as she leads the group in discussing 

Resetting Your Writing for 2023

in the Maple Shade Library's meeting room. 

The library is inside Maple Shade's municipal building 

200 Stiles Ave.

Maple Shade, NJ 08052

January 17th

 6:30pm - 8pm

All are welcome!

Hubby left for work, and I was putting away clothes in our bedroom and changing linens when I noticed a bat near the vanity. This was 7am and I decided to get dressed and finish making the bed before grabbing a plastic bag from downstairs and disposing of the poor thing.

I texted my husband about the bat in our bedroom. He replied exactly how I expected. In the back of my mind, I had contemplated allowing him the manly honor of removing it when he got home. I admit I was a bit freaked out at the thought of touching its stiff body, even through plastic.

Last week I was thrilled seeing a live raccoon in a tree next door, a praying mantis on our front step, and a hawk atop a utility pole during my walk. This opportunity to see nocturnal wildlife in daylight was special. I thought of butterfly collectors and Audubon studying dead creatures pinned to boards. I couldn’t pass up taking a close-up of the fuzzy body with leather-looking wings and teeny tiny hands and big eyes.

Plastic bag over my hand, I reached down to clean up the bat before it started to decompose and stain our carpet.  

You probably guessed what happened.

I ran from the room and shut the door. Then texted hubby again so he and his co-worker could have a good laugh.

Hubby and I celebrated 40 years of marriage this month. So, I knew his next text meant to keep trying to get the bat out of our house. Years before, bats had entered our attic through a hole in the soffit. One scared a roofer who was repairing the soffit and putting on a new roof for us. Hubby didn’t want to go through the trouble again of removing a family of bats from our family home. When you’re married 40 years and have shared experiences, you know how your spouse thinks in a situation like this.

The bat was clinging to a curtain. I opened a bedroom window on the opposite side of the room. Then threw our comforter over the bat to try and catch it. The comforter was so heavy I worried I’d hurt the bat. It managed to get from under the comforter and was on the curtains again. I threw a towel and missed but the bat fell.

All day I checked the room to see if I could find the bat. I hoped that by dusk, if the bat was still in the room, it would wake up enough to find the window and fly out.

Hubby came home. He couldn’t find it either. We thought it was gone, but kept the window open just in case. Hubby stepped into the shower, and I went for a walk.

When I came home, hubby told me the end of this day-long story. He had finished showering and opened the door to our bedroom. The bat was frantically flying around. I was disappointed I wasn’t home to see modest hubby throwing his towel over the bat, leaning out the window in his birthday suit, and coaxing a bat out of his towel. The bat finally flew away.  

This is the end of our second year using solar energy. If you want to read about our experience during and after our solar panels' installation and a list of our last year's bills comparing our bills to before the panels were installed, click here. 

This post is a continuation of bill comparison over the last three years.

I'll repeat in this post that we still have an electric bill, and that we also pay IGS Solar each month for the energy the panels harvest. The more sun that shines on our roof, the higher our IGS bill. This wasn't clear when we signed our agreement with Trinity Solar, who met with us and installed the panels. 

Before our panels were installed, our 2018-2019 electric bill (no IGS bill included, of course) for the year was $4,077.13 

Our 2019-2020 electric bill plus the IGS bill for the year was $3,883.84

Our 2020-2021 electric bill plus the IGS bill for the year was $3,394.27

My hope, of course, is that our electric bills keep dropping. But . . .

Our IGS bill was $1,584.3 in 2019-2020.

Our IGS bill was $1,541.71 in 2020-2021.

So this bill averages about $1,560.00 per year. This is the catch. The IGS bill isn't an electric bill. When the person on the Trinity Solar commercial that I often see states their electric bill is virtually non-existent, the viewer isn't told there will be a bill besides an electric bill arriving each month that will never be virtually non-existent. Thus, even if our electric bill becomes totally non-existent, we still have the IGS bill to pay. And will IGS's rates ever go up? 

I don't know what the expense or involvement is in owning solar panels. But what this renter's understand is, is that after 25 years the panels are ours. Will the panels and/or our roof need replacing by then? 

I don't regret getting solar panels. Our main goal was being more responsible with our family's consumption of energy. But I wish Trinity Solar was clear in their explanation of our responsibility. The deceiving commercial is unethical. One actor says he funds vacations with money he saves on his electric bill. Those can't be extravagant vacations. 

I've seen people get so excited at the thought of saving money on their utility bill each month. I got excited too. Saving significant money and going greener at the same time is most desirous. 

But going greener alone is valuable enough for me. Add some financial savings and there's even more reason to celebrate.