We had a nice dryish spell, then the rain returned. We went from no-puddles to full flood conditions overnight on Turkey Day. Usually it takes 3-5 days of rain to get us to flood conditions. The rain just pounded all night long, had to wear earplugs to bed. I've been burying some new drainage pipes for some of the areas where I don't want water standing, or where I want to direct it somewhere else.
Not that I can fly lately with all this rain, but I've decided I need to thoroughly investigate making my "driveway" into my runway (literally). Today I started chainsawing down trees along the side of the back drive. I have monster piles of the tree debris. Not quite sure what I'm going to do with it all. Sure could use a self feeding tree chipper about now. I'm cutting down all the trash trees first, those invasive ones that don't need to be here anyway. I'll leave the nice O'hia trees until all the rest are cleared out so that I can see how it looks first. I really don't want to cut any of those down, but I will if needed. At least the ones that may need to go are not older trees (max 4" dia trunk). I've pretty much always lived very near where I could take off, often in walking distance of my front door (even in Santa Fe). If I drive to the local ball field here to take off, where I have mostly, it's not exactly far (5 miles), but I'm finding I'm really not wanting to load up all the gear in the Scout. Also, the field is surrounded by tall trees, which makes for some interesting winds at times.
Today I had hoped to ride the bike to the market, but no such look. Ominous clouds, then it poured on the drive back. However, about 11am, it totally cleared out and was a beautiful sunny day. So, I could have ridden the bike if I was more patient.
Turkey Day was good, went over to Dave and Margies. Turkey & stuffing , green bean casserole, yams with the marshmallows, crescent rolls. Then Pumpkin, Pecan, and Apple pie. Clay ended up doing the holiday with Jessica.
My hidden camera at the end of my street has not yet yielded anything interesting (dumping of trash or carcasses). It does work very well though... I have 2 of them, and one of them died, so I've mailed it off for warranty repair.
I haven't yet started using my new laptop as primary. I need a USB bus (makes more USB ports) as I need to plug in like 6 things, and the new laptop has only2 USB ports. I'm also curious if I can use it with the top closed seeing as how I have a separate larger monitor. I finally reassembled my previous laptop, the backup laptop which I had retired. I had left it in the hut in a hiding spot, and I had intended to put it in a big zip-loc bag. Not doing that turned out to be tragic. Some super tiny ants decided to move into it, and after disassembly and thorough cleaning, the screen is not working correctly, and it auto powers off after a few minutes. Bummer, what a waste. They do have free electronics recycling here fortunately.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Wet Week
The past few days have been just lots, and lots of rain. And more rain. I just returned from the Puna Community Development Plan Action Committee Orientation meeting. An 8 hour affair. The drive out this morning was not too bad, only about 24" deep water. The return trip was a bit different. Probably the deepest water I have driven through yet, although not the deepest waters as at times it's been too deep to drive through (waded back once). My floor boards inside the Scout were totally under water since I have some nice "vent" rust holes in my floor these days.
So, I guess I forgot to mention before that I am an official member of the Puna CDP AC, was sworn in by the county council about 2 weeks ago. I was thinking that their estimate of 6-8 hours of work between monthly meetings was severely under estimating the real time we would spend, however, after the County Council's (legal) presentation on the state's Sunshine Law... essentially the "don't get any work done between meetings law"... I think it will be manageable. It makes me concerned that we will be able to make significant and meaningful progress however. The law is of course intended to make the operating and discussions of all government committees, boards, etc, all in the public domain, for true transparency. No emails, no phone calls, no discussion of anything that could possibly be discussed or decisions made on by the group. Essentially no contact with my committee members between meetings. Wow.
I just took a few videos and photos of the flooded areas, and I'll post those now. The river and lakes are not as high as I've seen them before, but it's definitely stay-at-home type flooding. The wind has been up as well, and it's coming from an inconvenient direction, meaning my deck is almost totally wet. Fortunately it only does this sort of thing a few times a year.
^ View from the end of my driveway where 40th meets Pohaku Dr., looking North up 4oth St.
^ Zoomed in, the closest lake is about 36" deep, the one in the distance is about 48" deep. This small 4x4 gave up and turned around at the second lake and is heading back.
