Nobody relaxes quite as effectively as a cat!

As demonstrated by Psy...

"Michael and Tami think this is their front porch chair..."

"... but it is really mine, all MINE!"

She opened her eyes in bare slits to look at me and acknowledge that I was there, and then go back to sleep!

This is also on their front porch - I really like the use of barbed wire to make the thorns of the cactus!

Sunday and Monday Solar progress

The solar installation continues...

Removal of old inverters

They are now gone...

Actually - they are sitting on the wall across the sidewalk (reflected in the chrome) - the space at the bottom there is where the new components are to go in.

New inverter/charger

The plan is for it to go into the caged area where the other two inverter/chargers used to be, and the solar controller will mount on the "door".

Mounting plate for the solar controller. It has quite precise requirements for its installation - 6 inches above the floor, well ventilated...

New AGM batteries...

A total of 6 of them!

All of that stuff needs to find a place somewhere in the bus!

They told me that the thing with the blue thingy inside the plastic bulb was a "flux capacitor", but I'm pretty sure they were kidding!

Some of the items finding their location.

While Michael was working in the bay, Dwayne and I worked on finishing the wiring on the roof - it is going down through a roof vent into the bus.

... through the top of the vent cover...

... conduit connected together into the vent cover.

We covered the panels with cardboard while we were working on the wiring so we wouldn't have DC power on the wires from the sun.

Michael had additional help from the neighbor children - I'm sure that helped him a LOT!

Paronomasia

Have you ever heard the term "paronomasia"?
I remember clearly when I first heard it, in Sister Kathleen's English Honors class in 11th grade. You know how there are terms for various figures of speech? Like alliteration, and metaphor, and onomatopoeia ("meow!").
Well, "paronomasia" is the art of making puns.
In our 11th grade class, we had two guys who were great (or terrible, depends on your point of view!) punsters. When Sister Kathleen told us about this term, she calmly said, "It sounds like a disease doesn't it?" After waiting only a beat or two, she eyeballed Channing and David and said emphatically, "It is!"

Ok - with that short introduction... here's a picture...

Can you figure out what common phrase this picture is depicting?

At the Christian Fellowship BOF gathering this year, we met Pastor Frank and his wife Susanna. I subsequently became Facebook friends with both of them (I think I had actually been friends with Susanna before). Frank is a paronomasiac.

I have another friend on Facebook whose first name is also Frank. He and his wife own an oriental rug shop in Williamsburg - I knew them from the little church we attended when I was in college. This Frank is also a paronomasiac.

When I'm reading Facebook posts, I don't always notice fully who the writer of the post is... sometimes I only get the first name. While I have some friends with the same first name, I can generally tell from the post which friend has posted it without needing to look more carefully. But with Frank and Frank... there was no telling. They are both Christian, they are both punsters, they could be the same guy! I introduced them on Facebook and they are now Facebook friends, though they have never met face-to-face (or I don't think they have! maybe they are long lost brothers!?!?!).

Anyway... this whole story comes to this - that I picked up the picture from one of the Frank's Facebook posts (Pastor Frank, but it doesn't matter, it could have been either of them!). Have you figured out the common phrase yet?

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"Wrong on so many levels"

Are you shaking your head? You've been attacked by paronomasia! There's no vaccination, no cure, no antidote... sorry!

Lots of progress on Saturday!!!

We got a lot done on Saturday!!!

Preparing the bay for new inverter and solar controller - we needed to run a wire from the solar panels on the roof down into this area.

All the panels are on the roof!

Six of  'em!

Lining them up...

Do they look straight to you?

3 of the 6 are on hinged supports so we can get to the storage pods and spare tire.

We are very pleased with how the hinging has come together!

Michael working on the wiring...

He decided to use the spare tire as a cushion while running some of the wires!

I think it looks a bit more comfortable than it really was!

We had run out of daylight, but Dwayne was doing some additional securing of the panels.

Michael was putting together some electrical conduit for running the wiring on the roof before it heads down through a vent panel and down the inside wall of the bus into the lower storage compartment.

It was a BUSY day and we were all pooped!

Miss Kitty demonstrates her technique...

... for turning on the clearance lights...

"I just innocently sit right here..."

"I can operate the buttons with either my right or left, front or hind paws - I'm very multi-dextrous!"

I try to remember to put a seat cushion across the buttons to prevent her access to this area - but when I forget, we are reminded by the clearance lights being illuminated!

Solar install progress

I've been taking some pictures as we've been going along...

Lining up to cut some unistrut...

Cutting unistrut - look at those sparks!!!

One piece cut!

Mark for drilling of hole for hinge

After cutting the unistrut, it is pretty rough on the end...

Grinding off the rough edges...

Drilling the hole for the hinge

Drilling

We need hinged racks over items that we need to be able to get to on the roof - like the storage pods. Michael got the first two panels installed in no time... but we got slowed down when dealing with the hinged panels. We finally got the first hinged one completed late on Wednesday (3/14).

We tried several designs before landing on this one...

All the existing items on the roof make it VERY challenging - designs that would work for the hinge at the end that is closest to the camera position didn't work at the other end because of the roof vent that is there. But, we got one up and working... then set about to duplicate that for over the tire and the other storage pod. Unfortunately, the gas struts that we had gotten from O'Reilly were all that they had in the Phoenix area! After calling many places, we found that Pep Boys could get them in by today (Friday, 3/16).

I don't *just* take pictures.... sometimes I do some work too!

It looks like most of the sharp edges are smoothed off!

We are hoping to get the remainder of the supports and panels installed tomorrow (Saturday, 3/17).

We could never have done this without Michael - he is so knowledgeable, about solar, and Bluebirds, and machine-shop things! Can't say how grateful we are for his work on this for us!

Need a bike? Take a bike!

A few days ago I noticed a couple of brightly colored bicycles just parked near Michael and Tami's house - I couldn't see that they were locked, so wondered about it and asked Michael.

He told us that it was part of a bike-share program and that you could use the bike for $1/hour.

You rent it through an app on your phone and when you get where you want to go, you just leave it.

I have seen bikes in docking stations in other large cities, but looking into this a little - it is a "dockless" bike.
https://www.ofo.com/us/en
So you don't have to find a docking station when you're finished, you just leave it where you are when you're done.

The lock goes through behind the seat through the rear wheel - I didn't notice it from a distance but could see that it was locked when we got up close.

 In looking up information, I found that there are concerns about the bikes being abandoned in inappropriate places (e.g. someone's yard). One of the articles indicated that the company also employs drivers to go pick up bikes if someone complains, and they just cruise around looking for bikes that need to be brought back to a more populated place. The bikes are GPS enabled so users can find one near them... so I would think the drivers could use that capability as well.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/news/bike-share-program-begins-in-mesa-amid-some-complaints/article_48350bea-101f-11e8-9dc9-0724aed70027.html
https://www.azcentral.com/story/entertainment/life/2018/01/24/bikes-lying-around-phoenix-scottsdale-tempe/1048684001/

Sunset on Tuesday night - you can see the "ofo" bike across the street on the sidewalk.

p.s. the bikes were gone when I thought to look on Wednesday - I don't know whether the company picked them up or if someone rode them off to another location.