Silicon Valley Redneck

Oh, look: it's a whole new month!

With some developments.

It looks like the level of help we could optimally use with my father doesn't exist, courtesy of Medicare's distorting effect on the services market.  But I think Joy managed to sort things out such that we'll be getting some useful help, and not the high-intensity not-help that the providers are pushing these days.

And: this afternoon, Joy went to inquire in person about the oven again.  Apparently the order had been put on hold, for unexplained reasons.  Eventually I got a call from the scheduling robot: we're on for the afternoon of Monday the 18th.

And Huckleberry has decided that a small stuffed dog is a cat toy.

There's one thing checked off the list.

Septic tank is pumped.

Apparently the lid we'd dug up is at the downstream end (which I'd kind of figured), and there was also one at the upstream end, which was the really important one.  The septic guy did have a helper with him, and they did some further digging in the first hole I'd dug, eventually exposing another cover similar to the first.

Turned out to be 3000 gallons, which got pricey, and apparently is a vastly larger tank than normal.  But!  The septic guy said that, given the size of the tank and the size of the household, it'll be a great many years before we need it pumped again, so we don't really need to bother trying to find a set of risers for that very nonstandard tank.

I guess before refilling the holes I'll mix in some soil tenderizer - in fact, I might replace the entire patch of nasty rocky clay over the tank with a mixture of topsoil, compost, and perlite.  Maybe the grass will grow better, and it'll be easier to dig up a decade or so from now when it next needs pumping.

Much busy, but little progress.

Starting to get into wintry weather - clear nights come with hard freezes, and maybe we'll be getting rain again soon.

Got to do some building of little things, like shelters for chicken & duck feeders - things to keep rain out of the feed, even if it's windy; keep spilled feed contained; and lock up at night so rodents can't get in.

Also got to do something about a bigger waterer for the ducks, and heated waterers.  The current plan is to put duck/chicken float-bowl cups on a couple of food-grade 5-gallon pails, and work out some sort of temperature-controlled, low-voltage immersion heaters, maybe with little circulation pumps.

Speaking of immersion heaters, I went looking for on Amazon for something suitable for keeping the small wading pool from freezing - like, 120V, few hundred Watts, very well insulated and grounded, and can be set to cut off at maybe 40°F, so as to keep the pool from freezing but not actually get it hot.  Nope!  Immersion heaters are there aplenty, but they're 1.5-2kW, cut off somewhere around scalding, and come with warnings not to use the pool while the heater is immersed and plugged in - not very helpful.  I expect I'll cobble something together, probably involving 24V power, a circulation pump, a capsule heater or two, and a temperature controller - sort of a big brother of what I'm contemplating for the buckets.

The current toaster project continues busy.

The oven didn't show up on Thanksgiving - surprise!  Joy plans on doing some in-person cage rattling again tomorrow.

And, we hadn't heard back from the septic-system guy, despite the hot weather having passed.  Turns out he's having back trouble, and doesn't have assistants to do the digging.  So... Joy and I had to dig.  I went forth, commenced digging at the spot the guy had marked, and after a while struck tank.  Hm.  What am I looking for?

Consult the Interwebs.  Find all manner of contradictory information, none of it very helpful in deciding which way to explore.  Joy comes out to help, and points out that an area around the downstream end of the not-healthy grass has a different feel to it.  So we dig there, and, only a couple of inches down, there is indeed something that appears to be a large access cover - bearing exactly zero resemblance to anything I'd found on line, but presumably the thing that needs to be dug up.

Oh, and we're starting to get, maybe, some help in looking after my father.  Turns out the medical center has various departments geared toward helping elderly patients living at home, but we hadn't been asking the right questions the past couple of years.

Oops!  Sun's getting low; time to put the poultry to bed and bring in their food and waterers (so rodents don't eat the food and the waterers won't be frozen solid in the morning).  Supposed to be getting a few hours of freezy weather again tonight.

So, the oven.

Joy went storming off the the actual store to inquire as to what the actual heck was going on.

A little update first: she hadn't been able to find it connected to her/the family's online account.  I checked yesterday, and the order showed up under my account, presumably because she'd given my phone number as the contact number.  I printed out the info from that, and she took it along.

Turns out they hadn't called because they didn't have a contact number associated with the order... despite it being filed under my account because of the contact number, plus Joy calling more'n once to inquire and each time making sure they had the right contact info.

