Chilly. I’ll check to see what the overnight low was, but I don’t think it will be freezing. It was a beautiful sunny clear day yesterday, which made the chill tolerable. I hope for some more sun today.

Got the electrical done, and the RV hooked up to power water and sewer. We’re just putting grey water in the mystery sewer line, not black. We’ll see if it fills up or if I’ve got an undocumented septic system for the RV pad. I suspect a septic system, or at least a buried tank. The previous owner put it in for his fifth wheel trailer…

Full moon and patchy clouds meant no good stars last night, even though the air was pretty clear.

Today I’ll be chilling with our guests, and maybe getting some more cleanup stuff done. I want to edge and blow the yard and weeds, and finish cleaning up some of the leftover building material that has been just stacking up under the carport. There are other things on the list too. There always are.

I might even bait the crawdad traps and get them in the lake. It’s the season. Lake is half a foot high, the rain must be working its way down the watershed.

Oh, I have cupcakes and cards for the girls for Valentine’s Day. Happy Feast of St. Valentine everyone. Eat some pink icing on some baked goods!

The heater worked well in the garage and I’m very glad I took the time to install it. I’m finally pulling stuff off the stacks. Gas line and a heater, electrical boxes and outlets, drinking water hose… and food.

I like to eat, and I like to be warm. Stacks are helping with both.

Stack some of your own…

nick

Mid 50s to start the day here at the BOL. Yesterday stayed overcast most of the day, but was warm enough for a T shirt and long pants. The attic got a bit warm, but not like summertime… today should be the same, but maybe a bit clearer.

I did my major task this weekend. I have installed the 50A 240V receptacle in the carport. I can feed an RV, or charge an EV now. I’m not completely done, I was short 4 wire nuts. They are to wire up the pass through to a second receptacle in a different style, so I can accommodate different plugs without adapters. I’ll have the two most common styles when I’m done. Won’t take but an hour when I get back up here.

I also got to clean up the yard with the mower, and it looks nicer. Old leaves and random weeds growing just look sloppy.

Today I’ll do some more cleanup and set up a water hose for the RV pad. I brought some drinking water safe hoses from home. I use them to fill my big water storage tanks, so they should be good for the RV. I’ll add an inline filter too, since I have it.

Then it’s back home for a couple of days, before returning.

I’ll catch a pickup on the way home to save a trip.

Stacks. Water hose, in line filters, electrical supplies. Knowledge.

Stack the stuff, but stack the skills too.

nick

Dunno about Houston, but here it’s a bit cool, then warmer. I will be in the attic so I am hoping for ‘cool’ to last a while. It was pretty nice all day yesterday, although very humid. Even with very light work I was sweating outdoors.

I did my home stuff, then went shopping and loaded the truck. Called one pickup and changed it to a shipment, moved the other to Monday afternoon. That got me some more time at home to get packed and ready before heading out.

I bought 3 apple trees at Lowes because they were in stock. I won’t plant them until later, but I learned last year that they don’t stay in the store very long. One tree for the house to replace a dead one, and two for the BOL. I’d have bought pears too, but they only had one variety in stock, and you need two for pollination.

The drive was uneventful, except seeing the cop pulling someone over outside of one of the small towns on the state highway. They had a rash of collisions, so they are upping enforcement. First time I’ve seen it.

I forgot we shut off the water main, so when I flushed and nothing happened I had a moment. Then I remembered and it was ok.

Only real goal for today is to get the new 50A 240V receptacles installed in the carport. I’m doing two, the most common styles, because I have them. That way, literally anything should be able to plug in- welding machine, EV Charger, RV, generator backfeed….

Good thing I had the receptacles and “in use” boxes. 75Ft of conductors and a breaker were expensive enough. If you see stuff you are thinking of using later on sale, or very cheap, it’s worth picking it up when you see it. I knew that eventually I’d put an outlet in the workshop area, and replace the RV outlet that burned up, but I didn’t have a timeline. I collected pieces when I saw them for pennies on the dollar. Having to buy the wire at retail was unpleasant. I’ll probably start seeing it in the auctions now that I don’t need it 😛

Stacks saved a bunch of money on this project. They will certainly continue to save money, time, and effort on others. Stack wide and deep…

nick

STILL not freezing cold. I’m beginning to think the whole “winter returns” was ‘overblown’…. I expect today to be better than yesterday, ie. clearer, and about the same temperatures. I think it hit 82F in my driveway. Sun came out late in the day too.

I did a bunch of cleaning and putting away. Wellllll, putting somewhere else… in the morning. Then I did a pretty big round trip to pick up a bunch of auction items. The most notable from a prepping perspective included several dozen first aid kit reloads of single serving antibiotic cream packets. I put them in my altoids tin first aid kit, and altoids tin “everyday” survival kit. Of course I also put them in normal first aid kits too. I think it would be hard to have too much antibiotic cream.

The other interesting lot was several boxes of lumber crayons. I got boxes of black and of white. I put the lumber crayons in my bigger kits, in my vehicle kits, and just loose in the truck. They will write on just about any surface and if you have black and white, you can mark on dark or light surfaces. You can use them to leave notes for others in your party who are following you, blaze a trail, or to do the FEMA cross on buildings in a disaster… and they don’t dry out. Yeah, pretty extreme use case, but they are small, cheap, and durable. Low cost and low effort but might save a life later…

Speaking of blazing a trail, I also keep a couple of rolls of flagging tape in bright colors in my truck. It can be used for trail marking, but most often I use it for flagging lumber or pipe when it overhangs the back of my truck… or for marking guy wires for temp antennas. I’ve also used it as streamer to stabilize kites when I have big kites in the air at the beach. Florescent orange is the brightest and one I use most often. Cheap, small, and useful.

Today I’ll buy the rest of the electrical parts I need for my project at the BOL, and I’ll head up later in the day. I should be able to crank out the work, but may need to stay Monday as well. We’ll see, as always. And I’m sure there is something on the list that could be done too.

Whatever small steps you take, whatever small job you get done, that’s one more thing you’ve done to help yourself and the ones you love. Big steps are important, but little things are too.

Stack.

nick