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I attended a zoom meeting about dams in the state of Michigan put on by Consumers Energy. They are considering not renewing the operating license's issued by FERC- (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). Consumers says the Dams (13) are no longer profitable. This is going to be a HUGE issue. I'm glad the lake we are on is a natural lake- but lots of lake in Michigan are actually dam ponds. This will be interesting....
I attended a zoom meeting about dams in the state of Michigan put on by Consumers Energy. They are considering not renewing the operating license's issued by FERC- (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). Consumers says the Dams (13) are no longer profitable. This is going to be a HUGE issue. I'm glad the lake we are on is a natural lake- but lots of lake in Michigan are actually dam ponds. This will be interesting....
Greg - That is very interesting. Maybe I'm looking at this too simply? I've always read that hydropower is the most efficient and cheapest way to generate electricity. With dams/plants already in operation you would think Consumer Power's profit margin would be greater on the power generated from these facilities than from their fossil fuel plants. The only thing I can see that would throw a monkey wrench into this line of thinking is that the majority of these hydroelectric plants are outdated and are going to need Consumers Power to reinvest in new turbines, generators, and overall dam maintenance. I'm curious about some of the reasons Consumer's is citing for potentially deciding to not renew their licenses and shut these plants down? Call me a pessimist, but my first thought is this is just a way for Consumers to scare the public into accepting higher rates to pay for Consumers costs of upgrading their own facilities.
Norm I am going to order a drip torch and a fuel can, and, for the first time in my life, I may buy some Diesel fuel. Drip torch fuel is supposedly 60/40 Diesel/gasoline.
Call me a pessimist, but my first thought is this is just a way for Consumers to scare the public into accepting higher rates to pay for Consumers costs of upgrading their own facilities.
My first thought is there’s no government subsidies as there is for solar and wind.
My first thought is there’s no government subsidies as there is for solar and wind.
Kenneth - You may be partially correct in that there may be more government subsidies for solar and wind, I just don't know. However, I know for a fact that the big Infrastructure Bill that was passed in 2021 set aside 125-million in subsidies for hydroelectric power development. I looked at the list of States/locations (and there are many) that have received funding from that Bill to date for hydroelectric power, and I didn't see any in Michigan. Looks like the politicians/government entities in Michigan aren't doing too great a job applying and/or lobbying for that funding, if it is truly needed? https://www.energy.gov/gdo/hydro#:~:...%20and%202022.
Beautiful here, and a good turn out at the cook out. I stand corrected. The pilots practiced and were very good with the formation. There were only four of them and they had good spacing. It was very nice. I've never seen the airport so busy.
My sister and her husband are on the way up from Orlando. They are close but in traffic. Better them than me, my head explodes when I'm stuck in traffic.
Not much else. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.
Beautiful here, and a good turn out at the cook out. I stand corrected. The pilots practiced and were very good with the formation. There were only four of them and they had good spacing. It was very nice. I've never seen the airport so busy.
My sister and her husband are on the way up from Orlando. They are close but in traffic. Better them than me, my head explodes when I'm stuck in traffic.
Not much else. Hope everyone is having a good weekend.
Mike, no disrespect to you, or Jim, or Dan Macal who now lives there as well, but Georgia is simply just in my way when I drive home to FL for Christmas from IN.
I have found that Atlanta is sensitive to rush hour timing, and it seems the bypass, but not the ring interstates, are the way to go. Nashville is also sensitive to rush hour and there's no good way for it. Chattanooga, on the other hand, is horrible based on what day it is, not whether it's rush hour. I need to find a way around that town.
You don't have to worry about me John, I'm not from here. I never understood people who say traffic is so much worse in Chicago than it is here. Well I've driven in Chicago rush hour traffic and I'm here to tell you Atlanta traffic is way worse. You could always take 65 down to Birmingham and take 20 to Atlanta, that would get you around Chattanooga.
