Month: May 2024

The weather has been uncooperative so I have had to start my hydroponic plants even though they don’t like the idea. I think they’re tougher than I thought as most are doing well. I do have the odd plant that’s a bit of a weakling and decided that the effort was too much and gave up the ghost. Oh well, they make good compost.

What’s with this weather anyway? We expected some rain but it’s been downright cold. I know, next week we’ll be complaining that it’s too hot. (I hope)

I had two loads of logs delivered by the resort and when I stacked them I thought the load was a bit short so I whined and complained. They were very good about it and made the difference up with all the nasty, gnarled, dirty, wet and huge logs that they could find. What a fool I am, now I have to stack and split even more wood. Jeese!

Rosalie has been enjoying one more of several new hobbies. This time it’s painting rocks. I’m not saying she has a lot of rocks but the trailer now has a distinct lean to the left. I’m not complaining as it gives my stomach a rest from all the innovative cooking ideas that she has. I had better watch what I say as she does have all those rocks easily at hand.

Because Rosalie likes to spend hundreds of dollars on painting her fingernails I volunteered to do it for her. I just hoped I could do a better job than she does cutting my hair.

We were both a bit nervous but plowed on regardless. I ordered a kit from Ali Express but it wasn’t quite up to expectations. It was fine if you only wanted to dry one finger at a time but Rosalie isn’t that patient. I whined and complained (I’m getting good at that) and they refunded half of our money.

We ordered another kit from Amazon and after several tequilas to steady our nerves we set to it.

First, we had to put on the gel remover which is probably very toxic but what the heck, my stomach is probably immune to all that toxicity. (see above)

Then layer after layer of primer and paint until we ended up with not too bad a job. It would have been better if Rosalie hadn’t kept swatting me saying I was doing it wrong. Next time I need the car painted I’ll do it myself as it can’t be any more difficult than doing nails.

I wanted this design, but Rosalie wasn’t impressed!

Most of the nonsense we hear and read is from people who are either jealous or have decided long before doing any research that EVs are bad and spout only the facts that fit their theory. I find myself doing this sometimes and slap myself. We need to keep an open mind on both sides of this issue. A lot of the negative reports are either from trumpers, conspiracy theorists or nut jobs.

I can see these guys arriving home on the weekend and going out to mow the lawn. The gas-powered lawn mower won’t start so they go to Home Depot and buy a cordless one powered by…you got it, a battery. An EV lawn mower, who’d a thunk it? And remember, all those batteries have to be recycled too.

And of course, they always bring up the sad story of little kids working in factories. This is true, but it’s been going on for generations, but not just for EVs. For some of these kids, it’s the only way to make a living for themselves or their families. If you want to blame someone, blame the greedy entitled billionaires who spend half a billion dollars for a few minutes riding in space. With that kind of money, they could feed a small nation. (Oops, I almost started a new rant.)

I think that EVs are not the final answer but for now, the best answer. There are even better technologies in the works if they can be made to work right. My favourite is hydrogen-powered vehicles which will cost nothing to run if they do it right. Ooh! how about nuclear power, boy would that sucker go?

It’s so frustrating that sometimes I want to jump out the window. It wouldn’t do any good as we’re only five feet up and I would either twist an ankle or break my hip. I won’t do it anyway because it would only make Rosalie mad.

This is one of the best comments found on Facebook. It doesn’t even mention fracking.

“Tony Lort

So how much tar sand must be dug from the ground and how much energy do the many pieces of equipment do to get it out and processed use and how much energy does it take to refine that crude into useable fuel and then what are the emissions and energy used for all the various forms of transport to get it to the gas station and what did it take to dig the pits to put the tanks in the ground at that gas station? What are the environmental effects of the waste from the tar sands and how much ecological damage was done to the habitats of the animals and what about the health effects of the fumes all around that entire process not to mention the damage to our atmosphere and our health from all the exhaust? How much ecological damage is done by all the abandoned oil wells and all the infrastructure around them and we haven’t even started to discuss the oil spills and other mishaps. Compare all the damage by both sides of the equation if you want to have a proper discussion of ecological damage. I keep seeing this stupid piece and wonder how anyone could even look at it without asking all the questions.”

He mentions putting tanks in the ground. If that tank leaks it costs even more to have it removed.

