What Gets Me Through the Night

 Summer is here and the sky is full of sunshine.

The paloverdes are in gorgeous yellow bloom providing a feast for the neighborhood little bees, big bees, and hummingbirds.

 

 
 

The buckwheat is in bloom all over the property

The manzanitas are loaded with berries

The children of the big old sage in the background are now teenagers

Even this half dead manzanita is giving it another go with a fresh branch

My young fruit trees are strong and healthy

    

The tomatoes in the vault are looking promising

Unfortunately, I accidentally left the electric fence turned off last night and I'm pretty sure this guy helped himself to my new little strawberries...

 

But this is not what gets me through the night...

This is what gets me through the night.

 

 Because I am not connected to the electric company, my power comes from the sun in the daytime and batteries at night.  

 

My faithful old lead-acid batteries were about at the end of their useful life, and it was time for some new ones.

It took sixteen of these big guys (over twice the size of a car battery) to get me through the night.

 

I replaced them with six lithium iron units and will have more capacity than ever.

 

While I was doing the wiring and building the new box, eight of the old guard remained on duty to keep the lights on.

 

This box, like the old one, is sheathed in fireproof cement board

 

Those of you who care about such things will notice that the batteries are connected in parallel, so if one should fail, there are five backups.

And yes, that's copper pipe that the batteries are connected to. Seemed like a good solution, plus I think it looks cool...

 

With Rancher Rick's big green tractor doing the heavy lifting, my pal Andy and I loaded the retirees in the truck. They weigh over 120 pounds apiece!

Tomorrow I will drive them 85 miles to a recycling place that promises me actual money for them. (Considerably more than the gas I'll be burning if you were wondering...)

Then it's back to enjoy the summer, even when the sun doesn't shine!

Have a great summer!