Silicon Valley Redneck

Tiring afternoon

This was supposed to be the day for putting down the initial weed barrier fabric along the sides and ends of the New Victory Garden, and then planting some things - at least the onion sets, which are rarin' to go.

But first!  Gotta pick up the rocks turned up by the last tilling.  There are a lot of them.  Park the tractor next to the garden patch so's I can pile up the rocks in the loader bucket for transportation.  Gather the rocks.  Oh, and some rows of weeds are springing up, presumably where I didn't properly overlap passes last time.  Well, the tiller is still on the tractor.  Give it a good going-over, with plenty of overlap this time.  Note that yet more rocks come to the surface.  Pick them up and add them to the collection in the loader bucket.  Drive the tractor over to a badly-eroded part of the driveway.  Decide that I don't really want to get sideways of the slope just there, so park the tractor and commence scooping the rocks out by hand and dumping them in the gullies.  Then clean the tiller (at least the dirt is mainly in the form of dust this time, so it doesn't need a lot of tilling).

Whew!  And now it's time to fire up the grill.

Methinks this might be a very good night for not being in Minneapolis.  Or any of several other cities, for that matter.  Out here in the countryside, I doubt things will get spicy.

Bell bottom trousers, coats of navy blue

Let 'em code in FORTRAN like the science hackers do.

Curious Marc is attempting to repair a vintage desktop computer, after a power-supply catastrophe.  It's slow going.

... Yeah, been there.  One of my first tasks at my first real job was repairing the CPU board of a Keronix minicomputer (a Nova 1200 knockoff).  The available tools were much more primitive then, and the schematics we had were for a different prototype (all our Keronices were prototypes).  Fortunately, it was just a couple of failed chips (buffers, as I recall), and not a massive, distributed failure.

The computer in question is of a type once spotted posing with a 1970s dude wearing oh-so-1970s polyester bell bottoms.  Yes, polyester.  Old TTL was much more zap-resistant than modern IC technologies, so ESD safety wasn't really a thing outside of some exotic-tech areas (and explosives factories, grain silos, and suchlike).

(Traditional and filk references.  Apparently the 9825 didn't speak FORTRAN, only BASIC, but whatever.)

Privilege

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

Note how this has gotten expanded.

They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same

and

for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place

Pretty narrow, eh?  Can't be arrested (except for certain categories of offenses) at certain times and in certain places, and can't be sued nor prosecuted for words uttered in the halls of Congress.  Sort of a necessary level of privilege, really, and limited to what's necessary.

And yet... somehow, when Mad Maxine attends an officially unofficial gathering (i.e., not in either House), in violation of local curfew, and commits incitement to riot and jury intimidation, the only possible consequence to her would be some sort of internal discipline by the House, which won't happen because she's a Party member in good standing.

Isn't this getting into titles of nobility territory, here?  It's certainly yet another gross violation of equal protection of the Law.

Gardening update

Well, I didn't do any gardening, as such, this afternoon.

What I did do was lug around bucketloads of dirt, from the recently-tilled Old Victory Garden (where there's plenty of nice loose dirt waiting to be scooped up and carried around), and fill in a bunch of holes, including a rather nasty one near the house where a modest-sized tree had been removed.  That one, in particular, was just waiting to break an unwary leg.

There are still several post-holes in the back lawn, but I'll get those another day.

Then, there being little or no rain in the near-term forecast, I watered the Old Victory Garden a bit, in hopes of encouraging weed seeds to germinate.

Eventually, being decently tired, I headed back indoors.  Now it's time to start preparing dinner.

Some day, I'll need to fill in the badger holes (or whatever they are) at the ends of the back deck.  I figure that can wait until we get somebody out here to make repairs to the deck, in which process the badgers (or whatever) should get evicted.  Then I can bring in some nasty dense clay from the far-back yard and stop the holes up good.

Is it just me, or...

Does NewSmax sound like the latest iteration of a kids' breakfast cereal with a frog for a mascot?

OK, so maybe it's just me.

Further adventures

So I resumed yesterday's interrupted lawn mowing.....

