Category Home Improvements

Before winter started I made myself a list of some small projects I wanted to get done while the temps were cooler and the property was dryer.  Unfortunately the weather this winter has been the most abnormal since I moved to Florida nearly 16 years ago with warm temps and way more precipitation than normal.   As a result I haven’t been doing that great at working the list, almost half of the items are still not crossed off.  Ironically on Saturday I decided I wanted to tackle a project that I forgot to put on the list but that needed to be done nonetheless.

The wooden ramp that I built after the 12′ x 20′ shed was installed some 13-14 years ago was in rough shape.  The years in the elements had really done a number on it with the wood starting to break down in various spots.  I actually had wanted to rebuild it for a couple years.  For whatever reason Saturday morning while I was weeding I made the mental commitment to do it, today.

When Cindy and I were out on errands we picked up the necessary lumber at Home Depot.  I was actually pleasantly surprised that the materials I needed for the job added up to less than $85.  On the way home we picked up Sadie for a weekend visit.  After eating lunch I began the project.

First up was removal of the old ramp.  At first I had a silly idea of actually taking the old ramp apart in an orderly fashion by unscrewing all of the boards.  That idea lasted all of 2 minutes.  Instead I used a post bar and sledge hammer to break loose the ramp from the shed and then flipped the old ramp out of the way more or less intact.

The original ramp was one of my very early construction projects at the house.  There were a number of design flaws.  The support beams underneath were only 2″x 4″s while the top surface of the ramp was heavy 2×6’s.  I also had gaps in between the top boards.  I think at the time the gaps were just a cost savings effort to use less lumber.  The end result of the gaps has been a somewhat hazardous walking surface as well as allowing space for weeds to grow in between the gaps. The new ramp used a reversed plan with 2×6’s for the supports with conventional decking up top, sans the gaps.  My many construction projects over the years have allowed me to learn from past mistakes.

Construction of the ramp took a good portion of the afternoon.  Cindy helped me during the decking stage of the build, using the pry bar to apply pressure to the planks to keep them as flush as possible to each other despite some minor bends in some of the boards.  Once the last board was screwed down Cindy put the first coat of waterproofing/stain on the surface to protect it. We were both very happy with the outcome.  The ramp looked good and felt rock solid.  Hopefully it will last well into the next decade.

On Saturday night we were beat and decided to just do movie night at home watching our latest Netflix DVD, The Walk.  It is a movie about the french guy that strung a wire across the world trade centers and walked back and forth for around 90 minutes back in the 70’s.  I actually saw the documentary about this amazing feat a few years ago.  I thought the movie did a good job of capturing the incredible and borderline insane bravery required for a man to walk a wire between the two tallest buildings in the world.  The visuals of the walk made Cindy and I turn away at times, it really felt like you were on the wire with him.  I thought it was a very solid B+ rental.

On Sunday neither Cindy or I said a single word about doing any endurance training.  My back and abs were both killing me from the ramp project plus the clocks jumping ahead made everything feel late already.  We made our second trip to Rural King of the weekend, probably an unnecessary one but we wanted to give Sadie a chance to walk around the store, something she really seems to enjoy.  When we got home we spent about an hour outside working before eating a late lunch.  For whatever reason after lunch we both just felt pooped.  We wound up crashing back in the bedroom for a couple hours half napping while some show on the DIY network about flipping junk houses in Texas was on tv.

The rest of the weekend expired without incident.  We started binge watching the latest season of House of Cards on Netflix.  That is a quality show in case you haven’t heard.

Over the weekend I finally released my lengthy blog entry regarding my drone incident at Yellowstone Park.  If you have some time to kill you may want to take a look at how the Yellowstone National Park Service likes to ruin park visitors holiday season through capricious, retroactive enforcement of poorly communicated park regulations via YouTube videos and calls on personal cell phones.

