Another day in the life of Ivan Ivanovich

I drove from East Lansing sunshine into rain yesterday evening as I arrived at the cottage. Big Red managed to make a whopping 28 mpg as I slowed down going into towns traveling at 37 miles per hour, the transmission still in gear 5 and the engine using only 4 cylinders. Pretty amazing. I averaged 23.9 MPG for the entire trip. I'll bet Al Gore would be glad, NOT.

I unloaded Big Red of all the important stuff and started my brand spanking new Made in China 4800 watt electric heater to warm up the cottage, only to find that the emergency shut off switch was defective and kept shutting off the heater after 3 to 5 seconds of heat. Needless to say, I was lucky that the outside and inside temperatures were in the 49 F. range and not 39 F.

This morning I awakened to not see the crashing into the moon of an Aires booster and payload. I am told the crashing was a success. Time will tell.

The internet works well as I was able to do my Pulmonary Function Testing interpretations on line and on time: 300 miles away.

Jumping into Big Red during a particularly heavy downpour, I went to Miller Lake area and the Peninsula TimBr Mart Hardward where I had purchased the heater, and exchanged it, without proof of receipt, just my word. This one puts out 4800 watt of heat. The place is toasty warm now. However, the oil residue on the calrod heating coil sent out fumes and the smoke detector loudly anounced its displeasure.

I drove back from the hardware store in a pouring rain, wind from the North, again, only 2 of the three wind turbines working, just like this Spring and this Summer. Either the folks up here in the Northern Bruce Peninsula Municipality aren't using electricity, or, the resting wind turbine is still malfunctioning. To support the former hypothesis, there are no lights across the way even though this is the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. I am the only one here on Little Pike Bay. I am doing my best to use all the electricity those turbines can generate. As the wind has die recently, I probably am using the electricity from Bruce Nuclear, a more consitent base of generation. To support the latter hypothesis, several times this last Spring and Summer there was a crane with its arm raised tinkering with the balky windmill. Wind turbine reliability is an issue it seems. If we hitch a ride on the "alternative energy" boat with its unproven and currently evolving (ie, over several decades) technology, we may find ourselves crashed up on the rocks, lights out and in the cold. Enough said.