Lady Jan's House

Lady Jan's house

photo by Janice

I have made a few changes to my blog, a new template and a slightly newer name for the new year. This is a photo of my front door taken last year, notice the porch decking isn't painted yet? It has a new coat now, but last year it had gotten a couple of new boards nailed down on it. It's a very old house close to or over a hundred years old, and yes it is haunted, by a little girl named Jenny.

Lady Jan finds the stink!

I grabbed some clothes out of the closet and took a deep breath and then coughed!

Ew! What was that rank smell?

My first though was 'Oh God something died in here!' Then my second thought was 'Oh no, the sticky traps!'

I looked but the two near the door where empty, but there was one further back but I couldn't get to. My husband hand moved some stuff around so I wasn't sure where the other sticky trap had got shoved to.

So I said "Honey! Can you check all the sticky traps in the closet? I think a mouse has died in here!"

He checked the same ones I check and said "I don't smell anything?"

???

Okay this is what I don't get about men! They don't smell anything! How can they not smell what I can smell? Is it because women have a superior noses compared to men? Or that going through pregnancy (with my daughter) that now I can smell e-v-e-r-y-t-h-I-n-g?

Or is it that men in general don't smell well, because well. . . .Because men just smell bad. It's sort of a built in shielding device for men. That way if they go fishing, or camping, or out on a job sight where they can't bath regurally, and start stinking real bad--it's okay! Because they can't smell it!

Me-"H-o-n-e-y, why don't you go take a shower?" Him--He sniffs his arm pit, "Oh, it's okay, I don't stink or anything." Me- "Um, yeah, er. . . honey you kinda do. I can smell you from way over here, and I'm in the next room!"

I did finally find the stink!

It was a mouse on a sticky pad! I had to take things out of the closet, but there it was right behind everything right in front of a neatly chewed mouse hole.

And yeah it was bloated and real ripe!

Okay--Say it with me "EW!"

I had to frabreze the closet, and air it out a bit. And two days later my closet still has a stink, one that I seem the only one that can smell. And ironically my clothes don't smell like rotten mousy--it's just the closet.

H-mm.

Lady Jan the environmentalists!

I'm saying that sarcastically because true environmentalists live off the land and recycle everything, and use very little natural resources. And probably don't bath either.

But I do what I can; I recycle my aluminum cans and plastic, and today I saved the life of a tree! I signed on to SBC's paperless billing.

Also this is something my sister has gotten me into!

But I think it's a wonderful thing too! Especially with the soaring cost of fuel, we need a renewal energy resource that is also easy on the environment. And this is it!

From: "Dan Jacobson, Environment California Legislative Director"
To: Lady Jan
Subject: Environment California : Huge Solar Victory!
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 18:42:03 -0600

Hi Janice,

Hurray! Thursday morning the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC) approved the California Solar Initiative by a vote of 3 to 1. The
initiative was based on our Million Solar Roofs bill that failed earlier
this year in the state legislature. This is a truly great and historic
program that will make California a world wide leader in solar power
and break our over dependence on fossil fuels.

Thanks for all of your activism to help make this giant victory happen.
The CPUC received more public comments (50,000!) in support of this
initiative than any other decision they've ever made and noted this
showing of public support was a reason for their bold decision.

Of course, there is still much more work to be done to bring our vision
of a mainstream solar power market to reality so stay tuned!

For more about this solar initiative see the article that ran in
today's San Diego Union Tribune below, or your local paper.


$3 billion approved for solar rebates

Massive program is largest in U.S. history
By Craig D. Rose

STAFF WRITER January 13, 2006

State utility regulators have passed the largest solar initiative in
U.S. history, approving a $3 billion rebate program to subsidize the
installation of 1 million rooftop systems over the next decade.

The effort by the California Public Utilities Commission has the
potential to transform the state from a solar laggard to a leader. Supporters
of the measure promise a burgeoning new manufacturing industry and
cleaner air if California hits its target of enough solar panels to
generate up to 3,000 megawatts of power.

On a sunny day, that would be enough to power nearly 3 million homes,
or the output of six fossil fuel-burning power plants.

Noting that the state has long prided itself on being a leader in
environmental matters, commission President Michael Peevey said the
so-called California Solar Initiative extended that tradition.

"Our plan is to offer a subsidy now to push the deployment of an
important part of our sustainable energy future in the long run," said
Peevey, who noted that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supported the program as
part of a statewide effort to combat global warming and pollution.

Beyond California, the initiative could single-handedly boost the solar
industry nationally. Where 110 megawatts of solar-power systems were
installed across the nation last year - enough to power about 100,000
homes at peak production - the state plan hopes to prod the installation
of 300 megawatts annually for a decade.

"This is the single most significant initiative that will occur in the
solar field in 2006 globally," said Rhone Resch, president of the
national Solar Energy Industries Association.

He noted that the U.S. solar industry effort has in recent years been
eclipsed by programs in Germany and Japan. In fact, demand in those
countries has created worldwide shortages of solar panels - known
technically as photovoltaic panels because they convert light directly to
electricity - and of silicon, the raw material used to make them.

