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Got the SDXC card I ordered on Amazon. Inserted it into the slot on my laptop and presto! I have 512GB (actually 476GB) more storage space. Copying my backups/downloads to it now. This will be my upgrade to my laptop (only has a 256GB SSD), but it is tiny so I can pull it and carry it in my wallet if needed. When they come out with a 2TB card and it is a good price per GB, I will get one of those instead.

I can now download pretty much any large archive file without juggling files - like Wikipedia and other wikis in ZIM format (compressed and readable offline). I have another very small USB thumb-drive of 512GB coming. That will be the one that I can move around.

These and my other drives will be my backups for important personal files (financials, etc.).

I need to find my card reader and put it in my BOB/etc. in case I need to bugout.
 
I recived my Oupes 1800w solar generator this morning, Changed it up to 100% via the A/C adapter and then tested a few items. Plugged in my cellphone and my laptop and it works quite well. I also ordered solar panels as well but they have not been delivered yet, It includes a cigarette lighter charger as well so you can charge it while driving. I do like the Ibuilt in LED light in the unit so you see. It is somewhat heavy but when the wind storms start blowing we tyically lose power and sometimes it it out for 24 hours. Probablly will get that much sun light in the winter but we have large windows so we may get some power out of the solar panels.

https://oupes.com/products/oupes-1800-200w-solar-panels?variant=41706178576561

You can decide how many solar panels you want but it is more costly if you order more. They have smaller solar generators as well depending on how much you want to spend. I got a good deal since I was watching the Alaska Prepper and I waited until Thanksgiving Day to order miine and got the discount code.
 
Got the SDXC card I ordered on Amazon. Inserted it into the slot on my laptop and presto! I have 512GB (actually 476GB) more storage space. Copying my backups/downloads to it now. This will be my upgrade to my laptop (only has a 256GB SSD), but it is tiny so I can pull it and carry it in my wallet if needed. When they come out with a 2TB card and it is a good price per GB, I will get one of those instead.

I can now download pretty much any large archive file without juggling files - like Wikipedia and other wikis in ZIM format (compressed and readable offline). I have another very small USB thumb-drive of 512GB coming. That will be the one that I can move around.

These and my other drives will be my backups for important personal files (financials, etc.).

I need to find my card reader and put it in my BOB/etc. in case I need to bugout.
Just found this and installed it on my phone:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.kiwix.kiwixcustomwikimed&hl=en_US&gl=US&pli=1

Just found this too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_wikis
 
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Seriously considering moving to South Carolina. We've checked out the area pretty good. There's a cool farm in the area that sells RAW milk for $7 a gallon a bargain compared to $15+ back in Washington. As well as eggs and meat. I haven't seen ONE homeless person let alone camp of people since I've gotten here on Wednesday. Looking at homes they are very reasonable!! And I just filled up our car here for 2.69 a gallon!

 
Seriously considering moving to South Carolina. We've checked out the area pretty good. There's a cool farm in the area that sells RAW milk for $7 a gallon a bargain compared to $15+ back in Washington. As well as eggs and meat. I haven't seen ONE homeless person let alone camp of people since I've gotten here on Wednesday. Looking at homes they are very reasonable!! And I just filled up our car here for 2.69 a gallon!

The thing I've heard about from friends moving East, they have to pay "delivery" charges for their electricity over the wires...

Lookup the utility costs and such..
 
The thing I've heard about from friends moving East, they have to pay "delivery" charges for their electricity over the wires...

Lookup the utility costs and such..
PGE charges a distribution fee per kW, and a "transmission" charge, the two add up to about the same as they charge for "energy" - so I basically pay about 13 cents per kWh. When someone says PNW electricity is 6 cents per kWh, remind them that they also pay for the wires and power distribution stations, and that effectively doubles the cost. No one gets those things for free.
 
PGE charges a distribution fee per kW, and a "transmission" charge, the two add up to about the same as they charge for "energy" - so I basically pay about 13 cents per kWh. When someone says PNW electricity is 6 cents per kWh, remind them that they also pay for the wires and power distribution stations, and that effectively doubles the cost. No one gets those things for free.
The rate charge here from Benton PUD is $0.0739/kWh. There is no other charge other than a Daily System Charge (DSC), which is $0.63/day, which I would guess pays for the meter and the other charges that you mention, like transmission and distribution charges. The rest is taxes equal to WA State sales tax + local tax, which amounts to a total of 8.6%.