^ This is Pohaku Dr and 39th St. The street comes into this intersection from the left (towards my house), and goes out toward the middle where the "T" power pole is.
^ A little water fall action. The "T" power pole is now to the left side.
^ Looking up hill where the water enters this intersection. That lower entry is probably 12' across.
Check the videos link (left side) for a much better view, they are really short, probably less than 1 minute.
I've still been doing my morning exercises, which has been great. I need to throw in more cardio days as my body is resisting loosing any weight. My muscles have all returned, but my body had gotten used to my previous weight.
Had pizza over at Dave's last night. Margie's on the mainland visiting her family. Dave and I might one day start a singles/dating/relationship website, with the twist that the site's focus would be on actually helping people have real relationships rather than bilking people out of money. His experience as a psychologist (30+ yrs?) with my programming skills, and our brain storming I think has yielded some viable and unique possibilities (at least as far as internet dating is concerned). There is no magic bullet of course, and the direction we would come at it does not currently exist on the internet that I am aware of. Could be interesting if we actually start that project. Clay and I will go over to Dave and Margie's for T-Giving this year...
My friends Dan an Jill will be returning to Hawaii in January for 20 days. I'll be glad to see them. My stay on Dave's farm (before he even lived here) with Dan for 5 weeks had an impact on my eventual choice to move here.
I'm looking forward to my last Orchidland Assoc Board meeting this next Tuesday, then at the conclusion of the Membership meeting on Saturday, I resign. Done. Finito. Kaput. Later Gator. On to other things.
So, I guess I forgot to mention before that I am an official member of the Puna CDP AC, was sworn in by the county council about 2 weeks ago. I was thinking that their estimate of 6-8 hours of work between monthly meetings was severely under estimating the real time we would spend, however, after the County Council's (legal) presentation on the state's Sunshine Law... essentially the "don't get any work done between meetings law"... I think it will be manageable. It makes me concerned that we will be able to make significant and meaningful progress however. The law is of course intended to make the operating and discussions of all government committees, boards, etc, all in the public domain, for true transparency. No emails, no phone calls, no discussion of anything that could possibly be discussed or decisions made on by the group. Essentially no contact with my committee members between meetings. Wow.
I just took a few videos and photos of the flooded areas, and I'll post those now. The river and lakes are not as high as I've seen them before, but it's definitely stay-at-home type flooding. The wind has been up as well, and it's coming from an inconvenient direction, meaning my deck is almost totally wet. Fortunately it only does this sort of thing a few times a year.
^ View from the end of my driveway where 40th meets Pohaku Dr., looking North up 4oth St.
^ Zoomed in, the closest lake is about 36" deep, the one in the distance is about 48" deep. This small 4x4 gave up and turned around at the second lake and is heading back.
^ This is Pohaku Dr and 39th St. The street comes into this intersection from the left (towards my house), and goes out toward the middle where the "T" power pole is.
^ A little water fall action. The "T" power pole is now to the left side.
^ Looking up hill where the water enters this intersection. That lower entry is probably 12' across.Check the videos link (left side) for a much better view, they are really short, probably less than 1 minute.
I've still been doing my morning exercises, which has been great. I need to throw in more cardio days as my body is resisting loosing any weight. My muscles have all returned, but my body had gotten used to my previous weight.
Had pizza over at Dave's last night. Margie's on the mainland visiting her family. Dave and I might one day start a singles/dating/relationship website, with the twist that the site's focus would be on actually helping people have real relationships rather than bilking people out of money. His experience as a psychologist (30+ yrs?) with my programming skills, and our brain storming I think has yielded some viable and unique possibilities (at least as far as internet dating is concerned). There is no magic bullet of course, and the direction we would come at it does not currently exist on the internet that I am aware of. Could be interesting if we actually start that project. Clay and I will go over to Dave and Margie's for T-Giving this year...
My friends Dan an Jill will be returning to Hawaii in January for 20 days. I'll be glad to see them. My stay on Dave's farm (before he even lived here) with Dan for 5 weeks had an impact on my eventual choice to move here.
