Good Morning!!!! 63F @ 5:30AM. Sunny. High 64F. Winds light and variable.
The high winds expected in this area never materialized yesterday, so our electricity remained on. Of course there were no email, telephone, or text messages to that effect, I had to keep going back to the notification website established by the utility to find out. So plans to do jobs that required no power were put on hold, at least until today. The ten-day forecast is now calling for showers starting next Tuesday afternoon, with as much as an inch of rain accumulating through the following Saturday. Not enough to end the near drought we're now in, and not enough to end the fire season, either, but it's a start. The wet weather will also bring daytime highs down into the 50s, so it's time to move a pallet of firewood into the garage and get ready to fire up the wood stove. That's gonna take some rearranging, and reorganizing, maybe moving a makeshift 4'x8' work table into the warmth of the great room to keep the work on the Vanagon interior going.
I did manage to get a truck load of gravel and decomposed granite on it's way here, due for delivery Monday. Prices are up about 30% from seven years ago, but then again so is the price of #2 Diesel.
David, is it safe to assume that all those impressive sounding model numbers you rattled off are from Outback?
The current measurements from the other day were pretty inconsistent, enough so that I went shopping for a new clamp on meter yesterday. Lots of inexpensive choices out there that seem to offer heaps of features, but none of them have very good ratings. All the usual horror stories about them coming out of their boxes broken, or working for two weeks and then failing, or being very inaccurate compared to a Fluke or other reputable maker's product. My Fluke 77 meter is maybe 20 years old, and it's never asked for anything other than a fresh battery a time or to. So I bit the bullet and ordered a Fluke, one that will also read temperature and capacitance. But the real kicker is that it can be controlled by a smart phone to do data logging, and it can be monitored remotely, perfect for catching a current surge from a starting motor when the switch controlling that motor is located too far from the measurement point to reach. I also ordered a
device that can be plugged into an electrical outlet that separates the two conductors safely so that the tongs on the clamp on meter can be conveniently applied. Never noticed such devices existed before, but it sure makes sense.
Rounded out the day by finishing the sound deadening on the engine deck, and getting a pretty good start on the cargo area floor of the van. I should get that finished today, then I'll tackle the broken glue joints on four of the body stiffeners in that area to quiet some rattles. I think the reed switch I ordered came yesterday (I didn't get a chance to open the package yet), and if so I'll re-rig the spoof for the neutral position switch to work off the shift linkage for a more accurate simulation.
Hang in there, gang, Friday's comin'!
