05.30.07
Posted in East Texas Russian Boars at 12:42 am by admin
East Texas has a vast network of towns with surrounding piney woods where Russian boars were imported several decades ago and have flourished here. They are a nuisance to many because they destroy the lay of the land and get into gardens and landscaping.
This makes the idea of hunting them even more enticing to many east Texans. Interestingly enough, East Texas Russian Boar is highly sought after in France and other European countries. In the United States where we enjoy European delicacies it is nice to be able to provide a somewhat gourmet meat import back to Europe.
I in fact was walking around my land and discovered 5 Russian Boars snooping around eating vegetation and stomping around the dirt making ruts as they went around. Some of my friends and I are going to go out and hunt them once we get a hunting license and have the meat processed at a local meat shop. Right now we are just going to let them roam around until we get hungry enough to kill them.
If I wanted to I suppose I could have them processed and sale them on Amazon.com. I actually saw Russian boar meat for sale on Amazon.com. Pretty funny but the price it was going for was nothing to laugh about. East Texas Russian Boar goes for quite a bit per lbs. Who knows, maybe someday I will be selling my Russian Boar on Amazon.
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Posted in Affordable Generators, Quality Generators at 12:42 am by admin
Quality Generators
Many people have taken on the search to find an affordable generator for a cabin back in the woods, camping, or just for some power tools. It is a dream of some to simply be off the grid and not have to be at the demand of the utility. While taking on the search for a good but affordable generator you find an overload of information. A good place to start is a forum I happened upon during my own search - physics forums. This forum has many engineers not to mention electrical engineers that actually build generators from scratch. They can help in many ways in making the process of finding the right generator solution for your need.
I was going to buy a honda EU branded generator. The great thing about these is that they can run on just a gallon of fuel for a day. This of course is if you are using it for basic camping needs. It will power an a small window unit air conditioner and a few other things. The interesting thing about Honda generators is that they are easier to start then the other brands and much quiter. They are more reliable but they are also very expensive. MSRP is $2000 for the following specs:
| Specifications: |
| Engine |
| |
6.5 HP, Single Cylinder, Overhead Valve, Air Cooled |
|
| Displacement |
|
| AC Output |
| |
120V
3000W max.(25A)
2800W rated (23.3A) |
|
| Receptacles |
| |
20A 125V Duplex
NEMA Plug Number:
5-20P30A 125V Locking Plug
NEMA Plug Number:
L5-30P |
|
| DC Output |
|
| Starting System |
|
| Fuel Tank Capacity |
|
| Run Time on One Tankful |
| |
7.2 hrs. @ rated load
20 hrs. @ 1/4 load |
|
| Dimensions (L x W x H) |
|
| Noise Level |
| |
58 dB @ rated load
49 dB @ 1/4 load |
|
| Dry Weight |
|
The great thing about this generator is that it will only produce the amount of energy you need. This means you don’t spend uneeded cash on energy being produced that isn’t being used.
We still have to deal with the cost. You are spending $2000 for a generator that is 3000 Watts max. This is not much if you are wanting to use this for a house. You then have to consider other options if it is out of your price range for what you need.
Diesel Generators
There are natural gas and propane generators but these are usually pretty expensive. Finding an affordable one of these can be as big of a challenge. You can get a DELB Diesel Generator that produces 6000 Watts max for $1,399 but this is still a lot of money when you consider the fuel you will need to buy to keep it running. If you feed the generator heated vegetable oil you can actually power it with this stuff after it is strained and basically have free electricity. There is a risk you could ruin your generator if you do not know what your doing so this alternative means is not for everyone.
Gasoline Generator, inverter, and deep cycle batteries
My affordable solution is to buy a Brigg and Stratton gasoline generator from Home Depot that produces 8,000 max watts and 13,500 running watts. This is plenty of power for a house off the grid. Next you buy an inverter and 4 deep cycle batteries at a cost of about $1,200. You then power up the generator, charge the batteries and run the batteries through the inverter to your circuit box. By doing it this way you only use the energy you produce and no more. When the generator is running you don’t have to worry you are waisting the energy being produced. This will allow you to live off the grid at a semi affordable cost.