Got part of the back lawn done, then, as I made a turn, propulsion ceased.  On both sides, like.  Engine runs; wheels don't turn.  Not, mind you, on either side.

A bit of diagnosis reveals that, with the parking brake released, the mower can be pushed along, albeit not as easily as with the bypass thingies in.

Consulting Dr. DuckDuckGo, I find suggestions that involve the drive belt having come loose.

Looking around the manufacturer's site, I find the service manual for what I hope is a closely-related model; it seems the service manual for the model I have doesn't exist.  It includes instructions for getting at the drive belt.  Putting the machine up on a life doesn't appear to be involved, which is a good thing, considering that I don't have a lift.

Ah, well.  Recuperating from exertions.  Selected pages from the manual are printed.  Now to find a T-40 driver and go forth to do battle with the beast.

... It's also probably time to change the mower's oil, but that wasn't part of today's plan.  Working on the garden was, but that seems to get postponed again.

Update 1:  Got the rear guard off.  Couldn't tell much.  Using the tractor as an anchor and a ratchet strap as a come-along, plus the farm jack to take some weight off the rear wheels when needed, I managed to get the thing into the barn, on the concrete floor.

The belt is indeed off its pulleys.  I guess tomorrow I'll see if it's possible to put it back without having to lift the machine.

Belt comes off, and putting it back is major surgery?  Sounds like a design flaw to me.

Update 2:  Sunday morning, now.  I'd hoped that putting the belt back on would turn out to be relatively simple.  The instructions call for removing the clutch and pulley for the mower-deck belt, but that's for removing the old belt and installing a new one; seems like just putting the old belt back in its place shouldn't require that, right?  Well.  Maybe if you have tentacles and eyestalks, the clutch and pulley) can remain in place.  Or, maybe, on an older model; I found a YouTube vid showing how to do the belt replacement without a lift, but that's on a different model on which the frame doesn't obstruct access to the belt zone quite so badly.

Guess I'll have a go at removing the clutch.  Jack stands and wheel chocks are on order; should be here Tuesday (those are things I really ought to have anyway, and just hadn't gotten around to buying earlier).  Hm.  I should probably also dig out a USB borescope and use that as an eyestalk, to confirm that the belt ends up properly seated on the transmission pulleys.

Update 3:  My first attempt at removing the clutch didn't go well.  There's a bolt at the bottom.  A 5/8" socket fits it, right enough.  But!  Gotta keep the crankshaft from turning.  That vid I mentioned?  Guy used a pipe wrench on the shaft.  All well and good, except that on this model there's no room to get a pipe wrench in there.  I tried using channel-lock pliers, but couldn't get a grip.

And I really don't like turning crankshafts by hand.  Not even with the ignition off and the battery disconnected.  (I suppose I could remove the spark plugs; no compression, no danger.  But if the shaft is turning, the bolt ain't coming loose, so that problem still needs to be solved.)

Anyway, I've shoved it into its normal parking spot, out of the way, and I guess I'll try again Wednesday-ish, after the jack stands arrive.  Meanwhile, gardening.

Plumbing day, oy.

So yesterday evening there was a puddle in front of the refrigerator....

Yeah, all manner of explanations.  But after I cleaned it up, it reappeared.  Must be an ongoing leak, most likely from the water supply for the ice maker / cold-water dispenser.  Drag the refrigerator out.  Source of leak is not obvious.  Turn off the water at the wall and leave it for the morning.

Comes the morning, there's been no further water dribbled on the floor.  While I'm at this, maybe I should replace the refrigerator's water filter?  I have a replacement, just waiting for me to get around to it.  Find the filter.  Replace it.  Turn the water back on.  No leak.  Push the refrigerator back into its place.

Try the water dispenser.  It dispenses water, but is very sluggish about turning off.  Another puddle on the floor.  Ponder the situation.  Wait, was I supposed to purge the system after changing the filter?  We don't have the user manual for this refrigerator (and I'm not sure what the model number is; it's not exactly prominently displayed).  Dispense more water, allowing for sluggish cessation.  And more.  Get a blast of air, then a somewhat erratically aerated stream. Repeat until water comes out clear and shuts off promptly.