I'm looking forward to my last Orchidland Assoc Board meeting this next Tuesday, then at the conclusion of the Membership meeting on Saturday, I resign. Done. Finito. Kaput. Later Gator. On to other things.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
November
Chilly nights are here again. Down to 60 a few nights ago. Makes it easy to stay in bed for a few minutes longer in the morning.
The biggest news is that Mom is headed over to visit in February for a month. This time by herself which will be nice. She can get in that Mom mode of making sure everyone is happy and taken care of, so coming by herself will allow her to just be, and enjoy the things she wants to do. I'm pretty sure I'll have my green house built before then, so we can play in there... The Hut will finally have a longer term guest.
I bought a scale finally a few weeks ago. I have always believed that owning a scale, and using it a few times a week is the easiest way to maintain one's weight, at least it is for me. Surprise, surprise, I was almost 195 lbs. Yikes. Too much computer work, and not enough consistent land work. Then since I have 2 of these motion sensor cameras, I had one set up on the deck, and sorta forgot about it. I was less than thrilled with what it captured as I came and went from the shower. It's like when you plant a tree in the front yard. It grows every day, but we don't really notice since it's in our periphery and we see it's small unnoticeable growth daily. Then one day, suddenly, it seems much bigger. Yikes.
So, since I moved the exercise bar set inside, I now am back to a daily morning routine of exercises. Only takes like 15 minutes, and I've already lost 7 lbs. I've also been needing to get back into this routine (I used to have this routine when I lived in Santa Fe) as I haven't been flying mainly as my lower back has been in some condition of tweakedness for months now. I'm not one to abuse myself by strapping a 70lb flying machine on my back if it's likely to injure me. Ok so that last sentence will seem like an paradox to some, but really flying like I do is less dangerous than riding my bike into town. I've also started riding my bike again fairly regularly, and even jumping rope on the deck if it's been raining too much to ride. I've missed jumping rope...
Anyway, back on the path to my more usual physical health.
I'm about caught up on the latest set of new clients websites.
I think my heat rash on my back is about healed. If I can just not aggravate it for another 2 weeks...
I recently finally added a flap to the deck roofing where it meets the metal container roof. During heavy rains I would get a little bit of splashing water in some areas, and the new flap which hangs into the rain gutter from the deck roof prevent this.
I still haven't put together my new solar hot water heater...
I've decided to try to make tortillas vs. buying bread. Really I guess wraps. I don't have an oven, and I can use a cast iron griddle on my induction stove. I've bought whole wheat flour and flax seeds which I'll blenderize and add to the flour as well, then herb them up some. I've always noticed that after a 2 slice of bread sandwich, that I'm often sleepy about an hour later. I think it's just too many carbs. I'll let you know how that adventure goes.
I've already posted this blog entry, so if you get in in your email, you won't have the rest of this post...
Halloween was fun. Lisa was Medusa, and had weaved tons of rubber snakes into her hair. I of course just donned the Navy blues, that's just too easy to not wear those. A friend and his wife just bought a house in Hilo, and the party was at their place. Lots and lots of kiddos running around.
Just gave away the Ford rental car on Freecycle. A guy is sending over a tow truck to pick it up now. I do hate to just give it away, but it needs to leave and not just sit. I had investigated buying another similar car cheap, and swapping out the tranny... like I need to spend a few days under a car. He says it will be for his grand-daughter, maybe that's true. B-Bye.
I just now really, really cleaned the kitchen stainless cabinets and shelf. I scrubbed them with Bar Keepers Friend, a must have for cleaning stainless pots and pans (and cabinets). Then I applied some stainless spray treatment. Stainless steel does actually rust a tiny bit, so I think all this will prevent that from happening. Plus it just looks good now. I got a bit more organized while I was at it.
New client today. Manhattan Kansas Habitat.
Maybe a cobb salad tonight.
The biggest news is that Mom is headed over to visit in February for a month. This time by herself which will be nice. She can get in that Mom mode of making sure everyone is happy and taken care of, so coming by herself will allow her to just be, and enjoy the things she wants to do. I'm pretty sure I'll have my green house built before then, so we can play in there... The Hut will finally have a longer term guest.