Had a nice dinner with my sister and her husband. He leased a BMW a few years ago when they didn't do much driving. Now they are in the car all the time and only have a couple thousand miles to last them a year, or it's 25 cents a mile. I told them to buy some old beat up VW convertible or something or they will owe thousands in mileage overage. So anyway they rented some flashy Mercedes SUV for the trip to Gatlinburg, mainly for the space, and something is out of balance and the car shook their teeth out all the way up here today. So tomorrow they have to find an Enterprise place and hope they can do something.
You don't have to worry about me John, I'm not from here. I never understood people who say traffic is so much worse in Chicago than it is here. Well I've driven in Chicago rush hour traffic and I'm here to tell you Atlanta traffic is way worse.
Mike - Since you have extensive experience in both Chicago an Atlanta, I defer to you on which is worse. I will say the worst traffic jam I've ever been in was on the south side of Chicago. Years ago when I made many more trips a year up to Michigan, I used to alternate routes from trip to trip, just to break up the monotony. One time I'd go St. Louis to Indy on 70E and then hit 69N up into Michigan. The next time I'd take 57N up to the Southside of Chicago and hit 80/294/94E across the Southside of Chicago which became 94E all the way across Michigan to Battle Creek. The odd thing is that both routes were almost exactly the same distance, right at 500-miles. However, one of the times I went the Chicago route, no sooner than I got onto 80/294/94E, the traffic came to a standstill and it took me 4-hours to go from the 57N and 80/294/94E connection to Gary, Indiana. We never saw any accidents or construction, just 4 lanes of bumper to bumper cars for miles and miles, going less than 5mph. An absolute nightmare and I swore I'd never go that way again, and I never did.
It was a beautiful Fall day today, sunshine and a high in the low 60's. Took my wife to pick up antique dresser this morning that she bought for a whopping $15. It's a little rough, but she'll work her magic on it and sell it for $200 or $300.
Worked out in the middle of the day and then went to my Grandson Gabe's hockey game again. He had another goal again today, and had 3 other really nice shots on goal that the goalie made really great saves on. Unfortunately, his team lost 4-3. I have to say I'm really enjoying watching him play hockey, even more than his basketball games. Came back from the hockey game and watched Michigan eek out a win against Maryland, way to close for comfort, but a win is a win, and now Michigan and Ohio State are both 11-0 going into their big show down in Ann Arbor next weekend. It ought to be a great game, I'm just glad the game is in Ann Arbor!
Greg, I know that there have been talks and some action on restoring the Muskegon river back to it's natural flow, and removal of the Hardy dam has been brought up. Consumers has said in the past that it ain't going nowhere. I would think that they are looking down the road/long term at energy use and how to supply it. They have been active in putting up wind farms. Chris the "1896 Cafe" is a nice looking piece. I use to be able to drive from my house to McCormick Place in Chicago in 2 1/2 hours, the last two efforts took 4 hours.I was interested in an Olds in the Milwaukee area last fall, and I would have taken the ferry across lake Michigan in order to avoid the Chicago traffic, even though it would have cost a lot more. 2 1/2 hours versus 5 hours one way.
Well Mom and them are on their way and Tiger and I have to fend for ourselves. That's okay, I lived here a long time without anyone close by and I can get along just fine. I hope they have a good time. I'm headed to Florida in a couple days.
Let me just say it's been a while since I've been in Chicago rush hour. But even when I first moved here I thought traffic was way worse than up home. Any place can have a backup for an accident, a holiday when people are getting out, heck you could have three cars at the stop sign in Yazoo City, Mississippi and that's a traffic jam.
So I'm going to paint in the kitchen today. I hope it will be a nice surprise for Mom when she gets home. It's too cold to paint outside so after the kitchen I'll start on the guest bedroom. I need to patch a hole in the wall from my girl from long ago. Don't know if I'll finish in there this week but I hope to get a good start.
Well Mom and them are on their way and Tiger and I have to fend for ourselves. That's okay, I lived here a long time without anyone close by and I can get along just fine. I hope they have a good time. I'm headed to Florida in a couple days.