My suggestion is to read up on the Honda EU3000 to see what its benefits are and basically make a bigger more affordable one using my suggestions.
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05.04.07
Posted in Best Wind Turbines at 2:58 pm by admin
Are Wind Turbines practical for a Homes Electrical Usage?
I looked into this over the last few weeks and I have come to find out a few things. I actually have been working on a small cottage in the woods that would be powered completely from alternative power. I bought a 24 volt wind X wind turbine to get started. I then called a solar power company I found on the internet to get my needed batteries and additional inverter and other accessories.
What I have found out by talking to the salesman at a very popular solar website on the net is that I would need 4 deep cycle batteries. Each battery is a 6 volt battery and together they total 24 volts. Each battery costs roughly $250 a piece. I would basically be able to power some lights and maybe a laptop. In order to power a window air conditioning unit I would need at least $4,000 - $5,000 just in deep cycle lead acid batteries.
6 volt 224 Amp-Hours @ 24 hour discharge rate. “Golf Car” sized Battery
I soon realized that solar or wind power are very costly investments. I’m trying to see how I can do this cheaper. I will most likely still buy a battery or two but my project will be more of an experiment then a practical use. At this point I will most likely be buying a diesel generator to power my cottage until I can find a possible way to make either wind power or solar work for me.
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05.03.07
Posted in True Wholesale Diamonds at 6:55 pm by admin
Shopping for Diamonds
In this article closer to the bottom I will explain a trick on how to buy a wholesale diamond. This is not a marketing gimmick and I am not being paid by the diamond store I write about. I happened to buy my fiancés ring at this store after extensive shopping around and questioning. I promise if you follow my suggestions you will get a remarkable quality ring in one of the biggest diamond discount retail stores there is at a wholesale price that the store does not want you to know about. If this diamond and jewelry discount store is not in your area there will be similar prestigious jewelry stores like it that will offer similar terms. Read on and I will explain.
Just a few weeks ago I was engaged and I immediately started my search for diamonds and their prices. I had no idea what a diamond went for or how to tell if a diamond was really worth the price tag. I went on Google and started searching for wholesale diamond prices thinking that would actually work. The problem is that the internet is saturated with retailers advertising themselves as wholesalers. This is not true. You can not buy a wholesale diamond online. Someone bought it from a wholesaler in New York and is now marketing it online. You may pay a little cheaper but it will not be wholesale and you cannot be completely sure of what you are getting except if they guarantee it as a GIA certified diamond. The GIA certification does not guarantee you the sparkle you may want from your diamond as it may not be cut to the depth and angle to give it that exceptional sparkle.
Diamond Ideal Cut
Diamond Retailers vs. Diamond Wholesalers
The difference in a diamond wholesaler verses a diamond retailer boils down to this simple fact. The wholesalers are in New York. If you plan to buy a wholesale diamond then you better be willing to buy a ticket to New York and buy your diamond there. These wholesalers also happen to be near the GIA diamond certifiers. This certifying agency is the standard in certified diamonds. The other certifying agencies can actually be in house jewelers that are selling you the diamond they are certifying. I wouldn’t trust that type of certification or appraisal too well. Another thing about the other certification agencies is that they are appraisals rather then a true diamond certification. GIA is one of the only certification agencies I know of that is a true certificate of the diamonds quality and not an appraisal. It is true that you could send off an uncertified diamond to New York for a GIA certification of its quality but this will take awhile and it costs money.
So where does someone go who wants a discount diamond or diamond ring but doesn’t want to fly to New York or filter through several pages in Google and yahoo of garbage advertising and marketing about wholesale diamonds that isn’t even true? Well here is the deal: There are diamond retailers out there that are straight up with you and are not trying to scam you. The retailers that have the 75 % off sales and free appraisal offers are not where you want to go. The diamond retailer offering this sale will more then likely give you a store appraisal? These cannot be trusted and in no way are official. They are a tool for the salesmen in getting you to buy their diamond ring so they make that commission off of you. I don’t want that type of appraisal and most others don’t either.
