You might want to look into Farm caretaking. Folks who have farms occasionally take a vacation once in awhile and need someone who can care for the animals, etc. while they are away. This might be a good way to get some experience before deciding the type of farming you might like to do. Also, try googling "Farm caretaking". One of the links that pop up are for the Caretaker gazette. I had a subscription for years. Never applied for any of the positions, but I used to enjoy reading the ads for caretaking beautiful estates for ranch/farm/ and multiple home owners. They have sample ads at the website. Here is one example: "ALABAMA I NEED A HOUSESITTER and animal caretaker for the months of June to August for my home and animals outside of Selma. I have ten acres. I will need to show and teach the housesitter how to feed and care for my animals. The housesitter must be an animal lover to care for my horses, dogs, and cats. The horses do not need exercising or brushing. For more details, please email.... " Links that might be useful: CARETAKE A FARM (AND LIVE RENT FREE) www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading/1976-05-01/ Caretake-a-Farm-And-Live-Rent-Free.aspx Caretaker.org

We also have a dual fuel HP in ATL (13 SEER + 80% NG furnace). If you're going to invest that kind of $$ in a new system, plus pay to operate it for the foreseeable future, I'd do everything I can to ensure I got a quality install. Below is a link to a Southface Energy Institute fact sheet on blower door and duct blaster tests. They're an ATL non-profit. I highly recommend the info they have on their site. They might even be able to help or point you in the direction of a contractor to design your system and/or test your house/ducts. Ideally, you'd have the blower door done to feed into the Manual J sizing of the system. Then, after your new ducts were installed and sealed (but before insulating), you'd have the latter done to test how tight the duct system is. A brand new system, installed right, ought to leak at about 0.05cfm/sq ft of living space. That's only 125 cfm for your house. If at all possible, you want to maximize the amount of rigid ductwork, only allowing flex duct at the runouts (I'd get at least the Vision Pro w/ an outdoor sensor to control the switch to Aux heat. My understanding is that the IAQ version will handle the staging possibilities better than the 8000 series VP. It also costs more. I'd also be interested in getting a HP w/ good low temperature performance. Our gas bills have gotten smaller since getting the VP set up to control the switch. But on an old house, you're still going to use gas for the days in the teens/twenties like we've seen this winter. Anyway, food for thought. We have used ACS to do work on our system. They sell Carrier equipment. Here is a link that might be useful: Southface on blower doors and duct blaster testing

$0.998/litre in Kitchener yesterday. $1.015/litre here in London, yesterday and today (maybe variations within the cent). Multiply that by 3.85 and divide by .94?? (maybe .93??) to calculate for change to U.S. gals. and USDollars. I'd guess about $3.25. ole joyful

That reminded me to grind a pot worth of beans to stick into the freezer. It will be fine taste-wise if we loose power as we also do not loose our gas cooktop during a storm. (labeled emergency coffee) Last week, during 65 temp, our lights flickered, twice, then power went out for an hour. No sensible reason. If a long term storm we have a back-up generator. Grind and brew as usual. From coffeeGeek, an easy 5 post forum read... That said.... percolators are generally considered to be at the bottom of the quality scale when it comes to producing good coffee. Excessively high or low temperatures are not good - the best coffee is produced in a certain brewing temp range that is a bit below the boiling point. Percolators, by design, boil the coffee to send it up through the tube and allow it to drip down through the basket. Once again, however, some folks who are accustomed to the taste of percolator coffee may actually prefer it to all others, bu then again, my parents drink month old Folger's decaf from a giant can and just love it. brew methods It is really just finding what you like. We wet our Chemex filter once the kettle whistles. And helps to heat the glass caraf and clean the paper filter of the 'paper taste'.. Pour that out, grind the beans, then proceed with the first pour-over that blooms the fresh grinds. Also gives the hot water a chance to cool down a bit. Morning methodical tasks like feeding the pups, etc. are happening at the same time. What i have noticed, and did a temp test, with the auto-drip machines, is the first two minutes of drip are well below a good hot temp when wetting the grinds. Not unlike a heat-on-demand hot water heater, that first water out of the pot is not hot at all on the lower end machines. (the exception was a thrift store SpaceSaver that made great electric drip)...that thing was super and no longer made. The two recommended elec pots mentioned, one is the technovorm, (sp) i considered at one time but we found our preferred method with the Chemex. Now have that at both homes and a basic elec drip at the farm. I think a Cuisinart. Not great but perfectly fine coffee, but looking for a elec kettle and a cone system as i can use the kettle for tea...something i drink all day during the summer months. Easy to find and i have a few months before spring planting. My parents have the most basic cheap drip and get a bag of A&P beans and pull out the braun grinder for us. Fine for the visit and no need to travel with my system. (we are not that picky). Just have our method at home. Just helping azmom make that good cup she remembers from her trip, attempting to make at home. -and important to note ..roasting at home is 5-6 $ per pound as opposed to buying roasted at much more, often double the cost. Co-workers stop at coffee shops on the way to work and spend 4-5 dollars. That is 25-30 dollars a week. Often send someone out after lunch and spend on another round of coffee drinks...we on the other hand spend 5-6 a week and like our home brew. Just a personal choice.