The Ultimate Answer to Kings

All by herself. Usually there’s a flock of’em. Also usually they have the courtesy to recognize that they’re trespassing enough to at least avoid me. This one just bleated and walked up to me like I owed her money, or maybe a bale of alfalfa.

Can’t say I blame her. Not only is the Goat Guy not fencing in his goats like he promised, he’s pretty clearly back to not feeding them. So I can hardly get mad at the goats for wandering in search of food. And this one is pretty heavily pregnant, too.

I took A Canticle for Leibowitz down off the shelf yesterday evening for the first time in a couple of years and it kept me up late. I love this book but frequently forget why: After all it’s dour, pessimistic and kind of episodic. But it is so filled with sly ironies such as…

Hongan Os was essentially a just and kindly man. When he saw a party of his warriors making sport of the Laradan captives, he paused to watch; but when they tied three Laradans by their ankles between horses and whipped the horses into frenzied flight, Hongan Os decided to intervene. He ordered that the warriors be flogged on the spot, for Hongan Os – Mad Bear – was known to be a merciful chieftain. He had never mistreated a horse.

Which made me laugh out loud, not at all for the first time that evening.

Clouds cleared away overnight. They’re due back this afternoon but for the moment the Gulch is frosty…

…and the temperature got down low enough early enough that the mud mostly froze! So my first pleasant walkie in a week. Having done that, I ran a load of laundry to Ian’s. Tobie assumed his throne…

…and at the moment of that picture was acting like a Tiktok queen bragging over the free arugula salad at her Google sinecure. Except he’s far less likely to get laid off any time soon. All was right with his world.

And also with mine. Later today I’m going to the Palace of Food with D&L, probably put up some pork in the freezer when I get back, otherwise there’s not much going on at present.

I mentioned a couple of days ago that the pressure gauge over the sink had finally gotten a chance to perform its principal function, which was to warn me of a drop in water level at the tank at the top of the ridge so that I could stop climbing a ladder every few days to check for myself. It was proven two and a half years ago that water level would directly affect pressure at that gauge, not that there was really any doubt, but this was the first time the gauge actually got its chance to do its job and it did it well. Big Brother, who recommended it in the first place and also supplied it, is vindicated.

Not, you know, that he needed vindication. Just saying. His idea. Good idea. Anyway…

Yesterday when the sun came out, Tobie and I went up to the pumphouse and confirmed that the well pump was running. This did not actually confirm that the pump was working: only that it was audibly whirring. Confirmation would only come with a visible rise in the water level and a corresponding rise in line pressure. That pressure difference would be slight, no more than a pound and a half or so. Which is why the big goofy gauge. But it would be present. And this morning it was. Late yesterday morning the water level wasn’t obviously higher but I didn’t check it in the afternoon. I do notice, however, that this morning the pressure has risen slightly. Later I’ll do a visual confirmation but I already know what I’ll find.

Oh, and yesterday I replaced the toilet tank valve, fixing the leak that caused the low level in the first place. So the only thing I have to worry about now is the next freeze’n’break. Haven’t had one of those in a few years, and with improvements in insulation I shouldn’t need to worry about it anymore but I still do. The gauge is also good at telling me about those.

I swear I’d almost prefer a good freeze to a prolonged soaking rain. The sun came out this morning but it’s not supposed to dominate until like Friday, so this morning the whole desert was…

Mud and mist.

Mostly mud. Look at my Jeep! Look at it!

I made the mistake of going past Ian’s to start some laundry before the Monday morning water run, and from there it normally makes sense to take the road rather than the wash to D&L’s. I completely forgot the mud, and was frankly surprised I’d made it. Even in a capable 4X4 I used up every part of a rather wide muddy dirt road. On the way to town, D&L ended up backing down a long steep grade and taking another route entirely when their pickup couldn’t make it up. Always pays to weight the rear of a pickup when it’s slick.