Anyway, it seems they have us scheduled for the 23rd.  Time unknown, but the 23rd.  Which is... Thanksgiving.

Guess I shouldn't plan on using the shiny new double convection oven for cooking the Thanksgiving feast.  Well, we have the little countertop oven, the stovetop, and the nuker (and the grill, assuming things aren't still too dry), and it's not like we were going to do much for Thanksgiving anyway.

Wednesday Weirdsday, cont'd.

So, this being both Wednesday and the 15^Þ of the month, there was a bunch of stuff from Amazon.

And yet... I seemed to be short a few things.

Some time after the deliveries, I got three e-mails from Amazon, informing me that three packages were running late.

One seems to be the stuff I didn't see.

The other two had in fact been delivered, and (eventually) logged as such by USPS.

 

Also, I spent a big chunk of the day dealing with Internet issues, LAN and WLAN issues, computer issues, Windows being weird, and Virtualbox being weird.  At least a little bit of that is billable time.

Oven non-update

So Joy called to inquire about that oven, any why we hadn't heard anything further about the delivery/installation.

I mean, it was supposed to have been delivered almost two weeks ago.  One week ago today, someone came out to verify measurements.

Phone maze.  Incorrect numbers (more than one).  Eventually a supposedly-right person.

"It looks like the estimate is in review."

What.  The.  Actual.

Joy is not happy.

 

HVAC update: top of unit is spattered with bird fragments.  There's an opening at the bottom where the hoses connect, and I suppose it might be just big enough for an itty-bitty little bird to wriggle its way in.

Unbalanced load alert!

Out tending the poultry.

The heat pump for that end of the house starts up.  It makes a heck of a racket.  Like, there's something seriously out of whack, presumably with the big fan or maybe its bearings.  That unit isn't very old... I think it's still under warranty, even.  Time to call the HVAC company?

Head over to take a look at it.  It seems to be spewing... feathers?  And the thump-thump-thump of an out-of-balance fan, or perhaps of something attached to the fan bonking into things, is diminishing.

Apparently there was some little tweety bird in there.  How it got in there, I don't know.  Maybe I need to check that all covers are in place.

So here it is Monday the 13th...

The rock bucket was supposed to be arriving this week - Tuesday or so, but sometime.

Got a notification this morning: it's out for delivery!  Today!

... Oops?

Make sure Joy is at least somewhat awake.  Head out to the barn to take the tractor out and put the pallet forks on it, so's I can be all ready to meet the truck at the bottom of the driveway when the time comes.

Pull tractor out of barn.  Hear truck noises.  Look: there's a big ol' motor-freight-type vehicle coming around the corner.  Could be the freight company's logo on it.  Raise the rollbar.  Put first pin in place. Phone rings: yup, it's the freight driver, and he's at the bottom of the driveway wondering how I want this thing dropped off.  Tell him I'll be there in a couple of minutes with the carryin' apparatus.

Finish with the rollbar.  Negotiate the scary terrain to get the bucket off and the pallet forks on.  Head on down the driveway.  Manage to get the pallet off the truck without damaging anything, and safely up the driveway; drop it off on the lawn, and return the pallet forks to storage.

Back to desk to check credit card: yes, Artillian did get around to charging my card - maybe when they got the delivery notification.

So, the rock bucket is here.  Guess it's time to go unwrap & unstrap it, and put it on the tractor for use this week.

Update:  Gave it a quick try.  Current conditions are such that it pulls up vast quantities of roots (plus entrained soil) along with any rocks.  Hm: may need to do a thorough tilling before rocking.  Also, I may want to cobble together some sort of curb-feeler arrangement so I have a better idea where the leading edge of the bucket is relative to the ground.  (Or maybe an edge-cam, mounted on the top and looking down/forward?)  But!  It's proving quite useful for removing the bulk of the old vegetation and hauling it up to the compost pile, which is something I really want to get done soon.

Anyway, it's time to be doing some actual work.  Farming later.

Friday again, already?

Somehow, the week went by in a hurry.

Lotsa mundane-chore stuff.

Moderate amount of work.  A bunch of stuff has gone wrong on the current project, and only a little of it was my fault.  I seem to be back off the critical path now, for the moment.

