Friday and Saturday, October 4th & 5th, 2019.
It was a good plan, head down to Santa Lucia Memorial Campground, do a little hiking and do a few Molly chores. And then there were the insects.
Arrived in the dark at campsite number 8. A favorite spot, even if the ground is not very level. The campground was deserted. Straight to sleep, as the work week had felt long, and Caroline was in Europe. For some strange reason I was able to get a little cell coverage, so switched on the booster, maybe this thing worked after all. I fell asleep wondering if the morning would bring a hike or some chores.
The start was a little late and I opted for chores. I had been planning to change the wiring for a long while now, and the time finally came. We have a little switch that electrically opens one of cupboards but it frustratingly did not work well at all, so, replaced that switch, and the cupboard door now opens on demand. The next job was a little more involved: I disconnected four circuits from the breaker panel and instead wired them through a new switch bank. This allows the newly freed circuit breakers to be used for other useful purposes and makes switching the various outside lights on much easier. This was merely a step to the greater goal of creating independent circuits for our ceiling fans, currently sharing a circuit with the toilet, and an independent circuit for the toilet fan, currently sharing a circuit with the water heater. Now the ceiling fans, toilet fan, water and space heater and toilet are all electrically independent. The job would have been perfect if I had the right terminal block, but the one I brought was a little small for the existing lugs. This is what happens when your workshop is a truck and not a workshop.
This is about when the insects entered the picture. Somehow, they got into the habitat, which was fine until I stopped moving, if I stopped, even for a moment, they descended on me. Usually I was moving, but I would stop when I had to do something that required concentration, like drilling a hole, and this is when they would descend. So, they would only bother me when I needed to concentrate, a little frustrating. Any work outside had to be limited to several minutes, because it would take the little creatures this long to sense me and be my friend.
The next job for the day was creating a 1cm (half inch) lift on our external slide out fridge. This allows us to slide the fridge out without dropping the hatch door. Should have been an easy job, but I only had a hacksaw for cutting and of course I had many little friends. The idea worked, but I think it needed a little tweaking to make it better. Definitively on the right track here however.
The last chore turned out to be the easiest, and it just sort of worked, which never happens. We have this fancy wireless modem which can talk to the engine computer and log key performance metrics. Usually you plug this thing to that thing and then wonder why it is not working. But in this case it just worked, I was amazed. I needed to wire it up with permanent wiring, but it was working. I took some logs, as I have to write some software to make this really work well, but that I can do at home. One day I will write this all up.
The chores took all day, so when drinking time rolled around, I decided to “bug” out and head back to San Francisco. Any hiking the next day would not have been nice, and the little guys had found a way into the habitat, so I am not sure I would have had a good nights sleep.