I took the wash back to the cabin. When the mud is bad the wash is always better traction than the roads, being entirely sand. I noticed that the new spring is still going strong…

…and the damp cement on one side of Ian’s slab is still spreading. I need to get busy on acquiring a sump and pump. I have access to a jackhammer, so making the hole shouldn’t be that big a deal. He said hopefully.

We’re getting intermittent sun this afternoon and the batteries are lapping it up. I doubt the system will reach float today but it might tomorrow. Last night the battery voltage was so low I took pity and shut the inverter right off, since (after numerous lighting improvements) the parasitic draw is actually the biggest continuous drain on the system and routinely takes indicated voltage down at least .3v overnight for no gain at all. I had been staying away from the laptop and entertaining myself with Youtube videos on the iPhone, but as soon as I got back in from the powershed the videos refused to run. Once again I had completely forgotten…

About the signal booster, which normally runs so seamlessly that I forget it’s there. But without it there’s rarely any useable internet in the evening out here. So I went paleo and read a book till bedtime. 🙂

…is not working out in a satisfactory manner. I have exceeded the ability of a Battery Minder to do something it never was designed to do in the first place.

I just went out to check on the fuel in the Honda, which today will run continuously for a major percentage of the total hours it has ever run. I may want to move up the next oil change. I plugged my old Battery Minder into the generator, and connected it across 4 225Ah 6-volt batteries wired for 12 volts. Given that the BM was really designed for single automotive batteries that hover around 100Ah, that’s asking a lot.

And the results are … better than nothing.

On sun power alone, at 11 am the battery voltage stood at less than 12.5v, when on a sunny day the system would already be floating at greater than 14.3v. After two hours on the Battery Minder, at 1 pm, the combination of all influences did this…

Which is no better than ‘better than nothing.’

I’m not really surprised. I am a little disappointed in myself for not moving more proactively on the issue. I’ve had the Honda for five years now, and it has revolutionized the way I perform several once-complicated chores. But I have spent no skull sweat at all on how I can use it to charge the batteries, and the way I assumed would work doesn’t work at all. Basically, I’m going to go shopping for a more capable battery charger.

Ugh, what a wet, miserable, lousy, ugly, filthy muddy morning. Mornings like this I could curse myself for getting a big dog that needs big walkies, because I should be sitting in my recliner with a mocha and a blanket over my geriatric lap instead of slogging around in the rain and not-nearly-freezing-enough mud.

Since this is the third day without a glimpse of my own shadow, we come to the reason solar electric power will never catch on in the Pacific Northwet no matter how natterers may natter…

…and I think that today I’m finally going to be driven to do something I’ve thought of many times: Connect the Battery Minder across the batteries and run it off the Honda generator. I did it once, ludicrously, many years ago with about 400 feet of extension cord from Ian’s place and it actually worked. The generator is a lot more sensible. Most of my neighbors don’t think twice about firing up gas generators to jazz life into their discharged batteries, so I don’t know why I consider it mildly blasphemous but I kind of do. Sometimes the habitual way of doing things becomes the right way in your mind, even though there’s a better way standing right there waving and pointing.

But that wasn’t the morning’s big issue. This was…

That’s the big pressure gauge Big Brother sent me a long time ago, which I finally got around to installing three and a half years ago, and which badly needs cleaning with vinegar so don’t notice that. And this morning I noticed, since I check it every morning especially in winter, that it was reading a good 1 psi low. At first I thought that might be caused by the fact that at present my toilet valve is leaking, and I believe that indirectly it is – but the important thing is that the line pressure didn’t increase when I closed the toilet’s shutoff valve. The other thing besides leaking which will cause low pressure is low water level in the tank. And that’s very bad.

So – I actually would have gotten a nice soggy muddy walkie this morning anyway, no matter how much I blame Tobie for my troubles. And sure enough…

The water level is unacceptably low. Not alarmingly low under the circumstances but quite low.

