Category: lakehouse

Wet. Cool or warm, but probably wet. Yesterday started with an inch of rain and thunderstorms. The day cleared with occasional short spatters of rain, but ended with a beautiful sunset, and a pleasant night. Today might get rain, might get lots of rain, or might not. I’m hoping ‘not’.

I didn’t get a lot done, but I did finish one repair. Got the sprinkler pump connected to the piping. The local hardware store didn’t have the exact replacement fittings, but I was able to make a combination that got the job done. I wasn’t the only one standing in front of the limited stock holding pieces up and trying combinations…

Since I was chatting with my fisherman buddy, and working on the dock anyway, I decided to work on a low priority but also low involvement project- fixing one of the propane patio heaters. SHOULD have been straightforward. The gas pipe that goes between the tank and the burner assembly rusted through at the tank end. Yes, the chinese made all the rest of the commercial grade product from stainless steel, brass, and copper, but chose to make the one crucial tube out of steel. Fuskers. I figured to replace the pipe with a hose. Simple fix. Except that out of 20 pounds of gas fittings, I don’t have the miniature one they used at the top of the pipe. So there is a box of parts waiting for next time.

I mention it because that sort of design cheapness really chaps my nether regions. The pipe could have been a rust resistant metal like all the other pipes in the heater. Or it could have been a stock or semi-stock hose assembly. But they chose to make a custom part, and made it from inferior materials. It’s very far from a “green” or renewable approach, and probably didn’t even make economic sense compared to a stock part. And it failed, rendering the entire multi hundred dollar device unusable. I’ll fix it, because I like fixing stuff, but it should have lasted for years longer.

Oh, and there was ONE steel screw in the whole heater too, and of course it was rusted solid. Quittin’ time in Shenzen, ‘just get it out the door’ mentality.

In the plus column for me, while I was poking at the heater, my buddy was fishing, and giving me a lesson on baits and hooks. Staying on the dock so I could chat with him was a big part of my decision to spend time on a low priority task.

It’s also an example of how even if you buy quality (and it’s a very heavy duty commercial grade patio heater) you aren’t guaranteed long service life or repairability.

It’s Spring, time for spring cleaning and all the start of the season maintenance tasks. Take a good look at your stuff and make sure it’s in good repair. If not, fix it, or make sure you have access to the parts you’ll need. Or plan to do without if it breaks. That’s why “two is one, and one is none.”

Stack some backups.

nick

Warm and moist. Overcast with a chance of thunderstorms. That’s what they said for yesterday too, and we got only a few little sprinkles. The garden could use some rain, but I’ve got stuff to do outside. Hope it doesn’t pour down.

But if it does, I’ve still got stuff to do.

Spent yesterday piddling around. Back flared up a bit, so I didn’t want to aggravate that and lose any more time. Cleaned and organized while looking for stuff I needed. Put stuff away on shelves, cleared up some boxes of random stuff. Did do a little on the sprinklers, but didn’t get anything finished.

Got my little fire and radio time last night. It’s the part of being up here I love the most. Quiet. Fish splashing. Hard to reconcile having the radio on with the idea of quiet, but maybe “stillness” is a better word. I think we all need a bit of quiet in our lives right now. We need time with ourselves, still, quiet, contemplative time. I’ve seen the idea in several other places recently so the zeitgeist is saying the same thing. Stack up a little quiet and space for yourself in your day or your week.

Today, if it’s not raining, I’ll do more work on the sprinklers, something with the trees, and maybe something with the dock. Depends on how I feel, how hot it is, and how things go. If it’s raining, I’ll probably sleep in, and do some indoor stuff. Maybe play pool with my fisherman buddy. He grew up with a pool table in his bedroom, but hasn’t played in a long time, so I might have a chance… or I’ll get my butt kicked. Should still be fun.

Time feels short, but it’s hard to keep up the pace all the time. Stack while you can, but live too.

nick

Cool and partly cloudy, with a chance of rain later, but who really knows? Yesterday started a bit warmer, got to be very nice, and stayed warm until about 1 am. Then the wind which was gusting and variable got a chill to it.

I started the day by finishing up the starlink install. I dressed the cable and ran it into the house. We put the base station on a little shelf in the main part of the house. I’ll move it to an equipment closet later, when I put the rest of the stuff in place. Works good enough where it is, and is out of the way. It’s all planes and angles, like the cybertruck, and each piece runs hot to the touch.

I spent the rest of the afternoon installing the door between the garage and the house. It was just 1/8 th inch too big, but that made the job a lot harder. While I was there anyway, I added a bunch of reinforcement to the jamb. Got it installed and tuned up, but need to get the threshold and trim back in place.

Had a nice dinner, played several games, and had a fire on the dock to end the day. Not much activity on the bands, and the sky was black but mostly cloudy, so we just enjoyed roasting some Peeps ™ over the fire.

Wife, kids, dog, and inlaws head home later today. I’ll be here for a while working the list. I’ll admit that I miss the quiet time when the house is full. Which is dumb, because the whole point of how I’ve organized my life is to be with the kids and family. Adding the inlaws changes the dynamic and it’s a lot more noisy and a lot less fun.

I’ll be finishing the door, and working on the list for the rest of today. Which things get addressed depends on my mood, and the weather.

Always be working to improve your situation, and stack. Whatever you need, stack it.

nick