Today we scampered down to Zoar Valley with Emily and Mike. It was their first time there, somehow we weren't able to convince them to stumblerun down Point Peter. But we had a good time anyway. I'm ready for summer after this.

It was so hot down in the gorge. I wanted to do some FKK schwimmen but there were a ton of people around. The rocks were too mossy to cross in barefeet so we stuck mostly to the part where the creeks fork, having a beers while building a river rock chateau.







Here's a 360 photo I took. I haven't VR'ed in a while but I want to see how it looks.






Said chateau


Rock skipping contests with (e:terry)

I finally got the Ethernet cable hooked up to the solar panel inverter.

Connecting it was super annoying, because instead of just plugging in an Ethernet cable on the inside, you need to strip the wire, run it through a tiny hole on the bottom and crimp a connector with the tiny stripped end you can reach.

But now all our data is uploaded to a monitoring portal. It even has a REST API and app so you can pull production data from every individual panel and find out which one is slacking.

In March alone we already became net power producers. Awesome.

I want to nerd out with this more. What could we do with this data?

I spent my Friday off working on the back garden. Clearing beds and pulling weeds is like dehoarding outside. I actually don't mind it.

Anyway we still need to get rid of more wood. I put it on craigslist free but if nobody takes it I think I might just cut it up and throw most of it out.


Solar powered drying. These blankets could use some sun-disinfectant.


The one raised bed is falling apart. We're going to have to put it back together


I think I want to use this hill as a raised bed too. Now that Basra is gone he can't stomp through and eat anything being grown there.


(e:paul) sunning himself

Afterwards (e:paul) and I went on a bike ride out to Hoyt Lake.




At night we were going to this rave at Iron Works, but the music didn't sound so great for $20 a person. Instead we walked around downtown. The so called cobblestone district had more people than I thought. And it wasn't just the casino. We ended up at Ballyhoo for a few beers. Too overpriced and fancy but they did have an amazing vegetarian sausage.

The last snow pile in Buffalo.

Still a vegan at heart, right (e:paul)?

(e:terry) and I channeled our inner Chetna (e:joe,60410) and did a bake. We made these cheesy flakey pastries filled with dill, goat cheese, leeks and potatoes. Recipe hier:

Hot goat man cheese was involved (e:joe,59060)

We rarely bake anything so it was a crap shoot on whether we were doing the dough right - but it was buttery and perfectly cooked.

Frying up the leeks

If you go by the recipe picture, we were supposed to spread the filling more and leave the potatoes exposed. This worked fine though. All the galettes got an egg wash.

Cheesy goat man goodness

Finished project

On Friday we decided to try somewhere new for lunch and ended up at Buffalo Rome, on Porter. It's where the second Cafe 59 and a million other cafes used to be. I really liked it - they had a delicious mushroom soup and an eggplant sandwich. The bread was especially amazing. Soup, sandwich, coffee and a shared dessert was only $30 for all three of us.

It was cramped inside but very nice.




What is Luiza's pierogi club? I'd want in.


Later at night we went to the Underground with Jeremy for the next she lives event. It was crazy packed. I've never waited so long at a bar before.
Still it was fun to see everyone there. (e:mike) and (e:libertad) you should have made it out.

At the end I got chased out by the butch security guard at the door for taking my beer with me, but luckily my legs are longer ;)