I bought a scale finally a few weeks ago. I have always believed that owning a scale, and using it a few times a week is the easiest way to maintain one's weight, at least it is for me. Surprise, surprise, I was almost 195 lbs. Yikes. Too much computer work, and not enough consistent land work. Then since I have 2 of these motion sensor cameras, I had one set up on the deck, and sorta forgot about it. I was less than thrilled with what it captured as I came and went from the shower. It's like when you plant a tree in the front yard. It grows every day, but we don't really notice since it's in our periphery and we see it's small unnoticeable growth daily. Then one day, suddenly, it seems much bigger. Yikes.
So, since I moved the exercise bar set inside, I now am back to a daily morning routine of exercises. Only takes like 15 minutes, and I've already lost 7 lbs. I've also been needing to get back into this routine (I used to have this routine when I lived in Santa Fe) as I haven't been flying mainly as my lower back has been in some condition of tweakedness for months now. I'm not one to abuse myself by strapping a 70lb flying machine on my back if it's likely to injure me. Ok so that last sentence will seem like an paradox to some, but really flying like I do is less dangerous than riding my bike into town. I've also started riding my bike again fairly regularly, and even jumping rope on the deck if it's been raining too much to ride. I've missed jumping rope...
Anyway, back on the path to my more usual physical health.
I'm about caught up on the latest set of new clients websites.
I think my heat rash on my back is about healed. If I can just not aggravate it for another 2 weeks...
I recently finally added a flap to the deck roofing where it meets the metal container roof. During heavy rains I would get a little bit of splashing water in some areas, and the new flap which hangs into the rain gutter from the deck roof prevent this.
I still haven't put together my new solar hot water heater...
I've decided to try to make tortillas vs. buying bread. Really I guess wraps. I don't have an oven, and I can use a cast iron griddle on my induction stove. I've bought whole wheat flour and flax seeds which I'll blenderize and add to the flour as well, then herb them up some. I've always noticed that after a 2 slice of bread sandwich, that I'm often sleepy about an hour later. I think it's just too many carbs. I'll let you know how that adventure goes.
I've already posted this blog entry, so if you get in in your email, you won't have the rest of this post...
Halloween was fun. Lisa was Medusa, and had weaved tons of rubber snakes into her hair. I of course just donned the Navy blues, that's just too easy to not wear those. A friend and his wife just bought a house in Hilo, and the party was at their place. Lots and lots of kiddos running around.
Just gave away the Ford rental car on Freecycle. A guy is sending over a tow truck to pick it up now. I do hate to just give it away, but it needs to leave and not just sit. I had investigated buying another similar car cheap, and swapping out the tranny... like I need to spend a few days under a car. He says it will be for his grand-daughter, maybe that's true. B-Bye.
I just now really, really cleaned the kitchen stainless cabinets and shelf. I scrubbed them with Bar Keepers Friend, a must have for cleaning stainless pots and pans (and cabinets). Then I applied some stainless spray treatment. Stainless steel does actually rust a tiny bit, so I think all this will prevent that from happening. Plus it just looks good now. I got a bit more organized while I was at it.
New client today. Manhattan Kansas Habitat.
Maybe a cobb salad tonight.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Hike
Good 'ol Monday.
Saturday, I went on a hike with Charlotte and Danny traversing Waipio Valley, up the "Z" trail, and headed towards Waimanu Valley. Waipio Valley (a.k.a. the Valley of the Kings), was the center of Hawaiian civilization and politics in the pre-contact days... in 1946 a devastating tsunami swept into the valley and wiped out many of the sacred sites and all of the farms. In 1979 during severe rains, the food waters actually reached 5' deep across the entire valley... If you look at the waterfall photos from a hike about a month ago on this blog, those were taken in the back of Waipio Valley.
The "Z" trail is pretty much like a stair master up the side of the valley, then back down into and out of many smaller valleys and finally into Waimanu Valley. There are no roads into Waimanu Valley, only access is via sea or foot.
So, that was the long way around saying that my calves are still sore from the hike 2 days later. We guesstimate that we hiked between 4.5-5 miles, then headed back. Waimanu is about 8 miles, so hiking all the way in means pretty much a overnight trip. This preview definitely gives me pause in thinking about what I'll pack to take in for an overnighter. And, I think it would be good to do a few more of these hikes partway in before making the whole hike, and it might be worth it to stay a few days vs. in one day, out the next.
