Replying to a message of Richard Webb to Bob Ackley:

 BA>> I've got the land, altho' I'd rather have a steeper hillside.  The
 BA>> ideal place for me is on the quarter section immediately north of
 BA>> me.  There's a bowl toward the southern end that has about an acre
 BA>> of flat ground at the bottom, a creek flows out of it to the south
 BA>> (and passes about 150 yards east of my place on its way to
 BA>> wherever).  It'd be a piece of cake to build an underground house
 BA>> into one of the sides of the bowl, and have an acre or so of yard. 
 BA>> Nobody'd know the house was there (FTM if it was an ordinary house
 BA>> nobody'd know either unless they flew over it, that bowl can't be
 BA>> seen from the road).

 RW> Sounds perfect for something like this.  MIne they'd be able to tell
 RW> anyway due to a radio antenna tower and masts. Still, easy to cool,
 RW> easy to heat. THat and enough land to graze a horse or two, one for
 RW> riding, one for packing. ONly time I'd need to burn fuel for
 RW> transport would be for business . SInce my power needs for the ham
 RW> station would be modest I could probably operate most times with
 RW> solar panels and storage batteries .

Had a fellow out yesterday to talk about installing a geothermal system.  A
measly $15,000, plus the main power feed to the house and the distribution
panel have to be upgraded to handle 200 amp service, although the system
normally sips the juice if it has to fall back to the backup - resistance heat -
it really sucks it down.  'course the oil bill for next winter is going to approach
or even exceed $2,000.

MidAmerican Energy gives its customers a $2,000 cash rebate if they install an
all-electric heating/cooling system; plus they have a lower rate for those customers,
so the initial investment outlay can be recouped fairly quickly.

--- FleetStreet 1.19+