So when I walked in the door yesterday after work I did a double take.  During the day a back splash magically appeared in the kitchen.  Of course I knew Cindy had ordered the material to do it but I had no idea it showed up yesterday and no clue she put it up already.  I thought it looked really cool and the colors worked well with the counters and floor in the kitchen/great room.

Although it looks like a ceramic tile it is actually some sort of vinyl type material with self adhesive backing.  Cindy did a real nice job with the install, meshing together the sections smoothly in a way that looks professional.  The backsplash when combined with the Hue colored lighting we have under the cabinet was very cool as well.  The additional reflection of light just looks great.

I thanked Cindy repeatedly throughout the night for doing the work.  It was not the sort of surprise I expected on a Wednesday evening.

Yesterday I paid the fine and court cost portion of my drone violation online which added up to $285.  I now have to only cut an additional $500 check for my “community service payment” (aka shakedown money) to Yellowstone in order to fulfill the penalty requirements for my citation.  I have to admit that I did consider pulling a move that would make my dad smile, dumping $500 in loose pennies in a box and shipping them out to the park.  Look for my full drone violation blog entry soon.

I reupped my Tarpons arena football season tickets last night.  Even though the games are sort of a joke, Cindy and I do still enjoy getting out there.  It adds some variety to our entertainment schedule and it is how we first started going out in the first place.  I am still amazed they are actually doing another season.  The attendance numbers at the games make it seem like all the team does is bleed money.

I woke up on Saturday feeling marginally better than I had been feeling for most of last week.  I felt like I would push the envelope a little and head outside to get some stuff done in the yard.  At Home Depot we bought some sod and five bags of large white egg rock.  Both of these things were to address chicken collateral damage.

The chickens over the last couple weeks had once again dug out a number of large holes in the yard.  After back filling them I covered the holes as best I could with the sod pieces.  The egg rock was used to fill the small beds in front of the chicken run.  They used to have mulch and plants in them but the chickens quickly destroyed them.  After removing a good amount of the remaining dirt we laid down new weed block and filled the area with the stones.  The size and weight of the stones should make them less able to be kicked around, unlike the mulch and smaller rock the birds have scattered around property.  Cleaning up after the chickens is a full time job.

Cindy had seen there was a car show out at Ave Maria as part of some other event that was being hosted there.  She suggested we go check it out.  To be honest the idea didn’t thrill me, doing the outside labor had already tapped the majority of my depleted energy reserves.  Cindy however was very excited by the idea so we hopped in the SSR and cruised out there.  It was indeed a beautiful day for a drive.

I hadn’t been out to Ave Maria in a little while.  After being a monumental flop upon it’s launch in 2007, “Catholic Town” has seen a nice resurgence in growth along with the rest of the real estate market in our area.  There was a nice crowd of people at the event that featured a number of stands as well as a stage with live music.

There was a good variety of vehicles at the car show featuring the very old to the very new.  There was no doubt that my SSR would have been a worthy addition to the line up.  Cindy and I took our time checking out every vehicle.  Seeing the time, money, and effort put into these vehicles was worthy of admiration.

The cars were lined up on either side of the center of town.  In between checking out the sides we went inside the centerpiece of the town, the Ave Maria cathedral.  Of course I have seen the outside of the beautiful church many, many times but I never had an opportunity to step inside, something Cindy was very interested in doing as well.

The inside of the structure is indeed beautiful with the seemingly seamless lattice of support girders criss-crossing overhead.  It’s modern styling was quite the contrast to St. John of the Divine which we visited in NYC but still quite impressive in it’s own way.  Cindy said it took her breath away at first.  We took our time exploring the church, it was quiet and peaceful.

After seeing the rest of the vehicles we each grabbed a small ice cream and enjoyed it outside in one of the many available seating areas.  When we left I was glad that Cindy gave me the kick in the rear end to come out to Catholic Town, it was a nice way to spend an hour or two.