Not much new this past week... 4 new clients since last week. Lost 2 others. Fairly rainy this past week, but some really nice days too. My new laptop re-showed up. I'm waiting till Windows7 is out and installed before I spend too much time on it. Not sure if the reinstall of the OS will wipe out my programs/files or not.
I moved the washer/dryer around the corner of the deck to the end, and I moved my exercise bar set inside the shop area. The outside area "Feels" much better with those out of sight. I've also started using the bar set since mosquitoes are no longer bugging me while working out. Should have done that a while back.
I mailed back the spy camera, and after better research this time, hopefully have a better one coming. It may be put to use immediately on an intersection that every time our association fixes, local yokels do doughnuts in their car and 4 wheelers. With video of them in action, hopefully we an get the local police to do something. There's also a illegal cut-through from the community that backs up to ours over by Lisa's house, and perhaps we can get photos and license plates and stop that illegal trespass and traffic on her dead end street. The new camera is much smaller than the last one, so I'll feel better about being able to hide it and it not finding itself a new owner.
I think the green house opening roof design has surfaced. I'm thinking a one piece, flat roof angled to one side (shed roof style). The whole thing will roll to the low end, and when the over hang is heavy enough (1/2 the roof), it will lift up the 1/2 still over the green house. So, a pivot point right about the center of the roof panel. The side with the roof pivot point will be north, away from the direction of the sun so that when it's open, it's not in the path of the sun. Of course the wall closest to the sun will not quite get full sun. Perhaps I'll use a 20% shade cloth on that side, and plant the less sun needy plants on that side. Or another thought just came to mind. Put the low side towards the sun, and open towards the high end of the structure. So, harder to open than close, the reverse of the other way... not sure if my visualizations are coming through in my words. Anyway, should be pretty cool, and functional. Here. This should help.
Guess I should go work on one of those new clients sites now...
Saturday, I went on a hike with Charlotte and Danny traversing Waipio Valley, up the "Z" trail, and headed towards Waimanu Valley. Waipio Valley (a.k.a. the Valley of the Kings), was the center of Hawaiian civilization and politics in the pre-contact days... in 1946 a devastating tsunami swept into the valley and wiped out many of the sacred sites and all of the farms. In 1979 during severe rains, the food waters actually reached 5' deep across the entire valley... If you look at the waterfall photos from a hike about a month ago on this blog, those were taken in the back of Waipio Valley.
The "Z" trail is pretty much like a stair master up the side of the valley, then back down into and out of many smaller valleys and finally into Waimanu Valley. There are no roads into Waimanu Valley, only access is via sea or foot.
So, that was the long way around saying that my calves are still sore from the hike 2 days later. We guesstimate that we hiked between 4.5-5 miles, then headed back. Waimanu is about 8 miles, so hiking all the way in means pretty much a overnight trip. This preview definitely gives me pause in thinking about what I'll pack to take in for an overnighter. And, I think it would be good to do a few more of these hikes partway in before making the whole hike, and it might be worth it to stay a few days vs. in one day, out the next.
Not much new this past week... 4 new clients since last week. Lost 2 others. Fairly rainy this past week, but some really nice days too. My new laptop re-showed up. I'm waiting till Windows7 is out and installed before I spend too much time on it. Not sure if the reinstall of the OS will wipe out my programs/files or not.
I moved the washer/dryer around the corner of the deck to the end, and I moved my exercise bar set inside the shop area. The outside area "Feels" much better with those out of sight. I've also started using the bar set since mosquitoes are no longer bugging me while working out. Should have done that a while back.
I mailed back the spy camera, and after better research this time, hopefully have a better one coming. It may be put to use immediately on an intersection that every time our association fixes, local yokels do doughnuts in their car and 4 wheelers. With video of them in action, hopefully we an get the local police to do something. There's also a illegal cut-through from the community that backs up to ours over by Lisa's house, and perhaps we can get photos and license plates and stop that illegal trespass and traffic on her dead end street. The new camera is much smaller than the last one, so I'll feel better about being able to hide it and it not finding itself a new owner.
