A Sketchy Tree, Free Bitcoin & the Kroger Floor Incident

The chainsaw getting pinched was the first clue that this tree had a different plan than I did.

I had roughly 45 feet of Tennessee hardwood that was supposed to fall into my cleared solar field. Instead, it started loading in the opposite direction—with my chainsaw still buried in the back cut.

So now what?

Ratchet straps didn't quite do it. Wedges weren't going to work. Leaving the saw trapped in the tree overnight wasn't exactly appealing.

Enter an 8-ton bottle jack and a 4x4.

Yeah. It got a little sketchy.

After surviving my afternoon of questionable forestry engineering, we get into two different opportunities for free stuff that showed up this week.

Starlink is running a referral promotion that can get eligible new customers a free second month of service. I've been using Starlink for about four years through full-time RV travel, remote work and off-grid living, so I dig into what the service has actually been like—including speeds, reliability, equipment failures, warranty replacements and off-grid power consumption.

Cash App is also running a Bitcoin promotion I received offering $20 in promotional Bitcoin after buying $10 worth. I've taken advantage of one of their previous Bitcoin offers, and we talk about how I use Cash App without leaving my Bitcoin sitting there forever.

The DIY solar series is moving along too. The new solar panel testing video is live, the Solar Hub is taking shape, and I've put together a free six-page Off-Grid Solar Quick Reference for anybody trying to make sense of volts, amps, watts, panel labels and series vs. parallel wiring.

Then we get to Kroger.

Apparently someone decided the checkout area was also a bathroom.