Dragonfly Ranch

… so he deserves a sit down every once in a while.

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We moved the chicks into the henhouse around noon today, and by 6:00 p.m. they felt comfortable enough to venture outside and check out the run. Of course, Fritz had to watch this carefully. Amazingly, Fritz was quiet and calm around the chicks. Chester and Ella, when they got wind of things, were running around the pen barking. We hope they’ll all get used to the chickens as just another part of the ranch.

(Photo taken at 30x from the porch.)

Saw our first rattlesnake up close and personal yesterday evening while out on our walkabout with the dogs. Luckily, Arlin had decided to walk Chester on leash outside the fence while he threw recently cut low hanging branches over the fence to inside so we could pick them up easier. When he came back in the pedestrian gate near the mailbox, Chester wanted to stay on the leash for some reason, Fritz had already veered off back toward the chickens in the Firehouse, and Ella continued on in front. She was sniffing at a hole, as usual, when we saw/heard what could only be a rattler. Amazing how senses and mobility work simultaneously: we heard, saw, called Ella away, and moved back all at once in a split second. For those of us who wondered if we would recognize a rattlesnake if we came across one, that question was answered with a resounding YES.

So now Arlin is mowing more rattlesnake abatement.

However the abatement tactics seemed to draw the rattler closer to the house. We were walking the perimeter to see the results of Arlin’s mowing and the damn thing was under a tree to the left of where Arlin was mowing. He must have driven right over it, or almost. Fritz found it this time and I sent Phil and Arlin out with picks and shovels (sort of like the villagers going after Frankenstein) and my intrepid heroes came back with it. It’s in a bucket in the vegetable garden in case anyone wants to come take a look. As Arlin says, the only good rattlesnake is a dead rattlesnake.

We went to the feed store Saturday and Arlin bought eight chicks. He had already built this beautiful brooding pen. Now the chicks are comfortably housed in the firehouse, waiting to get big enough to move to the coop. That won’t take long, since they’re already four weeks old. Another two weeks should do it.

Of course, Fritz and Chester really, really wanted to help.

Either this mantis has just emerged from the ootheca (look it up), or I’ve discovered a new species of micro-mantis.

Went shopping at Western Sierra Nursery yesterday and got some drought resistant plants for the area between the patio and the craft house. Just got them planted this afternoon. Hopefully they will grow and spread just like their descriptions say they will.

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This Black-headed Grosbeak has been hanging around our feeder and birdbath for the last few days. According to my sources, they migrate here to breed in late April/early May, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a female and a nest around somewhere–but we haven’t seen them.

April 24 was the first anniversary of our solar electric installation. Over the year we generated just over 12 megawatt-hours of electricity.

I haven’t finished analyzing the numbers, but here’s one telling set of statistics:

During the not-quite four months between moving in and installing the solar panels, we paid PG&E $600.37 for 2,785 kWh of electricity over 110 days, an average of $5.46 per day.

During the comparable period this year, we paid PG&E $114.45 for 573 kWh over 112 days, an average of $1.02 per day.

The daily average over the entire year isn’t that low — it looks like about $2.40 from my preliminary calculations — because in the middle of the winter we don’t generate much, and in the middle of the summer we generate a lot but use even more for air conditioning.

I don’t know what our return on investment is, because I haven’t calculated our net savings (what we would have paid PG&E if we hadn’t installed the solar panels, compared to what we did pay). I hope to have that figured out soon.