Towards the end of last week we had another one of those days! Ripping, whipping, relentless and an "almighty powerful winds" kind of day. The local newspaper filled with stories about fallen trees, downed power lines and the like, front page fodder. I was watching David come walking down the road from the Sonesson's with his camera bag in one hand and a gas can in the other coming towards the Russ Mill bent over like a pocket knife with his baggage sort of dragging behind him. Ralle was laying on his look out "mountain" looking something akin to a seal. Wow!!
The newspaper reports the wind at 34 m/pr second. With sandstorms to boot. Sandstorms always make me think of all those bad "chain reaction car crashes" on Highway 5! No, not Lawrence of Arabia although that would be much more appropriate!! No, Ralle and I did NOT go on that planned long walk. Day before yesterday we did walk all around Svedbergs Hill however and almost blew away then, but today...no way Ray!
How fabulous it would be if we could just harness all that power! Yes there are many wind mills here. There could be a lot more but there is enormous resistance from the citizens of this region to putting up more even though more are needed. People find them eyesores and offensive and ecologically bad, there are complaints about noise, the shadows they create is unnatural, birds don't know how to navigate around them and on and on. But what are we going to do? Everyone PLUGS IN! No, I am not going to start writing down that endless list of appliances and contraptions that we all seem to absolutely need that all require the juice, not to mention future cars.
How I wish we could somehow capture the enormous energy from the California sun, that which we all know is so wasted since energy in general is so inexpensive in the US of A. How I wish we could somehow bring it here in some form.
Now back to the new "wind mills".
Put them out in the ocean they say. There are many there already actually. Put them under the water some suggest. So, how about the fish? Will those learn to swim around the "power catchers"?
So many arguments valid and not. Surely I have no answer or solution. Personally, I do not find them unattractive, think rather that they look "Science Fictiony" like from the film The War of the World. Nor do I find them noisy as I have been close to many while David is taking his pictures. No I do not have one next to me we only live in one. Hi, Hi!!
Sunday today, April 10 a fabulous day! Currently it is about 65 degrees F, relatively calm winds, just arrived home with a few extra blue Pensees, to add to our yellow ones. Our morning started with an early drive to Helsingborg where we walked along the sea with Ralle. The city is always slow and calm and quiet in the early mornings, on the weekends especially. We walked for four kilometers or more, did see all those sand dunes on the sidewalks created by the fierce winds. The Hamilton ICA store actually had the beach on its doorstep, actual sand dunes in front if the entrance, pretty incredible.
Time for me to prepare dinner. Beef Stroganoff is on the menu tonight. We have not eaten that for years!
Now I have read in the paper that so many are upset about all that sand on the sidewalks!! Build the wall between the road and the sea HIGHER they suggest. Sure, build it really high then you can't see the ocean so put windows in so we can still see the view........... who the heck is gonna pay for that?? How often do storms like this one occur?
Dinner night with guests Friday April 15. Pleasant conversation and some uproarious laughter. Oh, laughing is so good for the soul and the spirit! A special high-light for me was uncorking the Pietra Santa extra virgin organic olive oil that I toted home from our wine tasting trip while at Marias in California. That alone made the "overweight luggage fee" worth the charge. Drizzled over a salad made of a mix of arugula, cherry tomatoes, bresaola, artichoke hearts, lemon juice, cracked black pepper and coarse salt....... yea so gooooooood!
Wow, what a wind! But you knew that when you bought a windmill, eh? I concur that we have an overabundance of electricity-gobbling things, but at the same time, the new gobblers are so much more efficient than they were 25 years ago. In fact, I heard that industry has reduced its need for power by over 25% in the last 25 years. So if we can capture more from wind and sun, and simultaneously reduce our needs, we may catch the brass ring on our next go-around on the merry-go-round of life. Maybe.
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