular coyote likes to follow dogs and the neighbor has nicknamed him "Rascal." This morning Cooper joined in on the fun. Randy didn't let this go on for too long and called Cooper to him.....thank goodness he came! The coyote continued to watch the group.

Morning Walk

We are able to hike on paths in our neighborhood. Early morning or late evening is the best time right now as it has been about 95 degrees every day.

Doesn't this log look like an alligator?

This pond is part of the llama farm that our lot adjoins. Every morning between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. the elk come here to drink and play in the water. Cooper likes to play in this pond as well. We added mosquito dunks to it (courtesy of the city of Payson) to cut down on the number of mosquitos.

It's very difficult to take a photo of the elk as it is usually dark. Randy did get this shot. He couldn't get any closer as they are very wary of humans and start moving fast if you approach them.

We have counted as many as 30 in this herd. Rutting season is just about to start. We have heard some bugling this week and it is just going to get noisier this month.

Cooper was very excited when he found this elk bone. He carried it all the way home and put it in his yard.

We have so many zucchini and yellow squash that we don't know what to do with it all. We made a lasagna last night that used long slices of zucchini instead of noodles. It was good but I kinda missed the noodles.

We will have pumpkins for Halloween.

This green one is 20 inches in diameter right now.

The solar panels are finally arriving early next week with an install date for Wednesday. We think we finally have all of the forms filled out and in the hands of the right people.