Two things could be going on here. First and most very bad: The well pump could have failed. Again. This is far from out of the question: We’ve had the pump out of the casing twice since we put it there 14 or so years ago, once because it had completely failed. It’s kind of due, which is why I actually have a spare. Heh. Talked Ian into that when it became clear our very hard water had killed it the last time. So even a bad pump isn’t the lingering disaster it was in February 2015.

Or: It could just be that the pump won’t run without direct sun, we haven’t had any of that for two solid days, and I let my toilet run 24/7 thinking that would be smart because it would reduce the possibility of a burst pipe. Without considering the certainty of extended gloom in winter. Happily I always stock a spare toilet valve, but I’m not happy with the one I have because I only installed it this June.

I won’t know which it is until tomorrow earliest, when the sun is forecast to peek out. The well pump definitely won’t run on a cloudy day, which is why it’s smart to have a bigger water tank than you think you need.

But the important thing is: That big steampunk pressure gauge actually served its primary purpose: Warning me of low water level in the tank. Huzza!

Finally: At least there’s no wind, which on this very muddy and not very cold morning means the porch can finally serve one of its primary duties:

…letting me leave my muddy boots outside the cabin for once. So the weather, while miserable, isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. 🙂

$3 at the dollar store. Just like his old favorite toy, which finally broke under the stress of a great many games of tug’o’war. I was impressed! Oh, the rope didn’t last a month and probably neither will this one – if he takes to flinging it like he did the last time I’ll cut it off myself before he breaks something expensive. But he sure loves that plastic tire, the last one of which proved surprisingly durable.

He knew what the new one was for right away. Played with it all evening till he fell asleep. Funny – Absolutely none of the previous dogs understood the concept of toys. Tobie has a collection that he uses constantly.

A couple of days ago I started baking bread around noon of a sunny day, and almost the instant I was committed the clouds rolled in thick. Now, I can use the oven on a cloudy day but there’s a price. I started paying that price the next morning…

…and because I’m psychologically incapable of deliberately causing a voltmeter to go closer to 12.0v than that, I mostly walked around in the dark for the early part of the morning. No problem, it’s a small cabin and I know where everything is. Everything except…

Tobie has one bad habit I haven’t managed to break him of*. He sneaks up close behind me when I’m cooking breakfast, just in case I need him to clean up something I dropped. Since I’m fully aware that “broken hip after falling over dog” is high on the Big List of Ways Joel Could Die Alone, this usually isn’t a problem. I don’t heedlessly step back from the counter, and anyway Tobie is big and hard to miss in a 100 sq. ft. space.

But when it’s that dark, extra caution is called for. I’m a cautious kinda guy.

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*Okay, one bad habit that’s in discussion during this particular post…

Regular readers know my everyday handgun is an unusual choice. A 5-shot .44 revolver wouldn’t be anybody’s idea of a proper gun for a gunfight, but I live way back in the boonies and don’t worry very much about getting into gunfights.

Still, I figured that if I ever did need a fighting handgun I probably wouldn’t go too far wrong with my old 1911. ‘Cause I’m a boomer, and when I got into competing with centerfire pistols in the ’70’s there was only one. Since then I just naturally stuck with .45’s until I moved into the boonies and changed my mind. Continue reading →

…also works when the oil is really cold. Remembering this will make you look less stupid.

I had an incident 4 years ago where I had to start the Honda generator when it was VERY cold, in front of other people, and it really truly didn’t want to start. At the time I thought it was because the tank had been completely drained and the carb was having a hard time priming in the cold. But a reader pointed out at the time that the real reason was probably the Low Oil Shutoff switch thinking the oil in the crankcase had turned to molasses. Probably right.

This morning I wanted to cut some wood and needed the generator again. Brought it out of the still-very-cold powershed and guess what, the generator did not even pretend it wanted to start. This time instead of working myself into a lather over it I just left it in the sun for an hour…

🙂 First pull. Live and learn.

A couple of years ago Landlady gave me a great gift: A french butter dish. It works wonderfully well in summer to keep butter fresh outside a refrigerator.

