Solar Battery Charger
I bought a cheap battery charger from Sundance Solar. It only does AA batteries, and it takes days to do so, even in the Colorado sun. But it was a proving point for me to peer at the much bigger and faster puppy.
I got it Thursday afternoon, and between Grandpa George and the Jetster, the charger got a lot of peer-at time during the weekend. Between the three of us, we could probably keep the thing pegged at about 160 mAh's for a good 10 hours a day, which would still take the 4 1600 mAh AAs 40 HOURS to get charged up, or 4 days to get a complete charge. Given, however, that those same four 1600 mAh AAs give me a good month's worth of pictures from my digital camera, it seems worth it to do. They'll also run my radio, clocks, weather station, and remotes for just about ever. Free charge, basically, past the cost of the charger, which I basically bought as a toy out of my little budget.
And the 1600 mAh AAs were only $1.45 a piece, compared to the $4 a piece I was paying for the Ray-o-vac NiMhs. It always took me a while to get the courage up to get a four pack of those; but being able to recharge them about 1000 times was definitely worth it in the long run compared to disposables. However, it was hard to get hit with that initial cost. But at $1.45 a pop, it's eeeeasy.
Thursday night we went to Souper Salad, and Jet filled a dinner plate and cleaned the Whole Thing Off!! WHO switched my kid?? We then went to Snowy Mountain Creamer and met up with Bob and Andrew and had a good, long talk, and Jet was very happy and comfortable to sit on Andrew's lap and play with his cel phone/entertainment center.
Friday we spent all day up in the mountains, running about the Rocky Mountain National Park, eating in Central City on the way down, and everyone helped Jet build snow people up at the visitor's center. Fun. BIG icicle nose.
Saturday was the Farmer's Market in Boulder, which is open until the end of October! Hoorah! More pignoli! More pesto! More yummy stuff! Yay! Isabel bought me a bunch of "Teddy Bear" sunflowers. Jet picked them, and they look like enormous dandelions, just like my icon! A bunch of errands around Boulder netted me a new oil can, a new olive oil bottle, and a no-skid chopping board as birthday presents from Isabel and George! Thank you! Home again, home again, and Jet went off to play with Mikayla and the other kids for a very, very quiet evening.
Sunday morning I opted to Stay Home and they all went to church. I tried to recharge my I-batteries, and roasted a lot of coffee (including a Kenya AA peaberry that is just to die for). I read a little of Anne Lamont's Plan B, and cried a LOT at the really amazing bits of grace. Especially the time when after three requests by her son she just screams at him and the house is suddenly quiet and she marvels after how much she'd wanted quiet how toxic the peace suddenly was. And how her son had come out, even after that, and snuggled up to mean, old her, because he needs her and even with the screaming, still loves her. She likened it to a baby spider seeking its momma in the midst of the huge, furry, black legs of a tarantula because the baby knew momma was in there... and I cried and cried.
Anne is so good at finding those ugly parts of us and showing me that it's okay. It's part of what being human is. That it's okay for me to not have it all together and still try and approach God because no one has it all together, and He doesn't expect perfection of us. Which is exactly the opposite message I got as a kid, and it's such a terrifying relief to see this other way of looking at it.
So I had my spirituality and didn't have to deal with people. Then I went to Target and didn't buy far more than I did, which is a good thing to do without a child hanging on my arm wondering why we're there.
When I got home, we all had lunch and then I embarked happily upon a pot of beef stew with much of fatty bits trimmed off. It was good to just cook. Jet went off with Macy and played for a good long while, and then reappeared when Miss Tonya dropped him off.
We had dinner on time. John and Isabel finished off the dinner, while I wrestled with my scrapbooking angst. Isabel was good and pointed out some of the names I'd mis-spelled and I was horrible and self-hating and started calling myself stupid while I was working on other things in my room, and Jet came up and patted me on the back and said, "Mom, you're NOT stupid. You'll do fine." and wandered off again, leaving me blinking.
Wow.