So, with an average annual consumption of 12,900 kWh (that's me, in actuality), that reduces down to an average monthly consumption of 1,075 kWh, which results in ~$80/month in energy charge. The "add-on" DSC is only about 24% of the power cost, so nowhere near "about the same" as you poor suckers that are wedded to PG&E have to pay. And all that was before I went solar...

Basically, all I pay now is the DSC. I imagine I'll pay for a bit of energy from Benton PUD this winter (as my October bill already shows: $10.79 for 146 kWh), but come the spring and summer, I'll be in an energy-surplus mode and selling power back to Benton PUD. At that point, I'll be paying just the DSC of <$20/month. In case someone wants to throw out the "Yeah, but what did you pay for that system and when will it pay itself back?", I've already done those calcs.

The total 8.8kW system (20 panels @440W each) was ~$27,300 and for which I get a non-refundable tax credit of 26% (~$7,100) against my federal income tax bill. Considering I pay about $4,500 in additional FIT every year, this is about 1⅔ years' worth of FIT for which I won't write a check to the IRS. At a system cost of $27,300, the cost of energy ($0.0739/kWh), and my historical consumption rate (12,280 kWh/year), the break-even point from purely an energy standpoint is 30 years, and that assumes no cost increases in energy from the PUD. Given that the cost of energy will surely increase over time, and add in the fact that I'm selling my excess production back to the PUD, my actual break-even point is more like at the 9 to 10-year point. It was for this reason that I thought the installation was to my benefit. Plus, it's giving me some experience with a solar system for when I buy my spread in Idaho and move off-grid in the next 4 to 5 years.
 
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Energy charges 56.03
Basic Charge 11.00
Energy Use Charge (356.000kWh x $0.06642) 23.65
Transmission Charge (356.000kWh x $0.00585) 2.08
Distribution Charge (356.000kWh x $0.0542) 19.30
Regulatory charges and credits 1.14102 RPA Exchange Credit(356.000 kWh x $-0.00676) 2.41 (CR)
105 Regulatory Adjustments(356.000 kWh x $-0.0001) 0.04 (CR)
109 Energy Efficiency Funding Adj (356.000 kWh x $0.00579) 2.06
110 Energy Efficiency Customer Svc (356.000 kWh x $0.00008) 0.03
112 Customer Engagement Transformation Adjustment (356.000 kWh x $0.0003) 0.11

That's for the house, for the shop, they charge me $20 whether I use one watt of electricity or not, then add on kWh charges and all the other crap. Basically it comes down to $25 to use $5 worth of electricity
 
My solar panels arrived yesterday.

I ordered another micro SD card with a small USB reader to put Dragon OS and some other stuff on. I will make a thread in this sub forum about that - SDR & Sigint Linux based operating systems and apps I will put on micro card, making it a bootable USB. I will probably also make some VMs for that now that I have expanded the storage of my laptop with a 512GB micro SD card.

In short, I plan to get a couple SDRs for scanning with my laptops and my MacPro. Good motivation to get some antennas put up too.
 
Paperwork.

Got around to flipping through the 'manual'. It's a 3 ring binder of emergency related reading. Started out and is still tagged "Generator", just held the generator manual. It's expanded. Driving idea is no fluff, just a single place that holds important info. So making sure it's all in order. Consists of:

1) Manuals/instructions. Manuals pared down in most cases - don't care about any cancer warnings from Kalifornia - just the "Switch this on, set this to that, toggle that" info.

2) Inventories. Check lists from long ago became inventories. Just lists and dates along with where it's located. Not fanatical about being up to date, every now and then count stuff and update it.

3) Preventative maintenance logs. This is the most common reason I use the binder month to month, probably doesn't even belong here but it's where it is.

4) Personal info, where they are, how to contact. Important health stuff.

