Good Morning!!!! 82F @ 4:30AM. Sunshine and clouds mixed. Hot. High around 105F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Seems as though those Dog Days are already here. Smoke did clear up some overnight, but is on its way up again. Already at unhealthy levels, soon the air filter will be whirring away.
Last night thunderstorms rolled over the Dixie Fire area, starting half a dozen new fires with lightning strikes. Pretty sure they have the same problem farther south, too. At least up here, firefighters are already in place, and have already started to respond.
Enjoy your seat time, Billy. Got any big hikes planned?
I bet that big doe can eat a lot of landscape plants, Ron.
Hope you have a smooth trip home, Drew, and the mess waiting for you isn't too bad.
The front gate has been acting up again, so I had a long conversation with a tech support person and came away with a checklist of things to check. Everything came out OK, so I called again from the gate on the cell phone, and amazingly got reception. New tech had me check the battery voltage while the gate opened, and I saw it drop to 11.99V. He said that was too low, and would result in erratic operation of the gate. The battery passed a load test, but only showed 75% State of Charge. Seems like the little 10W solar panel at the gate isn't keeping up with the needs of the opener, so this morning I ordered a 50W replacement. In the mean time, the battery went on a Battery Saver overnight, and I'm hoping that holds it until the new panel shows up. All the smoke in the air is not helping things much.
Got ahold of the neighbor with the water truck, and he's OK for early next week. Now need to set that up with the neighbor that has the big well. My well is still pumping a little water, but erratically, and not nearly enough to fill that big tank. I haven't done the calculation yet, but the water level in Lake Oroville is probably below the level of the well pump now. It's nearing a historic low, and that's not helping things, either.
Smoke or no smoke, I need to get started on the wiring for the big tank today. Never pulled 560' of wire before, and I'm sure it'll be "interesting".
TGIF gang!