The evening was filled with a church-based storytelling event, and Isabel and George were kind enough to kid-sit for a while and Isabel came to see things for a bit. It was good.
I got it Thursday afternoon, and between Grandpa George and the Jetster, the charger got a lot of peer-at time during the weekend. Between the three of us, we could probably keep the thing pegged at about 160 mAh's for a good 10 hours a day, which would still take the 4 1600 mAh AAs 40 HOURS to get charged up, or 4 days to get a complete charge. Given, however, that those same four 1600 mAh AAs give me a good month's worth of pictures from my digital camera, it seems worth it to do. They'll also run my radio, clocks, weather station, and remotes for just about ever. Free charge, basically, past the cost of the charger, which I basically bought as a toy out of my little budget.
And the 1600 mAh AAs were only $1.45 a piece, compared to the $4 a piece I was paying for the Ray-o-vac NiMhs. It always took me a while to get the courage up to get a four pack of those; but being able to recharge them about 1000 times was definitely worth it in the long run compared to disposables. However, it was hard to get hit with that initial cost. But at $1.45 a pop, it's eeeeasy.
Thursday night we went to Souper Salad, and Jet filled a dinner plate and cleaned the Whole Thing Off!! WHO switched my kid?? We then went to Snowy Mountain Creamer and met up with Bob and Andrew and had a good, long talk, and Jet was very happy and comfortable to sit on Andrew's lap and play with his cel phone/entertainment center.
Friday we spent all day up in the mountains, running about the Rocky Mountain National Park, eating in Central City on the way down, and everyone helped Jet build snow people up at the visitor's center. Fun. BIG icicle nose.
Saturday was the Farmer's Market in Boulder, which is open until the end of October! Hoorah! More pignoli! More pesto! More yummy stuff! Yay! Isabel bought me a bunch of "Teddy Bear" sunflowers. Jet picked them, and they look like enormous dandelions, just like my icon! A bunch of errands around Boulder netted me a new oil can, a new olive oil bottle, and a no-skid chopping board as birthday presents from Isabel and George! Thank you! Home again, home again, and Jet went off to play with Mikayla and the other kids for a very, very quiet evening.
Sunday morning I opted to Stay Home and they all went to church. I tried to recharge my I-batteries, and roasted a lot of coffee (including a Kenya AA peaberry that is just to die for). I read a little of Anne Lamont's Plan B, and cried a LOT at the really amazing bits of grace. Especially the time when after three requests by her son she just screams at him and the house is suddenly quiet and she marvels after how much she'd wanted quiet how toxic the peace suddenly was. And how her son had come out, even after that, and snuggled up to mean, old her, because he needs her and even with the screaming, still loves her. She likened it to a baby spider seeking its momma in the midst of the huge, furry, black legs of a tarantula because the baby knew momma was in there... and I cried and cried.
Anne is so good at finding those ugly parts of us and showing me that it's okay. It's part of what being human is. That it's okay for me to not have it all together and still try and approach God because no one has it all together, and He doesn't expect perfection of us. Which is exactly the opposite message I got as a kid, and it's such a terrifying relief to see this other way of looking at it.
So I had my spirituality and didn't have to deal with people. Then I went to Target and didn't buy far more than I did, which is a good thing to do without a child hanging on my arm wondering why we're there.
When I got home, we all had lunch and then I embarked happily upon a pot of beef stew with much of fatty bits trimmed off. It was good to just cook. Jet went off with Macy and played for a good long while, and then reappeared when Miss Tonya dropped him off.
We had dinner on time. John and Isabel finished off the dinner, while I wrestled with my scrapbooking angst. Isabel was good and pointed out some of the names I'd mis-spelled and I was horrible and self-hating and started calling myself stupid while I was working on other things in my room, and Jet came up and patted me on the back and said, "Mom, you're NOT stupid. You'll do fine." and wandered off again, leaving me blinking.
Wow.
The evening was filled with a church-based storytelling event, and Isabel and George were kind enough to kid-sit for a while and Isabel came to see things for a bit. It was good.