Evidence

This isn't construction related (we just got another several inches of snow) but since no one believed me, the hair is gone, and here is the evidence and the new/old look, it is the same as it was before I grew it out:


Here is the rest of the old hair.


No more of it getting caught in anything, getting gouped up with pine pitch, etc.

Mid winter defrost complete

I went up to the property to pick up some tools, and encountered fog.  A lot of fog.  It wasn't too bad up at the property, but on the roads in the valley leading up to the property were borderline terrifying.  I went the back way in since it has been warm and raining, so the road shouldn't have been terrible, but holy fog batman.  It was so thick I was literally driving with my head out the window, on the wrong side of the road so that I could see the edge of the pavement and snowbank junction, since I literally could not see pavement in front of my car.  To boot, I took a longer but main road route back, and as soon as I got to the main road, it was blocked off, closed, for what appeared to be a wreck.  So I had to go down the scary road again.  Just to give you reference, the road is more windy than county rte 49, at most as wide, and the hill is steeper than the route 29 Schuylerville hill, and the road has no lines on it.  So what is normally a half hour drive both ways took me over an hour.  

I didn't get any pictures of the fog on the road as my attention was not on my camera, but I got a video of it at the property.

I decided to use this excursion as a test for my new headlight.  It was brighter than I expected.  These pictures were taken without flash at 10PM, and I didn't have to crank the ISO on the camera either.  These were taken at ISO400 which is what I normally use for indoor pictures.




The headlamp is better for taking night fog pictures too.  This is what it looks like with the flash on.




My car made it all the way up the hill, there is only a little bit of ice left in the driveway, and it is near the bottom in one of the flatter areas.
The area up by the slab is clear.  This was taken with only the headlamp on, no flash.


I attempted to take pictures of the ice area, but it doesn't look like it worked out too well...  It is in the washed out blob in the middle.


The creek is right up to the top.




This is the headlamp.  It was a cheapy from Amazon.  I meant to grab one of dad's while I was down there for Christmas, but forgot.  For the 13 bucks I spent on it, I am happy.  It is only 165 lumen, but the brighter ones were more expensive, and it is plenty bright enough to snowblow with.  Last time I snowblowed at night all I had was one of those free Harbor Freight LED flashlights, and this is a massive upgrade.  It only has a few angle settings, but they seemed to cover all the angles that matter.  My only real complaint is that with long hair, the band kept sliding around.  I didn't have it particularly tight, but this is a common problem I have with hats and whatnot as well.


It also turns out I am heading back to France on the 21st for a week.  Our flights were booked today.

Collecting Goodies

The past couple of weeks I have been busy collecting goodies and parts for my various projects.  I now have the major components that I need for the mixing valve, and have started writing the software.  You can see the mixing valve (two blue screw on connectors), and right below it is an isolated relay module, which I need to drive the relays.  I still need a power supply, but that is minor work that can be done after the system is functional.  To the left is a milk crate that I picked up off the free table at work.  On the right I have a headlamp (400 lumens, not amazing but more than sufficient for snowblowing), a USB battery, and a set of knee pads.  While nothing ever got whacked, there were many times building the shed that I wished that I had knee pads. The free USB charger came courtesy of Anker, who sent me one after I told them their product was junk and not even remotely close to its claimed capabilities (this was the jump starter I purchased that wouldn't start the lawn mower).  While I have a nicer one from Monoprice, it was nice that they sent me something to pacify me, it isn't something you see too often.


I also have some installed pictures from the AC cover.  These were taken before the latest round of storms, but it held up well.  Apparently the fiberglass sheds snow very very well, which is good to hear.  So far there aren't any obvious defects in the fiberglass.  Everything that was desired it has met, though it is a bit overbuilt, and the top was a bit heavy.  But it is strong enough that I can sit on it (which I tested).




I haven't started on the entertainment center yet, but I have started looking at linear actuators for the platform.  I found a nice set online at: https://www.tampamotions.com/collections/linear-actuators-1/products/1-heavy-linear-actuator-5mm-s-350lbs-lift-12v-12?variant=17802715845  but I don't know anything about the company nor have I calculated just how much it will actually have to lift.