Disclaimer - Americus Diamonds
I am not advertising this place I am about to mention or more accurately I am not getting paid to mention them in this blog. There is a place in San Antonio and I believe in Austin too called “Americus Diamonds”. If you do not have an Americus Diamond’s near you, don’t worry. There are similar jewelry chains like them in other states. Their sales people are not paid on commission and the store is so large it is basically a diamond mall. The place is remarkable. If you didn’t know better you would think this is where retailers come to buy their wholesale jewelry. The prices are never hyped up or down with a 75% off sale. The prices are set at low current diamond prices. This place keeps their diamond prices with the market and they only sale GIA certified diamonds down to a certain karat. The reason the smaller karats are not certified GIA is only because it does not make economical sense for a jewelry store to have small less expensive diamonds certified GIA.
GIA Certified Diamonds
An interesting thing about Americus is that they have GIA certified microscopes where you can look at your diamond and actually see the quality and defect level. They do not sell diamonds outside of a certain color range quality and defect quality. You can be assured that your diamond will be a quality diamond which is my favorite part about this store. This however is not the secret about this store that will allow you to buy a wholesale diamond ring. I’m getting there, so keep reading.
Wholesale Diamond Secret
The diamond secret to get a diamond at or close to current diamond prices is to go to Americus Diamonds or a similar store in your state. You can return most rings to these stores for a more expensive ring of at least 20% greater value at any time if for some reason you get buyers remorse and would like something nicer. This is not you but you can take advantage of this policy. This is fantastic for that high maintenance girl who needs a nicer ring but her fiancé cannot afford it right now and for those shopping for wholesale diamonds. I however would never stoop to have my fiancé trade in her ring I asked her to marry me with. For those who would do that this deal is an awesome offer and will make more sense in just a second in buying your ring at current wholesale prices.
True Diamond Wholesale Price
In order to receive a true wholesale diamond I do have a trick for you to try. This is a secret undiscovered trick I know of that most people do not know of and have not thought about. I don’t know how long this tip will go unnoticed but it is important that you pay close attention as this is the most important part of this entire blog article I’m writing.
What you have to do to receive a true wholesale diamond of GIA certified quality is to go to this website and find your closest city: http://www.craigslist.org/ Once you are in your city go to http://yourcity.craigslist.org/jwl/ (This is the jewelry section) Here you will find people actually selling their diamond engagement rings that didn’t work out because the “to be” fiancé said no or backed out. This type of break-up happens all the time and you can take advantage of it.
The Scenario goes like this
Because Americus Diamond is a widely popular store what you will see is people selling their Americus Diamond ring for $1000 off what they paid for it on the craigslist site. This has now brought, let’s just say, a $4000 diamond ring down to $3,000. So you buy this diamond ring for $3000 and go to Americus Diamond and trade it in for a ring 20% greater then original purchase price or more if you would like something nicer. This is by far the best way I have found to get a true wholesale diamond price for a regular Joe out on the street trying to find a good deal. Not a whole lot to the secret but it works and does the job.
As a side note:
Rapaport Diamond Report: The standard in wholesale price charts
If you have been browsing the internet looking for wholesale diamonds and jewelers, there is no doubt that you have stumbled upon this thing called the “Rapaport” Diamond Report. This is a red sheet of paper with black ink with a large chart showing the price of diamonds. In order to use this you have to consider the color, quality, and cut of the diamond in order to decipher the report. On top of that there is sometimes as much as a 30% difference in price with real time diamond prices and the current Rapaport Diamond Report. The report costs about $200 just to get your hands on or you can get it from a jeweler if they think you will buy from them. You have to be able to judge whether a diamond cut is cut to an ideal cut to interpret the chart as well as several other hard to know diamond industry appraising values.
