Energy

 

Old John Prine  song about Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Muhlenberg is southwest from where my people come from. Not a happy subject that strip mining. A lot of the mining property has been reclaimed in the eastern part of the state and is used for recreational purposes. There's a pretty sizeable elk herd over that way now and West Virginia has introduced a herd also. You can hunt them now in Kentucky and I would imagine that will be the story in West Virginia in a few years. Hunting and other recreation uses bring in a lot of money but it can't replace the money the miners were making. Quite a few communities fell on hard times when the mines closed. 

The climate change, green energy issue, whatever you want to call it, won't be resolved easily. Things easily fixed like LED lighting, better insulation, programmable thermostats. and heat pumps can help all of us save money and energy around the house but some of the other solutions are trading one problem for another. Solar fields, windmills and electric vehicles being prime examples. The railroad tracks that run by my place service a coal fired generating station that was scheduled to close soon. Last I heard they're going to delay the closing since there's already a shortage of electricity and the big solar fields that are being built around here are still a couple of years away from coming online. 

I don't have the solution other than trying to keep my usage to a minimum. Mostly because I'm cheap - running the furnace is literally money that just goes up in smoke. I've made some noticeable changes to the old shack since I moved in years ago that have cut down on my energy consumption. I need to replace a few windows next - something I should have done years ago. They would have paid for themselves by now. Of course, since you get no return on money in the bank these days, the pay back schedule on the windows has probably accelerated. 

Since the temperatures are more seasonable than they have been, meaning chilly, time to get the shop ready to go for the winter, get the tractor and the snowblower ready to go and make sure I've got some ice-melt. I'll mow at least once more, maybe twice, and then see about repairing the one spindle, change the oil and have it ready to go for next spring. Regardless of the weather or propane cost, I'm going to have to spend some serious time in the shop this winter if the jitney is going to be a runner next year.

I saw that Wes Cooley passed away a week or so ago. Great motorcycle racer - Superbike champion a couple of times. I had the opportunity to talk with him once. Seemed like a nice guy and very friendly to his fans. I saw him race at Road America where he had to start at the back of the pack. I don't remember if he won the race but he rode that Suzuki like a man possessed. RIP Mr. Cooley.