Hi Charles
On (08 Nov 96) CHARLES WARREN wrote to ALEC CAMERON...
 CW> Your reply was appreciated, Alec, sorry it took me this long to reply.
No worries. Time is an illusion. Actions are real.
 CW> ......................................................I have just spent
 CW> the last 5 years caring for my ill parents as I recovered.
Adversity makes heros. Too much easy living dulls the spirit and poisons the
body.
 CW> rockin' chair, heh, heh. I lost the remote control for TV and didn't
 CW> know it for three days GRIN
That would bug me. I need that remote really bad. It has an OFF button, real
neat.
 CW> And my utilities dropped from $150-$250 to $35-$50......
Frugal living can be fun. I liked camping in a tent, going to the store to 
uy
A tomato and A banana etc and wasting nothing. My uncle who was a POW in
Stalag IIIc taught me how to wash dishes with a trivial amount of hot water.
The simple things can be an adventure. This house has three indoor
thermometers and one outdoor [remote]. I amuse myself by fiddling the
thermostats, window curtains, exhaust fan etc. In my last home I modified the
exhaust fans [5 rooms] to be ambient temp responsive ie very slow in winter,
top speed in summer. Used a mix of cheap bimetal switches, and PTC
power thermistors.
                  
 CW> I'm 40, and don't get out much-after 5 years I'm still shy about going
 CW> out in public.
I am overhauling a battery chair to sell. I am an OK walker, don't need a
chair. To save embarrassment when testing, I whirr outdoors in it with dark
glasses on and eccentric clothing plus a hat, so I won't be recognised.
A few weeks ago I saw our grandaughter [11] walking toward me, she didn't 
now
I had a chair. I deliberately blocked her progress...... "HELLO! Grandpa, I
didn't recognise you. I thought you were an old gentleman escaped from the
Elderly Home!"
 CW> You said your 70 ?
I lied. I am 67 but sometimes I feel 70.
The chair is interesting- very low tech. No solid state components. The motor
regenerates on downhill running, there is no service brake just a parking
brake. The battery has 1985 manufacture date!! Once upon a time, acid
batteries were really durable. It is deep cycle type of course.
                                                               
You see well aware, so to speak. My poor ole Dad was
 CW> only 66. He hadn't been much aware for 5 years. He had had a stroke
I am interested in Genealogy and have a good knowledge of why my ancestors
died. To minimise stroke risk, I am permanently medicated including a half
aspirin daily.
 CW> just as I had my wreck. He had just retired from the IRS, after a 30
 CW> year stint in the USAF. We spent a lot of time together the last few
 CW> years, and spent many a great hour just riding out by the Miss river.
 CW> I miss him a lot.
My Dad taught me a lot about Homepower especially how to manage the 
ireplaces
[home heating] and composting in the garden- waste nuthin! He died 1944 and I
miss him badly.
WE used to have a permanent trailer home [camper] 13 ft 6 long, permanently
parked at a lake/ surfing beach site near a group of coal fired generating
stations I worked on. Loved that little house! I put a solar hot water unit
just 20 inches square on the roof, gravity feed to the sink hot tap and used
the regular 12v DC pump to top it up when low. Made a 100 watt one liter
booster under the sink with thermostat, to heat the water right by the tap so
as to avoid water waste each time the tap was "on" and to assure hot, at 
ight
or on dark days.
In the floor of the trailer under a bed I installed an upside down exhaust
fan, to ram cool shaded air in from under. No air conditioning.
Cheers, nice to hear from you. Send Netmail if you want to talk "off topic".
..ALEC
... If you don't go to other people's funerals, they won't go to yours.
--- PPoint 1.92
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