On Saturday night we finally got out to see Deadpool, a movie I have been wanting to see for quite awhile.  A combination of timing and illness had thwarted our previous plans to see it.  We decided to give Paragon theater another chance despite the unpleasant experience we had last time with the woman behind us that was a distraction pretty much the entire time.  Despite the luxury power reclining seats at Paragon there is a distinct disadvantage, the theaters are small.  The small size means that if you are unfortunate enough to have an inconsiderate asshole in the theater it is not very easy to minimize their impact by moving elsewhere since the amount of real estate is limited.  Luckily this time around we managed to avoid another rude incident.

The movie was great, the first R rated super hero movie I ever recall seeing.  It is action packed and hilarious pretty much from start to finish.  I don’t know if they could possibly find anybody more perfect for the role than Ryan Reynolds.  Now of course the R rating means you shouldn’t be hauling your 12 year old into the theater with you but as an adult super hero flick, Deadpool is just about perfect in my book, A+.

On Sunday morning I had a not so bright idea that Cindy and I should try to do a Dunkin Donuts ride on our bikes.  I did so with the disclaimer that we would do it with absolutely no concern for speed, just a desire to complete the 20 miles of distance.  I knew very early on it was going to be a struggle.  Despite having a good wind at our back early on, I was already feeling pooped after 3 miles only pedaling at 15-16 mph pace.  When we got to Dunkin Donuts  I was in absolutely no rush to get started again, milking my small coffee for as long as possible.

The ride back was in a word, brutal.  Even if I was 100% healthy it would have been hard with a near constant stiff headwind pushing back against every crank on the pedal.  With us both still feeling the side effects of illness it was just miserable.  I kept dropping gears as necessary and kept my head down, trying to not focus on just how far yet we had to go.  When we finally turned back onto our street there was no customary acceleration for the last 1/4 mile of road to the driveway, just the same labored cadence as we finally pulled into home.  When we got to the garage door even stepping off the bike seemed like too much work at first.   I just stood there with my elbows resting heavily on the handlebars while my head dropped.  Man that took a lot out of me.

The bike ride derailed most of my rough ideas for additional projects during the day.  Cindy and I spent an unusual amount of time just chilling out, both of us were just beat. I shaved my head once again, an attempt to symbolically cut the illness from my body.  Sunday night we watched my latest Netflix dvd, The Last Witch Hunter.  It was a very average film that was ok to kill a couple hours.  I’d give it a very middle of the road B.

I was quite surprised like most of the world to see that Nate Diaz submitted Connor McGregor in the second round of the UFC event Saturday night.  I have come to be a big fan of Connor’s despite his trash talking, a trait that normally turns me off very quickly.  There is something different about the way Connor delivers his trash.  Many times it is pretty obvious that the talk is all about creating discord within whomever his next opponent is.  His insults are normally creative and quite funny.  They also are delivered in a way that shows Connor’s intelligence.  Despite his often brash and abrasive exterior there is another part of him that is truly worthy of admiration and praise.

After the normal amount of trash talk leading up to the Diaz fight, Connor gave credit to Nate after the loss showing more class and respect than many people would expect.  It will be interesting to see how things go from here.  Up until Saturday night Connor had a Mike Tyson in his prime aura of invulnerability.  Now that he has his first UFC loss around his neck we will see if he is able to to keep his confidence and resume his track record of kicking ass and taking names.

Although I didn’t see a second of it, I read that last night’s republican debate was akin to a tag team wrestling match except it was a handicap match, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio versus Donald Trump.  First off, is my memory that bad or does there seem to be a TON more primary debates than normal?  This had to be number 7 or 8.  Perhaps before the 2016 political circus nobody paid much attention but it still seems like the debate frequency is definitely elevated, most likely due to the ad dollars they are commanding.

So anyway Cruz and Rubio mostly ignored the other candidates and spent most of the evening tearing into Trump, something that has been largely avoided until recently because the other candidates didn’t want to have to be part of the childish name calling that Trump so quickly falls back upon when any of his statements or actions are challenged. However with the momentum Donald has built “Crubio” had no choice but to start slinging the mud by the bucket.

