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WEEK 25 2018

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Oxnard Weather Underground

Lancaster Weather Underground

Martinez WeatherUnderground

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Saturday 23 June 2018

Saturday - Hot again. It was 97F by 11am. It eventually slipped over 100F, but then decreased fairly rapidly in the late afternoon and evening.

I did a bit of work out back, setting up for the awning for the dogs. I cut and drilled wooden brackets for the eaves, attached them, then passed a chain link top rail through the pockets on each of the long sides, and did a test install (without permanent posts for the outer edge). It seems OK. At 10am it was starting to shade the little patio behind the garage, while there was still shade cast on the east side of the yards by the structures there.

Shade at noon means I could use the BBQ instead of the stove to make my burgers for lunch. And maybe even eat out there.

Eating outside - one of the drawbacks to having neighbors with multiple farm animals on three sides is that there are more flies than I am used to. It's not much worse than Martinez, but Lancaster proper has almost none and has spoiled me - it is generally too dry and hot.

I want to move the awning north, towards the door by 2', but there is a broken porch light in the way. Infinite regression - another thing to fix/modify.

I haven't really decided on whether to put in permanent awning posts, or set up some sort of swing arm thing, to enable retraction during windstorms and such. I need to do something by the end of the week though, even if it's temporary.

I also did a preliminary install of the little window a/c unit. The directions don't match the unit and it came with a bunch of wood screws to attach it to the aluminum casement... I noted that the divider between the hold and cold sections is apparently a piece of foam - it's so thin that it is translucent, you can see light through it. So there will be some upgrade work needed to seal and secure it.

Friday 22 June 2018 Friday - Hot. It actually read 112F on the front porch, which is probably a couple of degrees high as the weather map showed 109-110F all around us.

I did drive into town and picked up a small a/c unit for the office. I also picked up some screen frame, to make an effort to put some of that solar screen up. We'll see.

I also tried to buy a canopy and a dolly at Harbor Freight, but forgot my coupons, so didn't get anything - 20% of $100 is $20 after all!

I was busy with other things and didn't get that a/c installed, so the west office wasn't usable in late afternoon.

I did go on line and order Jim a whole bunch of that Hills i/d prescription food - about six weeks worth. It is coming by FedEx and should be here on Tuesday.

Thursday 21 June 2018 Thursday - Very hot, into the 100's.

In the morning I got up in time to take a picture of the sunrise, this being the summer solstice. From my back porch it isn't very scenic, rising above the treeline beyond a neighbor's manufactured home.

No walk, because chores intervened and it was too hot by the time I'd finished.

In the morning I decided to get some old 20# propane tanks out of the garage - they were given to me a while back and never made it out to the RV shed. So I dragged the old termite eater bench to the shed and put all the tanks under that.

I had actually been using them for support for a little shelf, which had a bunch of prepping stuff picked up from yard sales on it. So I went through those items, and put the non-perishable and non-flammable items (water in foil bags, mostly) out in one of the containers, and the rest on actual shelves inside the garage.

But before I could sort them I had to clean off the workbenches, so that I had room to work.

Infinite regression...

While I was in the container I decided to move the spare teevee into the house, because of the high temperatures in the steel container. Perhaps I'll put that one over the pellet stove - I measured the temperatures this last winter and it never rose above 78F on the mantel, so it would work. It doesn't have a stand and has to be wall mounted.

I also noted that Harbor Freight has a complete 10x20 car canopy for sale, for $100. I couldn't even buy the hardware and materials for that...

I've been trying to get things fixed up in the back yard, but it's so darn hot so early, and I have to be very careful of my back still.

In the afternoon when I tried to select "high" on the swamp cooler the fan went off, although the pump remained working (and the fan when on low). Bah. By 5:00pm it was 85F in the office, despite fans and the window reflective film. Perhaps I should get a small mechanical a/c unit, or move the desk to the rear bedroom.

I needed to do that plans check for Tim that he asked me for, last Thursday, so I stuck it out in the office until done. About 3 hours. I'd forgotten about it until he asked me about it last night, although, as I mentioned to a friend, I'd had a nagging feeling for days that I was forgetting something...

Wednesday 20 June 2018

Wednesday -

Tuesday 19 June 2018

Tuesday -

Monday 18 June 2018

Monday - Warming up, into the 90's.

Cleaning chores in the morning, then off to town.

I needed a couple of small things from Walmart, though they didn't have any LED shop lights, or the sponge mop refills. Then Home Depot, where again they didn't have any regular LED shop lights (just the fancy $100 a pop kind), though they did have some registers to replace a couple of rusted ones in the house. Then by PetSmart for food for Budd and Suzy, and then to the Vet to get some of Jim's special food: he ran out over the weekend and was already throwing up the old style food...

Then by R&S's place to check on some software issues S had - it turned out to be a 32-bit vs. 64-bit Adobe plug-ins package issue, and to talk to R about him storing one of his dead Mercedes out here on the property. We even went out and measured the old diesel to make sure it would fit on AH's rather small transport trailer.

Then home, about 3pm, and a nap.

In the evening I went over to AH for dinner (chicken salad!) and we measured his equipment transporter - alas, it isn't big enough to carry the huge Mercedes 300 Super Diesel. I let them know.

I did a bit of reading on post foundations and was surprised to find that the L and J bolt studs weren't as good as a long bolt with a hex head - I guess the smooth metal just pulls out, whereas the hex head required the concrete pier to fracture. For an awning support, not a big deal, but interesting.

Sunday 17 June 2018

Sunday - Warm.

I didn't go grocery shopping in the morning, instead I went down with AH and picked up the posts. I bought four, and some top rails and stuff, he bought fourteen himself.

I didn't take the boat, though I guess I could change my mind...

I was thinking about buying his FIL's old 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix, which has about 130K on it, but the gentleman decided he didn't want to sell it. Probably just as well, even with a reasonable number of miles an old car starts to get crotchety and unreliable - the ignition key sticks and the heater won't go off, and the windows have issues on this one for example.

Picture of the Week

Desert Boat

Done with the sea, he headed inland with the boat,
not stopping until someone said "What is that?"

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