Unforced errors.....

8:14 am - Tuesday - November 25th - TWW - 35° F, humidity 46%, wind 3 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 59° F.  On this date in 2021 we were just sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner with family and friends...... 

.....as the sun set over Ocotillo Wells....there was a lot of dust in the air from thousands of side by sides.

After four days of being 'cabin bound' we finally had a day with no clouds, no rain, and no wind.  We were both eager to get outside and get a few things done.  If only I had kept it to a few....lol!  By the end of our work day (around 5 pm for moi) I was running on fumes.  But I get ahead of myself.

I cannot remember in what order it did the following things, but this is what I did:

1 - Gathered all of the mouse traps we deployed over the past year, and found that between Phyllis' Newell and our Newell we had 30 mouse traps!  I wanted to soak them in a bucket of soapy water to clean them, then fill their individual reservoirs with 'attractant', then redeploy them.  In in collecting them I found there were 6 mice which had been terminated since the last time we checked.  I managed to get them washed and dried, but will have to add the attractant Tuesday before redeploying them.

2 - Reinstalled the Jeep battery, but didn't have time to start it

3 - Deployed the new solar rope lights I purchased off eBay (pictures coming)

4 - Took the Toro blower over to the garage to blow out the rain water which had gotten under the garage door (used the Champion 7,500 kw generator to power it).

5 - I'm going to install a rain gutter on the shed to catch the rain water, but there isn't enough room between the edge of the metal roof and the door to install a regular rain gutter, so I'm going to have to cut a 1" x 6' piece of PVC pipe in half (length wise) to catch the rain and transfer it into a barrel.  I spent time finding out what the land could provide and found what I needed.  That project will be for another day.

6 - Install the four jack stands I use to stabilize the trailer when we are parked for more than a week.

7 - Rewash the VW Beetle to get the last of the mud off before our trip down to Phoenix for Thanksgiving with Charles and Phyllis.

8 - Wash the flat bed trailer Charles and Phyllis use to move things between Phoenix and TWW....

....it was really filthy!

9- Clean the spark arrestor on the Predator 5000 dual fuel generator, which I believed would take less than 30 minutes, but while unscrewing one of the two bolts which hold it in place I dropped it into the bowels of the generator necessitating the removal of the side panels, so I could remove the rear panel to get at it.  30 screws later, and over an hour later I had the rear panel removed (with TLE's help, and suggestions) and retrieved the bolt.  Every time I thought I had found the last bolt, there would be another, and another, and another.  From there it took less than 5 minutes to find that bolt, then remove the other bolt, clean the spark arrestor, and then begin the reinstallation of the 3 generator panels.  That took another 30 minutes.  I thought I would be inside taking a hot shower around 3 pm, but that didn't happen until almost 5 pm.

10 - Just as I was closing up the trailer for the night I discovered the Eco Worthy solar tracker had not returned to its overnight position (flat), so I spent another 30 minutes figuring out why it wasn't getting 12 volts to the controller.  Apparently when I was installing those four jack stands I needed to move the 12 volt line which powers the solar tracker, and in so doing caused it to pull out of the connectors where I spliced two lines together.  Once I discovered my error it took about 10 minutes to fix it.  

So, a lot got done, but two unforced errors added two hours to my day.  As I finally staggered into the Newell to remove my work clothes I was out of gas.  I took a longish hot shower, took some Tylenol, put on my pajamas, and settled into my recliner for a nap.  By 8 pm I was beginning to feel myself again.  In all I worked 7 hours with only a short break around 1 pm....two hours too many....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!