300th

Unless I’m off-by-one, this is my 300th column. So what’s happening in twoprops’ world?

• This week is busy!

  • One of HA’s sons is visiting for a couple of weeks, and his girlfriend arrives next week for the second half of his stay.

  • Friends of mine from the wayback (1975) are visiting the island, and will be stopping by here tomorrow. It will be great to see them.

  • Friends of HA’s from not-quite-so long ago are stopping on the island for a day while on a cruise Friday, so we’ll be visiting with them, too.

• We’re (still) working on getting the house re-wired and the plumbing in at the studio.

• We’re learning how to keep Joulee the Free Salvage Tesla charged with solar power while not depleting the batteries that run the house overnight. This will eventually mean coding up some scripts for Home Assistant to continuously manage energy flow.

• We’re designing and installing a catchment water system to supplement and back up our municipal water supply.

• We’re building a deck for the hot tub, that I’ve been missing terribly.

• We’re about to order 20 cubic yards (ugh!) of rock to re-surface our driveway and the space around the new garage.

• I’m still working on getting my thyroid hormone replacement dose adjusted and still trying to address my fatigue.

• We are getting used to hauling our own trash.

• I’m enjoying being able to do laundry, and pedestals for our washer and dryer should arrive this week so I can finish the installation (pending water and electricity supplies).

• Luna the Big Dog™ is still loving the island place, her own fiefdom, and having her dad here for a visit. She hasn’t killed any more pigs.

• My children still haven’t had time to come and visit. I’m hoping the summer break will give them time (and they’ll have inclination), but my oldest will be moving out-of-state for his first job.

• We’re slowly getting organized, but we don’t want to move everything into the house until it is painted, and that might not happen until May.

• Tomorrow I’ll be putting a much-needed handrail on the stairs up to the garage loft.

• I’m working on getting WiFi to reach the garage. I tried an old router I had lying around, but it didn’t really help. HA took me to a thrift store to look at clothes, and lo-and-behold there was a router of the exact same model as the others I’m using around here, for the princely sum of $3. I bought it, flashed it with OpenWRT, and attached it by a long cable to the side of the house facing the garage. All I have to do is crimp connectors on the new cable and we should have fast WiFi in the front yard and garage.

• We’re getting stepping stones laid about the place to help keep the mud out of the house.

• I’m awaiting the arrival of new landscape lights next week, which I will then get to install.

• We are enjoying fires in our wood stove almost every morning, as the temperatures plummet into the high 50’s.

• We continue to enjoy waking up each day in our own Enchanted Tiki Room, walking in our beautiful neighborhood across picturesque wooden bridges, meeting fascinating new neighbors, and building our curious little home.

—2p

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