Busy weekend.

Thursday I went and got the last load of gravel.  Like last time I got to watch the sun set through the trees as I unloaded it.  We are at the point of the year where I don't have daylight when I get home.  

This whole load went into the driveway.  It isn't enough, but will do until spring when I can get a dump truck delivered.

My hiking poles and stuff for the trip came in.  My old ones were among the mold casualties.  To get free shipping, I also added a cube storage thing.  It looks like it will match the wallpaper in the house.  

I plan to put it here to empty out those totes.  That will be a winter project though.

I took Friday off, and slept in.  I was a bit behind on sleep.  I mostly did trip stuff on Friday, and returned the steps, stuff like that.  I went and rearranged the stuff in the carport so it all fit better too, though I didn't snag a picture.  I did some other errands too, like drop off my dress clothes for dry cleaning.  I also tore up and fixed my driveway trying to drive up to the shed.  At least I know my truck has a locking diff now.

While I was moving stuff around, one of my pairs of jeans had a fatality.  I needed all them to survive for the trip though, so I also went and had to pick up another pair.

I also went and got all the information for the e-bike warranty.  They claim they are going to send me a new wheel (with a new hub motor).  We shall see, but at this point I probably won't be able to test it until spring.  They had me disassemble the wiring and look at it.  It looked fine.  

I also got my stuff out of the tiny home that I will need for the trip. 

I started to look at the trench in the back in the afternoon.  I got the bit dug for the downspout for the gutters I don't have yet.  

I checked to see whether I had enough drop.  Turns out I had too much.  Way too much.  While that isn't a problem for water flowing, it means to maintain drop all the way to the end I would have to bury the far end of the pipe many many feet deep.  I started to fill it in, but didn't get very far.

One last thing I did during a break from digging on the trench is that I got the back of the truck raked out.  I bought this little rake to rake rocks out of the yard since the bo rake doesn't do grass well.  It works well at cleaning out the back of the truck though.  Very well actually.  

I parked the truck on the hill to let the rain try to clean it off a bit.  

Since I was tired of digging, I also went and clipped all the branches and small trees up here.  They were constantly whacking the truck since I have to pull up here to back into the parking spot.  

Saturday was wedding day.  And wet.  The drainage ditch was already filling up.  

On the plus side, the rain took a lot of the dirt out of the back of the truck.  

I finished up my meal prep in the morning when the rain started back up.  All that is left on the food front now is the fresh vegetables, which I will pick up later in the week.

The pumpkin festival in Keene was also on Saturday, so I walked around a bit on the way to the wedding.

I won a potato at the wedding.  There was a game of hot potato at the reception, and I came in second place.  First place got the decorations on the table.  

I think I prefer the potato.  It was tasty Sunday morning.  

After cooking breakfast, I also loaded up the ridge and freezer.  I am definitely at the limit for freezer space.  

There is still a little space in the fridge though.

The big items for Sunday were the snowblowers.  I got the oil changed in the walk behind.  I have no idea what makes oil look like that.  

There was oil in it too thankfully.

When it was all done, it actually looks kind of neat.  Not great to be running in an engine, but still looks neat.

I kind of wonder if they intentionally made everything difficult to do.  The drain plug would have been much easier to remove if the pipe were another 2 inches longer, and they intentionally buried the oil fill into the corner of the gas tank.

I was a little surprised that the bar had grease fittings, so I went to grease it.  The first one must have given up in shock since the fitting came out.  

It looked like a pound in type, so I beat it back in.  

The other one still had manufacturer paint on it.  They had clearly never been used.  I also replaced the D clips with real shear pins.

I got the skids adjusted, and the walk behind is ready to go.  

Next up was the big snowblower.  I got it all greased up, oiled the chain, and so on.  It was probably done at the factory, but I figured it wouldn't hurt.  

I tried to get my grease gun into this gearbox, but it didn't fit.  I squirted some motorcycle chain oil in there instead.  

I still haven't found my old diesel additive, but thankfully I picked up a new bottle while I was at tractor supply.  I really need to find all that stuff.

I also got the cutting edge reversed, which you are supposed to do for gravel driveways.  This is a really beefy cutting edge.

After that was done, I did more trip prep.  The toolbox is now setup.  

I also got the laundry set up.  The plan is that when I stop, I only need to bring in the red bag and my backpack, and possibly a small bag for food.  The red bag has two weeks of clothes, along with my hiking stuff and coats and whatnot.

I also got most of the hotels booked, all the way to Zion.  I really shouldn't have waited this long to do that, I had to redo the hotel search for most of the stops.

I also went to the car wash, and got the truck cleaned out.  After the rain, it went pretty quickly.  

I also enjoyed the hot tub for the last time this year.  I noticed when I opened it up that the rain had partially refilled the tub.  So much for the lid.  If I weren't taking it down, I probably would have rebalanced it.  I might build a new lid for it next year.

I brought out a brush to try to scrub some of the discoloration out.  I didn't get very far.

Final tally for power is 238kWh (which comes out to $57.12 of power).  For 22 days of fall weather, that isn't bad.  A touch higher than I was hoping for, but not unreasonable.  Not considering that it has been cold enough after the first week that I have been running the heat in the house.

After I was done lounging in it last night, I pulled the drain.  It drains pretty slowly, but considering I am dumping 250 gallons, probably not a bad thing.  

While I was waiting for it to drain, I replaced the wipers on my truck.  That was something that I definitely wanted to do before the trip.  

I also started pulling together all the other stuff I am bringing on the trip.  

A lot of the things needed to charge.

It was still draining when I went to bed.  

There was still water in the bottom this morning, but I think I will need to tip it to get that out.  I will do that tonight.

Despite the wedding, I got a lot of things checked off.  I think for the ditch in the back, I might just fill it in with the tractor and eat the loss on the excavator and deal with it next week.

Current To-do:

• Trip:
• Make sure my formal clothes can be found and still fit.
• Drain hot tub and pack it away.
• Hook up snowblower to tractor
• Do something with ditch in back
• Go to Tractor Supply and finish out the mortgage.
• Dump run
• Turn off Synology
• Turn on furnace/heat
• Pack clothes (26 days).  Buy clothes if needed.
• Pack everything else.
• Pack food.
• Clean out truck
• Wash out bed
• Put cap on truck
• Build back window for cap
• Install basics, like lighting and window locks in cap.
• Test cap.  Make sure it doesn't go explody at 80mph
• Test wiring for Jackery and fridge.
• Load truck.
• Print out directions
• Finish making hotel reservations
• Set up GoPro control from my new phone.
• Get haircut
• Empty portable toilet.

• Before winter:
• Move carport
• Fix carport
• Final grade - get gravel and drainage pipe.
• Buy a real bed and living room furniture.
• Get a gun cabinet/safe.
• Fix driveway.
• Install drainage in the backyard.  
• Remove the backflush hose.
• Get heat pump installed.
• Get a snowblower for the tractor.
• Build a platform for the steps.
• Insulate the water lines
• Have Barry come chop up the logs?
• Take scrap metal to Buffum
• Clean out and take down portable garage.
• Remove the tow straps embedded in the carport.
• Drain hoses and put away for winter.
• Get rid of those steps for the hot tub.  
• Close up tiny home.
• Install driveway markers.
• Final mowing of leaves. 
• Winterize equipment
• Winter projects: 
• All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
• Design deck
• Build armoire
• Build dresser
• Install whole house filter
• Shelving upgrades in master closet.
• Access panel upgrades in master closet
• Install cube organizer in living room
• 2024 Projects:
• Deck
• Entertainment center
• Storm doors