Thursday, June 20, 2013

Convert RV lights to LEDs. Light Bulb Comparison. Exterior LED Lights. Queen Victoria. Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Solar-energy Installed at White House.

 

For “tRaVersing Thursday”, or RV Day:

How to convert fluorescent RV lights to LEDs

“The RV Geeks show you how to convert a 12-volt fluorescent fixture into low-power LED lighting.”

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LED versus Incandescent Light Bulb Comparison

“In this video I compare the power consumption of standard incandescent light bulbs to low power LED replacement bulbs. I also show you how you can replace the standard light bulbs in your RV with LEDs.”

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LED Lighting for outside your RV, by Dometic

“In this RV how to video Mark Polk with RV Education 101 http://rveducation101.com/ demonstrates how easy it is to add LED lighting to the exterior of your RV using LED light kits by Dometic. You have your choice of the Dometic 7-Color LED Light Kit, Lateral Awning Arm LED Light Kit, Universal LED Light Kit or the Add On LED Light Kit. Add a splash of color to your RV.”

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Random RV Thoughts
”An excellent way to make instant friends in a campground is to walk with a cute dog (heck, even an ugly dog!). Your fellow campers will comment, which opens the door to further conversation and maybe even a new friendship.”

Leash to the rescue
”Dog owners, need a quickie clothes line? Stretch out Rover's retractable cable and make it work in a flash.”

Hanging shoe holder comes in handy
”I hang a plastic shoe bag with 24 clear compartments designed for 12 pairs of shoes on the inside of my motorhome bathroom door to contain miscellaneous necessities like batteries, cosmetics, grooming items, medical supplies, etc. Everything is in clear view and immediately accessible.” From reader Mary Clizbe:

Importance of checking battery levels
"Be sure to check your rig's batteries' water levels at least once a month. If they're low, fill them to the "split ring" with distilled water — but make sure they're charged up before you fill them.”

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Reader’s questions:

“One about how to afford taking up RVing, another about "unfriendly RV overnight parking locations" and finally one about a technique at an RV sanitary dumping station.” From RVtravel.com

"Don't pay to stay!" Visit http://freecampgrounds.com/ (Free is good!)

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On This Day:

Princess Victoria, became Queen, 20 June 1837

Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years, 216 days


“On 20 June 1837, King William IV died and his niece, Princess Victoria, became Queen at the age of 18. Her coronation was held at Westminster Abbey a year later on 28 June 1838. The coronation was a huge occasion and four hundred thousand visitors went to London to see the new Queen being crowned.

As of 2013, Queen Victoria had, and still does have, the longest reign of any king or queen in the United Kingdom since the time she died in 1901, at the age of 81. 

Queen Elizabeth II will surpass Victoria's record in September 2015.

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Oil flows in Alaska, Jun 20, 1977:

“With a flip of a switch in Prudhoe Bay, crude oil from the nation's largest oil field begins flowing south down the trans-Alaska pipeline to the ice-free port of Valdez, Alaska. The steel pipeline, 48 inches in diameter, winds through 800 miles of Alaskan wilderness, crossing three Arctic mountain ranges and hundreds of rivers and streams. Environmentalists fought to prevent its construction, saying it would destroy a pristine ecosystem, but they were ultimately overruled by Congress, who saw it as a way of lessening America's dependence on foreign oil. The trans-Alaska pipeline was the world's largest privately funded construction project to that date, costing $8 billion and taking three years to build.

U.S. conservation groups argued that the pipeline would destroy caribou habitats in the Arctic, melt the fragile permafrost--permanently frozen subsoil--along its route, and pollute the salmon-rich waters of the Prince William Sound at Valdez. Under pressure, Alyeska agreed to extensive environmental precautions, including building 50 percent of the pipeline above the ground to protect the permafrost from the naturally heated crude oil and to permit passage of caribou underneath.

On June 20, 1977, oil began flowing down the pipeline. It got off to a rocky start, however, as power supply problems, a cracked section of pipe, faulty welds, and an unsuccessful dynamite attack on the pipeline outside of Fairbanks delayed the arrival of oil at Valdez for several weeks. In August, the first oil tanker left Valdez en route to the lower 48 states. The trans-Alaska pipeline proved a great boon to the Alaskan economy. Today, about 800,000 barrels move through the pipeline each day. Altogether, the pipeline has carried more than 14 billion barrels of oil in its lifetime.”

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Solar-energy system installed at White House, Jun 20, 1979:

“President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter climb to the White House roof to celebrate the installation of solar-energy panels there on this day in 1979.

Carter presided over a nation still suffering from the fallout of the 1973-74 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil embargo. Carter, a proponent of alternative and sustainable energy sources, put into practice what he preached and, in June 1979, had a $28,000 solar-heating system installed on the White House roof. The system consisted of 32 photovoltaic panels that generated enough energy to provide hot water for the entire White House. During his term Carter also had an energy-efficient wood-burning stove installed in the drafty White House residential quarters.

In 1986, President Reagan had the solar panels removed and put into a federal storage facility in Virginia, stating that the energy crisis that had affected both foreign and domestic policy during Carter's term would not be a factor during his own. Both the environmental organization Greenpeace and a college in Maine asked to have the solar panels after they were taken down. As an October 2004 Associated Press article reported, Greenpeace's request for the panels, which they wanted to use in a homeless shelter, was ultimately rejected, and in 1992, the conservation-minded Unity College of Maine installed them to use for the generation of hot water in the student dining hall. Former President Carter sent a congratulatory note to the college saying he was glad the panels would be of some use.

By 2004, the solar panels had worn out. Unity College kept one of the panels for "historical significance," donated another panel to the Smithsonian Institute and offered the rest for sale.”

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Yesterday:

Misty and I went to get Jay, had our walk, and his neighbor gave me some more tomatoes. Some had to be put on the screen porch to let them ripen.  I could can them, but for me it is easier to cook and freeze them.

Ray adjusted the height on the mower deck, and mowed the grass, again.  Golly! It has grown quickly.  Then he went next door to his son’s place and tried to get his son’s back yard cleaned up, but that’s when Ray put his back out.

Jay and I cut out the corner of the screen porch floor, so that he could get the post hole digger in there to make the hole for the new corner post.  If the contractor had tried to put a post on the outside of the screen porch, which is what he wanted to do, he would have hit a sewer line.

Jay put the extra dirt in a 5-gal bucket, and somehow the bottom edge of it plopped itself on my big toe, hard, while I was trying to move it.  So now I am having to wear a left shoe with the toe cut out to accommodate the swelling and the bandage to stop the bleeding.

Jay said that he had pulled a muscle in his shoulder, and had a hard time getting the hole dug, so he didn’t get it finished. 

We were really ‘in the wars’ (Brit idiom) yesterday.

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