Let me just say it's been a while since I've been in Chicago rush hour. But even when I first moved here I thought traffic was way worse than up home. Any place can have a backup for an accident, a holiday when people are getting out, heck you could have three cars at the stop sign in Yazoo City, Mississippi and that's a traffic jam.
So I'm going to paint in the kitchen today. I hope it will be a nice surprise for Mom when she gets home. It's too cold to paint outside so after the kitchen I'll start on the guest bedroom. I need to patch a hole in the wall from my girl from long ago. Don't know if I'll finish in there this week but I hope to get a good start.
Okay hope everyone is enjoying Sunday.
Mike - What happened with their rental car situation?
You made a very good point about the bad Chicago traffic I hit that one day. There's a very good chance that I was headed home for a Holiday and my timing was just bad for when everyone there was trying to get out of Dodge!
Nice that you're trying to spruce up your Mom's place for her while she's gone! It's that kind of thing why we all think you're a great Son.
Eh, if I were a good son it would all be done by now! I can tell you that after my surgery I have more energy, more desire, more motivation than I've had for years. I wouldn't have guessed that I'd -enjoy- feeling better.
My sister called the rental people last night and they said, you'll have to go up to the airport. So this morning they drove up and the person promptly told them there was nothing for them. Bzzz! Wrong answer. So they looked and looked and finally came up with a Mitsubishi [I don't know what it was] which was not quite as big as the Mercedes but was good enough. Everything they were taking fit and that made everyone happy. It would be interesting to know how many people that Mercedes went through with the shaking front end before someone actually said something. I personally would have gotten a Suburban but my brother in law seems to think he has some kind of status to uphold.
Before Tiger I had two dogs, brother and sister that I just referred to as my boy and my girl. My girl had anxiety issues and they were both scared to death of thunderstorms. Any loud noise actually.I ended up using one of the bedrooms as the dog room, and I'd lock them in there when I went to work. They chewed up all the furniture, the carpeting, the walls, the window surround. On two different occasions my girl chewed through the wall and got into the other bedroom. I always kept that door closed because it was the only room that didn't have any dog hair. One morning I came home from work and opened the dog room and only my boy was there. Talk about weird. Then I saw the hole in the corner and found my girl in the next room. That's when I started buying sheets of 18 gauge metal and screwing it into the wall.
These days, Tiger is not afraid of loud noises and will sleep through thunderstorms and 4th of July, etc. Rarely does he get upset at that sort of thing but he never goes crazy and tries to chew up things.
Norm that's nothing. I had a couch in there in front of the window. One time my girl got in between the window and the couch and the glass popped out and she tumbled out into the yard and ran off. I don't know when that happened but I took care of my boy and then when I opened the door to walk out and go looking for her, she was sitting there by the front door.
One time there was a big storm come through when I was at work and the dogs ran downstairs and clawed at the french doors until the glass broke and they went out and ran off. I didn't see them for a week. Jamesbo I know you remember this one. I had put an ad on craiglist hoping someone had seen them, and someone on the other side of the lake called and said they had had them all week.
One morning I came home from work and opened the dog room and only my boy was there. Talk about weird. Then I saw the hole in the corner and found my girl in the next room.
Reminded me of the time I came home and found the girl dog poking her head through the hole she chewed in the door from the garage to the backyard. OK, I can take a hint. I broke out the saw and enlarged / evened out the gnaw hole so the dogs now had a doggie door. That was very useful as when we went out of town we just filled up bowls of water and food, left them in the garage, and the dogs had food, water, and shelter.