Diamond Ideal Cut
A novice should not use the Rapaport Sheet
Because of the wide swing in prices you might see when comparing diamond prices with the Rapaport you may actually think you are getting a good deal when you really aren’t. In order to rectify this dilemma I recommend comparing several Retail store prices of a certain cut, quality and clarity of diamond and then go to Americus Diamond and compare those prices with a GIA certified diamond. You will most likely find that Americus was the only store offering a GIA certification with the diamond. Now you might pay a little more for your diamond with the GIA certification but you know for sure that it is the quality they say it is. If you take advantage of the craigslist tip I suggested you can not only get a GIA certified diamond but you can pay wholesale prices for it.
Diamond cut too shallow
Diamond cut too deep
I hope this article has helped you as I intended it to do and that you have become more informed in the process. Please feel free to comment and ask questions.
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Posted in Vacations at 5:49 pm by admin
Picking a Central American Vacation Destination
If you live in Texas or around the border of Mexico you have some enticing vacation options near you for relatively cheap. Imagine spending a $300 - $400 on a cruise to travel along the Central American coastline visiting coral reefs, pyramid ruins and access to good food and drinks. The price can hardly be beat.
Some people would love to do this and the price makes it easy to do. I was searching this vacation option out and did a search in Google for cruise deals. I found some helpful sites that offer last minute cruise packages at around these prices. I was almost committed to making a choice with a 4.5 star rated cruise deal when I realized the person I would be going with might get sea sick. To avoid the possibility of sea sickness I decided to find a different means to have the same vacation.
Choosing an online travel site
I went to priceline, Travelocity, expedia and a couple others and what I discovered was that the airfare they offered really was no better then a travel agent could do for you anyway. So what did I do? I walked into my local travel agent and told her I wanted a vacation in Central America and wanted a cheap flight there. She searched around and found several different trips and days I could leave. I eventually settled on going to Belize.
Belize is the best destination in Central America
Why did I pick Belize out of Mexico and Costa Rica? Mexico has several tourist traps and I didn’t want to accidentally gravitate to the typical tourist destination. You can be catered too for really cheap and live like a king for dirt cheap. Why don’t I want this? I wanted something a little less of a trap but still safe and fun. Mexico is great but I’m a Texan and I am familiar enough with Mexico to not be as excited about it as some people but don’t get me wrong Mexico is still great!
Central America is for adventure
Costa Rica and Belize gives me that feeling of adventure and fun that I don’t get with Mexico. There is a little of the unknown when going to these countries. Most people have been to Mexico but not as many to these other beautiful countries.
Beautiful Jungles in Costa Rica but good roads are sparse
I decided against Costa Rica because their roads aren’t the greatest. It’s hard to go cross country. You basically have to fly everywhere. They have several fun tourist destinations next to each other to avoid flying but I want to know all the places and have enough time to visit several. The interior jungles of Costa Rica do not allow me to do that affordably. Costa Rica is an awesome place but not this trip.
Belize is the choice I made for this trip. I will be gone 6 days and will be spending lots of time on the beach and snorkeling along their coral reefs. The coral reefs leave some of the remote islands shores with crystal blue water, just like a swimming pool. It’s just like you are in a swimming pool. The abundance of different ocean fish swimming along these reefs is so beautiful it is almost worth the whole trip.
What you can do in Belize
You can swim with the dolphins like most destinations, eat Latin food, enjoy the Latin clubs, lounge in mild summer weather on the coastline and explore the pyramids. Most of the natives speak English and traveling the roads is easy and can take you into other countries if you decide to visit Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico or several other Central American countries. Because of its central location to everything else you have many options and can visit all the best sites. Belize by far is my favorite choice among the Central American countries.
Below is a typical site you will see when snorkeling in Belize. When you are doing this in person the site is absolutely amazing. Snorkeling is just as fun as diving because there is so much to see either way.
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Snorkeling with Sting Rays and exotic looking fish
Loggerhead Turtle in Belize
This is what the ocean water looks like in Belize. Paradise crystal blue water. You can see everything.
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