It started when I added a one pager on how to purify water to the generator manual binder. Grew from there. Idea struck me that if the SHTF and I immediately keal over from a heart attack what would be useful for my survivors to know.
 
Paperwork.

Got around to flipping through the 'manual'. It's a 3 ring binder of emergency related reading. Started out and is still tagged "Generator", just held the generator manual. It's expanded. Driving idea is no fluff, just a single place that holds important info. So making sure it's all in order. Consists of:

1) Manuals/instructions. Manuals pared down in most cases - don't care about any cancer warnings from Kalifornia - just the "Switch this on, set this to that, toggle that" info.

2) Inventories. Check lists from long ago became inventories. Just lists and dates along with where it's located. Not fanatical about being up to date, every now and then count stuff and update it.

3) Preventative maintenance logs. This is the most common reason I use the binder month to month, probably doesn't even belong here but it's where it is.

4) Personal info, where they are, how to contact. Important health stuff.

It started when I added a one pager on how to purify water to the generator manual binder. Grew from there. Idea struck me that if the SHTF and I immediately keal over from a heart attack what would be useful for my survivors to know.
A most excellent idea. I shall endeavor to do the same.

It occurs to me that there should be two copies, stored at separate locations in case one is destroyed - or lost.

Endeavor to persevere!


 
Canadian Future ;

Canadians have recently been throwing cats for self-defense and so will now need to have them declawed (no semi-auto claws allowed). Their family dog having had its teeth pulled years before (for the children!). Recently being banned from having anything hard and over 6 inches long concealed on their person (known as the "Floppy Richard Act" of 2025), Canada is now safe for criminals to earn a living wage.
 
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I need to find my card reader and put it in my BOB/etc. in case I need to bugout.
When I found out about DragonOS I found a Samsung 256GB micro SD card with USB reader, on Amazon, for $27 and ordered it. I've already downloaded DragonOS so now I am reading up on how to make the card bootable to DragonOS. I will start researching SDRs, probably get a RTL SDR. Once I get all done I will post a thread on this.

Yesterday I ordered some 5 gal buckets - when they get here, if they are decent and the price is still good, I will buy a bunch more.

Tomorrow, I will buy some LifePo4 batteries from a NWFA member. I got 2 more 100W solar panels two days ago, so now I have about six or seven 100W panels, some with an attached MPPT. I may setup some of those panels on/near/in the shop and setup a small scale solar power something or other - maybe something to power the freezer and some lights? This would just be something of a trial run, and something in case of a long term power outage. Not enough for anything special, but maybe enough to keep my power stations charged during the winter if I lose power for more than a day or two.
 
When I found out about DragonOS I found a Samsung 256GB micro SD card with USB reader, on Amazon, for $27 and ordered it. I've already downloaded DragonOS so now I am reading up on how to make the card bootable to DragonOS. I will start researching SDRs, probably get a RTL SDR. Once I get all done I will post a thread on this.

Yesterday I ordered some 5 gal buckets - when they get here, if they are decent and the price is still good, I will buy a bunch more.

Tomorrow, I will buy some LifePo4 batteries from a NWFA member. I got 2 more 100W solar panels two days ago, so now I have about six or seven 100W panels, some with an attached MPPT. I may setup some of those panels on/near/in the shop and setup a small scale solar power something or other - maybe something to power the freezer and some lights? This would just be something of a trial run, and something in case of a long term power outage. Not enough for anything special, but maybe enough to keep my power stations charged during the winter if I lose power for more than a day or two.
I bought the batteries today.

Costco had a 4.5 AMP 6/12V Battery tender on sale ($50) that had a mode selection option for LiFePo4 batteries. So I bought one.

I am going to get some battery cables to connect the two batteries in parallel and then test to see if I can use the batteries (3500Wh together) to charge my EcoFlow power station. Together with the UPS and the power station, I think I would be able to power my Starlink and laptop for about 48 hours.

I think in short term outage I would use Starlink and my laptop only during waking hours. In a long term outage, and/or something more extreme (SHTF) I would use them for maybe one hour per day to stay abreast of news and in contact with relatives/friends. If I was careful, I think the combination would last for about a month or more, without using a genset or solar panels.
 

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