Season of Change

Is it possible that I haven't posted in three months? My how time flies. Not a single Spring post. As mentioned though it has been a season of change. For myself, I moved back north, started a new job and, and, and...saving that for later though. For now, I just returned from visiting w my family in Vermont and my Mother's garden was just abloom...
































All photos were taken in the garden over the course of a week except the last one of the pansies. The pansies came from the garden but they were inside in a vase.

Vermont 'Cow Power'

I am home for Thanksgiving in Vermont and yesterday we visited Westminster Farm a dairy farm which is now also a farm methane power plant. The methane plant project was recently completed and now that it is online it produces about 250 kW per hour which is enough energy to power 250 average homes per day.





The Cow Power Process

Manure is collected in a giant digester, as seen above, and heated to approximately 101 degrees F to maintain bacteria that breaks down the waste into various product including methane gas. The methane is then transferred from the digester through a pipe which separates out the moisture and sends the gas along to fuel a diesel engine which in turn is connected to a generator that produces electrical power. The power is then fed to the electrical grid.

In the case of Westminster Farm the power is fed to Green Mountain Power (GMP) and customers have the choice to now purchase their power through GMP's Greener GMP plan which includes the farm methane plant as well as a landfill methane producer.

Below you can see the digester next to the building that houses both the diesel engine and the generator and in the background are power poles that are connected into the GMP power grid.

Closeup of some of the goings on in the digester.

Ayup, turning poop into power in Vermont.

Happy Fathers and Mothers Day and Happy Summer Solstice

Since I missed Mothers Day...


Happy, happy Fathers and Mothers Day!


Better together anyway!


Just like Mom and Dad who are off today pedaling somewhere, who knows where...






Some of my favorite photos from last fall in Vermont. My friend Brian and his son Noah in the apple orchard at Vermont Technical College. Very happy Fathers Dayish.







































To happy Fathers and Mothers everywhere!


Today is also the Summer Solstice and as we haven't seen much of that big yellow ball in the sky lately, here in south central Idaho, I am posting a little yellow of my own in celebration!

So far just this morning it has rained and hailed, which is not a bad thing. I thoroughly enjoy seeing, smelling, hearing, and feeling all that flurry of activity going on outside with the sliders wide open into the backyard, while drinking the best cup of coffee all week.

And in absence of the sun, a little yellow...










Ooops, couldn't help myself.
It's yellow.

But it is not where the trees are at for now.
Here's where they are for now.