PRACTICAL PARSIMONY: incandescent

Showing posts with label incandescent. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Light of my Life

We have been together for 8 years.

It stopped giving me light after eight years. It was the bulb used most extensively and left on the longest and turned off and on the least. The side porch light kept me safe and secure. It stayed on all night. Sometimes it was left on during the day if I forgot to turn it off. If I leave at noon and won't be home until after dark, this light was/is left on so I can find the side porch and steps safely.

I have a theory: turning lights on and off excessively burns them out faster. Your belief is your own. We will not debate this...lol. Well, certainly you can refute my closely-held-to-my-heart belief. No problem. I just won't try to prove you wrong.

My ex-devil, ooops, meant ex-husband thought I should turn off kitchen lights when he ordered me to come change the TV for him. Okay, so he did not order me right off the bat to change the TV, he summoned me to tell me something important (NOT), and "Oh, by the way, since you are here, standing, and I am so comfortable lying down, change the TV." If I had killed him when I first thought about it, I would be out of prison now and never would have incurred debt or had to pay my own electric bills...LOL...jk.

Yes, he yelled at me because I did not turn off kitchen lights when I went to the bathroom or went out of the kitchen to pick up an injured toddler to comfort. Never mind.

This is a Westinghouse, 60 watt, 130 volt light bulb, Commercial Service, purchased at maybe 1.5 x the cost of a 120 volt bulb. It's specs say it should last 5000 hours, about 1/3 that of a 120 volt. However, at a conservative estimate of 10 hours X 365 days X 8 years, it lasted 29,200 hours.

Estimated hours for:

120 volt is 14,000 hour

130 volt is 5000 hours.

This one lasted 29,200 hours.

No, I am not changing to CFLs because they hurt my head, eyes, and make me tired. The Black Market will be my source of incandescents when the few I have are gone.

I meant CFL not LCD. I know the difference, but I was sooo sleepy.

Your turn

Do you think I got my money's worth from this bulb? Yes, I know it uses more energy! Have you found a similar usage from bulbs of any kind?

The Cast

Fancy is my favorite hen. She is one of the three youngest hens I adopted. Because she is so gentle and friendly, she may be the one I rescued when she was being pecked to death after she could no longer stand. She got to live in the house in a box. Sometimes, I let her sit in my lap while she was convalescing. Now, she comes to sit in the swing with me, cuddling up to my body like a cat or dog. She died in February 2012.

Fancy follows me begging, complaining, needing me to do for her. She talks to me in various voices. She allows me to pick her up and carry her. When she became an adult, her head was a darker red and her body was light brown. Around her neck were tips of black feathers. It appeared she had a necklace of jet around her neck. When I showed this characteristic to a friend, he said, "Oh, you have fancy chickens and plain chickens."

Chessie has a broken toe. I broke it! She had a habit of jumping really high and almost sticking. A raccoon ate her in October 2009.

Thelma is the blonde. She is also the largest hen and the alpha hen. I suspect the gigantic eggs are from her. She often squats and presents herself to me. She is top hen, but I suspect she knows she had better be deferent to top feeder of the flock--me.

Louise is the auburn-feathered hen. She looks like the true Rhode Island Reds in pictures. She is almost as large as Thelma. Some days I suspect she is trying to be top chicken. When I got Pepper, I found out Louise is the Alpha hen.

Pepper came here from the same home as the first four. We were discussing putting red pepper on their food, wondering if it really would increase egg production. Pepper is the only name we agreed on. She is terrorized each day by Louise. Even after the worst was over, she was and is still filled with terror and very wary.

Linda is owned by four hens. They allow her to fetch for them. She loves them dearly, so she allows them to boss her around. Linda comes out in the rain to perform chores for them and make sure they have food and water. She begs scraps from all sorts of places to make sure they have fresh fruits and vegetables.

Parsimony is not a vegetable

Parsimony is extreme care in spending money. Stick around and learn about my random thoughts on accomplishing goals economically--dumpster diving aka safari, gleaning, do-it-yourself, sewing tips, recipes, and whatever is happening in my life.

Okay so maybe "parsimony" is not your thing. How about thrift, frugality or just plain saving money? I try not to go the tightwad route as that seems to imply others will suffer from my habits.

Some of my not-spending habits have very much been a part of my lifelong habits. Other habits are newly acquired and are an extension of my lifelong not-spending habits.

I am very imaginative when it comes to substituting or making instead of buying. I will tell you about making a heater for the chickens' water. Not one dime was spent since I had everything I needed right in my basement.

Practicality must rear its head alongside parsimony. For example, I will use the dryer in bad weather or because of allergies in the spring. But, I will not wash clothes in a tub as long as I have a washing machine or can find one.

You may hear more about my four Rhode Island Red hens than you care to hear. They lay delicious brown eggs.

Contact Me

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Light of my Life