But Resch said the California program will spur manufacturers to ramp
up production. And he predicted that much of that manufacturing will
take place in California or nearby states because solar panels are too
heavy to ship great distances.

"What we are seeing is regional manufacturing," Resch said.

Environmental groups also applauded the plan.

"Today's vote promises to ultimately eclipse dirty and expensive fossil
fuel with clean and efficient solar power," said Bernadette Del Chiaro
of Environment California, which has long pressed for a solar
initiative.

Under the program, subsidies would decline each year of the program
based on the assumption that manufacturers will make their equipment more
efficiently and trim costs.

At the start, state subsidies of $2.80 per watt will shave about $8,400
from the cost of a typical 3 kilowatt residential solar system, which
several local installers said would cost about $25,000 without the
subsidy.

Federal tax credits could save an additional $2,000, bringing a
homeowner's net cost down to about $15,000.
Industry advocates say such systems will cut utility bills enough to
allow homeowners to recoup their costs in about a decade. At the same
time, a decade-long program provides stability for the solar equipment
industry, which says it has been hampered by stop-and-start subsidies.

"I could never sign a five-year lease," said Barry Cinnamon, president
of Akeena Solar in Los Gatos and head of a statewide industry trade
group.

"It's not the sudden big pot of money that is important. The goal is to
have a reasonable amount of money spread over a 10-year period so the
industry can invest."

If the program reaches its objective of 3,000 megawatts, however, the
systems themselves will likely satisfy only a small fraction of
statewide demand. Typical winter-day peak electricity demand is now about
32,000 megawatts, with summer-day peaks often reaching 45,000 megawatts.

But experts note that solar-power systems provide their maximum output
on hot sunny days when statewide demand is highest.

While the solar initiative was widely hailed, it was passed by a
divided 3-1 vote. Peevey was joined by commissioners Dian Grueneich and
Rachelle Chong in supporting the measure.
Commission John Bohn recused himself because of past investments in the
industry.

Geoffrey Brown voted against the measure because of his concern that
the commission was encroaching into areas best left to the state
Legislature, which failed to pass a similar solar initiative in each of the
last two years.

Those efforts foundered over the issue of whether there would be a
requirement to pay union wages to system installers, a question left
unaddressed by the initiative.
Brown said it was impossible to defend the subsidy program as cost
effective and added that it was a leap of faith to assume it would lead to
lower-cost solar-power systems in the future.

Emphasizing that California utility rates are already among the
nation's highest, he asked, "At what point are our rates too high to add a
multi-billion subsidy program?"

He also said his "no" vote was motivated by a lack of details and
safeguards, many of which have been left to be worked over the next year,
and by the exclusion of payments to the program by customers of municipal
utilities, over which the Public Utilities Commission lacks
jurisdiction.

As currently structured, the program will be financed by surcharges on
utility bills from investor-owned utilities like San Diego Gas &
Electric that are expected to cost customers about $13 per year. The
commission says the increase won't change bills dramatically because it will be
offset by the planned elimination of surcharges for California's last
great power initiative, electric deregulation.

Sincerely,

Dan Jacobson
Environment California Legislative Director
DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org

If you'd like to help please e-mail at the above link!

Your Lady Jan, thanks you!

http://www.EnvironmentCalifornia.org

P.S. Thanks again for your support. Please feel free to share this
e-mail with your family and friends.

Lady Jan is sick again!

I was sick with some sort of virus for Christmas, then just for New Years I caught a cold! I've got Puffs everywhere! By my bed, by the couch were I recline like a lady and blow my bright red nose, and also by my computer so when I'm blogging like right now I can hopefully catch any sneeze and not spray my computer with snott!

Dang it! I hate being sick!

I'm not so worried about myself, I just don't like being contagious and I don't want to make my daughter or my husband sick.

My daughter goes back to school on the ninth, and she doesn't need to be sick next week. My husband used all his sick days to stay home for the holidays, so with no more sick days left and he's the only bread winner in the family we can't afford for him to be sick.

So hey! Vitamins for everybody!

Happy New Year from Lady Jan

Last night my husband pooped out on us and went to bed really early. Which left my daughter and I to ring in the New Year.

So Sarah and I watch the count down for New Years, and went outside with our poppers that we had bought, and popped them. And we scared three cats, which is funny since we only have two.

One of the farms out further than we are, shot off some bottled rockets so we watched that for a while then went to bed.

I pounced on my sleeping husband and shook him awake just to get my New Years kiss, but he didn't mind.

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What's your New Years resolution?

Did you know that the all time number one resolution is to loose weight?

If that is yours too, please keep to a reasonable goal. If you set your goal too high--it's just too easy to quit.

But what's nice is that the stores and gyms know all about resolutions and mark down exercise equipment and gym membership to take advantage of that fact. But you can take advantage of the good sales too, so shop around!

My resolution is to get healthier; eat healthier, and get a little more exercise. So I'm practicing what I preach and I am trying to keep to a reasonable goal.