Weather was back in dry-Summer mode for a few days; now it's gotten cold again.  (Yesterday: morning low near 70, afternoon high in the 80s.  Today: morning low in the 40s, afternoon high in the mid 50s.)  At least we got a wee sprinkle of rain this morning, so things are a little less crunchy, dusty, and flammable.

I did get the compost for next Spring moved from the in-progress pile to the all-new ready-for-Spring pile.  So, lotsa compost that should be ready for next planting season.  This year's accumulation (for Spring 2025) is fairly generous already, and I haven't yet cleared the garden nor gathered the fallen leaves.

And, I finally got around to ordering a rock bucket - should be arriving sometime next week.  I ordered the one from Artillian, which has a brush-clearing edge to it; that should come in handy for clearing the garden of things like corn stalks.  There's also a hydraulic grapple option available, which I would have gone for if I had the third-function hydraulics on the tractor.  Might do something about that next year, 'cause a brush grapple would be a mighty useful thing from time to time.

Southmoon is finally on the mend; between various meds over the past couple of months and a radical change of diet (to food Joy is making at home from real ingredients), she's actually digesting the food she gobbles, and is looking and acting more like a healthy cat and less like a skeleton.

And, the site-survey guy from the appliance-installation company came out Wednesday afternoon to take measurements and confirm a suitable electrical connection; they're supposed to get back to us about scheduling the actual installation of the new oven Real Soon Now, but we haven't heard from them yet.

Argh.

Had a post mostly written.

Browser bombed.

Maybe I'll try again this afternoon.

And maybe it's long past time to switch back to Firefox; there are just too many things that crash Chrome (or Brave, which is Chrome-based).

So, that new oven?

The one that's getting installed today?

Isn't getting installed today.  Surprise!

Seems they need to send someone out to take measurements first.  They didn't bother to tell us this, and never contacted us about doing it.

And, it appears that there's some kind of epic screwup with contact information on the order (placed in-store).  Maybe that's sorted out now... maybe.

Waiting to hear from them regarding the measurement session and, I hope, the actual delivery and installation.

Meanwhile, the old main oven remains INOP, so I'm stuck using the countertop oven.

More busier again... but maybe slowing down now.

Aside from all the usual stuff, and the end-of-month stuff, we had our first ever house-guest in the new place!

My daughter finally managed to get out for a visit - just a few days this time; she thinks she'll be able to take a bigger chunk of time off come Summer.

So, a few days of frantically getting the house presentable, then a few days of Activities.  Which tended to my taking the kid hiking in the mornings, and Joy taking her to tourist attractions in the evenings (Joy and I currently can't both leave the house at the same time).

The hikes weren't terribly ambitious, but, what with my not having gotten out for any proper hikes since 2019, I got slightly winded and my legs got very sore.  I definitely do need to get back to regular exercise.

The big hike - which would have been trivially easy, back when I was in shape - was Abrams Falls, over there in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  Looking it up, I saw that it was over there at the far edge of Cades Cove.  What didn't occur to me was that the road around the edge of Cades Cove is (1) one lane, one way, and (2) the scenic loop, packed with slow-moving tourists.

Anyway, we eventually got there.  The trail itself wasn't excessively busy, and the scenery was nice - and we were just in time; the fall colors were more or less in full swing, and I think a lot of the leaves have fallen in the cold snap of the last couple of days.  It was a mere 2½ miles each way, moderately steep and kinda rough, but my legs were really letting me know about it.

The scenic loop did look familiar, from 2014 or maybe 2016.  It was more crowded this time, but this was a Saturday morning 

Oh, yes: my good old hiking fanny pack with the two water bottles was nowhere to be found.  I did find a similar-looking, if light-duty, one in a box of hiking stuff, apparently unused, complete with bottles; must have been a freebie from some long-forgotten event.  Turned out the belt didn't stay tight, nor did the bottles really close properly.  I think I'll need to order a new pack and bottles from Amazon, which action is guaranteed to make the old one show up.

Random notes

Yesterday afternoon, out teasing the ducks: there comes a commotion from the trees, as of a lot of alarmed birds.  The ducks run frantically to their sheltered corner.  Hm?

Look up: sure enough, there's a bald eagle circling overhead.  Well, over the neighboring cow pasture.

