Hello Everyone!
Desulfating more batteries, Repairing my blower fan, Water in my boot, Washing lots of stuff & The power pole got installed!
Alright, I am beginning my writing routine a whopping ten minutes early tonight... and almost missed my window entirely... because I was zoned out thinking that I had more time to unwind. It seems like as long as I continually watch the clock at the end of the day that I can stay on track... but whoa if my attention wanders even slightly... time seems to slip away from me rather quickly.
I am unsure when I fell asleep last night but it must have been early... because I wound up waking just after dawn. Even though I did my usual Hive engagement routine... that was about all that I did (aside from getting a lot of espresso in me) before heading outside... and diving straightaway into doing stuff.
The first thing that I did was move a bunch of stuff out of the solar shack and onto the deck... so that I would have enough room to put that second pair of deep cycle batteries inside the shack. I then went ahead and disconnected the other pair of batteries from the charger... and got them connected to the solar rig so that I could use the charger with the new pair.
I had to do a good bit of 'head scratching' to figure out how to connect the negative pole to the positive pole of the second pair of batteries (to make twelve volts) but eventually I found some heavy gauge aluminum wire... and two stainless steel hose clamps to make it happen. The whole setup (with the wiring) is just as hacky as the way that I have the other pair wired up... but alas they both seem to be working... so go figure.
Once I had all the batteries charging... I finally broke down and decided to devote some time to figuring out why my blower fan quit working a few weeks ago. Basically, I pulled the entire fan apart, cleaned out a bunch of dust and dog hair, washed the blower wheel with water... and then used some pliers to turn the motor's shaft (with the fan powered on) in an effort to free it up.
Honestly, I have no idea why the shaft was so hard to turn... and just cranking it around with the pliers did not seem to free it up as much as it should have. So in my 'infinite wisdom' I tightened to chuck of my cordless drill onto the shaft, set the drill on high, pulled the trigger... and let it spin the shaft for a few minutes... which yup freed it up in no time.
Since I wanted to make sure that did not happen with the shaft again... I dug around in the shop tent until I found my silicone based grease... and squirted as much of it as I could along the edge of the shaft while it was spinning. At first I could not get the grease worked down the shaft quite as much as I wanted to... so I sprayed some starter fluid on it (with the tiny straw attachment) which forced the grease down the shaft.
Not long after getting the fan all put back together... I was trying to drain all the water out of a five gallon bucket that I was washing socks in... and was in such a mildly manic state that I poured a bunch of water straight into one of my boots. Of course I was not at all happy about that... but I just shrugged, pulled the boot off... and set it up on the deck with the newly repaired fan aimed into it to dry it out!
The entire day was a bit of a mad dash to make up for all the time that I lost to the bad weather lately... and I had to keep reminding myself to slow the heck down and pace myself. At one point I even drank a beer to forcefully slow myself down... because no amount of willpower was doing the trick.
I have no idea how many totes that I got washed out today... but it seemed like every time that I thought that I was close to being done washing stuff... I found something new that needed to be scrubbed down and/or rinsed off. I even scrubbed down my recirculating oil heater, my outdoor PVC chair... and a bunch of empty bleach jugs that I want to use as water jugs at the new place.
Late in the afternoon while I was napping, the electrician called me to let me know that my new RV power pole was installed... and thankfully the sound of the phone ringing woke me up to take the call. As it turns out there were not two trees in the way of the overhead line going in (like the electric company told me) but seven trees... and the electrician was able to get all of them except the last one... because apparently his saw threw the blade and it whipped around and broke a piece of his saw!
I dunno when the power company will be going out there to install the overhead line... but I am hoping that they call me so that I can inquire about whether they can fell that last tree or not. If they do not make it out there before I get moved in the next eleven days... then I will just fell it myself... but I am kind of hoping that all the electrical stuff can be done before my arrival.
At least the bad weather is looking like it is going to hold off for the bulk of my time remaining here... but whoa I am going to have to put in a lot more days like today if I am going to get everything packed down in time. It is definitely going to be tricky staging everything to be loaded into the truck and trailer... and timing it so that the stuff I need is still out where I can use it... but at least I am in the final stretch.
Well, I have rambled on enough for this entry... and am going to wrap it up so that I can get to bed early. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.
I hate it when I take my bailer to wash my oiler pants and water goes down my boots, so I feel you there.
I hope they get your electricity finished before you get there.
The excitement mounts! Will we still be getting updates after the move or will your internet be down for a while?
I think that with those larger batteries I will be able to run my cellular repeater and charge an energy efficient laptop in order to continue posting. I am going to try my best not to have a lapse in continuity when I start the next series of entries.
Indeed the excitement mounts!
Glad to hear!