With Mike's and Kenneth's dog stories, I have to tell mine. When I was around 12 or 13 my parents let me start sleeping by myself in a 4th bedroom in our partially finished walkout basement. My dog King (1st pic) would sleep in there with me every night. He was very protective of everyone in the family, and although he never bit anyone, if someone yelled or even seemed remotely aggressive towards one of us the hackles would go up on the back of his neck, and he would growl and bark at them. My bedroom had an exterior door to the back patio that ran the full length of the house, and the door had multiple double pane windows just like the one in the 2nd pic. One night when I was sleeping, without any warning, I heard a very loud crash of breaking glass. King had charged through both panes of the lowest set of glass to get at something, we never found out what. When he came back we noticed he had torn back a large piece of skin/flesh on his left hip. We had to take him to the vet first thing in the morning for a dozen or so stitches. That was the one and only time he ever did anything like that. To this day I think someone was snooping around out there that wasn't supposed to be there, and he knew it!
Thanks, he was an incredible family pet. His Dad was purebred Alaskan Malamute and his Mom was purebred German Shepherd. I think King had many more of the Malamute traits than German Shepherd. He had the large wolf shaped head, was very heavy bodied, and had the fluffy curled tail. He was 100 lbs of pure muscle. Boy that dog sure loved the cold and snow!
Back in the 50s Boxers were a very popular breed. Mt aunt gave me a Boxer named Husky when I was still ridding a tricycle. There were 5 others on our short street. The morning ritual was all the boxers would run around the neighborhood knocking over milk bottles licking it up and go home to puke Dad was not pleased with husky jumping to fence to participate. So he hooked Husky collar to a chain to small log. Husky basically was doing weight training Out of boredom He would grab me by the pants cuff pull me off my my tricycle and drag me around the yard One day He got out of the yard and got into a fight and wound up at the fire station Some fireman told dad he sure would love to have a dog like that and Husky changed homes forever
Nice day, nice temp. Later on I'm gonna go up on the garage roof at Mom's and blow off all the pine needles. Then I'll clean out the gutters on the house. Why am I doing this today? Because Mom isn't home and can't sqwak about it.
Saved about a thousand bucks this morning. I got up early to let Tiger out and the phone had gone tango uniform. Went to the Verizon store, expecting to come home with a new phone. Heck mine is only 4 years old. The girl did some soft reboot and it came back normal. She started in on all the promotions and they don't sell the G8 anymore, blah blah, so I gave her some line that I knew it was time for a new phone but I wanted to research and find exactly what would be best. I didn't tell her I wanted to research a new company.
Norm my boy and girl are the ones in the picture up in the corner of my posts. They were 4 when I got them and they died within weeks of each other when they were 11. I felt short-changed. My previous shepherd lived to 16. Tiger is 7 now. He has not slowed down, and I don't have any information on parents or siblings. If he wanted to live to 16 (or longer) I wouldn't mind a bit.
Chris that's a nice looking dog. Perfect for a 14 year old. How many vacuums did your mom go through while you had him hehe.
I heard Rosilyn Carter died. I saw her on the news once digging a latrine in some third world country . I figured it was just a photo op. Nope, she really did dig latrines and wells and all that. I'm afraid Jimmy won't be far behind. Bless them both.
Chris, yes at one time I raised labs and pointers. When 2 ladies had puppies at the same time I had 6 adults and 10 puppies
Jim - I had meant I hoped you had another dog or pet at home when you were a boy and your Dad gave Husky away? I probably did not make that very clear.
Norm my boy and girl are the ones in the picture up in the corner of my posts. They were 4 when I got them and they died within weeks of each other when they were 11. I felt short-changed. My previous shepherd lived to 16. Tiger is 7 now. He has not slowed down, and I don't have any information on parents or siblings. If he wanted to live to 16 (or longer) I wouldn't mind a bit.
Chris that's a nice looking dog. Perfect for a 14 year old. How many vacuums did your mom go through while you had him hehe.
Mike - Your Shepherd that lived to be 16 really lived to be a ripe old age. My dog King lived to 14, which is probably a little above average. You were spot on about the shedding. When he would start shedding his winter coat in the Spring my Mom would make me take him outside and brush the hell out of him every day. I never thought a dog could have that much hair, it came out by the bushels!
November 18th, 2023, 03:27 AM
