Yes, there are hawks in suburbia

It shouldn't be too hard to keep a small flock of backyard chickens.  So when we built our coop-area, we though mainly about protecting them from the weather and things like neighborhood cats and dogs.

There's a threat from above even here in downtown New Jersey.  Chicken Hawks (or as my son corrects me; Red-Tailed Hawks) circle above, and boy do they like chicken.  So after learning the hard way and loosing a hen, we strung up pond-netting to protect our flock.

Now I see hawks all the time - because I'm watching.  Start watching!  You'll see things you never imagined were there.

10 Reasons Chickens Are Better Pets Than Dogs

10. No licensing fees. I think the towns tried to require licenses, but getting a chicken to wear a collar isn't as easy as it seems.

9. Chickens don't beg. They won't endlessly bother you for your table scraps. Chicken feed and bugs is about all they need to be happy.

8. Chickens don't bite. I've never seen a chicken with a muzzle and I've never been asked to wait at the front door while a customer puts their chickens away. But please ladies; don't wear open-toed shoes with fabulously painted toenails around your chickens. Or at least if you do, please make sure I'm there to videotape it.

7. Chickens don't eat there own...you know. C'mon, you dog owners know what I'm talking about! Let's just say you certainly don't want Fido licking your face after feasting on this particular snack.

6. Dog's don't have the market cornered on being glad to see you when you get home from work. Nothing's funnier than seeing a flock of hens running up to greet you when you step out of your car.

5. Chicken names can be more fun than dog names. How about pEGGy Sue, HENrietta or Off-Road Clucker? Or, if you're six years old, you might choose Yelly, Brownie and Chickie - like Jeff's daughter did for our chickens. And yes, in the near future some poor feline will be named Bubbles.

4. You look at bugs in a totally different way. Before chickens, I'd do what most do when confronted by a gnarly-looking insect -- squash it! Now, when confronted with a shiny exoskeleton I can't help but wonder if Brownie might find the little creep tasty!

3. Don't ever have to walk your chicken. I just don't have it in me to walk a dog twice a day in all kinds of weather. Chickens don't need walking. Better yet, you don't have to follow your chickens around to pick up their warm, smelly...you know.

2. Chickens are quieter than dogs. Allow me to clarify: by chickens, I mean hens. Roosters are a whole different story - just ask our neighbors.

1. Chickens contribute productively to the family, dogs just eat. Sure you have to feed chickens too, but at least they produce eggs for you! Mmmm. Scrambled, fried, poached, over-easy, in-a-basket, salad, benedict, deviled...

Lots of candidates? Not so much.

Unemployment in the USA has been headline news for a while now and the 'man on the street' conclusion is that it should be easy for companies to find employees.

Unfortunately, it's not that easy.

Of course, that's not to say that we don't get a lot of applicants - we get scads of them. It's just that finding the right employee isn't so easy.

But don't take it from me, read this article from the Wall Street Journal:

Some Firms Struggle to Hire Despite High Unemployment

Ecobee is super nif-tee!

Fellow ClimateTalk Alliance Member Ecobee can be quite proud of their product. The Ecobee thermostat flawlessly connects to the internet to allow its users web access to change thermostat settings and set up programming.

They really had their Nogginthinkingcaps on when they thought to put the weather report right on the thermostat display and when they made it easy for customers to schedule maintenance with convenient on-board reminders.

And boy, the design of the Ecobee is super-sleek - enough to make Steve Jobs blush! Add to all that the fact that there is even an Ecobee iPhone App you can use to control the thermostat leaves me virtually speechless.

You can bet Nogginhaus clients will see Ecobees on their living room walls & we look forward to seeing more of their Nogginhaus musings in the future.

Check out Ecobee here...

ClimateTalk and Nogginhaus

Spent the day in Phoenix, Arizona with the good folks at the ClimateTalk Alliance. Nogginhaus is now a member of the alliance and will be helping the smart people from Emerson, EDC, Microchip and more create a product that will revolutionize the way houses work (house? work? housework!).

So how will they work?

That's our task. It seems to me that we really do live in a Matrix of sorts. Data is everywhere --getting it to the people and machines that can make good use of it is the challenge.

ClimateTalk is up to that challenge.

Smart Machines

Your cellphone rings. A voice tells you that you need a gallon of milk and you have about a week's worth of mustard left for the family-pack of Hebrew Nationals you bought last weekend.

You make a mental note to make a supermarket stop on the way home from work tonight.

No, it wasn't your wife who called, it was your refrigerator.

A recent Wall Street Journal blurb announced a joint venture between Verizon and Qualcomm to provide "machine to machine communication" via cellular equipment.

