BrianW

Properly sized and zoned its superior in comfort. My entire house stays one uniform temperature as my units run nonstop at low speed using only a few hundred watts. I have a split level and they are one of the best setups for heat pumps. The downstairs heat pump carries most of the heating load and in the summer my upstairs unit carries the cooling load. Having 2 means I always have a backup as well. I average about 400-700 kwh a month in winter and about 225 kwh in July August. My heat pumps used just under 3000 kwh last year. If I had to buy the electricity at .25 it would be around $750 for the entire year heating and cooling. Here was last years total electricity usage. As you can see in the summer my upstairs unit runs way more.

I bought my system 8 years when prices were $1.50 watt. It paid for itself and I reached my ROI in 5 years using a home equity loan to pay for it. Prices are like $3-4 watt now but I think it still works out to like an 8-10 year payback in most New England states.

Have you seen what your Ranger is worth? Those older 2009-2011 Rangers are getting big money. Their book value will be like 12k but they are selling for like 15-17k. My next truck will be hopefully an electric but the 4cyl turbo in this has some of the best mpg in its size.

Get some bear spray. My wife and I carry it when we walk the dog. I stopped a charging pit bull with it instantly. Used it on a coyote getting to close once as well but I think he smelled it and bolted. I think the brand I use is Sabre and is their compact version. Or you can just get your pistol permit.

Agree about insulation and there are huge state and federal rebates for them as well. I have had solar for 8 years and my house is 100% electric from my net metered solar. 2 high efficiency heat pumps for heating cooling. I pay just the $9 monthly minimum service charge year round. Why wouldn't you at least put a heat pump in for shoulder season that also gets you the most efficient ac? You have solar that is likely paid off but would rather line the pockets of gas companies and speculators? Here was the coldest day of the year here back on Feb 3rd when it hit -5. From 10am to 3 pm my solar powered directly my entire house and heat pumps while exporting most of the power. Why would you not use a fuel that you can generate for free on your roof?

Bought a 2020 CPO Ford Ranger Sport with 14k on it. Truck was just off a 3 year lease from North County Ford in New Hampshire. Good luck to anyone buying a truck now. Used prices for in demand trucks is insane right now. A new ranger is a 6 month wait with many of the features my current model has deleted due to the continued chip shortage. So used prices are crazy close to new if you don't want to wait. Pretty solid medium duty truck so far. The turbo 4cyl is actually really impressive. 270 hp 310 lb torque with a 7500 towing capacity. I got around 24-26 mpg on a few good highway cruises so far. The tech is really awesome. Especially the Fordpass app. From your phone you can lock/unlock, remote start, get into diagnostics, adjust hvac, etc. I honestly didnt think I would use the lane assist, collison warning crap, adaptive cruise, etc but found all of it to be pretty awesome.

I think we go right into deep summer in May just like last year.

BDL 89

Wow. Like full leaf out overnight in New Haven.

You also get a really efficient heat pump that will operate at 4x the efficency and 1/4 of the cost of $4 gallon of oil. Maybe in far NNE ac is only needed 30 or 40 days. Down here in the banana belt in CT where it's in the mid 80s and ac are running right now.. ac is used for more like 180 days here. That adds up. Also electricity rates are in the low 30's in a few New England states. 90% of people don't use 3rd party suppliers and are currently paying these rates. When rates are this high the savings are astronomical. According to the EIA outside of Hawaii we have the most expensive electricity in the US.

I think BDL hits 90 today.

Yeah and they are also absurdly efficient compared to window units. One of my mini splits is a crazy 38 seer where most home central acs are like 13-15 seer. Windows units are even less than that. So they can use like 5 times less electricity. They also are crazy quiet compared to window units. I always find it amazing people live in like $500k+ houses and will still put noisy inefficient window units in. Makes even more sense with New England electricity rates the highest in the nation. Window acs are going to cost a fortune to run this summer.

