Back in Business

 

The replacement inverter for the one fried in the thunderstorm came in. I’m always super cautions when working around the solar electric system. Everything is planned out. My tools have non-conductive handles to keep from shorting out across battery terminals. You really don’t want that to happen as there will be sparks, heat plus a good possibility of fire and an explosion.

The new inverter is working perfectly and the job went really smoothly. Of course it helped that I visualized every move necessary to do the job properly.

Today I hooked up the original water line and disconnected the temporary line. The water is flowing the way it should. It was also a good time to change the water filters.

The huge lump on my leg is hindering just about every physical activity. Nobody wants to operate on it. I’ve two more doctor’s appointments scheduled. Hopefully they can get their act together with a plan that works -I have my doubts. On the bright side, herbal medicines seem to helping. A few weeks ago I was in serious constant pain. Walkers and wheelchairs were necessary to get around. The pain is greatly diminished and I can walk enough to do some yard work and run errands.

It’s not the first time in my life that doctors did not know what to do with me. When I suffered my firefighter lung injuries at age 35 I almost died. After the initial crisis a doctor actually told me I’d be dead before age 45. Once the doctors gave up I was able to figure out ways to get better. When push comes to shove everyone is responsible for their own healthcare. Don’t believe everything doctors say. During my current health journey doctors have already totally contradicted each other.

On the bright side we’ve been able to rule out cancer, so that’s good.

-Sixbears

Frozen Water Line

I woke up Sunday morning to a frozen water situation. That was not a good way to start the day. It could have been worse. The water line was frozen inside the basement. It took about 40 minutes to thaw it out and get the water flowing again. Good thing the water was not frozen between the well and house. There’s nothing I could have done about that.

When I discovered the lack of water I thought of two things. The first is that I really should not have put off the dinner dishes until the morning. The second thing was that I should not have put off my shower until the morning either. On the bright side, there was enough water in the kettle for my morning coffee. House projects always go better after a cup of Joe.

So for the next few sub-zero nights there’s a small electric heater next to the pipes with some reflextix in a “U” shape to contain the heat. That should keep it warm enough not to freeze. The heater is going to bump up my electric bill a bit, but something had to be done. Worse come to worse we could always pack up the house and head south to warmer climates. However, I really don’t want to do that right now. There’s plenty of stuff to do here up north.

In other news the new computer is working out. It’s actually a used computer, but it’s new to me. When I take over a used computer I wipe out the memory and load Ubuntu Linux. The computer runs faster and it has all the programs that I use.

For the last year I’ve been using a small tablet computer. It’s slow and screen is tiny, but it was cheap. It’s a pretty good travel computer, but I have to wear reading glasses to see half the stuff on it. Now with a bigger laptop I can pretend I don’t really need glasses.

So, all in all, the day could have been worse.

-Sixbears

Digging It

I finally got started on digging up my broken water line. It's been easy to put the job off. There have been plenty of other project to focus my attention on. The temporary line has been working well. I guess one of things I was avoiding was how badly I'm out of shape for this kind of work. Oh well. The best way to get into shape for doing something is to do that thing.

Progress was made. There was a lot of brush and a large fallen birch that needed to be moved. Digging down I found the buried power supply cable. That was laid in the same trench as the water pipe, but a few feet about it. That let me know I was digging in the right place. The job came to a halt when a large rock appeared in the trench. The pry bar needed to move it had been left back at the house. That was enough reason for me to call it a day. I'd made a good start, but was pretty tuckered out.

Between digging up the water line and splitting firewood, I'm getting plenty of much needed exercise. I was looking forward to getting exercise on my boat trip. Sailing my boat, paddling the kayak into shore, and walking around for supplies gets me in condition. Digging ditches, while good exercise, isn't as fun. The views aren't as stunning either.

Oh well. At least I'm getting back into condition, even if it's a lot less fun.

-Sixbears

More fun and games

So I'm doing a bit of laundry early in the morning and the “no water” alarm goes off on the washing machine. I run down the basement. The water pressure gauge shows almost zero pressure, but the pump is running full blast. I kill the breaker so the pump doesn't burn out, grab my tools and head down the well.