This whole subject is mostly about personal choice. I don’t put your gas vehicle down so let me have the freedom to drive my EV without all the nasty comments. I don’t aim this comment at any of our friends who make fun of our car; yes we do carry a very long extension cord just in case. It’s the nasty unresearched comments I can’t stand.

Okay, rant done!…for now.

Here we go again. I’m about to have a rant so hold on.

Sales of EVs are declining for some reason. I think it’s all about uninformed negative information. There is a lot of it around and as EV owners we hear and see it a lot. Some of the information is accurate but twisted. For instance, there was an article in a German newspaper saying that EVs are environmentally negative because of the high cost of energy to produce one. This is true they do use more energy to build, but over the life of the vehicle they are not spewing out ten to fifteen years of pollution so are a lot more environmentally friendly. That was not mentioned! Also, how long does it take a gas vehicle to reach zero emissions?

We read one comment saying that it took 35 gallons of diesel at the charging station, to go 200 miles. If it did cost that much diesel, the cost to charge would go through the roof. Obviously not fact-checked. In Canada, we use hydro and nuclear power which is so much cleaner. In the USA it takes more to produce the energy because most of their power is fossil fuel generated; even so, that number is still out to lunch. Think about it, if diesel costs $1.50 or whatever, that means that it costs $52.50 to charge my car for 200 Miles when I only pay, at the most $15 at the charge station. No wonder oil companies are losing money, yeah right.

We hear that EV batteries are going to end up in landfills, that’s not so true anymore. Companies are starting to recycle as the metals used are too expensive to dump. The life of about ten years is short but it’s early in the EV era, technology is getting better, and batteries are lasting longer producing more range and costing less. The year we bought our car, 2023, the next year’s model of the same car came with more range.

They say that the infrastructure isn’t in place to support EVs. There are thousands of these charging stations out there and of course, there are teething problems but so far we have had no problems charging. We even found a free charger in a rest area on the highway. Our car is mostly charged at home but there are reports of people with EVs being unable to charge because they live in a condo and have no personal means of charging. Why didn’t they do a little research before they bought the vehicle? That was one of our first concerns, how and where do we charge and can we charge from home? It’s not rocket science to find out.

But my favourite negative story was on CBC News. It seems that a guy with a new Ford EV truck took a drive into the USA and ran out of power because he couldn’t find a charging station. The EV is like a computer and lets you know where the closest charge station is. He obviously didn’t do any research beforehand. The CBC reported this! If I went into the USA with a gas-powered vehicle and ran out of gas, would they report that? Not likely!

This is only the beginning I will rant more.

I can’t believe we have been back two weeks. That means I haven’t written a blog since Melaque. I better get started! My public is waiting; all six of them; up one from last year. Part of the problem was that I got locked out of my site because I screwed up the password three times.

Our trip back was the best we have had in several years. We flew from Manzanillo to Calgary and then to Comox. The trip took nine and a half hours. After a night in Comox, Mike and Faye took us home to Spidey.

The following day we went to Barb and Dave’s for dinner. Normally we wouldn’t do this so soon as we are tired and need to get settled in, but they tempted us with a roast beef dinner and some great company so it was hard to say no. We stayed overnight and went home the next morning.

Now the work begins! As well as all my usual chores: Taking tarps off of stuff, unwrapping the car etc. I had a huge pile of firewood to move and store. I’m lucky as it has been raining and I couldn’t work in the rain too much. Sore hip, you know, wink, wink.

There was some concern about the car as it was the first time we stored it over the winter. There was no need for concern as it was still fully charged and as soon as I connected the small battery it was ready to go.

Three things must be done when arriving back in Canada. First, I have to BBQ a pork roast. I drool thinking about it in Melaque. Second, we have to go with Peter and Suzie to Hong Kong House for some good Chinese food. Third, and by far the most important: Thursday afternoon at the pub with the guys. Although I was a little disappointed when I found out that while I was away, and without my bad influence, they are all only having one beer each now instead of two.

My 3D printer arrived with Gerry and Denise and with my small new one, I’ve been printing up a storm. I’ve been trying to perfect a wine glass as I tend to break glass ones quite regularly. I may have it just about right, but we’ll see. I’m printing sets of two and so far they look pretty good.

That’s it for now or else this will never get posted.