87 EWR

Congrats to GON, DXR, HVN and BDR for their first 80s. Hoping we jump right into some 90s tomorrow.

What a special one. Low 80's even down here on the coast. The kids have a pretty epic week to have off. A bunch were actually in the water.

Maples will be leafed out by the weekend here.

Beautiful afternoon out on Pt Judith watching some surfers. Car said it was 57 on the way in.

Where is the closest water? Is there a pond nearby? There is a pond uphill across the street from me and the level of that has a direct correlation with my groundwater level. Use a post hole digger and dig down like a foot and look and see it's actively flowing. You will be able to tell right away. I have looked up some ways online to potentially tap into the one in my yard for watering my lawn.

I know Tacoma's are reliable but they are outdated and the 4cyl is way underpowered. The current 3rd generation Tacoma is the same design from 2015. The ranger has way more technology and gets way better gas mileage. Seems a lot of these mid size trucks are going to turbo 4 cylinders. The new 2023 Chevy Colorado has a 2.7 turbo. A lot of people are reporting getting close to 30 mpg if your easy on the gas. The ranger has a 7k towing capacity as well and the torque on these turbo motors is supposedly amazing. I live turbo charged cars and my last 2 regular cars have been turbos.

Sounds like an underground spring. I have one that runs through my yard and can actually hear the water flowing underground. If you look at your yard with a drone you can usually actually see a huge difference in green. During the drought last year I could see the green strip from the spring with my drone as clear as day. The water table has been really high here lately as well. Most ponds and lakes are completely full with a few over their banks here.

Looking at buying a used newer generation 19-22 Ford Ranger. Anyone have one? I like the turbo and better gas mileage. Need a small fuel efficient truck and am looking at a 2 door model. I hate the 4 door car style. I also looked at Chevy Colorado's as they have a small 2 door truck as well. I stopped at my Ford dealer just to see what a new one would cost and a base ranger with 4x4 is like 40k and 6 month wait.

If anyone wants to go an organic route on their lawn I have been having amazing success with the following products. I'm using this in my 5000 sqft fenced in area for my small dog. Purely Organics for lawn fertilizer. Available at Home Depot. I believe its made from recycled grain from a brewery. Works similar to Milorganite with the soil and you can't burn your lawn with it. I use 3 bags a year. $31.97 for 25lb bag that does 5000 sqft. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Purely-Organic-Products-25-lb-Dry-Lawn-Food-Fertilizer-LFJRDK1/204279747#ratings-and-reviews I don't use much of any herbicides. A healthy established lawn doesn't really need any. I will walk around and spot treat with a sprayer using some Tenacity which is semi organic made from Mesotrione derived from the bottle brush plant. https://www.greencastonline.com/labels/tenacity I also use this organic one that is just Iron HEDTA. https://www.arbico-organics.com/product/bonide-captain-jacks-lawnweed-brew/natural-organic-weed-control For ticks and insects I spray wondercide every 30 days. Its just cedarwood oil. I also have had amazing success putting their cedarwood oil on my dog for ticks. https://www.wondercide.com/ For grubs I drop a bag of Grub Gone. Its active ingredient is Bt, a naturally-occurring soil bacterium https://beetlegone.com/products/grub-gone Here is Woody enjoying the organic lawn.

Looks like a perfect weekend with the rain to drop some fertilizer or pre emergant on the lawn. Soil temperatures in a good portion of southern areas have been averaging above 50 for 5 days. Check yours here. https://www.greencastonline.com/tools/soil-temperature

I already mowed twice here in Branford. I put down my organic fertilizer when the forsythia were blooming like 3 weeks ago. Who do you have for water there? I have the regional water authority which is a non profit so water is cheap. Water bill is about $25 month and will spike to $60-75 in the summer watering the lawn and plants. Some water companies like Eversource are for profit and charge huge money for water. A friend in Fairfield County pays like 5 times what I do for water.