By the Power of the Sun...

So I have reemerged from College Leaders Program land, which means that I can rejoin the real world for at least a couple weeks until the High School program. I am sad to see the folks leave, but also glad to have a bit more of a normal schedule so that I can do important things like, well, write on the blog.

There are of course stories to tell from CLP06, but I think they need a little bit of time to mature...ranging from a tubing trip down the James "River" (ie bed of rocks with a little water on them) to the creation of "MJ" as yet another nickname for me it was a good time. But that is, as usual, another story.

I just booked a trip out to Colorado to visit the family. Dad and Jeanie are building a house in the mountains in Southern Colorado, and the trip out there last summer was therapeutic, so I am looking forward to seeing them and also just getting away from it for a while.

I enjoy spending time in the (real) mountains (where it is nice and cool), being away from technology and out of contact with most of the world and also just doing some manual labor. There is something to sanding a deck or helping carry drywall that is refreshing when most of my days are normally spent in an office.

Last summer I got to experience the modern equivalent of the caveman who created fire: creating electricity and running water. Now I know this might seem to run counter to the whole "roughing it" idea, but this is part of the beauty of visiting now while the house is under construction. Not only do I get to (for the moment anyway) be disconnected from the outside world, I also get to help create the modern world in the mountains. It is an odd sensation. I feel like it won't be the same to go down to the mountain when there's internet and tv and, well, telephones.

Now the really cool thing about all this is that the house is solar powered. I got to help dad assemble one set of solar panels and also wire the power coming off the panels into the house, giving us power for the water pump (running water!) and a light I used to read at night after that.

The solar panels are really cool, they actually are designed to move with the sun and maximize the amount of power that they generate, all without using any power to move. I knew nothing about solar power before, and now I only know a little, but Dad and Jeanie are becoming quite the experts. In fact, they have their own business installing solar systems for other people now. Check it out at Sun Mountain Solar.

With oil prices skyrocketing, I'm all about alternative sources of power. So maybe someday when I have a house I can talk them into helping me put in a solar system. Of course, like many alternative sources of energy there is a high up front cost but then you make it back over the life of the system. It is an interesting prospect, anyway.

I am excited about the trip to Colorado, though I'm told they might have the shower working by then, so it is becoming less and less a camping expedition to go visit the house. I hear this time I'm in for some painting, which is great, even if it doesn't bring the same thrill as creating electricity.

How the summer flies by...