Distresses of a Mother with Sick Children

So these past few weeks have been a challenge. A week and a half ago, on Thursday, Isaac came down with a high fever and diarrhea. His fever would peak around 104 degrees F and we would do all we could to get it to come down. By Sunday I was at my wits end, and planning on going to the doctor the next morning. But, Michael woke up early (around 4 am) and came in with a fever and vomiting! So Monday we go to the doctor (Isaac at this point has a rash all over his front and back, with no more fever) and find out it is not Rosiola, or Phantom, or, thankfully, the measles (which they discussed when they saw Isaac's rash). Just a horrible virus that they can't treat anyway. So for the next week (all of last week) we have been careful, and come Friday I thought they were both over it. But then again this morning, Isaac had a fever. I didn't realize it until half way through Relief Society when he willingly sat quietly on my lap and didn't cry over any toys or food. We stayed through part of Sacrament meeting, came home, took his temperature, and it was high again, over 102 degrees F. At this point my thought is, "Will it ever end?"
Anyway, Mom and Dad haven't gotten it yet, so we will just be patient and wait for the virus to leave for good.

Solar Battery

So lately, I had been thinking about a water battery I heard of. This isn't exactly the kind that you can put into your car or in toys. It is actually 2 reservoirs. Now the Idea is that it is really expensive to buy energy during the day time hours and cheaper at night when the demand is not so great. For all those Economists out there I think this is the law of Supply and Demand, but it is modified by the fact that the more energy you produce the more it costs to produce it. You also have to use the energy when it is made (even if storing it is the way you use it).

So here is how the water battery works. During the night time when electricity is cheap, you use it to pump water from one holding tank or reservoir to one much higher. It takes work to get the water to go up and overcome gravity. During the day, when electricity is expensive, they let the water down through turbines and produce electricity like a hydro-electric dam would. Then you have made a battery out of water.

Here is my idea I was thinking about during the past few days. I finally put it down on 'paper' or at least the computer version of it. It uses the principles of evaporation and condensation to get the water up to a higher holding tank. Then it is just the same idea as the water battery. It is just a different way of getting the water up there. So, here is a rough schematic. What do you think about this possibility?

Do-it Yourself Guide to a Homemade T-ball Stand for Under $10

Michael and I did this this afternoon. We actually made this all out of 1 PVC pipe, 3 T connectors and 4 endcaps. We spend $8.75 on this, but we got the heavy duty 1 inch piping for potable water (I wanted good scrap around.) It would have been around $5 for the cheaper version, but when in doubt, over engineer.

Here is the "Lego" guide parts list.

6 - 9 inch lengths of PVC pipe
4 - pipe caps
3 - T fittings
1 - 20-ish inch length of PVC pipe (depending on your kid - 20 inches worked for Isaac' height too)
1 - closed pipe insulator (not the kind you have to seal by removing the sticky tape)


Connect 3 - 9 inch pieces of pipe into 2 of the tee connectors.


Connect the perpendicular part of the T into opposing ends of the third T connector and the 20 inch piece into the other part of the T connector.

This is a great chance to get tiny hands to help assemble it.

Put the 4 caps onto the 4 remaining open ends of the 9 inch pipes. (Isaac got ahold of the other two while I was turning the camera on.)

This is the product when all of the PVC parts are connected.

Take the pipe insulation and put it on the pipe cutting it at an appropriate height. I suggest leaving enough pipe insulation on there to be able to move it up and down with the height kid at bat. The PVC pipe actually ends around the bottom of Michael's hand there. The rest is just the insulation which is rigid enough to hold up the ball. It is also is a little better to hit with the bat than the PVC pipe (which is probably stronger than the big red bat.)

Play Ball!