Legalectric

At this ripe old age, I figured that it was time to take on bread, to move beyond cooking learned from Jaybird at the Seward Cafe.  I give good grill, but it’s time to make some bread!  For some reason, it felt beyond me.  But with all this CapX 2020 transmission taking up so much time and effort, a diversion was in order, the “new” house just wasn’t sufficient.  So when the kitchen came together enough to have a counter to work on, not just a depressing blue wall, it was time to get started on bread, and it’s motivation to finish the kitchen:

(Can you tell I made some beer bread?)  Found a couple of cabinets that are pretty much what I think was there before they ruined the kitchen, ordered a butcher block counter, and the Julia pegboard is out on the porch waiting to be cut.  Almost… and close enough for rock & roll.

Around New Year, I splurged on a mixer, and it’s been amazingly easy.  Only one failure, the soda/powder Cottage Cheeze Dill bread was flat as a pancake, but with yeast, like wow, I CAN DO IT, and punching and kneading is very therapeutic — TAKE THAT, XCEL!

Basic french bread is down, herb and cheeze, and ever since I’ve been going to Smokey Row, I’ve been wanting to make the Icelandic Almond Rolls and Cardamom Rolls.   So I threw caution to the wind, grabbed the first recipe on the google list (had to replace, link down, here’s from “The Great Scandinavian Baking Book):

And TA-DAAAAA:

OH MY DOG!!!

Now, about those Cardamom Rolls…

Xcel Energy’s Q4 Earnings Call Transcript

Of note for Minnesota, which needs all the property tax revenue it can get:

Ali Agha – SunTrust

Yes, and also one other clarification. Teresa, I think you mentioned the property tax deferral in Minnesota, you asked for that and you’ve assumed you’ll get it. Can you remind us how big of an amount that is?

Teresa Madden – Xcel

Yes, it’s $28 million and it’s both electric and gas. So even though it came out of the electric case, it’s for both businesses.

Demand is down down down and Xcel says they won’t need any more new generation until at least 2018.  Well DUH!  They filed an amendment to their IRP given that the situation is sooooooo bad.

2010 Resource Plan Update

Something I found interesting, aside from their projections of load growth that are down the toilet:

The most important information is fundamental data regarding the status of the economy and projections of economic growth.

And lack thereof:

We now expect 0.7% annual demand growth and 0.5% annual energy growth over the Resource Plan  horizon, down from 1.1% and 0.9%, respectively, included in our initial filing. The magnitude of the reduced forecast is such that it prompts us to reconsider some components of our Five Year Action Plan.

Which means:

We do not expect additional generation will be needed on our system until 2018.

Well DUH!  And that’s a full year after Mikey Bull had estimated at that big LS Power meeting in Chisago!  So I’d guess that if they’ll admit that, it’s really 2020 or further out.  And remember CapX 2020 is based on a 2.49% annual increase?  Right…

They had issued an RFP for wind, but they don’t need or want it now:

Currently we have significant installed generation and a bank of renewable energy credits that we can use to satisfy our renewable energy requirements. To the extent the PTC expires and wind prices increase as expected, we will be able to rely on our installed generation and banked RECs rather than adding uneconomic wind generation.

DUH!

They also note that they’ve lost some wholesale customers, which is also noted in this week’s FERC filing, a Complaint against Xcel, where p. 11 of the complaint they state they lost 9 wholesale customers in Wisconsin and Michigan.  For more on that, go to NoCapX 2020:

CATFIGHT! Xcel and ATC go at it at FERC

From the Winona Daily News:

Protesters Again Block Modern Transport Terminal

I’m buried in CapX Wisconsin right now, BUT this came across the screen, do check it out:

We have a frac sand mine proposed here, just south of Red Wing in Hay Creek, and that’s going over like a lead balloon.  Same for Winona.

… first it’s Alan’s Birthday, now officially an old fart and then some.  And then it’s Valentine’s Day, and he just gave me the bestest gift of all:

… a succinct analysis of WI Public Service Commission staff Neumeyer’s testimony!!!

AWWWWWWWWW, what a guy, it’s just what I wanted!!!

I know, TMI, but our dear Summer-doggy really did it this time.

Three months ago or so, we blamed Little Sadie for chewing the tails off the Wubba, we found it tail-less on the floor of the van, lost until this appeared at the “tail” end of a “Summerhenge” a couple days ago:

SUMMER ATE IT…  OH MY DOG!!!  … and it took months to go through… so DUH, ex post facto we checked the van, and there are indeed two of the tails still missing…

Are they in the dog?

Just now, all three were in the van for a bit when we went to lunch, and here’s what we found on taking them back into the house:   NO LEASH!

SUMMER!!!!  There is no trace of any part of the leash in the van, not a thread.  This little red piece is all that’s left.

SUMMER!!!!  We can’t afford surgery on you!  Now what?  And there’s no vet on duty tomorrow… we shall see…

For now, she’s on the floor in her favorite spot, snorin’ and fartin’ as usual, always under my desk or she shoves the lamp out of the way so her big butt fits in the corner.  We’re supposed to feed her canned pumpkin, that’s supposed to be good for moving things around.  And call if emergency…

It’ll probably appear in April!