Machines are already smart, they just need to communicate. Once they do that, who needs you?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124883407168489041.html

Wethinks about chickens, Part Double Yolk

I wrote a few months back about raising chickens in our backyard (read it here).

Evidently, this line of thinking is becoming more mainstream.

Boog is worried about that and thinks maybe we should consider pheasant instead.

Check out this video from the Wall Street Journal about the chicken wars in Salem, Oregon.

Thoughts on Independence Day

This Independence Day, take a moment to learn how our politicians are gleefully taking the role of the aristocracy and how there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Wall Street Journal provides these reports that illustrate that the rhetorical badgering that takes place on the Sunday talk shows is followed by happy backslapping on the planeride to exotic locales on the taxpayer dime.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124650399438184235.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124657931514989505.html


There's the Political Class and then there's us stuck paying for it.

Smart Outlets

What if an electrical appliance could communicate with its house? What if a coffee maker that is suddenly drawing too much current and could not only shut itself off, but also shut off its circuit?

John La Grou, longtime electronics inventor talks here about such a product. Another exciting step toward Nogginhaus - the house that thinks for itself.

Remembering GM and Chrysler

The recent news about the government takeovers of GM and Chrysler has me in a bit of a melancholy mood. I'm thinking of my grandfather too, who passed away Christmas last.

In the 1950's not everyone had central air conditioning. In fact, most didn't. The most recent breakthrough for home comfort was the oil burner and the ability to get rid of (or convert) that coal-eating beast in the cellar.

Not long after that came the advent of central cooling for homes. Americans had enjoyed cool movie theaters, restaurants and department stores for years now, but the entry into the home has been somewhat slow.

Now, most credit Willis Carrier for the dry summer comfort we enjoy in our homes today and that would be only somewhat true. Ol' Willis was an engineer. And as engineers are wont to do, he liked figuring out the big stuff.

And so it's here where my thoughts of GM, Chrysler and Grandpop come together. You see he was quite good at selling his comfort wares. And proud too.

Proud to tell his customers that his company offered the safest, most reliable systems available to this new industry. Proud because he sold GM and Chrysler.

You see, in the 1950s, America was proud of her industry. And Grandpop was proud. That's why he sold GM Delco oil furnaces and Chrysler AirTemp air conditioners.

Solar Buyer - Beware

I read with great interest Diane Mastrull's Sunday, May 10th Philadelphia Inquirer column; "Solar power - for rent"

In it she explains that solar, even with the available rebates and incentives, can be prohibitively expensive for many people these days. She then goes on to explain how a small company is offering to pay this upfront cost in an effort to "raise a bumper crop of solar panels across Philadelphia's rowhouse rooftops."

These types of agreements, while new to the Delaware Valley, have existed in various forms over the years. While helpful, there are pros and cons to them. It is important that people know the consequences of 'renting' and may be better off saving their shekels to put down on their own system instead.

The type of agreement described in the article is typically known as a "Power Purchase Agreement". They are commonly used in situations when non-taxable entities like schools, churches or governments want the benefits of solar.

Simply put, a third party pays for the solar installation. As such, the building owner does not 'own' the system and cannot participate in the tax credits or depreciation.

In some cases (like the one described in the article), the leasing company receives all of the available incentives (rebates, RECs) and basically becomes the utility by forging an agreement with the building owner to purchase power from the leasing company (usually at significant savings) for a fixed period of time. At the end of that period, the system usually becomes the property of the building owner for a payment as agreed at the inception of the lease.

While leasing (Power Purchase Agreements) can be helpful, it is important to understand that they are most useful for nontaxable entities to take advantage of credits they would normally not have access to.

Taxable entities must understand, however, that using these types of agreements can strip them of their rights to the kind of incentives that make alternative energies attractive. Consequently, they would likely be better off tapping sources of loan funds or simply saving the money to invest in solar in the future.

Fast Response Even Faster

I know it's hard to believe, but 2 weeks ago we were in summertime weather. A lot of air conditioners were breaking down in South Jersey.

Thankfully, people were able to count on Runnemede Plumbing Heating Cooling & Electric

Here's a nice note from a homeowner in Mount Ephraim:

Thank you so much for responding to our call as fast as you did on Saturday. Our central air broke late in the day and with the outside temperature increasing over the weekend we needed your help and expertise right away... My husband and I were able to sleep comfortably, and so did our Golden Retriever Harley who was panting frantically earlier throughout the day...As homeowners we will continue to use Runnemede Plumbing Heating Cooling & Electric because we need a business, and service such as yours we can depend on to help us with the unexpected. Go Big Red R! Thank you once again.