I always double clamp black plastic pipe connections. One good clamp should be enough, but I never trust them. Except, of course, when the second clamp breaks and I don't have a spare on me. Just this one time I should be able to get away with one, right? Wrong. The connection came loose, causing the pump to run nonstop, making a small whirlpool in the well. Now it's double clamped.

The pump churned up the water enough that it kicked silt up from the bottom. As soon as the pump came back on-line, it plugged the water filter. Should have let it settle, but my washing machine kicked back on soon as it had water again. Don't you just love those new computer driven washers? Good thing I keep spare filters handy.

Since it was raining, my lovely wife and I thought it would be a good day to run errands in town. That went pretty well, except it was almost impossible to find a replacement pick handle. Everyone could sell me a whole new pick, but finding just a handle was nearly impossible. Finally, the kid from one of the hardware stores was able to dig one up for me. Now I'll be able to finish the last little bit of water line trench.

During the height of the storm we discovered a small roof leak. Years ago I had a small section of the roof get damaged and now the repair let go. Apparently I wasn't the only only with a leak. Every store was out of the good patch material. I wasn't going to use the cheap stuff again, as that's what just failed.

Just another day taking care of the homestead.

-Sixbears

What a difference a year makes

A year ago we had snow piling up on the ground. This year I'm running around outside in my shorts and sandals. The extended warm spell has allowed me to get more projects done. Well, that and we did some hiking. Can't have all work and no play.

Here's a quick update on my well supply line project. I was able to run a ½ water line about 23 feet down the old line before friction became too much. I dug down to the supply line, cut into and retrieved the ½ line. Then I connected the rest of the larger supply line to the ½ line. I'd hoped to get past the break in the supply line, but apparently it's further down.

The good news is that there's 23 feet I don't have to dig and it's the part under the house foundation footing. What I'm going to do is run new line from the hole I dug all the way down to the well. Since I'm only going to be here until early January, just shallow burying it should work. The frost doesn't usually go down deep until late in the winter. If we get some predicted show cover I'll be fine for sure.

My buddy is just finishing up his fire duties with the Forest Service, so he's coming up to help soon. We should be able to knock out the rest of this project in an afternoon. Next spring I can take the time to dig up the rest of the line until I find the break.

Rather than mess around with the water lines by myself, I went back to working on my boat trailer. All the lug nuts on one side are very hard to move. Every single one of them had to be hammered free. Right now I'm waiting for WD-40 to work it's magic on the last two. Swarms of midges drove me back into the house. Here's a little hint: do not have a coughing fit in the middle of a midge swarm. That does not go well.

The warm weather has saved me a bundle on heating costs. I haven't even bothered with the woodstove yet. Running oil heat a little now and then has been enough to keep the place warm. My lovely wife and I may even go sailing another time or two before I have to pull the boat out of the lake. It's all good.

-Sixbears

Pacing myself

The digging for the water supply continues. After months of inactivity, I decided to pace myself. No sense getting injured again. It takes too long to recover. When you are young, you never think of pain killers. Later on, ibuprofen is your friend after a hard day of work. Lately, I've been at the point where I wonder if maybe I shouldn't take ibuprofen before starting the day. I haven't yet, but it has occurred to me. Instead I've decided to let sore muscles let me know when it's time to stop.

I am making progress and haven't hurt myself, so that's good. It's a little tricky digging on the side of a steep hill. The supply line can't be too much further down. That is, if I'm digging in the right spot.

Hope to wrap this up eventually and move on with my other projects. The boat trailer and the van will take a couple of days of preparation -nothing too major. That is, as long as it doesn't do something like snow. Anything is possible here in the Great White North.

My order of stainless steel clippy things for the sailboat's jib sail came in. The brass ones are pretty beat. I had tried some really interesting quarter turn polymer clips, but they were a bit too small for the sail. The stainless steel ones are rated for 700 pounds each, so they should easily do the job.

The weather looks pretty mild for the next week or so. The unseasonably warm weather has been a lucky break for me. I'll take what I can get.

-Sixbears