Wind Generator - Skyview Software

On Tuesday, September 29th, Kevin from Cheyenne Wind was out and did the test run prior to final inspections of our generator. How wonderful to finally see it spinning. We were issued our serial number, computer USB antenna, and SkyView 2.o software CD. This software allows us to know exactly what our generator is doing at any point in time. It is now installed on the computer and we have done our own “test run” of the generator. I am sure that we will be enthralled with the software for some time to come.
So there are three inspections that must occur. The building permit final inspection should be today. Next, the electrical permit inspection will be performed. Finally, Mountain View Electric Association will do a final inspection and switch out our analog meter with the digital net meter. At that time, the Matrix generator will be fully functional.
New facts regarding it operation were learned yesterday as well.
At 56 mph wind speed, the generator will lock itself and turn off. It will wait one hour before trying to restart and test the wind speeds to determine if it can safely operate. This is done to avoid damage to the generator.
The generator does NOT provide power in the absence of grid power. If we have a power flicker, the generator will shut down and will try to resume every 10 minutes. In the event of an extended power outage, this will continue until power resumes. If we had a backup generator wired into our home, we could shut the connection to the MVEA grid, the wind generator would sense the backup generator’s function and begin producing power to assist production in that closed environment. We may have to look in to that.
Stay tuned!

==End of Chapter==

Wind Generator - Erection Day - Blog Three

Stay in order with these, OK? Even if they do not show up right... OK Time for this appliance to go into the air. Here are a couple of shots. More photo viewing (and hopefully video veiwing) will be available soon!

It is standing and it is an eye full. Seeing it pivot on the tower with the wind is amazing. I was there (have pics to prove it) and the bubble of the computerized level was right on the money! It moves with ease! A braking mechanism is on at this point until the electrician gets back later this week to work his magic.

Stay tuned!

Wind Generator - Erection Day - Blog Two

If you didn't see Blog One of this thread, do so. After the monopole was compiled and attached to apparatus of the foundation, the next phase was to raise the pole high enough off the ground to attach the generator itself.
It was such an awesome site to see it fully assembled and all of the wiring is complete to the top including the computer WiFi communications antennea on the top.

Wind Generator - Erection Day - Blog One

September 22, 2009. A day to remember at the Matrix Compound. There will probably be at least 2, maybe 3, sections to this day. Because of the oddities of the compose window of blogspot.com, I feel the need to chop it up in order to provide a balance of text and pictures. Well, around 8 am this morning the equipment showed up to erect the monopole with the generator/fins already attached.

Unloading and aligning three sections of the monopole was the first major step. These sections are precision made to the point that each pole set has a serial number.The first picture is moving the pole sections into place with the second picture of the 12 ton wench from a stationary truck pressure squeezing the two compression joints of the three sections together.

The ground flange end of the monopole is attached to a rig/gig/device that will automatically align the holes in the flange with the bolts in the foundation/pier.

Check out Blog Two of this day as I am tired of trying to deal with pics and text in this one :-) It will continue!

Milking Parlor/Crafting Kitchen Exterior Improvements - Time for Paint!

Our exterior makeover of the Milking Parlor/Crafting Kitchen is moving along nicely. Barry helped me this morning and we finished up all the prep of caulking, base trim boards and other "get ready to paint" items. When Al returned from work after 3 pm, I was starting the process of putting on the trim color (a nice sand hue that matches the trim color of the house). Al quickly jumped in and everything that is to be that color is now painted one coat. It looks like in most instances one coat will be fine since we spent so many hours on the prep and had no bare surfaces at all.

There is a front forcasted to come through tomorrow afternoon. We would like to get the siding color on the building by noon so that when any storm would hit late in the afternoon/evening, would be good and dry. The siding color is a sage green, again that matches the house. Because of the style of the siding, it has to be brushed or sprayed. And if you keep in mind that we are erecting a wind generator, you know that we will be brushing the siding paint. :-)

Stay tuned!

