Oct 2 – 8
Good evening every one. I’m well rested at the moment for reasons to be disclosed later.
Ok, what happened this past week… Seemingly not much. Ok. so my memory is failing and I can’t remember so it must not have been too important. As I start writing I’m sure the memories will resurface.
Monday afternoon after work I reconfigured some of the parks wireless access points. It seems that by default, they all select the same 2.5GHz channel even when on auto. With more guests coming into the park, not surprisingly, the system was logging interference alerts. So I strategically changed the channels certain access points were using and I reduced the power each was transmitting at.
The rest of Monday and Tuesday evenings besides cooking and doing dishes, I was googling and reading about various Lithium battery technologies, BMS (battery management systems) for lithium batteries, searching ebay for used batteries to see what is generally available that I might want to incorporate into my solar system, reading up on the specifications for various solar battery bank charge controllers.
Wednesday afternoon after work I met up with Drew, a fellow park resident I’ve become friends with who is also building on land down here. We went out in his 1960’s Jeep. It doesn’t have doors, but he did have the cover on it to keep the dirt/dust from blowing on us while we travel the dirt roads. It was fun to ride in. We stopped by his property first so he could show me where it was and what he had done so far. Being a car and construction guy, he built a huge garage first so he has a place to store stuff. His septic system was mostly in. There was a well on the property when he bought it and he has an elevated water tank plus a pressure tank. From there we went to our property so I could show him where we are going to be living and talked about the plans for the property. We returned to the park so he could take a call from his wife who is still living in Phoenix. I swapped my snake boots for tennis shoes and headed to the tavern for dinner – plain steamed broccoli, baked potato with bbq sauce, and a couple glasses of my usual poison.
Thursday night was my usual run to Douglas. I got a late start as I was once again working on the park’s wireless. I checked the status of the system after finishing my day job and saw that two access points were out of service. Once I got that resolved, stopped and asked Bob, Carolyn, and Betina who were chatting by the pool/hottub if they needed anything from Douglas. Carolyn just got back from a trip, moved into the park this week, and has been busy with volunteer work. As such she hasn’t had time to go to the store and took me up on my offer. She provided a list of what she needed and I headed out to Douglas. Dinner at El Chef again followed by the usual stops at the gas station, TSC, and Walmart. Skipped the tavern on the way home as it was late and I was tired. Dropped off Carolyn’s groceries and headed home to take care of mine and walk Sasha.
I finished work at a reasonable time Friday so I had time to cook the corn on the cob and make the guacamole I bought for the potluck. Naturally, the guac was a last minute addition to my shopping list because the avocados were marked way down as they were VERY ripe and needed to be sold ASAP – perfect for guac the next day. The point here, was the guac was not planned so I forgot to buy chips to go with it. Ugh! I checked with Rusty to see if they carried big bags of chips in the park store – nope. I called Drew to see if he could bail me out. He had a bag he was willing to part with for the cause. I owe him now. 🙂 I bought enough avocados for two batches but only made one. It was a hit and when it was gone we still had about half the bag of chips left so I went back to the trailer to throw together another batch. It got eaten too. This was the first potluck that a few of us stayed to visit after the potluck was over. After a while I offered to make margaritas for everyone left. Better to share than drink it all myself. 🙂 I confirmed that I was not the only one hung over last Sunday. I guess Bob and Rusty spent last Sunday recovering as well. During the visit the conversation turned to food. Carolyn shared that her doctor put her on a special diet (reference Dr Dean Ornish) due to medical issues. I suggested for her issue I thought Dr Caldwell Esselstyn’s diet would be better. It is very similar to Ornish’s diet but it is a bit more strict. I started to share what I’ve learned on the subject over the last few years. She indicated that she would like me to teach/tell her what I’ve learned and share the resources that I’ve found on the subject. She was telling me a story about a line in the Disney movie “Ice Age” and how it resonates with her and her situation. Upon coming up to a dangerous obstacle, the sloth says: “I chose life” and turns away from it and takes a different path.
Saturday I got up, did my usual Saturday morning chores then put together food and water and headed to the property. Using the chainsaw, I started clearing brush out of the path of the eastern fence line. There were only threes mesquite shrubs left to cut down when the chain on the chainsaw came off. I didn’t have the bar tool with me so I took the saw back to the shed. I was tired and the chain was dull now so I didn’t bother putting it back on the bar. I just put the saw in the shed, and put everything away. While I was there I also identified the location of the northern fence line east of the driveway so that I can start clearing that of brush when I return with sharp chains. Once back to the RV Park, I got cleaned up, collected my computer gear, and headed over to the club house to watch some college football while I worked on the computer. I watched Michigan lose to Michigan State. I worked unsuccessfully to get a USB stick setup to be a bootable Linux distro with video editing software. After the game I headed back to the trailer. I knew I should go to bed, but I wasn’t ready to sleep so I watched a movie – The Accountant.
Sunday was online shopping, laundry, cleaning, and cooking day. I also continued working on getting a working bootable persistent USB Linux system. I ordered 3 chains for the chainsaw, and bulk ingredients to make food for Sasha and I. Speaking of food for Sasha, I am happy to report that the tumor on her eye lid has shrunk considerably since I started cooking for her. I’m hoping it will be gone in another month or so. I was ready for a nap by noon, but wanted to not nap and just go to bed early. I got tired of cleaning and laid down with the computer, started downloading a different Linux distro to see if I could get further with it. Estimated download time 2 hours. Next thing I know, I woke up and the download only had 15 minutes left. Oops. So much for not napping. I worked a bit on it before getting up to take Sasha for her evening walk. The work on the Linux system has paused while I write this blog entry. If I recall where I left off with it, it is ready to test. With luck, I will have a system that I can edit video’s so I can share them as I make them. Of course, I will have to learn how to use the video editing software as well.
No new pics this week. Sorry.
I think that brings you up to date.
Night all.
Seeking Simplicity 