I think the green house opening roof design has surfaced. I'm thinking a one piece, flat roof angled to one side (shed roof style). The whole thing will roll to the low end, and when the over hang is heavy enough (1/2 the roof), it will lift up the 1/2 still over the green house. So, a pivot point right about the center of the roof panel. The side with the roof pivot point will be north, away from the direction of the sun so that when it's open, it's not in the path of the sun. Of course the wall closest to the sun will not quite get full sun. Perhaps I'll use a 20% shade cloth on that side, and plant the less sun needy plants on that side. Or another thought just came to mind. Put the low side towards the sun, and open towards the high end of the structure. So, harder to open than close, the reverse of the other way... not sure if my visualizations are coming through in my words. Anyway, should be pretty cool, and functional. Here. This should help.
Guess I should go work on one of those new clients sites now...
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Electricity
Well, it would seem one little clothes dryer uses enough electricity to double my power consumption. That doesn't really mean that it uses so much, just that I use pretty little. Apparently the "average" power consumed by a home in the USA is 936kWh per month, and I used all of 113kWh, which doesn't sound so bad, but still it's double what I have been averaging. Geese people, what are you doing with all that juice? I did use the heat setting on the dryer a fair bit, when the plan is to hang dry the clothes, then "fluff" them in the dryer, and occasionally use heat when needed. I need to fix up a clothes drying line/area somewhere. Hanging them across the front of the kitchen really isn't working for me.
I dropped by the green house supply place today to take a look at what they have in the way of a 12'x18' setup... nada. Closest thing is 20x18, but I don't like it. I have already purchased special PVC fittings to make a 1" PVC frame, but I'm thinking now that seems pretty weak and non-permanent. The metal frames on the kits start at $700, and it doesn't include much at all for that. I'd really like to build a green house with a opening roof. I don't want to keep out the sunshine, and I don't want to have to water all the time. But there are definite times when I will need to keep the rain out... I have some ideas bopping around in my head, and something should pop out of the toaster in the next few days.
Clay dropped by tonight, so we threw together some Sketti w/ meat sauce. I managed to get him a free replacement cell phone for his broken one via Freecycle.
I was going to sell the Ford rental car, but when my last renter returned it, the transmission was basically non-functional. When I started to drive it, he was like, "Gee, that's funny, it wasn't doing that before". Yea, right. Butthead. I think maybe it got low on fluid, started to slip some, and he basically drove it into the ground. Either that, or a electronic controller or fluid pump went out. At any rate, I'm going to try to sell as-is with the bad tranny (full disclosure), and if that doesn't work, I may try to part it out as much as I can, then tow it into town for recycling. It's too bad, other than this transmission issue, it is a decent car. I'm just ready to be done with it.
My new laptop should be back with a new motherboard via FedEx Weds or Thurs.
I've installed a "game" camera at my intersection. It's designed to capture deer or other game on camera, but I'm using it to hopefully catch red-handed the folks who have been dumping pig carcasses and used tires at this intersection(ah... the rural life!). I'm not thrilled with the quality of the camera, so I might be returning it and getting another. For some reason it's blurry enough that you cannot read a license plate at 30', and since it's a 4 mega pixel camera, this should not be the case. And without a license plate, it might not be useful.
Today I lost and gained a client. I've been talking to a hand full of others so the momentum for another en masse sign up is coming again. Another new client in the past few days is New Orleans Parish Government. They used to provide housing for Habitat New Orleans Volunteers, and as such, my volunteer scheduling system was used sorta for that along with the activity scheduling (they didn't always correlate). The government has figured out that you don't need to be Habitat to get volunteers, and they have changed their housing to be housing for volunteers working on public projects. And, as such, will use my volunteer scheduling for both the housing and volunteering aspects. I dig this since it means it will be well used and will facilitate no telling how many thousands of volunteers. I just checked and Habitat NOLA has 35,000 volunteers in their database that have scheduled online. :) Good stuff Vern.
