I am still having water problems in the back yard. I just hope it doesn't undermine the slab or cause anything to shift. This was from the big storm right before I left for Christmas.
The northeast was drowning. This is normally a field, not a lake.
I did get some nice sunset pictures on my way to KY for the holidays.
The big project for me when I was down there was to get the cap taken off and disassembled. I mentioned this in the after trip post, but while I am not giving up on having a cap with a camper built inside the back of the truck, this cap implementation was not something I wanted to carry forward. I used the wood and stuff from it to start framing in the back wall of my dad's carport/boat shed, though I didn't quite get it finished before I left, it rained the last several days I was there.
Removing the cap made a huge difference to my gas mileage; I just barely averaged 20mpg on the way down; I typically get a little better than that, and on the trip down I was running under the speed limit most of the trip (remember that I averaged 18-19mpg on the Utah trip). I also didn't realize just how noisy the cap was. After removing the cap, my gas mileage shot back up, despite the fact that I was running faster, and the volume on my radio was a lot lower.
Not too much else happened while I was down there. I helped Dad pull out some fencing wire, made some fudge, got my sisters new puppy all riled up.
I also replaced my sister's computer with a new mini-PC (the gray box under the right side of the monitor). She was still running an ancient PC that I built back when I was in college. It wasn't a terribly high end machine then either. So I got that set up, and I set up the NAS I brought down a couple of trips ago.
My dad finally finished getting the solar panel set up for the batteries I gave him. It isn't in a good spot, but even if it only gets one hour of sun a day, it will be more than enough to keep the batteries charged; they only run an LED light.
I stopped at Aunt and Uncle's on the way home, spent a couple of days there before heading home. The Christmas trip was 2055 miles.
One of the things I brought home was the 4-wheeler. I plan to use it to help me do some clearing next year, and put in some trails on my property. It was surprisingly difficult to get out of the truck (mud tires don't do so good on a wet plastic bedliner), but I got it out, rode it around for a bit. I had to squeeze things a bit tighter in the carport to get it to fit, but it is in there.
Got some good stuff for Christmas, some new large towels for the hot tub, one of those pin sockets. I also got a new thermometer, which I pulled out and set up when I got home. The screen on the new one is actually broken, but it isn't in an area that impacts its usage. They seem to read about the same.
I went shopping last night (I went new years day, but surprisingly everything was closed) and got the cut off wheel I need to finish shortening the PTO shaft for the tractor. Got home, and went to fire up the light in the carport, and the whole circuit is dead; the GFCI is in constant trip mode. I removed the cord for the carport, and it stays on. So I will need to figure out what happened there; I obviously need power to run the grinder. There weren't any issues with that extension cord when I ran it, maybe something chewed on it while I was away or something.
Winter is pretty much here, we have had multiple nights in the teens bordering on single digits since I got home. The winter storms courtesy of the breaking polar vortex are supposed to start this weekend. I really want to get the tractor finished up before they come. I know how miserable it is clearing with the walk behind, that is why I bought the tractor snowblower. The next storm is middle of next week, and it looks like a bigger one (8-12" if it goes to snow). Right now they are undecided if it will be rain or snow.
Current To-do:
- ASAP
- Shorten PTO shaft for snowblower
Final mowing of leaves?- Winterize equipment
- Winter projects:
- All the cabinet upgrades (bathroom, pantry, and kitchen)
- Design deck
- Build armoire.
- Install whole house filter.
- Shelving upgrades in master closet.
- Access panel upgrades in master closet
Install cube organizer in living room.- 2024 Projects:
- Back yard drainage. Complete Mortgage.
- Insulate the water lines
- Take scrap metal to Buffum
- Close up tiny home. Seal up plumbing.
- Deck
- Entertainment center
- Storm doors
No comments:
Post a Comment