electricity

so some electricity fell with the rain,
that happens sometimes, (but not like this)
but this started here,
it did not drift in,
first strike woke everyone up sharply,
then it got more intense,
another hit every 5 to 7 seconds,
brighter than flash bulbs,
and it really did not move from the area, it just sat here and kept hitting,
it was as if some angry god was taking out wrath on some target shrouded by night,
it did not last that long, maybe 15 min., maybe 20 ? hard to tell when there are no clocks,

dropped 1/4 inch of rain as well,
I should have taken a video of it,
but I dared not even step on the floor,
I stayed on my insulated bed and watched for fire out the windows,
it was quite a show, one that I hope not to see again, or at least not anytime soon,


thankfully I had been charging batteries the day and night before and could not sleep with the light of the power supply on, so I had unplugged everything, my solar power system had been unplugged because I was charging the batteries earlier that day,
so I did not loose anything,
the power came back on about 10 min. after the storm passed

years ago in this area, a house had a near miss, but it did hit a water pipe in the ground, and it vaporized the water pipes in the entire house, and took out all the electronics in the house as well,
can you imagine having to replace everything that plugs into the wall, including the plugs and all the wiring in the wall ?


I got lucky there was no direct building hit here,
but I guess I do have non electric backups of almost everything, so I will be fine either way,
should be getting non electric backups that are also not conductive...

I like electricity lots,
but I am not going to go so far as to trust it,
and surely electricity gets no trust when it falls from the sky like it did

I am very tired,
could not go back to sleep after it happened,

corn shelling

so I finally got around to shelling the corn from the 2012 harvest,

I really don't like shelling corn,
but I did it,
boredom wins again.

gopher

one of the cats seem to have caught a gopher,

I suspect it is this cat,

but there are a few that look like that,

it is neat to see them doing there job

clean water

so clean water is helpful, (trying to take a clear picture of water is kind of a fail...)
I started a batch of kombocha tea today,
long ago I started with this web page
http://www.paprikahead.com/2009/07/how-to-brew-your-own-kombucha-from.html
and it worked well,
but I lived in a city where it is easy to get clean water,
and brewing things with clean water makes the end result so much better,

now I am in a place where not many drink water from wells at all,
and it is kind of nasty out of the tap, 
but I am not about to buy water from the store to make my tea,

so I use a ceramic filter on the water,
the pathways in it are just to small for bacteria to get through, and not much else gets through either, 
it is quite amazing,
here is a gravity version that needs no electricity or water pressure
http://aquarain.com/
and here is one I have that uses water pressure (it does filter faster)
http://www.crystalclearsupply.com/Ceramic_Filter_Cartridge_p/cer-1.htm
and you will need a housing to put that filter in, I have a counter top one that I can put 3 filters in,
and I have a pre filter so the ceramic needs less cleaning,

I should have used some of my rain water I caught,
but forgot to,

but all of this leads me to my next thing to try,
I bet that spring water is pretty good,
I will go exploring and try it soon,
and yes, I will be using a ceramic filter on it before I drink it,
likely will try out my portable ceramic filter, 
http://www.rei.com/product/695265/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter
I wonder if the spring water is clear or all hard to see through,

water is needed,
but clean water is nice.

movie of the day is harry potter (yes, all of them within the next week)

walk

there is a break in the rain
lets take a walk,

my spinach is finally starting to grow,
the birds ate the rest of them long ago,
but I keep a screen over this one

 here is an Indian Warrior flower

 and another

 and one more

 I have no idea what kind of flower this is

 here is a fiddle neck flower

 and a fern with miners lettuce growing out the middle

 a close up of the first popcorn flower of the season

 and here it is form a bit back

and the spring is finally to the overflow point at 4 foot below the top,
but I forgot to take a picture of it...

lichen

so the lichen is happy this time of year,

and it will grow anywhere,
here is a website about lichen http://lichenlovers.org/
 
so if you can't farm anything normal,
then think about your favorite edible lichen !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_lichen

board again

it is raining,
and not that cold outside,
I still have corn from 2011 that I have not taken off the cob,
so I washed a 5 gallon bucket in the rain,
and am waiting for it to dry to shell the corn into,
I guess I should go collect a bucket of rain water to wash my car with...
.
.
.
back,
it filled up faster from the roof than you could have with a hose,
I can barely type now, 
I think I am going to watch a movie and try to warm up,