Planning a Road Trip

As early as I can get around on Thursday of this coming week I will be making a major road trip to Central Missouri. One of my many 'favorite' neices, Crystal, is getting married. I hope to be able to blog about the wedding. Depends mostly on my ability to take photos since Al will not be traveling with me. I will be leaving Thursday for this 13 hour drive, if I do not stop too long along the way, and then doing it again on Sunday. But I am so happy to be able to make the trip and see Crystal get married. She is such a wonderful woman.

I have two neices who's weddings I have misssed and I regret that. Janis married in 2002 (she is my first neice and my God daughter) and I ended up with shingles and could not travel to NE for her wedding. Then when her sister, Jamie, married, I was somehow too tied up with work.

My family is very important to me. I miss my brothers and sisters every day and my relationship with all of their children is very real and very important. As I continue to age (and get closer and closer to my young Mother's age) I hope to be a positive addition to all of their live experiences.

This has gone on too long and I am sitting in my chair aching from the heavy sand shoveling I have done this evening. Please forgive any typos but please tell me if you see them so I can correct them.

Love to all,

Uncle Bill

Projects....

I feel the urge to post about current projects. I guess for multiple reasons. #1, I am a professional Project Manager. #2, On top of that I have been under-employed for the past 6 months. #3, we have a ton of stuff going on. We have the "big" project of the Wind Generator. We have a major "save the construction" project going on for our Milking Parlor/Crafting Kitchen. We have my son's CSU-P activities as a Sophomore this year. We have my job search / teaching where I can. We have Al starting his Masters program this semester. Then today I take on a mini project of laying pavers at the "goat entrance" to the Milking Parlor. WOW. What the hell would I do if I had a day job? Crap, I think that ... OH WAIT ... When I get my "day job" again, I will have money to hire this crap done!!! Praise Gods!

OK So.... As currently scheduled, the Cheyenne Wind guys will be erecting our generator on Monday! I am so freaking excited! I can barely stand it. I have been waiting for that moment since early July! Stay tuned!

Milking Parlor/Crafting Kitchen Exterior Improvements

The Project:

On Sunday, the 13th, we started with the first round of prep. Scrape, scrape, tear off, scrape, chip away, scrape, …. You get the picture. Our dear friend, Barry, has been so kind to lend his labor and expertise to the project. Today, Thursday, the 17th, Barry, Al & I resumed the prep. Replacement sill trim has been installed to retard the deterioration of the bottom of the siding. Spackle, wood putty and a staggering number of tubes of caulk have been and will continue to be applied to the exterior.

Included here are photos of the work in progress. You can bet there will be a blog when it is completely finished so we do not leave all these bruises, bumps and pimples burned in your mind’s eye. It is really an awesome space.

Milking Parlor/Crafting Kitchen

As you may know from reading this blog, two of three or more "at home" elements of life on Matrix Compound are our goats and my soap and other handcrafted products. We are EXTREMELY fortunate that the majority of work around these two hobbies (combined into one cottage business) are conducted outside of our primary dwelling. We have a detached facility that with the exception of a toilet, have all the amenities of a fully equipped kitchen, a milking parlor and a kidding area attachment.

We moved to this property from Gallup, NM, in late August, 2005. One vision I immediately realized that was a huge plus for this property over others we were looking at (the biggest draw was the fact that it was a "stick-built" home and not a modular/manufactured home like the largest percentage of homes out here on the high plains) was the fact that there was a "3rd" garage. Two-car attached to the home and then another single bay structure about 10 yards from the back door.

The Vision: It had 30 amp electric service to it. It had a foundation and slab capable of support a horseless carriage. It was sound in structure. I would make two wonderful rooms with its roughly 15' X 30" dimension. There was a solid slab of concrete on the back side of it that had been the resting place for a dog kennel 12' X 15".