Anyone that knows Trump from the last 25 years realizes for the most part he is playing the role of a republican candidate, he is not a true conservative at heart (a good thing).  His history of actions and words are jam packed with ammunition that could be fired back in his face and that is exactly what happened last night.  The few clips I saw from the debate had a lot of Trump being flustered with very little to fire back with except insults and vague statements.

In a way I feel bad for Trump.  I have enjoyed his public persona on shows like The Apprentice and his regular appearances on the Stern Show.  It’s that history that makes me know that Donald is now being forced to say and do some things he really does not believe in which is unfortunate.  Of course some of the stuff he has said has been incredibly racist, divisive, and downright Hitler-esque which is disappointing.  To me, I think Trump has bitten off more than he can or even wants to chew.  I think the seasoned GOP political sharks are going to be going into a feeding frenzy on Donald’s rear end very soon.

This weekend we have some pleasant cool temps to enjoy.  I am going to be hanging out at another local track meet to further familiarize myself with the process of high speed camera timing.  Cindy and I would also like to get out to see Deadpool.  I have heard rave reviews from a number of my friends.  I just hope we can do so without a heavy dose of inconsiderate assholes. The cool temps also make me feel like I need to work on knocking out other items on my winter to do list.  In another month or so the outside temps will once again be rising to uncomfortable levels.

On my way home from work I picked up Sadie for her second extend stay in as many weeks.   Cindy really loves when Sadie is around, she plays with her more than I do.  There are some drawbacks to Sadie visits like this morning when I got an early alarm clock not via sound but by smell.  Sadie had let out a fart that at first made me question if she took a dump in the closet.  Luckily she relieved herself outside when I pulled myself out of bed after the stench bomb was released.

Yesterday I posted a picture of the shirt I was wearing. The shirt is literally somewhere around 25 years old.  I bought it at an old men’s clothing chain called Structure that did business inside the good old Berkshire Mall.  Despite it’s more than two decades of service in my closet it is still in decent shape.

Cindy is decidedly not a fan of it’s now retro style, with it’s tight plaid pattern, accent sleeve piping and 6 button neck.  I think it is still pretty cool, despite it’s age.   I was surprised just how much reaction an old shirt generates on FB.  I have a number of “vintage” items in my closet.  I will never profess to be a person that is concerned with the latest and greatest fashion trends.  If I think something looks decent there is a good chance it will remain in my closet indefinitely.

Last night I watched the mouse once again try to get access to the chicken feeders, despite them being hung 6 feet above the ground overnight.  I watched the little bastard scale the hardware cloth and then climb along one of the wood supports to the chain that is attached to the feeders.  It actually got about half way down the chain before it chickened out (pun intended) and turned around.

So I went outside and snuck up on the chicken run. I tripped the motion detector floodlight in the run just in time to catch the mouse in the middle of another chain climb attempt.  Of course as soon as the mouse saw me it scrambled down and shot back under the deck to safety.  I told Cindy that I would prefer if we totally removed the food from the run at night so there is absolutely no reason for the mouse to remain.  It’s just a matter of where we would want to keep the feeders overnight.  Both of our sheds have had rodents in them at one time or another as well.  This weekend I will do a more thorough investigation around the coop to see if I can locate the extensive tunnel system the mouse is using to get in there.

When I got home yesterday I had several boxes waiting for me.  Five of them contained the safety cones I bought online from Walmart for a reasonable $5.50 a pop.  I now have enough cones to handle my needs around a finish line however if an event needs cones out on the course or for other reasons they are going to need to provide them.

I also got back a replacement for the flaky automatic coop door motor.  I could tell immediately that what I was sent was not a brand new unit but as long as it works that was what mattered.  I changed and went out to the coop to immediately install the motor, having to manually open and close the coop door has been a bit of a pain.  As I sat on a bucket reinstalling the unit I had an audience of several chickens, all hoping that somehow I was going to shoot treats out the top of my head, since that is what they most associate Cindy and I with.

