Second Monday
Wednesday, July 19th, 2023 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudio
84F and partly cloudy today, and the wifi repeater's been up for over 24 hours now, with only two reboots... that were several hours apart.
And I think that's better than it's ever done!
Granted, the cooling fan is on high, and the AC's been running in the back room, with it's blacked out windows... but I do still think the game changer here, was getting Dad's computer off that repeater!
So... the WIFI adapter I got for it, has solved two chronic problems... the constant failure of my internet connection back here, and the rampant overheating of the repeater... which have both plagued me since back in March and April, when it was still cold outside!
The issue was ALWAYS... a shitty internal WIFI receiver, in this computer!
So, ONCE AGAIN!.. Never trust shit that belonged to DAD!
This computer's not even that old!.. I got it FOR him, for Christmas, a few years back.
But remember last December, when he was still in the hospital?.. I spent two weeks trying to get all the malware off of it!
So... it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to think malware might have fucked up something like the internal WIFI receiver... as malware relies on internet connectivity to survive.
But that receiver's been disabled now, so Windows doesn't even try to use it anymore.
Meanwhile, however... checking the camera feeds several times last night, and today at work, I could not ignore the grass growing inbetween the pavers of the little walk to the driveway... as pictured above.
It was Brian & Mom who originally created a branch off the main brick walk, to get to the driveway, back in the 1990s, when the driveway was still just gravel.
But about 20 years ago, when Mom & Dad had the driveway blacktopped, they had landscapers do that branch walk with modern pavers.
And it's only been in the past five years that grass has finally begun to takeover in the cracks.
And I know firsthand, this happens because ANTS push all the sand out of the way to make exits for their underground colonies.
So, I DO have a ton of left over polymeric sand from the firepit project, and I have been thinking about using it on this branch walk, for a while.
But for that to work, the crevices have to be clear... I can't just kill or yank out the grass, leaving the roots behind.
But after seeing it so many times on camera, I finally hit on the solution!
This crevice tool has over five thousand good reviews on Amazon, and... it's coming tomorrow!
It'll take a whole day, but using this tool, I can clear out the gaps between those pavers good enough to sweep polymeric sand in.
And after it sets up... no more ants, and no more grass!
And it'll be easier to shovel in the winter too!
Okay... got out there when the sun was low and shoveled five more wheel barrow loads out of the topsoil pile... and just spread it all out right in the side yard...
This area was already lower than the ground closer to the driveway, and it also includes the site of the tractor shed (on the right, in this photo) but...
The plan here is to just dump as much topsoil as I can into this area.
Because I'm tired of fiddle-farting around, wheeling it way out to the back!
I got five loads dumped tonight, before I was all sweaty, and losing the light. So if I can do that much tomorrow and Friday night... I have a plan for what's left.
See.. I'll cover this whole area with grass seed mat, but then... instead of using bricks to hold it down, I'll just put a thin layer of topsoil OVER it!
And if there's anything left of the pile, I'll wheel that out back to the ridge.
Then I'll set up a sprinkler on a timer in this zone, and water it twice a day until we've got grass!
I also did price out materials for the hatch door project, today.
A suitable sheet of, "ground contact," pressure treated plywood will be 50 to 60 bucks, depending on the thickness.
A suitable preservative to add to the plywood will be another 40 to 50 bucks.
And then miscellaneous hardware, and a new cable will be another 50 bucks.
And yes, I have to clear off the porch before I get going on that, but... getting rid of the topsoil mound is a higher priority, because it's been sitting there so long, shit is starting to grow on it!
And... it just boils down to the rule of; finish one project before starting another.
June, and July so far have felt a little directionless, after the very clearly focused projects of the spring.
And the side quests... like creating a music studio... and taking on BMO about the mortgage... have made the summer even more confusing.
Add on top of that, the nasty heat... and the laziness of going part time because of that nasty heat... have made it a very fuzzy summer, where one week kinda blurs into the next without a super clear story line.
But the fact is, the dumptruck's worth of topsoil was the last big move I made, as June began, and... while I have done a hell of a lot with that topsoil, and the irrigation system out back...
That project is NOT done, until the mound is gone, and the side yard... where I removed Dad's tractor shed... is restored to a normal lawn, just like in the back!
And since the branch walk to the driveway is part of that whole area... it makes sense to tackle that at the same time.
The new hatch door is coming, but the old one hasn't fallen apart yet, so that can wait.
And though I'd like to prune the low hanging branches in back before the crickets get here, it's not an emergency, and makes more sense to do when it cools down a bit.
Either way... today's pretty much over.
See you tomorrow.
°¦}