We bought and sold the house in Gallup in a very good market so we had some cash burning our pockets. (No our savings account...) I was referred a contractor that will remain unnamed because his performance in the end was not worth what we saved... but I will NEVER blog about Jerry... I don't gossip...

The project had some major elements such as getting water out of the basement of the home to the structure, and the major construction of the interior and the installation of many doors, building the sloped roof addition (the kidding area) on the former kennel foundation, and related plumbing.

Sorry if this getting too long and boring....

Once the construction was completed (over budget AND over schedule, it was "usable" prior to our first goats kidding in February 2006.

In the summer of 2006, we decided to change our house colors so we wanted to try the colors out on the Parlor. So we slapped a couple of coats of paint on the weathered siding we inherited. We are not painters and although I have two brothers who are professional painters and drywall, I guess I never got the “prep” message.

Stay tuned for the next blog about the project on-going at this time....

Cloud Formation looking like Sponge Bob Squarepants!

Last evening about 6 pm as we are starting evening chores, Al notices this interesting cloud, we quickly grabbed the cam and shot some quick shots. It was even more square when we first saw it but it was moving quickly to the South and skewing as it traveled. But still quite cool. Here are a couple of shots of it and pretty good picture of Al with the cloud he noted! Enjoy.

Brag Moment - Proud Papa Reporting

It has been a few days since I have blogged since no bloggable events have occurred in a few days, school is back in session and I do not yet have pictures to take the next step in the introduction of the goat herd that I introduced some time back.. So now I have to do a brag moment blog! Some of you who follow my blog know that I have children and the youngest is Bill (Ross). He is now a Sophomore at Colorado State University - Pueblo double-majoring in Music Education and English. In his Freshman year he qualified for induction into Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society. To qualify you must attain a 3.5/4.0 grade point average for your first semester of college.

So this was all new to me. I achieved all of my college education as an adult student with little concern for traditional student life. I have since learned that I also achieved this status as a Freshman but with the focus on a full time job and new life with wife and 2 daughers, I must have not bothered.

I researched it a bit. Here is wikipedia's blurb on the ALD Honor Society. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_Lambda_Delta

The statistics quoted at today's ceremony filled my chest with pride. Of all first year students at CSU-P in the Fall 2008 class of approximately 1000 students, less that 50 achieved the status to join and be inducted into ALD. That makes me quite proud.

As the speaker continued to explain, the first term for most students is the most tramatic with the social pressure, demanding classes with lack of structure (as known in high school), and many missing home or their first time away from home for a significant amount of time.

The picture here is that of Bill (Ross) and his mom, Sue, at the conclusion of the ceremony. Thanks for enduring my brag moment!

Barry's Labor Day and Housewarming Party

A good time was had by all! Tons of good food, company and yard games all surrounded by the great vast outdoors of the high plains in El Paso County. Stay tuned and view http://www.lifeatwanderingbearfarm.blogspot.com/ for more extensive write by Barry! FYI, Click on collage to enlarge.

Colorado State Fair--2009

Hi All,

This will not be a long blog but we had a really nice day today at the Colorado State Fair. A friend and Al & I arrived around 10:30 this morning and left around 6 in time to do chores. Around 4 my son, Bill, was through with classes and classwork for the week and met us for the last two hours of the day. We took in the fair food, fun and critters. The goats were just starting to arrive and there were no cattle to speak of. But there was plenty to see!

The draft horse show classes were most facinating. Not being a horse person, I never really thought about the skill required to get a team to manuver as instructed. The handlers were quite skilled! Bingo!

Here are a couple of pictures to help share the experience!

PS Here are some descripers for the pics!

Al, draft horses, brown swiss dairy cow, Bill with cow, solid red boer goat doeling, cashmere goat doe

Wind Generator - Awaiting the Cure

On Monday, August 31st, the bolt template and forms were removed from our foundation. This what it looks like now and approximately two weeks from this past Thursday the concrete should be cured adequately to stand up the generator. We cannot wait!

==End of Chapter==