New Beginnings

My geocaching adventures can be found at http://www.georambling.blogspot.com/  but I don't tend to do much of that during the colder months.  I'm always up to something though, so I thought I'd start a new blog where I can fill you in on my other rambles.

The subjects you may find here might include my photo and painting attempts, my social outings with the Red Hatters and other such groups, and reviews on books and recipes I do for various publishers from time to time.

Right now though, the thing that's most on my mind is Time of Use electrical rates.  I realize that many of you have no idea what that might be, so I'll try to explain.  I live in Ontario, Canada, where Hydro One (the electric company) installed what they call "smart meters" to replace all the previous meters that measure our electrical usage.  They can now tell not only how much electricity we are using, but exactly when we are using it.  They have divided the day up into sections when it will cost more, or less, for every kilowatt hour of power we use.  So, for instance, while the rates are actually lower than they used to be during the night time hours (9pm until 7am) they are considerably higher from 7am to 11am and from 6pm until 9pm.  The time in between (11am until 6pm) is billed at mid rates, which are still higher than what the rates were when all the hours were billed equally. 

I've just been put on this Time of Use billing as of the 15th of December (Merry Christmas to me!) and it's going to change the way I live, I'm sure.  For instance, at the moment, the light from this screen is the only light I have as daylight is just now arriving, and it's already looking like a dull day.  I will try hard to control when and how much electricity I use, especially before my first bill under this new system.  I know people who got a major surprise when they ignored the whole thing and saw their bills more than double during that first month.  I sure don't want that to happen here! 

So be patient while I get this new blog underway. I'm sure it will take on a character of its own over time.