After mounting the motor I did a number of test opens and closes so I could adjust the tabs on the motors that control the amount of movement.  I now have the door set up so it opens a couple inches higher than it used to which is helpful since the chickens are full grown, needing as much clearance as possible.  Last night and this morning the door closed and opened on schedule.

While I was out there I wanted to get a set of pull ups in.  I have been trying to do 1RM sets of pull ups after work most weeknights.  Last week I had worked my way up to 22 reps on my normal pull up bar.  I thought I would mix it up and do my set on the 11 foot high bar last night.  Doing reps on the high bar is more difficult.  First you have to climb the 1.5″ diameter galvanized pipe up to the cross bar.  Holding onto the fatter pipe makes repping tougher as well as I can’t wrap my thumb.  The creaking and groaning I heard from the structure while I was up there did not inspire confidence either.  I only managed 15 reps before I dropped back to terra firma.

My buddy at work turned me on to a documentary series on Showtime called, The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth.  It is a fascinating look at the the 2016 presidential primaries as the crew from a Bloomberg TV show follow around ALL of the candidates.  You get a true behind the scenes look. It will make you like some candidates more and some of them less.  Some may also find it disturbing seeing the fickle, lemming mentality that swirls around American politics.  Each episode is only 30 minutes long so it is easily digestible.   If you have Showtime I strongly recommend you check it out.

Friday night on my way home from work I went straight to a track meet at Palmetto Ridge to get some more exposure to the track timing scene.  I got a little more hands on training as I manually entered in the results from a few field events into the meet software.   There is another meet this Saturday that I might try to visit for a little bit.  I want to try to work the camera that is used for the track events.  Although the set up for timing track events is vastly different than what I am used to with chip timing, it isn’t necessarily hard.  Once you are familiar with the hardware/software, the skill set is pretty much the same as what I have already been doing for nearly 10 years.

Saturday morning Cindy and I had our first official 5K as Green Machine Timing.  Technically the event was only renting our inflatable finish line arch but I brought most of my other stuff as well including tent, table, chairs and my race clock.  The event was also held at Palmetto Ridge High School which is only around 4 miles from our house which was very convenient. The event did not start until 8:30 so we set the alarm clock for the same time it fires off during the work week so it wasn’t nearly as painful as race mornings used to be.

We got there around 7:15, we didn’t need that much set up time since all we HAD to do was set up the arch.  I was unsure of what I would have near the finish line to tie the arch to so I brought weights consisting of two 35 pound dumbbells and two 45 pound olympic plates.  I was glad I had them since we were too far away to tie onto anything else.  After some minor adjustments we got the arch set up and anchored down within 15 minutes or so.  Ironically the colors of my arch were an exact match for the school colors which was very cool.  Some volunteers further decorated the arch with some color coordinated balloons that they hung across it.

We set up my GMT tent, table and some chairs so we had a spot to hang during the event.  Although I was not being paid to actually time the race I had configured the race on my computer as a manually timed event.  I knew participation was going to be on the small side so I thought I would try to manually time it just for fun.

When I asked the race director if they wanted to rent my race clock he declined because he didn’t want the extra expense.  He said one of the local middle schools had a race clock they were going to use and the track coach from the school was also going to do the manual timing.  Well when I saw the clock they had, which was the size of a shoe box, I told them they could just use my clock, regardless if they paid for it.  Once we had everything set up at the finish line we took a few pictures.  Despite the relative shoe string budget I used accumulating my race equipment it all looked pretty solid in real world conditions.

We had time to spare so we walked to the start line to see where it was located.  This course was unique as a large portion of it is run on the school’s cross country course, a rare opportunity for adult runners.  We returned to the start line with my stopwatch in hand for the start of the race.  Since the event was a fundraiser for the band a lot of band members were playing music, adding more uniqueness to the race.  They band performed a strong rendition of the Star Spangled Banner and the race began.

