Snow

Hi!

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile! Sadly, my power is so limited right now that it's difficult to spend any time on my computer :(. I did get a new generator, which is a huge help, but with zero solar power all month, I'm running it 4-5 hours a day just to maintain enough power to run a light, modem and my tablet (I finally got a cheap tablet so I can at least check my emails)

Monday overnight we got a shit load of snow, about a foot. It is incredibly beautiful! However, it was a serious task shovelling the driveway!

So here are some lovely pics of the area ...

First Snow Fall

Well, it finally happened ... it snowed. I went to bed Friday night to no snow and awoke Saturday morning to about an inch of it.

It snowed off and on all day, all together we got about three inches of snow. I'm not the biggest fan of snow, but you gotta admit its awfully pretty!

It's suppose to be +7 in a couple of days, so thankfully won't be staying long.

The snow is very nice for the Winter Solstice, which is on Monday.

I hope you all have a most wonderful Holidays! Hugs!

Raspberry Pi

In an attempt to lower my energy use, I purchased a Raspberry Pi. Well, technically, I gave the money to a friend who ordered it, set it up and then sent it to me. It's nice to have such great friends!!

I'm sure many of you are wondering what the heck a Raspberry Pi is ...

Basically it's a super small, super efficient computer tower. It cost about $80 and uses about 5 watts of power. I got it to replace the computer tower that was hooked to my TV to play downloaded movies and TV shows.

So, this photo is of the Pi all hooked up ....

This pic is of all the stuff my purchase came with

This photo is of the Pi in it's box. As you can see it's pretty damn small!

I could get another Pi to replace my main computer tower, but I would have to get a larger size as the one I got does not have the memory/ram for all my art programs.

So far, I'm impressed. It works great, was easy to get going and takes almost no power. However, if I had gotten it myself, I would of been horribly confiused as you have to set it up yourself (and I'm not the best at that kind of stuff). It does come with lots of directions.

You can buy a Pi on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.ca/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=raspberrypi&tag=googcana-20&index=aps&hvadid=89307221849&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=3875158643383683144&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3kollhp7lp_e

Here is the link for the Pi site:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/

If you are trying to save power or just looking for something small to replace your tower, I think a Pi is worth checking out!

Lung Infection and Herbal Remedies

Hi! Hope everyone is well! I've been having a boring blah week. I unfortunately have a lung infection again :( and am stuck sitting around being very bored.

Boy, I tell ya, the solar sort of sucks at the best of time, but damn it really really sucks when you are sick. I can't move around, so I'm stuck sitting, and without limited TV and computer, there is not a lot to do.

I've read two books already this week and did some painting and other art, but it gets really boring after awhile.

It doesn't help that I haven't been able to work doing dances all week. It really adds to my boredom. I normally have 1-2 nice fellas to chat with daily. I'm also a little bummed as I had planned to treat myself to a tablet this week with my dances money (So I can go online easier), but that didn't happen as I have been too sick to dance :(

I've been getting slowly better every day. I'm taking some herbal remedies. However, if I'm not significantly improved by Tuesday, I'm going to stop in at the walk in clinic when I go to town.

So, here are a couple of good herbal remedies for chest/lung infections and bronchitis:

Bronchitis Shooter

1. One shooter glass of tomato juice
2. 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
3. 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper
4. a clove of garlic, minced

Add the spices to the shooter glass of tomato juice

The shooter should be taken twice daily for two days. It BURNS A LOT! Be prepared. Have a glass of milk or some bread for immediately after doing the shooter.

~~~

Tea Tree Oil Steam

Fill a bowl with hot boiling water, add five drops of tea tree oil. Inhale the steam for about 10-15 minutes.

The tea tree oil will help kill any infections in your lungs.

~~~

Honey and onion cough syrup

Take a cup of honey and finely chop in an onion. Put in fridge and leave for a day. Take a tablespoon like cough medicine when needed.

The onion could be substituted with cinnamon; it tastes better than the honey/onion, but I didn't think it worked as well.

~~~

Of course whenever you are sick, you should increase your vitamin C and adding a little extra garlic to your diet always helps.

I look forward to being back to my normal self soon and I hope you are all staying healthy! Hugs!

Lend a Helping Hand

This Go Fund Me page was started by one of my very very best friends, Stephie. Her and her love are trying to have a baby, but sadly need some extra $ help as OHIP doesn't cover everything they need done (Stephie's love has some serious health issues)

If you are looking for a random act of kindness to do, here a great one!

The link below will take you to her Go Fund Me Page and I copied and pasted her story below.

https://www.gofundme.com/6he8fjr8

"Hey everyone ! Our story is a little intense! My hubby and I would love to have a baby of our own. Unfortunately we were not blessed in having one the natural way. My hubby Mike was born with a rare syndrome called Prune Belly Syndrome. He was born with a pile of problems, too many to list them all but just a few are he was born with only quarter of a kidney, no plumbing and undescended testicles to name a few. he's had over 40 surgeries lost his quarter of a kidney plus two transplant kidneys. Needless to say he's had a rough time. But he's strong and positive. He's always helping others. But now we need help. We went to the doctors because we want to have a baby of our own. We knew it wouldn't be easy but we are determine to do it. We went through tests to make sure I was good to carry a baby and went onto Mikes testing. We are down to having a doctor extract semen to test to see if it's viable and freeze it,if it is. OHIP doesn't cover this cost of testing nor does it cover ivf therapy. For the extraction it's $2000 plus tax. Mike cannot work a regular job because he has dialysis every other day day to having no kidney's so no company will hire him :( I work as a cleaner at the hospital and I work my butt off. But bills are bills and we would love nothing more then to get this test. So we are asking our friends and family and everyone that can for help. It would mean the world to us!"

Dwindling Power

As each day pases we are getting less and less power ... it's not pretty. At this point the solar power is making enough to power a light at night and to power a laptop/modem for a few hours a day ... that's it.

 Back in August, the solar power, powered my computer, plus a laptop and the modems all day (I had to run the generator 2-3 hours a night and that kept my computer etc going all day/night), now I can no longer use my main computer (the one I make art on) unless the generator is on.

So, basically I won't be able to make any online art now until I moved in March .... what a big bummer. (I'm planning on buying a cheap tablet next week I can use for my emails and other online work )

There are only four solar panels here and they are placed in a very bad location; they do not get any sun until at least 11am or so and are back in the shade by around 2pm. With the sun being less strong, the constant overcast skies, the poor location, and too few solar panels, it simply doesn't work well at all.

The generator was giving us problems again last week. It still keeps leaking oil and the air filter is constantly getting clogged by it. It's very frustrating.

The whole situation is frustrating.

Oh well, such is life.

Like everything in life, it's been a great learning experience

The woodstove has been working great, the coldest temperature we've had so far is -8 and it's kept the house wonderfully warm during that. I still cannot get the temperature read out thingy into the white, but I'm getting damn close! I had a nice fella (Thanks Brian!) write me and tell me the read out thingies don't always work right, so perhaps it's not me :)

My house hunting is going ok. I had two people respond to my "wanted" ad over the weekend. One person offered me a house right in Coe Hill (I turned it down as it's right in town) and the other offered me a 3 acre place near Belleville, but it was more expensive than I had in mind. My friend Carol is still working hard to find me a place in the Chatham area and I'm looking around the Coe Hill area, I'm sure between the two of us we'll find something great before March :) Honestly it can be a bit hard to find what I'm looking for; a country home that is very cheap that allows a pile of critters, so it can take some time.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! Hugs!