I've been working on programming for Freecycle. Not that they know, have asked, or will accept it, but the local group, and 4,000+ other Freecycle groups are all using Yahoo Groups, and that really sucks (I could go on for an hour on the reasons and issues). I think I might be able to have it all programmed in a month, and it will drastically improve the groups and the members experience using them. It might have applications for similar groups as well. My thought is to create it, and possibly host all the groups on a new server or two. Server leasing is just about $100 per server per month, and that is pretty cheap for what it could do for these groups. I don't really like the idea of just giving away the code, only because some programmer out there would snatch a copy, then figure out how to resell it to others. I wouldn't care if I gave it to all the groups if I thought it would end there. We'll see how it plays out. Maybe this could be one of those write-offs that I need.
Too much rain for biking this past week. I almost biked to Maku'u Market on Sunday, but it looked really iffy rain-wise, but it turned out to be OK. Too bad I drove.
I dropped by the green house supply place today to take a look at what they have in the way of a 12'x18' setup... nada. Closest thing is 20x18, but I don't like it. I have already purchased special PVC fittings to make a 1" PVC frame, but I'm thinking now that seems pretty weak and non-permanent. The metal frames on the kits start at $700, and it doesn't include much at all for that. I'd really like to build a green house with a opening roof. I don't want to keep out the sunshine, and I don't want to have to water all the time. But there are definite times when I will need to keep the rain out... I have some ideas bopping around in my head, and something should pop out of the toaster in the next few days.
Clay dropped by tonight, so we threw together some Sketti w/ meat sauce. I managed to get him a free replacement cell phone for his broken one via Freecycle.
I was going to sell the Ford rental car, but when my last renter returned it, the transmission was basically non-functional. When I started to drive it, he was like, "Gee, that's funny, it wasn't doing that before". Yea, right. Butthead. I think maybe it got low on fluid, started to slip some, and he basically drove it into the ground. Either that, or a electronic controller or fluid pump went out. At any rate, I'm going to try to sell as-is with the bad tranny (full disclosure), and if that doesn't work, I may try to part it out as much as I can, then tow it into town for recycling. It's too bad, other than this transmission issue, it is a decent car. I'm just ready to be done with it.
My new laptop should be back with a new motherboard via FedEx Weds or Thurs.
I've installed a "game" camera at my intersection. It's designed to capture deer or other game on camera, but I'm using it to hopefully catch red-handed the folks who have been dumping pig carcasses and used tires at this intersection(ah... the rural life!). I'm not thrilled with the quality of the camera, so I might be returning it and getting another. For some reason it's blurry enough that you cannot read a license plate at 30', and since it's a 4 mega pixel camera, this should not be the case. And without a license plate, it might not be useful.
Today I lost and gained a client. I've been talking to a hand full of others so the momentum for another en masse sign up is coming again. Another new client in the past few days is New Orleans Parish Government. They used to provide housing for Habitat New Orleans Volunteers, and as such, my volunteer scheduling system was used sorta for that along with the activity scheduling (they didn't always correlate). The government has figured out that you don't need to be Habitat to get volunteers, and they have changed their housing to be housing for volunteers working on public projects. And, as such, will use my volunteer scheduling for both the housing and volunteering aspects. I dig this since it means it will be well used and will facilitate no telling how many thousands of volunteers. I just checked and Habitat NOLA has 35,000 volunteers in their database that have scheduled online. :) Good stuff Vern.
I've been working on programming for Freecycle. Not that they know, have asked, or will accept it, but the local group, and 4,000+ other Freecycle groups are all using Yahoo Groups, and that really sucks (I could go on for an hour on the reasons and issues). I think I might be able to have it all programmed in a month, and it will drastically improve the groups and the members experience using them. It might have applications for similar groups as well. My thought is to create it, and possibly host all the groups on a new server or two. Server leasing is just about $100 per server per month, and that is pretty cheap for what it could do for these groups. I don't really like the idea of just giving away the code, only because some programmer out there would snatch a copy, then figure out how to resell it to others. I wouldn't care if I gave it to all the groups if I thought it would end there. We'll see how it plays out. Maybe this could be one of those write-offs that I need.
