Well the last week was somewhat productive. I managed to get out there with the chainsaw and rip a few big beams out of some logs. And i wrenched my back in the process. Perhaps it is getting better now, though my baseline is pretty poor. Who knows, maybe one day i will miraculously be cured. Currently, it is a struggle to sit up out of bed or stand up in the morning and there there is the constant having to go run to the restroom; don't forget the hunger pains - I can't complain. Anyway, the chainsaw then quit again, and so it looks like i need to take the carburetor apart again(i'll have to look into buying material to make my own gaskets). Also, I melted an old beehive body i had laying around since last month's checkup. I used my hot-air rig. Sorry, no pics, but i do expect to do more melting after the coming honey harvest. So i have mostly been hiding out indoors the last few days, taking care of my back, and trying to improve my foot-care setup. I think i have now identified the optimum way to fold and stitch hand-towels into slippers in such a way that they fit inside my halogen lamp box, and including a way to expose my big toe to get some extra light on it(and heat). I can almost smell victory over the fungus! no wait, that was my slippers catching fire. ;P The Weather is getting hot here now. Today's forecast is for 99°F(37°C). I'm afraid the melons might dry up if this goes on too long. they only started to flower last week, and so they have a considerable amount of time left to go before harvest. i didn't have enough time to setup irrigation this season, and things tend to get a little dry around here after midsummer, though not always, so we will see. It was 83°F in my place yesterday. I have still got a major clean up job, down there, and to install a heat-pump. Right now i am just relying on a couple window-AC units and a compressor-driven dehumidifier. The sub-roof could probably also use better insulation in the shop area. It is hard to imagine how i will get the space cleared for the job, since there is so much material for various different projects, and i don't have anywhere else to put it. I guess i need to learn magic.
Well today's forecast ended up turning into rain, and so i've been inside doing various stuff, and i ended up fixing my chainsaw it seems. Remind me to store things better and always empty the tank in the future. Also, remind me to make a web-app to expose how poor forecasting has become the past few months. i'm pretty sure i already knew how to store small engines, but i guess the clutter got the better of me. anyway, it seems to run again, now, though perhaps still with a few hiccups. I found this guy really helpful as far as the basic operation of a carbureted motor: . Hopefully the rain will break soon, so i can get on to some chainsaw business i was hoping to test out. BTW, apparently sportsman uses a no-name chinese brand for their carburetors(OEM:848C80810).I'm glad it appears i was able to get it working this time, though i already have a replacement on order from china via walmart, but it is good not to have to wait for it to arrive. now if only i could find the compatible repair kit with just the gaskets. p.s. i wish Youtube wasn't the nexus of the whole internet video world.
The watermelons and cantaloupes are attempting to grow out of the weeds. I should have done a better job with garden prep. I also think i miss-read the instruction on the packets related to time-to-emergence and time-to-harvest. That in conjunction with various difficulties with my new greenhouse lead me doubt if i will have a melon sale for this 4th of July. Perhaps next year, though it is looking pretty sure that i will not be selling melons this summer; i plan to bring the few that i eventually do harvest to family and friends. It has been a learning experience, however, and i think i am closer now to making it a success in future seasons. Also, i potted some cutting from my gold-flame and major-wheeler honeysuckle from my porch trellis. Also in the shot, you can see my kumquats and nettles i am trying to start. Kumquats, though not hardy in Virginia, are supposedly one of the more cold tolerant citrus varieties, and so i am hoping to give them a try in the greenhouse this winter(if the sprout).
I'm still hanging out inside, though i'm thinking i probably need to go water stuff soon. I decided to work on a few more of my open tabs while i let some beeswax melt in the other room. I guess it is mostly just subjects that caught my eye today. The 1st is some recent developments in a copyright case agains OpenAI. OpenAI Appeals ‘Sweeping, Unprecedented Order’ Requiring It Maintain All ChatGPT Logs OpenAI is retaining all ChatGPT logs “indefinitely.” Here’s who’s affected. OpenAI slams court order to save all ChatGPT logs, including deleted chats The 2nd is the court battle to stop the disclosure of NHTSA Tesla crash data. Tesla is trying to stop certain self-driving crash data becoming public Tesla admits it would ‘suffer financial harm’ if its self-driving crash data becomes public Tesla cites competitive harm in attempt to keep certain crash data private A Fatal Tesla Crash Shows the Limits of Full Self-Driving Dad still loves his Cybertruck, and thinks Elno is going to get us to Mars. Ugh! Anyway, here are some pics of my current wax melting setup. I still want to make candles some time. I'm not sure if i will ever get around to it, but the first step is melting and filtering the wax.
One small update before i get going on various things today. Since this is a personal blog, i thought i should include a little health update. I went to the doctor the other day at my mom's urging, about my long-time problems with back-pain and IBS. As part of the whole thing i ended up collecting and sending my poop off in the mail(i have never done this before). I don't really expect anything abnormal in the poop however since i have always attributed the problems to a back injury i had about almost 13 years ago now. I did manage to get my GP to print out an X-ray report from 2022, which i had some conflicting recollection related to what my PT said when she read the report in front of me back in 2022 and my GP's dismissals about it during various visits. To be fair, i switched my GP a few years back, and so i have only been seeing my new Doc for 3 years or so, and I suppose it is not all that uncommon for people to begin having these sorts of problems by my age. It is too bad i did not seek care back when the injury happened, though given how some of my other healthcare adventures have played out in years since, perhaps it was wise to avoid treatment. who knows, perhaps i could have been talked into surgery and had complications. or perhaps i would be living pain free and dropping logs in the bowl every morning at 6 am. we will never know because you only get one life. here is the pic(i need to organize on my filing cabinet so i don't lose this stuff):
I was trying to close out some HN browser tabs this morning, and decided i needed a little brush-up on my tech idioms: Bikeshedding Cargo Cult Yak shaving Rubber Duck Bus factor Dogfooding Technical Debt Code Smell Duck Typing Fudge Factor Heisenbug Low-Hanging Fruit Parade of Horribles Pigeonholing Rubber Duck Debugging Shared Fate Table It Throw It Over the Wall Tree Shaking Walled Garden Wearer of Many Hats That seems pretty good for now. I think it's time to get on to some items my to-do list. i'm still not sure if i'm working inside or out today, or what i am actually doing. I'm probably yak-shaving but that is kind of subjective. I pretty sure you could also say i'm eating my own dog food, though i like to think i make better stuff than that(idk, you decide).
Trump's climate and weather cuts are really screwing up my ability to plan for outdor farm activities. Vague and inaccurate forecasts turn going outside into a casino game. Do i need to wear my rain boots? or do i need to water my plants? will we still have smog tomorrow? do i need to secure my tarps from blowing away? The answer lately seems to be i don't know. The forecast here right now is for rain and thunderstorms this morning switching to scattered thunderstorms after 2pm. So far we got a few drops, but now i see blue sky peaking through. Dont forget the forecast for severe storms last night which was underwhelming. It seems Trump has killed weather prediction. It is definitely a very noticeable change. here are some notes: btw, I'm still battling foot fungus.
I managed(with dad's help) to get the 2nd layer on the greenhouse this morning. i used a plastic drop cloth from harbor freight, and it ended up looking slightly more opaque than the original special greenhouse plastic. It made no claimes about UV resistance, but hopefully it holds up and protects the bottom layer a little and so i don't need to replace it so soon.
