Back at the Park – Days 10 – 22

Dec 5 – 17

Apologies for not getting an update last weekend.

So, what Have I been up to over the last two weeks?  Good question.

I haven’t worked on the property at all during the week.  There are only two hours of daylight after I get off work.  I’ve either worked late, didn’t have sufficient food/drink with me, or it was too cold and I didn’t feel like working in the cold.

That has just left the weekends to get things done.  Last weekend, I tried to pick up steel pipe from Animas Valley Mercantile Saturday morning to be used to mount the solar panels to but they didn’t have enough so I didn’t get any.  I then tackled making an address marker for the property.  After I was done with making the address marker, I noted Hersey (the cat) had a significantly bloated belly.  I did a bit of research on google, reached out to Pete and Judy for advice (Judy is a vet).  Advise was to get into the vet this weekend if I could arrange it.  Carolyn stopped by and gave me the names of a couple of vets in Deming NM that locals she knows like to use.  I called and made arrangements to see the Vet at 8:30 AM Sunday morning.  So, the first half of Sunday was spent on making the run to the Vet.  Verdict:  slightly bloody fluid in the abdomen.  The vet also felt an unexpected lump on the right side of the abdomen.  There was too much fluid in the abdomen to get a good feel of the lump.  Given what the vet was seeing, he felt the most likely cause is a tumor but couldn’t be sure without additional testing.  Given Hershey’s age (around 16 yrs), I declined any further testing.  I knew immediately how I was going to proceed.  Changing from commercial pet food to home cooked food worked well for Sasha’s tumor.  I feel that is Hershey’s best hope.  It may be too late, but it is worth a try.

My first batch of food I made for him, was not acceptable to the fussy old man.  After two days of him not eating what I made, it became clear I needed to try again.  This time, I went to something that had a high chance of success – 100% chicken cooked and processed into chicken pate.  I’ll be working on slowly increasing the amount of plant matter in his diet.

Back to Sunday, after getting back with Hersey, I headed over to the property.  I swung by Tom’s and picked some pallets out of his burn pile.  After a couple of attempts at installing the address marker on a T-Post, I changed gears and decided to use pallets.

I also replaced the WiFi router/firewall that came with the internet service with my own Ubiquiti firewall and outdoor WAP.  That gave me enough signal outside to be able to work from within the truck near the shed.  Much warmer in the morning hours.  🙂

Monday, I got a roadside postal box after calling the Post Master in San Simon and meeting the post woman on her route.  My first piece of mail delivered to the box was a Christmas card from my mother on Tuesday.  In the evening was a run to Douglas for groceries that I didn’t think to get Sunday when I was in Demming.

Tuesday I met with Victor, the local septic and earth works expert to discuss getting quotes on the septic system and water storage tank.

Wednesday evening I replaced the LP pressure regulator and pig tail hoses on the trailer to repair the propane leak I noticed late the previous week.  Had to wait for parts to be delivered from Amazon.  I also made a run to Valley Mercantile for propane and ordered steel pipe.  Expected delivery to Valley Mercantile:  Monday Dec 18.

Thursday evening was spent waiting at the property for solar system deliveries that didn’t come.  UPS did show up after dark with a delivery that I wasn’t expecting, so it was not a total waste of time.  I spent the time waiting getting caught up on one of my YouTube subscriptions that I was 2+ months behind on.  In hind sight, I regretted not using the time to post an update to the blog.

Solar system components were finally delivered this past Friday.

 

Friday night was spent socializing at and after the potluck.  Even Sasha joined in after dinner as a number of us gathered around a fire at the clubhouse to continue to visit after dinner.  She appreciated the attention from everyone, but not the heat from the fire.  After about 45 minutes or so she was becoming disruptively restless so we retired to the trailer for the evening.

Plan for yesterday (Saturday) was to do a quick WiFi survey at the RV to determine the best location for additional access points that were delivered Wednesday, then go to Douglas for shopping and onto the property for some work before dark.  As with most of my plans – out the window.  I spent most of the day trying to get the WiFi survey done.  This Ubiquiti mesh WiFi network does not quickly learn and adjust to change.  It was a painfully slow process testing and documenting signal strength for potential locations for new wireless access points.  By the time I was done, it was only an hour before dark.  Forecast was for rain the next day.  I decided try to make good use of the rest of the evening and proceeded with my shopping trip to Douglas.  Besides, I’d rather drive in the dark than in the rain.

Forecast was accurate for today.  It rained most of the day.  No work at the property.  I worked on a number of things around the trailer that I had been deferring such as cooking, dishes, and cleaning in the morning, then spent all afternoon and early evening at the club house doing laundry, clearing drive space on my work laptop, watching football, and writing this blog.  As I slowly drank a large coffee all day, it will be interesting to see the impact of that caffeine on me the rest of the evening.  🙂

This is what I woke up to in the morning.  It was rainy at the park but it was a bit colder at higher elevations so the mountains had snow.  Thought I would share a pic of a small bit a what I was seeing.  I can deal with viewing snow from afar.  🙂

This next week, I am taking training from 12 – 8 PM ET all week, so I don’t expect to get anything done on the property during the week other than to pickup the steel pipe and drop it at the property Tuesday morning.

I’m both hoping and looking forward to making substantial progress on getting the solar system installed next weekend.

That brings you up to date.  Next post will likely be Christmas day.

Wishing everyone safe and Happy Holidays.

Cary