So that's done.

After lunch, ponder yard stuff.  Planting later, I guess; there's an area of lawn that really needs mowing.  Oopsie!  Snag the yard hydrant nearest the house while maneuvering, and now there's a big underground leak.  Joy starts calling around in search of an emergency plumber who can come out this afternoon, and eventually finds one.  Meanwhile, we fill up pots and such, and then I head down the driveway to shut off the water supply.

Plumber comes out, digs, and finds broken-off PEX.  Routing of the PEX is not obvious; this will become an issue when we extend the driveway, maybe late this summer.  Anyway.  Get it fixed, with addition of a tee for subsequent extension when the time comes for running water (and electricity, and a network cable) to the barn.  Also have the plumber drive a couple of T-posts right alongside the hydrant for extra support - the posts now go a couple of feet into the ground below the bottom of the pipe.  I'll add giant hose clamps later.

Water is back on.  Pressure at the hydrant is right about 130 PSI, a bit more than I'd figured - yeah, hose-end sprayers aren't built for that.  Plumber warns that hoses aren't meant to take that sort of pressure indefinitely either, so I should take care not to leave a hose pressurized overnight.

And now, kind of late in the day, 'tis time for preparing dinner.  Gonna pop some ribs in the oven for an hour, then finish 'em on the grill.

Stonk numerology

Chipzilla's share price closed today at $65.02.

WTF?  That's a totally inappropriate number.  Shouldn't it be $80.08 or something?

New notation

There's this here little-used Unicode symbol:

≊

Official meaning is "almost equal or equal to"; more casually, "might as well be."

Since nobody actually uses it, I hereby decree that it's the symbol for "identifies as", as in:

    2 + 2 ≊ 5

Please update your stylebooks accordingly.

Garbage late, rain early

So the garbage didn't get picked up yesterday....

Yeah, we subscribe to a curbside garbage pickup service.  Not so much as a "from the suburbs" thing as a "stay at home during the Pestilence" thing, which we started early last year and will likely discontinue by summer.  Anyway.

Seems there was some manner of equipment malfunction - maybe the truck broke down? - so they're planning to get to us Friday.  Guess I can sneak an extra bag into the bin in the meantime.

And, the midafternoon forecast for today had rain arriving around 1800 or 1900 or thereabouts; it actually started around 1700, as I was starting up the grill.  At least we didn't get much rain while I was cooking outdoors.  Supposed to be enough between now and 0600ish tomorrow to moisten the soil a bit, and probably make the still-swampy lowlands even swampier.  (I think I need to redistribute some soil, to create raised walkways across the lowlands, but that's very much not a this-month project.)

Additional:  Seems hose-end spray nozzles aren't necessarily built for the pressure that comes out of the yard hydrant.  Especially if they're being used downhill of said hydrant.  Guess I need either a heavy-duty nozzle or a pressure regulator that can be put near the business end of the hose.

Of batrachia and tillage

This li'l guy had a harrowing experience:

Wasn't actually a harrow; 'twas a rotary tiller.  Whatever.  I gave the critter a lift to a safe spot.

Later, when cleaning off the tiller, I found fishing line wrapped around the propeller.  Well, mason line wrapped around the tiller shaft.  Same thing, basically.  Seems I hadn't managed to recover all my planting-area markers from last year.  Removing it was a bit of an adventure, but I got it loose eventually.

Kipple, because of course.

Oooh... sore legs.

Picked up a bunch of rocks from the New Victory Garden, and relocated them to the low spot in the driveway.

This involved a lot of reaching down to pick stuff up off the ground.  Also some lugging a bucket around (fill hand-held bucket until it gets too heavy, then dump it into the loader bucket and resume gathering).

After that, hit the Old Victory Garden with the tiller.  Looks like it'll need additional passes, plus some re-arrangement of large mounds with the loader now that the soil is loosened up.