With office hours Monday through Saturday 7am - 10pm, TheBigRedR is definitely the place to call with your home service needs; who wants to take off from work in this economy??

But then there's Nogginhaus.

With Nogginhaus, the air conditioner's problem would have been identified and fixed before there was a breakdown. No hot Saturday afternoon. No worry about a hot, miserable night. No panting Golden Retriever.

Fast response even faster.

April Summery

A week ago I was sitting in a barn in Califon, NJ learning the whats and wherefores about solar electricity. It was cold.

It's a barn, after all and although the building had solar panels on the roof and lights to read by, one still had to use a port-a-john for his business and rub his hands vigorously together for heat.

Today, on the verge of May, temperatures push past 90 for the third day straight. The phones at Runnemede Plumbing Heating Cooling & Electric ring nonstop. Lots of people are finding that their air conditioner doesn't work. Others want to schedule a maintenance visit before 'summer' arrives.

But a Nogginhaus has not a care. It already knew weeks ago that the air conditioner needed attention. So it scheduled the repair visit and had it fixed before the homeowner even realized that there was problem.

He went about his work and enjoyed life while his thinking house took care of itself.

Social Media on Steroids

The success of online networking sites is intriguing to me. Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo; I've joined them all and encouraged my friends and family to do the same.

But I think the process is clumsier than it needs to be.

Let's say you meet someone interesting at a business meeting. You have a good, spirited conversation and exchange business cards. When you get back from your trip, you decide to look your new friend up in Facebook. You send an invite.

Now maybe he'll remember you. Maybe he won't. Maybe he'll accept your invitation. Maybe not.

The fact that you stood together, had a conversation and exchanged business cards is all useful data. Maybe someday soon your networking sites will know instantly who you met, how you interacted and the likelyhood that you'll meet again in the future.

Perhaps you'll be able to simply logon to your Facebook account and you'll see that you are already 'Friends'

Pinball Inflation

The family spent the day at Arnold's Family Fun Center in Oaks, PA. My son, Hunter, turned 4 this week and he has been wanting to go gokart racing since last fall.

That reminds me; Full Tilt Racing provided a great day of gokart racing for our company (Runnemede Plumbing Heating Cooling & Electric) last fall.
Here's the video:




Anyhow, this post isn't about gokart racing. Rather, it is about pinball and inflation.

Huh? Well, at Arnold's, they have a section full of pinball machines new and old. I began by playing the newer machines and gradually made my way to the older ones.

I must say, I enjoyed the old ones the most. They were noticably old and from the 1960s or 1970s. I enjoyed them for a few reasons:

- The new machines were very complicated. There was so much going on; lots of lights, targets, tunnels, flippers, holes. All kinds of stuff. They were fun, but a bit overwhelming. On the other hand, the old machines were beautiful in their simplicity. Two flippers, not four or six. Very simple layouts so you actually knew what you were supposed to try to accomplish.

- The new machines had very elaborate sound systems as well. There was Baywatch, The Simpsons, The Sopranos - all with the requisite theme songs and sound effects. The old machines though, what a wonderful cacophony of clacks, pings and bells. Playing those old machines felt like playing an old instrument - you had an idea of what it should sound like, but were pleasantly amused once you started playing.

- Lastly, I couldn't help but notice the point inflation. It was nothing to score in the millions of points in the newer machines. But in the old machines, scores were only in the tens of thousands.

So just like the price of bread and milk and gas and virtually everything in the
1960s, the 'same thing' is much, much more costly today.

In 40 years will our kid's look back at 1,000,000 and wax nostalgic at what such a small sum could buy? Most definitely, if our government has anything to say about it.

Wethinks about chickens

Jeff and I have been talking a lot lately about chickens. We want chickens. Good, egg-laying chickens. Like a Rhode Island Red. Or maybe a White Leghorn.

We figure on getting four chickens. Four nice egg laying hens will do us good. Omletts, scrambled, poached, hard-boiled, over-easy, over-medium, over-hard, sunny-side-up, sliced egg sandwiches, egg salad, soufles, egg cremes.

Our wives think that we're crazy, that we'll never actually get around to buying our coveted fowl. We did a lot of research on coops. The Catawba Brougham is our favorite. We downloaded the plans and intend to build it ourselves (our wives chuckle when we tell them that too).

So when we tell others our plans for world domination beginning with a humble flock of yard-raised chickens, they usually have a few questions after their hearty belly laughs and snide comments. I will gladly address them here:

1. You can't keep chickens in your town, can you?
I read our town's rule book, and it specifically says you can't keep a specific list of farm animals one of which is NOT chickens!