Cindy and I hustled back to the finish line and waited for the first runner to show.  The band was also at the finish line inside the football stadium, playing in the runners which I am sure was cool for them.  As runners came across Cindy helped me spot their bib numbers so I could record a finish time for them.  I had no bib number to name cross reference since I wasn’t involved in the registration so the number was all I had but at least it was something.

The race had less than 100 participants with the last finisher crossing a little short of the 60 minute mark.  In addition to the 5K they ran a couple events for kids, a 1/4 mile dash for the little kids and a 1/2 mile for the middle school aged kids.  I had my GoPro running the entire time to capture all the finishers.  Even though the event and the dollars I charged for it were small, it was cool participating in the race.  The GMT arch definitely added something significant to the race, giving runners a more professional visual as they finished.

Once the last kids event finished Cindy and I started the tear down process.  When the arch was down Cindy showed me something very aggravating.  One of the tether points on the new section of the arch was almost completely torn loose.  It was bizarre, it almost looked like the strapping the metal loop was secured by was cut.   Luckily Cindy has some pretty strong sewing skills so she should be able to fix the anchor but I was still very annoyed.  I emailed a picture of the bad tether anchor to the place I paid to refurbish the arch.  I am curious if they will offer me anything as compensation or just a shoulder shrug.

When we got home Cindy attended to the cleaning the chicken coop as I worked on ripping the finish line video and posting unconventional results that included only runner bib numbers and not names.  Mid-afternoon we decided to do a Rural King run.  I discovered that Rural King officially allows dogs in their stores, something that I should have realized previously since we have seen a couple dogs inside before.  It meant Sadie had a new adventure in front of her. Sadie was very excited walking the aisles of the store, sniffing endless objects.  After we grabbed the few items we needed we headed back home for the night. I did squeeze out a bit more productivity late in the day, heading outside around 5PM to mow the back part of the yard.  I got finished up just around the time the chickens were heading into the coop for bed.

Sunday morning we started it off with roughly a 5K around the local track.  I didn’t feel great or horrible during the run but I did enjoy when we stopped running.  The weather on Sunday was quite pleasant.  The day was a mix of some work and some relaxation which is what most Sundays should be in my book.  The front door on the house was open most of the day, allowing clean, cool air to flow through the interior.  It was a great day.

I forgot to relay an IT problem and resolution from last week which was yet another example of the simple answer being the solution to what seems like a complex problem.  I was trying to install Windows Server 2012 R2 on a new high power server.  The server has massive drive space which requires GPT partitioning instead of MBR which only supports 2TB partions.   I literally spent the better part of two days trying to make this happen.

I had never integrated a server with this much internal drive space (20TB) so I learned several things along the way.  To use GPT you have to boot in UEFI mode which again is something new to me.  Well after working through some confusion on how I was going to do this since the server had no built in dvd drive I would up using a USB dvd drive I had from home.  I was able to initiate the Windows install routine from my installation dvd but shortly into the process I would get a prompt that it needed a driver to continue.  Well my assumption was it meant it was looking for the RAID controller driver to access the massive hard drive set.  I located and downloaded the drivers to provide the install routine but it balked at them.  No matter how I tried to get into the install routine I kept getting stuck at the same point.

So I finally decided to contact Dell support after exhausting various suggestions I found online.  After explaining what I had done so far the tech really wasn’t sure why it wasn’t working.  He had me duplicate my steps while he was on the phone and verified what I did should work and not be asking for additional drivers.  He had me do some shotgun type things like reloading the bios software and even reburning the Windows installation media.  None of it worked.

So after the tech was about at the end of his rope I decided to try something.  I had a much older USB dvd reader/writer on a shelf.  I hooked it up to the server and again tried the install routine.  It worked with no errors. Evidently the driver the software was asking for was for the newer DVD drive I was using, not the RAID controller.  What doesn’t make sense is by the time it asked for the driver the server had already booted to the install DVD on the newer dvd drive.  Why it would be asking for a driver for it once the install routine already started made no sense.  Oh well, both myself and the tech were thankful that I stumbled across a resolution for the issue.  It is one of the countless examples I have had in my IT career where a long drawn out problem winds up having a really simple resolution.

