WTH BWB For December 26, 2026
This is a new one for me, Actually it's new for this biweekly blog. A while back I bought a headset to use for virtual meetings like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.
It's really nice because it saves on carpal tunnel lol. What a week it has been. This year my Christmas cards went out really easily I think I sent a total of 40 something of them. Even though I don't have much contact with immediate family after my mother passed a few years ago but I have a real family of friends and volunteers who are friends through Welcome To Housing Home Goods Bank Incorporated.
Going to pick up the mail I was surprised to get two different checks. One was from payroll deduction of one of our volunteers and it came through the Heart of Maine United Way. The other Check arrived from the Hammond St. Congregational Church. They send two checks a year, one half of their donation at the beginning of the year and then the second half at the end of the year. What's really nice about it is the fact that it's something that we can rely on. There are several donors like that who give every single year and it's a good specific amount that we can plan on. One of the major goals of our board of trustees and specifically the fundraising committee is to have more donors that are like that where we can actually set our watches on the time that they donate.
The other thing that I took care of this week was getting a new Irving card set up because the original one that we had for rental truck fuel was lost. I deactivated the lost card, so when I got a new one, we would be all set.
We have been plagued by people coming by after hours and leaving off broken furniture and useless items thinking that we should be the ones to pay for their disposal. We have asked Old Town Police to keep a closer watch but it's hard to catch people when they're dropping something off at night.
Today is Friday December 19th and Monday we are going to get a group of volunteers again from the Wellspring men's house like we had this week but they're going to help load up a 26-foot truck to get rid of all the stuff that's been dumped outside and take it to the transfer station.
Monday will also be a great day because of the fact that we will decide between the two proposals for a solar energy system to be installed and activated to cover a good percentage of our electrical needs. We're going to come up with a little bit more money, probably about $700 more on top of the $30,000 that we are paying from grant money we have in the bank so that the system can be expanded over time to the point where we will cover 100% of our electrical needs with the solar system. The trustee that's been helping us with it Craig Saunders, as well as our treasurer, agreed it would make sense because chances are we will eventually expand upon the system.
I’m still getting used to the concept of NOT being a real estate agent anymore after 21 years. In a way it is a relief, but I have to get used to thinking of Welcome To Housing as my job as my beloved would say. For years I never thought I wanted to retire because of all the people I had known who did retire and then just did not know what to do with themselves and in the worst case scenario watched their health decline and in the least case scenario climb the walls because they didn't know what to do with themselves or even worse make their spouses climb the walls because they needed something to do.
Speaking of health, I finally had my Evoked Potential testing done on my extremities or as I like to think of it as shock treatment for my arms and legs. They hook you up to electrodes and get an idea of how long it takes for impulses to travel from your extremities to your brain. It helps detect damage and let me tell you it is quite painful. The biggest challenge for me though is when they hooked it up to my feet my calf muscles kept spasming every 30 seconds or so and it took the technician and the doctor a few minutes to realize it was involuntary and no matter how many times they said try to relax my calves had a different idea.
It's a good example of the expression I wish I knew back then what I know now in other words years ago I had a healthy body, but I didn't have half the knowledge in my noggin that I have now. Or as another expression goes if I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself.
I still can't believe that we finally are moving forward with the solar project and the estimates from the two different companies basically rounded out that it'll cover either 70% (one proposal) or 2/3 (from the other) of our energy needs. That will be a huge savings but just as important to me as the fact that I don't have to keep telling people we're looking for more money to go with the $30,000 that we already have in our account. And we were under the gun as well for the simple fact that it was grant money or I should say it is grant money from Penobscot County Commissioners through the American Rescue Plan Act or ARPA.
Deadline to spend the money is actually December 31st of 2026 and the other alternative was to return the money to the County but that's not something I really wanted to do. Not only will it save us a lot of money in terms of electrical bills, but it will also fit in well with our mission to be environmentally friendly. If it was not for the heat pump system that we used to heat and cool 333 Main Street, we probably wouldn't need to augment our service with solar.
Friday, December 26, 2025
Greetings.
I hope you had a nice Christmas. I love the meme that explains why people say Happy Holidays as there are something like 11 holidays celebrated around the World in December.
That doesn’t include the fictional holiday seen on the situation comedy, Seinfeld. That of course is “Festivus” and the motto: “A Festivus for the rest of us!” It includes the Festivus Pole, the Feats of Strength, and of course the holiday wouldn’t be complete without the “Airing of Grievances.” Frank Costanza a.k.a. Jerry Stiller is the architect of this fictional holiday who for the “Airing of Grievances” says, quite loudly: “I got a lot of problems with you people!” Frank invented the holiday after fighting another main for the last doll for his son.
As soon as I can, I’m going to write a check to Black Bear Solar for a deposit for the system they’re putting in this spring. The whole idea of “banking” the excess energy generated in the summer to help offset the higher energy costs when the weather turns cold thrills me. Having solar also fits in with our mission as we help keep so many USEFUL things from going into the waste stream prematurely. It was also part of the reason when we got the grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation to purchase and do necessary improvements, I chose a three-unit heat pump system. It doesn’t heat the whole building but the main part of the 1820s house. I liked the idea as it’s environmentally friendly and you don’t have to worry about buying fuel like oil or propane. I also have never been a fan of natural gas for one reason. I have seen the “black smudge” photos too many times. They’re usually inside the first pages of the newspaper. You see a black spot in an aerial photo and then the caption explains what “used to be there” and shares what it used to be… a residence, a business a church, that had a gas explosion.
We’re continuing to see more people join us. One who recently retired from a local housing program said he’s excited to join us and as he put it, “looks forward to doing something he WANTS to do.”
The Christmas Tree this year looks great, and the top makes the perfect perch for our angel and the cats have left the tree alone… for the most part. I remember one of our late Maine Coon cats, Maggie surprising us months after Christmas as we sat at the dining room table. She came running by, batting a Victorian paper mache ornament along the floor like it was a soccer ball. We had no idea where it had been concealed all that time, but it was quite funny.
Well, that’s what’s up with yours truly and Welcome To Housing. I hope you also have a safe and Happy New Year!
Sincerely yours,
Christopher Olsen
Founder and Board President
welcometohousing@gmail.com
