One year ago today: October 13, 2017, Dave, the harmony guy.
Five years ago today: October 13, 2013, Oct. is cPod time.
Nine years ago today: October 13, 2009, he's still got their goat.
Random years ago today: October 13, 2015, a plant named Sue.
Here you have it. A photo that was impossible not that long ago. You bet your horses it takes top story, front and center. Me, working a shovel. I was out there before dawn putting the finishing touches on the trench, and I’ve decided to cheat a little bit. The grey PVC piping is cheap, so why am I struggling pulling 10/3 Romex through 3/4” conduit. Because that’s what the electrician said? Why not use 1” conduit and let the cable practically fall into place. You can actually push the wiring, don’t even need fish tape. But that got me to thinking. The handy thing about thinking is once you learn to do it right, it kind of takes over for you. Liken it to pushing a heavy box. It needs that great big oomph to get started, but after it’s moving you can slack off. For the Newtonians out there, see coefficient of static and kinetic friction.
Now I warned you about getting started thinking. See what’s happening? There is room inside the 1” conduit, but there is also lots of room outside of it. In the trench. Room, for instance, to run CPVC lines. Can these be run close to each other in the same trench?. I’ll bet you’ll find that out when you hit the library around noon, won’t you? We know from Texas that washing produces grey water, which can be drained directly onto top soil and I do have quite the little garden space back there. Tell you what, look at the specs for a drain and figure out that part of this plan later. For that matter, I did find what looks like a water pipe in the trench already. Find out where that goes.
Then, and yes, I can hear you thinking, if that water line already works (it is only 8” below the surface), that raises the possibility of using that, or running only a single feed line and connecting that to the solar powered hot heater I’ve wanted for so long. Okay, at this point, I’m cutting this off. The way I figure it, some day this blog may become assigned reading, so it is in our best interests to not get too far ahead of all the future whiz kids, brainiacs, and chess champions, if you get my import.
In other news, I may have found my shed A/C unit. The new remote control A/C above the fridge is rated for a room half again as large as the kitchen. But it can’t keep up. I was fooled by the initial performance because it was a drastic improvement over the existing arrangement. As I got used to spending time in there, I noticed even driven full blast, I would still take off my shirt to get comfortable. It’s nice if you are sitting and reading, but any kind of light work gets uncomfortable quickly. Comfort is the very purpose of what I’m doing, I want my old age to be comfortable even if it never becomes anything else. So, I wrote a letter back west detailing why I need another injection of pure money.
As for the far back work area, I just need something out of the sun and rain and there is quite a large area behind the white shed. Those fence panels, I think they call them stockade sections or similar, would be idea siding, as the gap between the fence top and roof would be left open, although I’d screen it in for mosquito season, which is coming up. I just happen to have a lot of leftover screen of exactly the right type and color. Such a space could easily be made comfortable with one of those massive duct fans from Tractor Supply. I mean, I could go 240 with that any time I wanted to. Now.
At the accordion factory.
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Let’s talk budget. My fiscal year is done except for the few items that will trickle in between now and the 31st. The only item of concern has been the unexpected costs of operating the car, it’s been a year now. The gasoline is the big one, averaging $194 per month, or $128 over budget. Mind you, a station wagon has a lot of benefits and I appreciate the hell out of it when I need to haul stuff. Before, I had to connect the trailer, which was mildly inconvenient. Starting in mid-November, we enter a new and better retirement situation, with a larger travel budget. This is happening nearly a year before planned. The cause? This house. In another four months, I will have ‘paid off’ the purchase price in saved rent.
This photo shows a profile of the cPod in the back yard, you may pick out that green bar leaning against the rear of the unit. It’s the cPod reverse gear. The short tongue makes it a bitch to back up, so the bar is to be installed at hip height to physically pick up the camper and manhandle it into place. Noticeable is the green shoe box and laundry box bolted near the access hatch. It will be painted to match later. This exterior storage bin is a near-requirement that is left out of most designs. There are less obvious features, such as how it is reachable from the hatch without exiting the vehicle. You’ll appreciate that when it’s cold or rainy. The bottom is screen mesh and the box will hold one small washer load of laundry.
For the sharp-eyed, yes the cPod is sitting at an odd orientation in the work area. The reason is it is blocking the view from the road of the digging going on with the trench. I plan to have the visible part buried back in before the weekend is over. Below is a picture of the dirt pile behind some yard scrap to look like anything but a ditch. I had to wait until late afternoon to get the sun the correct angle for this shot. The trench itself is under overhanging tree branches to camouflage it from the drones. The new ones are extremely swift (at around 10 mph) and silent. At 350 feet they are almost impossible to spot. They have a flight time of 9 minutes but in that time can cover a mile and are self-homing. The camera resolution is awesome. I’ve spoofed them for years with three fake tarps I move around the yard at intervals, preparing for the day just in case.
The cost will be double making the same trip by motorcycle. This will be my first “winter” trip in 39 years. The weather report for a lot of the distance is bitter cold, it’s another early winter, similar to 2013 when I was nearly blizzarded in near Denver. This trip will be buttoned up in the comfort of the new car and there is no time limit. Unless something goes awry I could stay on the road as long as I please this time around. This is good news because I will have reached the situation where I could stay home or travel an entire year before it was scheduled.
ADDENDUM
The inevitable step that goes wrong in every construction job. I figured I would not need lubricant to pull just 30 feet of cable in 10-foot sections. That’s correct, if it is nice new dustless, unkinked cable. The problem with this job is the cable has to be laid into the trench first, then pulled through the conduit in sections. No matter how cleanly you wipe the cable, some dirt gets in there. Then no matter how you work it, it becomes a two-man operation. This is Florida. Where are you gonna find that second man? Friends? Like all friends, they are busy whenever you need a hand. Hire somebody? Good luck. That’s all you need is some stranger knowing you buried cable in your back yard.
The plan is to bury these partially to a 16” depth and run in a 3/4” CPVC water line, with a cutoff valve. The more I think about it, the more the washer and dryer should probably go into one of the sheds, but no decision yet on that. I had to make a third trip into Winter Haven and by then it was late. So I stopped at Grove Roots, the craft beer place and had a $6 jar of something that tasted like watery rice except not as wholesome. The place is totally yuppie and I’ll have to find out when it’s ladies night. I know, that should be ‘lady’s night’ but I go with the flow on that one. It wasn’t either, in fact, I think this was housewive’s night. I left after one. If I want to hang out with haus-fraus, I’ll go back to work at the phone company.
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