2. Won't they make a lot of noise?
They're CHICKENS, not roosters! Besides, I'm sure they won't wake me up in the middle of the night like the stupid dog across the street! Chickens might be dumb, but at least they know to go to sleep when it's dark!

3. What will you do with all of the eggs?
Eat them. See deliciously long list above.

4. Won't they smell?
No more that the yard of the beast mentioned in item number 2. Pew.

5. What will you do when they're too old to lay eggs?
Eat them. Mmmmm; fried, roasted, fricassied, poached, baked, cordon blue, pot pies, caccatore, with cashew nuts, salad, monte carlo, croquettes...

6. Where will you keep them?
In their coop. The Catawba Brougham; what a fine piece of capon construction.

And lastly, my wife's favorite:
7. Who's going to feed them every day?
That's what we have kids for!

The Cure for Low Prices: Low Prices

Seems that we've been pretty lucky over the past 9 months or so regarding energy prices. Oil's been around $50 per barrel, natural gas was surprisingly inexpensive this winter. Heck, even the electric company sent a friendly flyer with this month's bill that they lowered the price per kilowatt hour.

But an old commodities traders used to say "the cure for low prices is low prices". Last summer, when energy prices were through the roof there was a lot of talk about drilling, searching, conserving and alternativising (my word). That talk has all but been silenced.

When prices fall it just doesn't make sense to keep drilling and searching for energy. It doesn't make as much sense to conserve. And it doesn't make as much sense to put money into an alternative energy source. The payback just isnt there.

But whoa to those who think that the energy prices we pay today are a good foundation to which to base an energy decision. Energy prices will be going up. If you had any doubt of that yesterday, be sure of it today. Geithner just printed up another trillion.

Snap Out Of It!

Last month the Innovation Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF)released its report showing the rankings of 40 countries regarding their capacity for innovation. In that report, the U.S. is shown as ranked #6 out of 40.

Ahead of the United States are: Singapore, Sweden, Luxembourg, Denmark and South Korea. All fair company I suppose.

But perhaps more disturbing are the little tidbits a bit further into the report. For example, when measuring the rate of change in innovation over the past decade, the U.S.A comes in dead last. 40th place. In other words, every other country (countries like China, Poland, Latvia, Malta and even Cyprus for heaven's sake) innovate at a faster clip than we do hear at the good ol' USA.

It seems that we've been telling ourselves that 'we're #1' for so long that we've come to believe that success will simply come naturally to us. Over the last 10 year's we patted each other on the back as we admired our cunning brilliance. "We think, they sweat." we said.

And all the while, our competitors are gaining on us while the politicians keep telling us that "we have the most dynamic economy in the world" and that "Americans work harder than any other people on the planet."

Do we really?

Revolt Against Big Baaa!!

I'll bet the Bush family own a sheep farm too! Planet haters!!

Nogginthought About Alternative Energies

Wow, energy is a hot topic these days. It appears that cap and trade is a shoe-in and that our nation's efforts will move more and more toward finding alternative ways to power our buildings.

But despite the hype and the seemingly clear path away from carbon based fuels, there are still some doubters.

In today's Wall Street Journal, Robert Bryce, managing editor of Energy Tribune points out what a small drop in the bucket(or should I say barrel) solar and wind power will make toward reducing our use of fossil fuels.

27.7 million barrels of oil were not consumed during 2008 thanks to the use of solar and wind. Problem is, he points out, that America uses the equivalent of 17,301 million barrels of oil worth of energy per year. That makes solar and wind quite a small contributor to the solution of our energy problems.

His conclusion is that hydrocarbons won't go away anytime soon and that the politicians need to admit that fact.

I'd have to agree with him. Politicians do things for power. And rallying against hydrocarbons is a politically popular thing to do.

Now, I don't propose to have all the answers, frankly I believe all politicians are cut from the same cloth, but I do think about this stuff.

The one thing that stood out in Robert Bryce's opinion piece is that he, in fact, has a solar array on the roof of his home that provides about a third of the power his family uses.

And that's where my Nogginthoughts begin. A Nogginhaus is a thinking house. And just like a thinking person is an independent one, so too will a Nogginhaus be an independent house. Sure, the nation needs to reduce it's dependence on foreign oil, blah, blah, blah. But we also need to reduce our dependence on the government 'doing something' to solve our problems.

Gas companies, electric companies, and water companies are all utilities that are fingers of the hand of government. And while all this talk revolves around solving the energy problems through various means, it is the individual who will pay for it.

Think now about how your home can be independent and then let the government do what it will do anyway - no matter what you think.