Hello. It has been some time. I’m hoping to start writing again soon. I have been distracted, exhausted, and any number of other words that end in ted. There are thousands of these words.
Two days ago a black-capped chickadee flew into a window over my back entryway and dropped onto my wooden porch. I went out and picked him up and petted his soft, tiny head with my thumb and then placed him onto the cool dirt of a window box flower bed. When I went to check on him 20 minutes later he was gone. He could have been a she or a trans bird. It wouldn’t have made a difference to me.
Poem
Bird safe window decals
I am the black-capped chickadee slain
Upon crashing head first into a windowpane
Even though the guy who lives here
Placed stickers on the window to prevent just such a thing from happening.
Considerate, perhaps, but the stickers were bird shaped,
Which confused and distracted me
Caused me to investigate how these particular birds came to be
frozen mid-flight
While I seem to beat my wings interminably.
And so I lay here now upon the ground
Still life, in tall grass that needs mowing
My ankle broken and brain concussed
And this fucking guy with his stickers.
Public service announcement
It’s been 15 months since I installed a heat pump in my home. I wrote about it here, and here, and in the Star Tribune. (This will be the last time I mention it, I promise.) I’ve been happy with it—it works as it should and my natural gas bill has been about 15-20% cheaper (I didn’t do the math precisely), while my electrical has stayed about the same.
When I had it installed, I got multiple rebates from Centerpoint and Xcel Energy totaling more than $2,000, plus a $2,000 federal tax credit (not a deduction, but a full $2,000 off my tax bill), making the cost even with a regular full HVAC system.
But that federal incentive is going away at the end of 2025 thanks to the “One Big Beautiful Bill.” Also going away are significant tax credits for home solar (30% off); $1,200 off insulation, doors, and windows; and other energy efficiency upgrades, presumably so that we can all pay for and use more oil and gas.
And so this is just to say that if you want to access any of these incentives or have considered any of these upgrades, you need to get going.
States like Minnesota have their own incentives, too, so look into that, but expect that money to run out as well.
Installing a heat pump is one of the most energy efficient things you can do for your home, and if you do it, you’ll join perhaps a million U.S. households this year who will claim that tax credit before it dries up. Federal tax credits for EVs end with September’s close. Get all the details at NPR (which is no longer publicly funded).
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