In winter there’s a problem: The only way to load the contraption is to first soften the butter, and that probably works better in a house with central heating. In fact I think I’m just going to get a regular butter dish and keep Frenchie for summer, because the only way I’ve figured to soften a whole stick of butter in winter without outright melting it is to stick it inside my overshirt for an hour or two.

Yesterday evening I learned the full consequences of something I had already figured out without putting it to the test: It’s vitally important not to forget you put it there…

Yeah – those shirts went straight into the hamper…

Here’s a bit of irony: Tobie used to get excited when he saw me sorting laundry, because it meant a Jeep ride to visit the nice lady who always had jerky treats. Now he gets excited because it means a walk to Ian’s place…

…where he can hang out in the yard and watch life go by across the wash.

He was pretty dubious about it at first, since I never made him stay cabled up outside before. But he quickly warmed to the idea until he preferred it to staying inside Ian’s Cave. Now he runs right over to “his” column and happily soaks up sun while I wash laundry.

It’s already after nine ayem and I have things to do outside today, but…

…this time of year it pays to display a little patience. Tobie gets his long walkie, but then Uncle Joel settles down with his second cup and waits for the sun to do its thing.

Everybody’s gone to cities to visit their families, and later I’ll make the rounds to do their chores for them. 🙂

Now if only they’d stop sending me Happy Thanksgiving texts. 😀

Baking day!

Accompanied by a periodic chore I knew was coming…

…the every-few-months filling of the flour bucket.

Now: I used to stock roughly 90 pounds of flour up in the pantry, which is enough to fill the bucket three times and ensures me on the order of a year’s worth of bread. Alas that’s a long time to store flour in paper bags and I was getting a lot of clumping so I ate my supply down to the point…

…where that’s it. Six bags, 30 pounds…

…one full bucket.

So no question – it’s time to buy flour. Naturally this coincides with one of those unpredictable periods where it’s hard to find flour, but I have months to work that out. The question that is raised, though, is do I want to keep storing my flour this way. And looking over the supply of available empty food buckets, I’m going to go with no. I’m going to free up enough buckets to increase my flour supply back to a comfortable level and store it out of the paper bags.

Also…By the Power of Greyskull!

Note to self: No more early bread baking until it warms back up. I totally forgot that overnight resting voltage is lower when the nights get good and cold, and I damn near tripped the undervoltage shutoff on my inverter with the oven’s heating element.

Normally he’s philosophical about the Monday morning water run. When he sees me fiddling with empty water bottles he knows he’s not going with, and he accepts that without undue fuss. Normally.

But this morning he decided a little negotiation couldn’t hurt…

Yeah, he wanted me to know very clearly that if I needed company on that long Jeep ride I take at least once a week, he was there for me. Once the special stinky treat came out (he gets half a Pupperoni as a consolation prize) he knew the jig was up and went back to his bed.

But that never stops him from rushing into the bedroom as soon as I’m out the door…

…so that he can hurl guilt rays at me through the window as I pass. 😉

And this morning, for the first time in a long time, he at least considered retaliation. I found my lined gloves on the floor by the counter where I had left them – but for a wonder they weren’t all slobbery or chewed to shreds. He got over obsessively chewing up my leather stuff a long time ago, so I’m tempted to believe he did that just to register protest without actual punishment. I dunno: He can be pretty smart that way.

For the past week or two I’ve been sleeping in; sometimes even past six o’clock. Basically, if I wake up and light isn’t peeking over the window curtains, I roll over and try to go back to sleep. But this morning I kind of reverted to form: I woke up at four and knew I was just done sleeping. So I turned on the light and rolled out of bed. Tobie expressed approval.

But then, as far as he was concerned the morning dragged on…

…and besides breakfast nothing constructive was happening, and at last he had to take action for my own sake. Clearly it was time for the morning long walkie, despite it being dark outside with the temperature in the teens.

Yeah, we went. My toes still hurt. Should have named him Alice. Because then “One of these days, Alice…” could be my new motto.