So when I woke up yesterday I had a loose plan to do a couple things around the house but hopefully spend a good portion of the day just chilling out.  Unlike Saturday and Sunday, which had fantastic weather, it was overcast with threatening skies most of the day.

Late in the morning for some reason I got the idea in my head that I should be pressure washing.  Cindy had plans to pressure wash the sheds for a little while but it really isn’t the kind of work she should be doing with the chronic hand/arm pain she has.  Pressure washing is tough on me, it is brutal for her.

I decided to try using our newer, smaller, 1500 PSI electric pressure washer.  We bought this for Cindy awhile ago as it is much easier to manage than the big 3000 PSI gas washer I also have.  I was worried that perhaps it would not have the power to blast off the scuzz but it turned out to be surprisingly capable.  Plus the small size and not having to worry about dumping gas into the unit was a nice bonus.

As is often the case, pressure washing leads to more pressure washing, in total I was out there for around 5 hours.  Evidently the last time I washed the sheds I must have skipped doing the roof of the larger shed.  My prior laziness resulted in an incredibly gross clean up up top where the panels were covered with various shades of green and black.

The marathon session of course left my forearms worn out but also my lower back aching from the dangerous, hunched over position I had to utilize to hit the edges of the roof while still standing on top of it.  The coop also got it’s first blasting since we erected it.  The pvc seems to be more resistant to scuzz as only a few spots really needed attention.

So I have mentioned several times how this winter the weather has been the most shitty and abnormal since I moved to Florida back in 2000.  Specifically, the precipitation is out of control.  More than once this winter we have had enough rain to cause horrible standing water.  Normally winters are cool and dry for weeks on end.  Well last night another chapter in the shitty 2016 winter weather book was written.

Cindy and I were awakened this morning around 4:00 am by severe lightning and thunder followed by torrential rain that sounded like someone was continuously dumping water on the roof from a massive bucket.  The rain continued right up until the time the alarm went off a little before 6AM.  As some light started to show up on the property it revealed that once again a good portion of the front and back yard is now under water.  Local news reported as much as an inch and a half of rain, I think they are low.  I bet we got at least a couple inches of rain in those couple hours based on the pool level and the water in the yard.

Cindy shares my frustration with this wet winter weather.  It seems pointless to get pissed off at Mother Nature but that is exactly the emotion that comes to the top of the pile.

Yesterday I called my dad, returning a call he made a couple days prior that I forgot about.  As usual we talked about various subjects, one of which included a very aggravating situation I have been dealing with where there are layers upon layers of bullshit involved.  Dad has a long and not so glorious history of bucking the system and fighting various situations where he felt he has been wronged.   Sometimes he has been successful in his cause and other times he was just successful in pissing a lot of people off, which he also considers a win.  Well in my case there is absolutely zero doubt I am being wronged.

After talking to dad on the phone for quite awhile it got me all fired up and reignited the anger I have had bubbling for going on two months about the situation.  Well that anger and frustration carried on through the night and kept me awake until after 1:15 AM where I finally forced myself to sleep after reading a book for awhile to redirect my mind.  I have a decision to make regarding this with two distinctly different mindsets.  Once choice is basically rolling over and allowing common sense  to be thrown out the window in exchange for a known quantity of result. The second choice has a much wider range of outcomes varying from better to worse but involves identifying a spade as a spade and possibly exposing myself to additional risk.  Last night I was definitely all about the latter option.  I still have some time to decide what ultimately makes more sense in the big picture.  Either way, I very much look forward to sharing full details sometime in the future.  It’s a real diamond.

So in addition to the problems with the chicken coop door we still have had problems with mice in the chicken run at night.  We spotted them on the security dvr the other night and I saw them again last night.  We started pulling the two feeders way up in the air at night, removing the food source for the mice which I would hope would convince them to move on to a new area.  On the camera last night I saw the mice looking for the food and being frustrated that it is no longer easily accessible.

