When things get strange at the neighbor's house.

Sigh. Situational awareness - I hazn't got it.

Yesterday evening I looked out my window and was struck by what I didn't see, which was the tower and wind generator that fed 'tricity to my weekender neighbors S&L. S&L weren't around last weekend, so that would have to mean they took it down nearly two weeks ago and I never noticed the change in my skyline, or it fell down and they didn't know it yet. Alas for my self-esteem, turns out it was that first one. I went over to check and the tower was lying on its side in a very neat and organized way, and the generator was gone.

S&L's wind genny is a perfect case study for why I don't recommend wind generators - at least not of the conventional design. They're expensive, they've got lots of moving parts, they only work as advertised in heavy wind ... and they have a bad habit of flying apart in heavy wind. S&L's is six years old, not at all a cheap model, and has needed major repair twice before in its life. This time, out of warranty of course, the bearings grenaded and that was that.

I can't say I'll miss it. On VERY windy days, the thing sounds exactly like a big truck trying to lose speed on a downgrade with a jake brake. Which is why at the very least I really should have noticed its absence yesterday, when we had a very, very windy day.

My first clue that S was already on top of things was when I saw him and his brother M putting up a rack for solar panels. 8^)

Before I left I went inside to say hi to S's wife L. I'd left the boys home, because if Ghost goes there and sees that they're there he won't leave for the rest of the weekend. It seemed likely to me that S&L already had their hands full for this particular weekend, and dumping Ghost with them seemed potentially rude. But L (and L's Shih Tzu, oddly enough) really enjoy having him around, and she said, "Where's Ghost? I miss him!" And when I told her he hadn't made the trip, she wanted to come to the Property and get him. So Ghost got a Jeep ride instead, and I won't see him till this time tomorrow. LB and I spent some quality time at the Lair, just him and me.