For the past three years, we have been suffering from a woodpecker attack at our house. Every year they show up at the south side of our house, find a nice perch on our window trim, and start pecking away at the wood. Each year, several holes up to 1″ in diameter show up on [...]
A few months ago I got a voicemail from a ‘Restricted’ caller As it turns out, I had never gotten around to cleaning my backpack after our trip to Mexico, and when we were burglarized in April, my luggage claim sticker went with the thief. Excited, I went to the precinct to see if there [...]
Last year when we put on a new roof to our house, I scrambled to come up with a new home media wiring plan. The wires only cost maybe $200 for all-you-can-eat HDMI and cat6, and the roof costs closer to $25K. So, while we had the plywood decking ripped up, we had the roofers [...]
I was discussing with some friends the $1500 Federal Energy Tax Credit, particularly regarding the fact that it has been extended through 2010. One question that was raised – does that mean we can apply it both in 2009 and 2010 for a total of $3000 of tax credits? The answer is ‘no’. Each household [...]
After watching on Craigslist for a while, I found a decent 20.6cf Kenmore energy star refrigerator. I’ve come to the conclusion that you pay a big premium for a bottom freezer model or refrigerator sizes greater than 21cf. I don’t think either of them deliver much in the way of energy savings and aesthetics are [...]
Now that we’ve been in our house for a few years, I’ve seen enough electric bills to know that we really do consume a lot more energy here. This was particularly highlighted when I looked into adding solar panels to the house. What has perplexed me is why, exactly, this is happening. I’ve been working [...]
In my stereo cabinet, I have 8 devices, all of which have their own switches. . For the most part, when one is on, I want all of them on. And when I turn it off, I want to turn everything off. Needless to say, it is annoying to have to switch each on and [...]
The intrigue with the house next door doesn’t seem to end. I figured that whoever was trying to rent the house would put an ad in the Oregonian or on craigslist. So, I conducted a quick search today, and sure enough: Conveniently, the poster’s email address was on the listing. randal@fchelp.com. Stop Forclosure – FCHelp [...]
Stephanie forwarded an email to us about One Block Off the Grid, an organization that purchases and installs solar in bulk, ostensibly passing the savings on to you. I had thought a bit about solar before, but never seriously, because I didn’t want to lay out a ton of money only to find out that [...]
We recently uncovered this little piece of history. For those of you who have tried to put a beer in our refrigerator, you know what I am talking about.