Then another couple of passes over the neighbor's garden patch, then one more over the New Victory Garden... bringing up yet more rocks, including at least one big one.

I'm sure this does wonders for my vitamin D level, but the rock-gathering is hard on the legs and lower back.

Notice how some slogans can cut both ways?

The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

A fine slogan, innit?  Good for rallying the masses to resist oppression and all that.

But...

When we see that a political faction is busily sowing disunity - identity politics, critical race theory, segregated schools, always setting some of the people against the others - we may develop just a teeny little suspicion that the leaders of that faction are in fact planning to defeat the people, and find it expedient to divide them first.

Maybe this is not such a good idea?  Maybe we the people ought to be resisting the divisiveness, and instead fighting those who would divide us?

Pay attention to the messaging.  Mind who's pushing it.  Don't believe propaganda that tells you that the plain-bellied Sneetches consider you inferior and are out to exterminate you; listen to what actual plain-bellied Sneetches themselves are saying - and keep in mind that they're probably being told that you [correction: your kind] plan to exterminate them.

Pay attention to who's trying to build bridges, and who's busily burning them.  Never, ever believe what the talking heads on TV tell you.  And sharpen up those pitchforks.

Breezy early

There was more herbicide/insecticide spraying I was supposed to be doing in the early-morning calm, but by the time the Sun was properly up, the wind was already upwards of 6 MPH, so nope.  Not even for in-tight spraying of the area right around the house; I don't really want stray spray getting on me, never mind on the lawn.

Oh, well.  Plenty more outdoors stuff to be done today.  Tomorrow, more tilling (after which, I expect to take the tiller off the tractor, put the box blade on, and give the driveway a scrape).

We've got a call in to the local roofer, who patched up a spot on our roof a year ago.  Additional shingles have come loose the past few months, and it looks like the strip along the ridge line is coming unstuck (this might be the source of the fragments we've found on the lawn).  Seems there's a considerable backlog, what with people whose roofs are actually leaking.  Got various other work in the queue: fixing up the back deck and the front porch, putting in a feline containment fence around some portion of the back yard, turning the seasonal pond into a permanent one, fixing the driveway properly and extending it to the barn, replacing various trim around the house and barn (in some cases, installing it where it should have been but never was), re-painting the house and barn, ....  Some of this could reasonably be DIY stuff, but some requires heavy equipment, and much of the rest falls under "It's too much work, or involves excessive use of ladders, or I'm too busy with other stuff to get around to it this year."

Oop!  Just after I wrote that, an unmarked white van came up the driveway.  FedEx delivering cat food?  Nope; 'twas the roofer, stopping by for a quick look.  His assistant went up, looked around, and nailed the ends of the ridge cap down with some longer nails - apparently the original installation was done with regular roofing nails, which aren't long enough for the purpose.  Then off to the day's work, and I guess they'll get back to us with a quote for ripping up the ridge cap and replacing it properly; that job won't be happening for a while, but in the meantime we shouldn't have to worry about ongoing damage from ordinary levels of wind.

Oh, and it seems that most of the roofing companies aren't even touching little repair jobs, there being plenty of whole-new-roof business to keep them occupied.  Well, there is a lot of construction going on, so, yeah, I guess everyone in the construction trades must be pretty busy.

Oooh... tired already

Just spent about half an hour shoveling mud around the drain pipe (just the part that crosses the pathway) and then shoveling grassy turf on top of the pipe.

The mud wasn't that much of a problem.  The turf has tough roots, and takes a lot of digging.  (I'd noticed that before, when I tried to use the mini tiller to chew up a section of lawn; the big tiller on the tractor is a tool much better suited to that task.)  This was a hand-shovel job for me; someone with more loader experience might be able to move strips of turf reasonably precisely with the loader bucket, but I don't think I'd make a neat job of it, and this is a spot where appearance kinda counts.

I expect that in another few days the transplanted grass will be growing vigorously.

A little resting time, and then I guess I'll set about tearing up the Old Victory Garden's weed-barrier border (and its staples).  Or maybe try a little hula hooping on the lawn?  Naw, yard work has priority.