Weekend Weather Rollercoaster: Rain, Runs, Honey, and Windsurfing
I think the most notable thing about the weekend was the rain on Saturday. When I got up early, the little raindrop on our home info panel that I built was already full to the brim. The Borth & Ynyslas weather station in our garden had already recorded more than 25 mm of rain. At this rate, and with it looking as though it would rain all day, we might even beat the all-time record. First task of the day was therefore to check that record: it was 55.8 mm on January 10th, 2006.
Sure enough, the rain kept falling all day, sometimes in quite intense downpours. It wasn’t a day for outdoor activities, so I turbo trained in the shed, did some bike maintenance, tested out my lights for a possible night ride, fiddled with the new dishwasher, and otherwise chilled on the sofa watching the World Athletics Championships. Oh, and I baked some brownies as it was a brownie kind of day. I did walk to the beach to check the surf at one point—just in case.
By the end of the evening the rain had eased, and by midnight the rainfall gauge had recorded 41.4 mm. Definitely a wet day, but still quite a way off the record.
Sunday was a complete contrast, with clear blue skies and no wind at all to start with. The first activity of the day was a lovely run around the dunes. Unusually for me, I did quite well just enjoying the weather, the scenery, and the run without worrying about my pace—which was very slow!
After that, it was time to spend some time in the garden. Yuki was mowing the lawn and doing a great job.
I strimmed the edges, cleared out around the pond a bit, planted some daffodil bulbs, and then started cutting back some trees above the lean-to. Morgan helped with this last task, as he’s lighter and somewhat more agile than me. As well as keeping it tidy, this gave us an opportunity to clear the gutters and prevent the branches from damaging the roof. It also stops the trees from shading the solar panels. As the sun drops lower in the sky for the winter months, we have to maximise our solar production. The trees don’t shade the panels in the summer when the sun is high, but would in the winter if we didn’t cut them back.
While I was busy in the garden, Anna was tackling indoor chores and extracting the last of our honey—another satisfying sign that summer is winding down.
Talking of solar production, the cloudy, wet start to September has set things back a bit. We were on track for a record-breaking year, with year-to-date figures at their highest so far. This has now been reversed slightly. We are now behind the best year of 2022, but not by much. It’s not too bad, though, as we have already produced more energy than in the whole of last year, and we still have more than three months to go.
Sunday afternoon brought an unexpected treat: a sneaky northerly wind appeared from nowhere, so I headed out for a short windsurfing session, well-powered on bigger kit. It was chilly, though—the first time in a long while that it felt that way. Winter is coming.
Monday has so far dawned sunny and cold at 2°C. If the forecast for a week of clear skies holds, we could still be on track for a record-breaking year of solar.
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