A Solid Start
Friday night I resumed my 10 mile bike ride after work after a one week hiatus. I had a pretty solid singles pickleball match at work during lunch so my legs were a little tired already. Pickle ball, especially singles really gets you moving.
Saturday morning Elsa again was excited to jump on the bed in the middle of my stripping it. It’s a very cute annoyance. In the morning it was hot and humid however in the span of an hour or two the temperature dropped almost 25 degrees as what is likely the last serious cold front of the year rolled in. The cooler temperatures made working on some chores easier.
I did have one list item “fix solar” become stupidly easy to complete. A week ago I noticed I was no longer receiving power from the two 160 watt panels in the chicken yard. I determined the solar generator they are plugged into was still working fine. I figured I was going to have an aggravating session with my volt meter, trying to find the break in the power chain.
Well while I was cleaning the coop I decided to take a closer look at the small adapter that connects the outside wires to the correct plug for the generator. After a closer look I realized one of these connectors was not fully seated. After pushing it back together power was once again flowing. In that moment I knew exactly what happened. Over a month ago I had something on the shelf fall off. When it did it hit the solar wires which come in through the window. However everything still worked fine. Evidently that impact must of dislodged one of those connectors but not enough to break connection. Over time it must have slid just enough to break the circuit. I was very glad to find such a quick and easy fix for that list item.
On Saturday I also tackled cleaning up several piles of stuff that had been in the garage, the side of the house and the pool deck for over 6 months. This is stuff that Cindy eventually will take, hopefully, whenever her living situation is finalized however I was tired of looking at it each and every day. It was like a little jabbing daily visual reminder of what no longer was, so I finally eliminated it. Things are now stored out of sight and I much prefer it this way.
Sunday morning was quite chilly with temps in the lower 40’s at the house. Elsa and Sadie seemed to enjoy the coolness. Sadie just sat out in the yard for prolonged periods of time. I knocked out a couple more to do’s during the day including repurposing some castle stones. When the chickens were free ranging the entire yard one of the annoying things they would do is dig in the mulch by the pool cage, kicking mulch out everywhere. I made two changes to address this, filling that spot with rubber mulch which flew less and adding a second row of castle stones to make a higher barrier.
It was a huge expense and physical effort to do this, which now is wasted effort, a recurring theme in my life. So anyway I have been taking the second layer of castle stones and repurposing them in spots that make more sense. I already added some to one of the front palm tree islands. Yesterday I added a layer to the bird of paradise circle. The castle stones that were there were already buried from erosion. The second layer now gives it a much more defined look which I like. I still have a number of castle stones remaining. I was thinking about building a firepit structure with them but I fear it could turn out to be more wasted effort, after all who wants to sit around a fire pit themselves?
During the day I also shot a video regarding an update on the coop solar system, a request I got from one of my subscribers.
The other list item I knocked out was cleaning the freezer, something I am unsure if it was ever done. I pulled out everything, throwing out old items or food I will never prepare myself. I then brought in the shopvac to suck out all of the debris in the bottom and followed with wiping out the remains. There was a section that had some sort of disgusting goo which I believe is from a leaking freeze pack. It took awhile to get it looking decent but the end result was nice, a clean, organized space.
I took Sadie back to Ali and Shugg’s place last night, they were away for another of their extended weekends, this time in the Kentucky area. They love to just fly to random spots, rent a car and explore. I told them it sounds just like the road trip mentality that I enjoy, just flying to the spot first. It sounded like they had a good time, even with getting several inches of snow at one point. I didn’t get back to the house until around 9PM.
The last two nights I have had an issue getting quality sleep. I’m not sure of the root cause but my brain will start going on tangents I wish it would refrain from. I just want to close my eyes and wake up the next morning to blue skies and sunny dispositions. I will likely try to polish off my to do list today so the rest of my week is filled with almost exclusively whatever the F I want to do time.