Can’t let it go, better dirty
I got home from work a little early last night and got busy. I did light wet sanding on a couple of the spots I applied touch up paint to on the 99 Tacoma to smooth things out. The quality of work is below average at best but at least those areas no longer scream “HEY LOOK AT ME” and instead blend into the rest of the truck from a distance.
I also have yet ANOTHER thing to address on the Tacoma before officially listing it for sale. Over the weekend the check engine light came on. When I checked it with my code reader the MAF (mass air flow) sensor came back as the most likely cause, something I have replaced 2-3 times over the trucks lifetime. It’s easy to replace and not horribly expensive but I can not believe the run of bad luck I have had with repairs on the truck just as I am ready to sell it.
When I think back through the sequence of events, everything that went wrong has happened since I thoroughly blasted the engine bay with de-greaser and a garden hose. I can’t help but think that all of these problems could have been avoided if I just left the engine bay dirty. I know I have said it before but hopefully THIS is the last thing I have to do before selling the truck.
I spent a lot of time out in the coop trying to get my new WeMo switch working with the chicken coop door. For whatever reason it just does not want to work despite my repeated attempts to reconfigure it. The switch appears to go through the set up procedure cleanly but when I try to access it from my phone it just drops off the list of devices.
My situation is a bit more complex than the typical Wemo scenario where all the smart switches will be talking to the same wi-fi network. I have a secondary wi-fi network in the coop which I need the switch to attach to. However depending on the conditions, sometimes the wifi from inside the house is visible in the coop which can cause issues. I have another WeMo switch in the coop already that has been controlling the light for months so I’m not sure why this one is being such a pain in the ass.
I also got inspired last night to try to run the security DVR cable to the front and back corners of the attic. I put on my jeans, long shirt and paper face mask to crawl into the very hot attic. Once I got up there I surveyed what would be required to get to each mounting point and it was ugly, very ugly. The mounting point at the front of the house looked pretty much impossible for a human being to navigate. The front office has a vaulted ceiling which is where the cable would need to go across. There just is no space and would almost surely result in some part of my body punching through the ceiling.
The spot at the back corner of the house had more space but was just as treacherous. The roughly 30 feet I would have to travel is buried in a couple feet of blow in insulation. What exactly is hidden below that insulation is unknown but likely includes electrical and other wiring which could be hazardous. Never mind trying to crawl in a way that keeps all of your weight on the roof trusses and off the drywall. I just sat up there for a few moments and looked at both spots, weighing the misery and potential disaster that awaited versus the benefit of having two additional security cameras on the property. I gave up, telling Cindy it was just too much hassle. I exited the attic, dejected.
When I bought the security dvr system I justified it’s purchase not only as a race timing safety net but also as a surveillance system for the house. For whatever reason not fulfilling the second part of that plan bothered me. I put everything away that needed to be moved to get into the attic away, feeling like a failure the entire time.
Even though I proclaimed “no mas” the gears in my head were still turning. This morning on my way back from the dentist I stopped in at Home Depot and bought a 100 foot fiberglass snake. My hope is to reverse the game plan, poking in the snake from the outside and navigating it to a reachable spot where I could attach the wires and pull it back out. In theory it should work. We will see how that translates to reality.