A story of a greenhouse build

Since we're not moving to the west coast, a greenhouse is the next best thing for extending the growing season. While we checked at Wayfair in the end we got a greenhouse from B.C. Greenhouse because they had 5 layer poly glazing. They supply very complete directions. We also called to find our underground utility locations and were surprised it was so close to the planned greenhouse location.

Solar Power Redux

In Alberta, our electric utility bill is broken out in to Administrative Fees* and Energy costs. Our Admin fees are further broken down to distribution elements but it's still annoying how little our cost /kWh really matters. With solar, since we get a credit for producing electricity on to the grid, I was much more interested in being able to predict our bill to determine how much we actually save with solar panels. Predicting is how we'll figure out our ROI as we need to know how much we didn't pull of the grid as well as how much we get from putting on the grid.

More Shiny Things - Galaxy Buds first look

I've been searching for a pair of BT in ear buds for quite awhile. I've had the ones with the cable and tried a couple of the 2 individual styles including the original IconX and some Airpod dupes by fun 7. The Galaxy Buds sounded perfect for my needs - just reasonably good sounding playback - no health monitoring or storage needed.

I drove a Cayenne for 5 days then got my Macan back...

2019 Porsche Cayenne

I recently had my Macan in for service that spanned over a weekend so I got 5 days with a 2019 Cayenne. Did lots of highway driving as well as driving around town so I got a very complete impression.

I liked having a black vehicle; I wouldn't have thought of purchasing that colour before. I also like how the tan interior has changed. The dash and leather above the black accent pieces are black and it looks very sharp. The stereo sounded great and the dash screen is huge and glossy. It seemed to have some proximity sensors as I didn't have to actually touch the screen to trigger it. Nav maps are bigger but not more informative. The myriad of buttons the Macan has on the console has changed to a labelled touch panel. The Pano roof controls have also changed and seem more intuitive to me. It has 5 gauges, instead of the 3 in the Macan, yet the warning messages were smaller and overall it was hard to see all the screens the way the steering wheel was adjusted. The active cruise control didn't have the difference in speed (you and the vehicle in front) that the Macan has and overall wasn't as informative.

But what about driving? This version (I didn't see the specs) has great pickup, cruises at speed (too) effortlessly and stops on a dime. I found it easy to find a comfortable seat adjustment for me (5'4" / 165cm) - not the case with the last Panamera I drove. Handles well but felt like a big vehicle to me. Mileage was ok, you don't notice because it has a huge gas tank.

We were thinking of getting the Cayenne e-sport hybrid because we can put it in electric for around town but have the security of hybrid for longer trips. Having this Cayenne for an extended period certainly didn't discourage the purchase b-u-t Porsche has announced the Macan will be the 3rd EV they produce. I love my Macan and am not itching to change - even after driving a new shiny. There is more road feel, it feels small and nimble for driving. I like how my (18 way) seat hugs me and how isolated the driver feels from casual contact. It is the right size for our family of 2 human and a dog with space for 2 kayaks and luggage. I even like all the clicky buttons. And did I mention the exhaust sound.