Too much rain for biking this past week. I almost biked to Maku'u Market on Sunday, but it looked really iffy rain-wise, but it turned out to be OK. Too bad I drove.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Videos now available
I've uploaded a few videos to Vimeo, a video site similar to YouTube. The link to get to them is in the upper left of the blog page. The Hawaiian Hawk, a few hikes, and Cindy's Marimba performance. When zoomed in 10x with the camera, I really need a tripod. I'll work on doing a Container House video soon.
Cindy and I are kaput by concurrence.
It's been raining allot lately. The river was flowing, and the lakes were full. Great Fun! I need a new drain pipe for the water next to the container...
Sold the freebie stackable washer/dryer for $200, and now I'm looking to buy just a used dryer for $50 on Craig's List.
I've decided to sell off the Ford (rental car) after the current renter for $500. It should sell pretty quickly. It just needs more work (battery, front bushings, etc), and I don't find myself wanting to deal with renters any more. At least I did a little better than breaking even on the car and all repairs. Someone will get a good car, and for $200, it will be 100%.
New client today.
Maybe a hike this week to Waimanu Valley...
Cindy and I are kaput by concurrence.
It's been raining allot lately. The river was flowing, and the lakes were full. Great Fun! I need a new drain pipe for the water next to the container...
Sold the freebie stackable washer/dryer for $200, and now I'm looking to buy just a used dryer for $50 on Craig's List.
I've decided to sell off the Ford (rental car) after the current renter for $500. It should sell pretty quickly. It just needs more work (battery, front bushings, etc), and I don't find myself wanting to deal with renters any more. At least I did a little better than breaking even on the car and all repairs. Someone will get a good car, and for $200, it will be 100%.
New client today.
Maybe a hike this week to Waimanu Valley...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
In the saddle again
Well, it's back to putting some miles on the bike again. I've missed it. Rode to the Hwy task force meeting the other day, and got soaked on the way home. Even in the rain it wasn't cold. That was helped by the fact that I was riding uphill all the way.
Been raining more lately. Still mostly sunny days, once the sun comes out, sometimes as late as 10-11am.
I ended up getting a heat rash on my back the last time I was working on the bobcat & chain sawing and such for the new water heater area. I've been taking a break from that both because it would be muddy, and as I don't want to aggravate the rash. Ick. I hope to get back to finishing up that area, and perhaps installing the water heater soon...
Work has been good. Been making mostly program updates and improvements. No new clients lately after that rush. Almost all of those are live (finally).
My laptop is pretty old now, so it won't handle editing the new video clips, so posting video to the site will have to wait until I upgrade later this year. I'm really hopeful that Windows 7 won't be crap like XP and Vista. I'm still churning away on Windows 2000.
Finally sold off my original 1/2 working induction cooktop for $25. Nobody know how to deal with it being 220v, or they didn't want to.
I get back the rental car tomorrow. I need to pull the front passenger wheel off as it seems something is awry there, then have it ready to deliver to another renter Friday.
I have an interview for a community development plan committee on Friday. Not sure if "luck" would be to get onto the committee, or not to be.
Here's a funny story on Johanna's blog about renting my Honda for a week.
Been raining more lately. Still mostly sunny days, once the sun comes out, sometimes as late as 10-11am.
I ended up getting a heat rash on my back the last time I was working on the bobcat & chain sawing and such for the new water heater area. I've been taking a break from that both because it would be muddy, and as I don't want to aggravate the rash. Ick. I hope to get back to finishing up that area, and perhaps installing the water heater soon...
Work has been good. Been making mostly program updates and improvements. No new clients lately after that rush. Almost all of those are live (finally).
My laptop is pretty old now, so it won't handle editing the new video clips, so posting video to the site will have to wait until I upgrade later this year. I'm really hopeful that Windows 7 won't be crap like XP and Vista. I'm still churning away on Windows 2000.
Finally sold off my original 1/2 working induction cooktop for $25. Nobody know how to deal with it being 220v, or they didn't want to.
I get back the rental car tomorrow. I need to pull the front passenger wheel off as it seems something is awry there, then have it ready to deliver to another renter Friday.
I have an interview for a community development plan committee on Friday. Not sure if "luck" would be to get onto the committee, or not to be.
Here's a funny story on Johanna's blog about renting my Honda for a week.
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