Ld Roberts

John C Daley wrote:I feel your pain.
Sometimes the short term idea sounds good until the long term reality hits.
FB may not be helpful with their own issues as well.
Are thjere ways to remove the strain from mother with domestic help?

She’s addicted to Facebook but has been playing more video games on her phone lately.

Matt McSpadden wrote:Hi LD,
I'm so sorry to hear your story. I'm going through a divorce that I believe is/was caused by post-partum depression. It is very real, and too many women won't get help. There are many sources of depression and many variations. Two things that I would absolutely talk to her about doing is to think about others and diet. Thinking about others instead of ourselves is a very important piece to get through/over depression. Post-partum depression has a huge physiological component to it. If she is willing, I would take her to an ND and ask for a full blood test workup of hormones, minerals, vitamins, etc. I'll bet she has deficiencies and/or imbalances. I'm not a doctor, so take this with a grain of salt, but this two prong approach to deal with the mental side and the physical side should help significantly. The catch is that the person must be willing to accept that there is something going on and that they need help, and most importantly that making a big decision like divorce, when you are in that frame of mind, is a bad idea.

Thanks Matt. My wife admits it’s something related to post partum. She started talking to an old friend of ours that we stopped talking to cause this couple was stalking us in real life and now this person is in her ear everyday pushing the divorce and how “obviously” I’m the bad guy here.

Shari Clark wrote:First of all, sorry for both of your pain. Words said about divorce in the middle of a manic episode do not mean that divorce is imminent, but obviously, that you guys need help. Please consider getting some counselling or help of some kind, if your wife is at all wiling. It sounds like she feels extremely burdened right now and thinks divorce would make things more simple. There are so many things to consider. What is your support system right now? How are you communicating? There is help out there if you are both willing to look for it and try. Sorry that the hospital didn't do anything but suggest divorce but there are other avenues. And yes, social media tends can be a very bad influence, too.

I speak from experience. My husband and I came close to divorce in the first two years of marriage, but a good counsellor really helped heal ourselves and our marriage. This led me to writing a book about it. I  believe there is hope for many couples that throw in the towel early on. My thoughts are with the both of you.

Thank you for the kind words Shari. It does seem like we are truly heading towards divorce ever since last week when she called the police on me to “teach me a lesson” for having her sent to the hospital. She told me to take my baby when the cops told me to vacate for two hours but I planned on taking her with me anyways. She doesn’t want anything to do with my daughter and that’s fine at this point cause she’ll be with me full time.

Burl Smith wrote:How'd you manage to get a new baby right after a 4 month old baby?

- signed Curious in Key West

My wife is 26, I’m 48 but apparently I have very good swimmers still.
We didn’t have sex for a month so that she could recover from baby delivery but it didn’t take much time after we got going again.

Yeah I’m having lots of trouble linking to a profile pic and created a few accounts on free hosting sites but nothing works. Maybe this will. Thanks

Email: snugglywolfie@gmail.com
No hyphen between snuggly and wolfie

I posted about my wife and I’s new homesteading adventure with my four month old baby and a new baby coming in January over a month back.
July 6th, was a crazy day which started out “normal” but lead to my wife having a manic episode and her going to the hospital for the day which did nothing to help her but put ideas of a lawyer and divorce in her thoughts tonight as she sleeps in our bed and I’m here at the kitchen table too worried to sleep and writing to you all.
She’s had the postpartum depression going on and I’ve done everything for my sweet little baby girl while she’s barely bonded with her. My wife said that if she goes the route towards divorce then my baby girl and unborn child would be with me so she can be free from the pressures of being a Mom and how the baby has ruined our relationship. Oy-vey!
I’m 48, and guess I’ll be doing this homesteading on my own unless I can find some help. I’m considering renting out space say $100 month/or 1k year to share my two acres here and build a community how I’ve wanted too; I will not be stopped and this will happen.
We’re hoping her doctor is available to talk tomorrow so she can talk to him and we may seek counseling but I fear that with her Facebook friends filling her mind with nonsense it may be too late.
I’ve raised five other children, baby girl makes six and with seven on my way maybe I should stick to growing fruits and vegetables already lol.
My own self entertaining is keeping me in calm spirits this late evening but I do need some help out here. Sanders, Arizona. Able bodied female(s) (non sexual) and maybe an old Vet or two to keep things interesting and or someone that want some place to hole up for cheap or little to nothing. Message me here or better my email: snugglywolfie@gmail.com - happy to exchange phone numbers for texting and calls after first contact. Thanks for reading. Mike(LD)

Michael Qulek wrote:Is there any chance you can return it?  It is very over-priced for what you are getting.  It doesn't even come with an inverter.  Here's what I would suggest you do instead....

Buy high-voltage residential grid-tie type panels instead of those 12V panels.  You pay a price premium for 12V panels.  You get more W/$ with grid-tie style panels.

Shop for panels locally on Craigslist, so you can get cash and carry pricing.  Was helping a neighbor just three days ago, shopping for panels.  Found 280W Canadian Solar panels for 80$ each.  Four of those would give you 1120W for just 320$.  240$ to just to exceed what the kit has.

Get an Epever 4210 MPPT charge controller.  They are the parent company that makes Renogy controllers, but puts the electronics in their own box.  125$ on EBay.

Four 210Ah 6V golf-cart batteries from CostCo.  110$ each.  Tax and core a bit more.  Let's say 500$ for four batteries

Wire your system for 24V instead of 12V.  You can wire together a bigger system at 24V because the controller can handle only so many amps, but can easily handle higher voltage.

Add a 1500W sine-wave inverter for 650$  Add another 50$ for fuses, wires, ect.  Take a look at the Samlex PST1500.  It is sine-wave, can be hard-wired into an electrical panel, and is UL listed.  UL listing separates the quality products from the cheap imported junk.

So....
320$ for 1120W of panels
125$ for the controller
500$ for batteries
650$ for inverter
50$ for extras
1645$ total for a complete system.  To match what the kit includes is probably just 450$

I bought the 3500 watt Sinewave inverter and it came with a charge controller but I’m in the road right now so can’t recall it’s name. It was a nightmare to receive this through the UPS store and I already tossed all the boxes so I’m keeping it. Cost wasn’t an issue for me and I wanted something better than Harbor Freight.