procrastinating....

Everyone slept in this morning. Rog has had several late nights in a row playing music (see future post about that) and as his biggest groupie that means I also am up late.  I did get up at 7:30 to do the chores, but then crawled back into bed after for another hour.
The cows were still lounging in the loafing shed at 7:30! Usually they are waiting impatiently for breakfast at the hay feeder.

The stray black cat living in the barn, whom I have decided to call "Poet," is very affectionate and has a voracious appetite. Does "he" look pregnant to you?  Maybe when I  assumed he was a neutered male that was wishful thinking.  Some farmer I am!

When we  finally got up, I made scones and Rog made coffee and we settled in on the sofa to brainstorm about the aquaponics  idea, raising fish and  plants in a symbiotic system. Sylvia Bernstein's manual "Aquaponic Gardening" arrived in the mail a couple days ago and I have been devouring it.  I think our barn has great potential for setting up an aquaponics system! (Now if we only win the lottery.)

After our breakfast we went outside to play with some toys. Rog roof-raked the solar panels. We got about an inch of snow last night and when I  did chores the PVpanels had been snow-covered. By the time we raked them, about a third of the snow had already melted off. They were  producing 1600 watts of electricity, partially covered in snow, but they are much more efficient when the light isn't blocked. As  Rog raked the panels he could easily reach with the roof rake, the  production went up to 4800 watts. They heat up quickly uncovered and the snow slides off. I just checked now, about 45 minutes after roof-raking and they are totally melted clear and producing 6700 watts at 1 p.m. on a sunny winter day!

A one-inch fluffy snow is perfect for woveling - I cleared off the patio in a couple minutes. I love that wovel!

Now we have no more excuses--time to  tackle the dreaded project: taxes.