So this morning I woke up and checked the dvr to see if the chicken door worked.  It did not, apparently once again falling prey to the cold temperatures.  However when I cheeked the live feed three of the four cameras were not showing video, odd.  I said to Cindy that maybe for some reason the cold temps were affecting the cameras.

So I went out to the coop with my volt meter to measure power output to the motor that runs the chicken door.  When we opened the door to the coop we immediately noticed debris inside the front door by the small holes in the flooring, something that should not be there.  At just about the same time Cindy and I realized it was from a mouse.

We quickly put together what happened.  Since there was no food accessible out in the run, at least one of the mice worked it’s way inside the coop before the door automatically closes at 8PM.  It apparently was inside when the door closed, trapping it. So the debris was from the mouse looking for an exit point.  Of course it could not dig through half inch treated plywood so I assume the mouse was still in the coop hiding in some corner which of course freaked Cindy out.

Well as Cindy was cleaning up some of the mess she saw additional debris in the front corner.  She pulled away the stuff that was stacked there and discovered the source of my camera problem.  In that corner is a 1 inch hole where the wires for the cameras and the ethernet cable enter the coop.  The hole was plugged with a bunch of foam pipe insulation, or used to be.  Not only did the mouse chew away the foam, that little fcker chewed through all three wires for the dvr cameras that are outside, disabling them.  It just got personal.

In addition to destroying the camera wires he also munched on the casing of the ethernet cable.  Luckily it appears he did not get far enough to break that connection.  If he did my anger would be multiplied many times over as replacing that cable is more expensive and labor intensive.  As is I am hoping to be able to splice the camera wires back together and then cap that hole with something more teeth resistant.

This weekend is the first running club chip timed event in more that eight years that will take place without my involvement whatsoever.  Cindy and I are both looking forward to not setting the alarm clock and waking up when our bodies tell us instead of a buzzer.  It will be interesting to see how things turn out with the race.

This weekend I will have some timing related items on my schedule.  I am going to be heading down to a track meet that Chris is timing for an hour or so to get some familiarity with the camera based timing system that is used for track meets.  There is the possibility that I may help him occasionally with these events so I need to get some face time with the equipment.

Saturday night Cindy and I are doing a dinner/movie combo as a belated celebration of my retirement from club race timing.  We haven’t been to the movies in eons, partly because of scheduling partly because of a desire to save a few bucks due to the strong flow of dollars leaving my bank account the last few months.

One of the pieces of tech we have in the chicken coop is an automatic chicken door that opens and closes on a timer, keeping the chickens safe at night.  Over the last few weeks we have had a couple instances where the door did not open in the morning.  When I would test the motor in the morning it appeared to be dead however later in the day it would start working again.

Well this morning the door was once again stuck closed and I finally recognized a common theme to the problem, it happens when it is cold.  This morning at the house it was a chilly 42 degrees.  The other days we have had a problem it was also on the chilly side.  My assumption is there is a marginal connection inside the motor unit that breaks contact when the temperature drops below a certain point.

Unfortunately this is not a quick or easy fix. The motor should be under warranty still but the fact that the problem is intermittent could make getting it replaced touchy.  It is a long process as well where I have to remove the motor, ship it to the guy at automaticchickencoopdoor.com, hope he sees the problem, and then wait for a new motor to be shipped back to me so I can reinstall it.

Cindy and I watched the second episode in the OJ series.  We seem to be finding out a lot of information that was not widely known to the public.  For instance last night it was revealed that the famous white Ford Bronco that lead LA police for an endless low speed chase was actually not OJ’s.  Yes OJ owned a white Ford Bronco but that was impounded before the chase began.  AJ Cowling, OJ’s friend and driver of the vehicle during the chase evidently owned his own white Ford Bronco that was pretty much identical to OJ’s.  That was the vehicle millions of people watched some 22 years ago.  It also appears at one point Robert Kardashian told OJ’s family that he killed himself which obviously was not the case, fascinating.