This afternoon: one little errand.  Down the driveway, almost turn right, remember that I want to turn left for this errand.  Get onto the mini-highway and head for the big crossroads.  Approaching the school, see stopped traffic and lots of twinklies ahead of the line of vehicles.

Wait a while.  Realize that (a) this isn't a time for kids to be arriving nor departing, and (b) traffic isn't resuming, as it would were the twinklies cops directing traffic during school arrival/departure times.  So, get turned around (as others are doing), and backtrack.

Isn't there a reasonable alternate route?  Hm... yes, but it's beyond the stoppage and thus inaccessible.

So, back past home and take the route I would have been on had I turned right in the first place, which is mildly inconvenient for this destination.  Notice on the way a plume of smoke, as if someone is having rather a large brush burn... which I hope isn't in the Westward Expansion.  Proceed to the destination and complete the errand.  Map app on phone shows the traffic stoppage still not cleared, so back home by an alternative route.

Plume of smoke is bigger.  Like, either a truly huge brush pile or quite a small forest fire.  Definitely not in the Westward Expansion, but could be near the Northern Territories.

Never did find any news relating to the road closure, though Internet rumor says it was some combination of a police chase, a car crash involving a school bus, and a fire.  Possibly multiple crashes.  Maybe there'll be something about it tomorrow.

The plume of smoke, though: that turns out to be from a controlled burn at the birding park across the river.

Well, yesterday got busy.

Morning trip to Wally World, to catch up on some overdue shopping.

Extricating the Venerable Prius from the gravel pit that is the top of the driveway was challenging.

At the store, things were in disarray: seems a large part of the store is being rearranged, and many things are in transit from where everyone remembers them being (and where the signs say they are) to brand-new locations.

Back home, park outside the loose-gravel zone while unloading stuff, then move the car to the lawn and break out the tractor.

Swapping the tiller for the box blade is a pain, and it's just about time for some fall tilling, so I settled for back-dragging the gravel with the loader bucket, then driving across it repeatedly.

As long as the tractor is out, might as well move some of the leftover store-boughten compost to the nearly-ready compost heap.

Then it's time to help Joy load up several carloads of cardboard and such for disposal.

Later, finish hauling compost - I think in another month or thereabouts I'll be mowing a spot for a finished-compost pile and moving the entire heap there, doing some blending in the process.

And, as long as I'm out: give the Second Expansion Field a pass with the tiller.  It's dusty.  Various small vegetation is now reasonably well chewed up, or at least uprooted.

Well, yesterday was a day.

Morning all planned out: got a morning medical appointment, before departing for which I need to bake a new batch of muffins.

Awaken in a timely fashion.  Deal with the usual first-thing chores and chaos.

Set oven to heating up, and commence mixing up a batch of muffin batter.

Oven doesn't give its happy warmed-up beep.  Instead if gives its panic beep: there's been a control failure, and it's overheated.

Oh, great.  The top oven did that a couple of years back, we got it fixed, and it didn't stay fixed.  Now the bottom oven is also out of order.

Put the muffins in the oven anyway, and hope for the best as the oven coasts down from volcano heat toward room temperature.  It works reasonably OK-ish.

Deal with all the rest of the usual morning chaos, plus some extra.  End up getting out the door a few minutes later than planned, with phone nav set to take me to an unfamiliar medical office.

Phone nav stops talking to me shortly before I'd actually need directions.  Find a parking lot, restart navigation, and pull back out into morning traffic with more minutes lost.

Arrive at medical center.  The instructions I was given have the office being on the first floor.  In the main door, up to the desk: nope, it's just been moved upstairs.

Oh, well: I wasn't all that late.  Plenty of time to wade through an unexpected pile of paperwork.

And, turns out I need more lab work.  Lab is running slow; by the time it's my turn, it's way past my normal lunchtime.

Then home for a hasty lunch, and trying to make progress on the toaster project.

 

Today, Joy's been shopping on line for a new double oven.  Looks like the gas ones don't get great reviews, so we'll be sticking with electric.  Probably get one with the convection feature, and doors that open to the side.  Not gonna be cheap, but having a working oven is kinda important.

 

Bonus:  My left ankle got kinda itchy yesterday afternoon.  (It might have been somewhat itchy before than, but I started really noticing it yesterday.)  This afternoon, it's not just itchy but decidedly swollen.  Dunno what's going on there, nor what might have set it off.