Saturday - Cold in the morning, about 18F, right in between NOAA's 16F prediction and the Weather Channel's 20F. But no moisture, not even frost on the ground in the mornings.

The pellet stove ran most of the night, but stopped when it ran out of pellets at some point.  I half filled it and re-lit it at that point.

I'd noticed in the last couple days that it runs OK, and without the noise if the hopper isn't full.  This suggests the problem is actually the auger, either the motor failing or the auger bearings binding.  This might also account for the difficulty feeding long pellets (1.25"-1.5") that I'd noticed last year. So probably time to replace that.

It's just too dang cold for observing outside, btw. I picked a bad year for picking up astronomy again - fires, winds, cold.  Maybe I'll look into an observatory or automated station that I can use without freezing.

S texted from San Diego, when she is visiting her assisted-living-homed mother.  She wanted to get a Christmas visit in before the big lock down.  She said the freeway traffic was incredible, holiday level amounts, but that the hotel proper is almost empty.  Weird.  I guess everyone is staying with family rather than using public accommodations.

Friday - Reasonable weather. It is supposed to be cold tonight though - 16F according to NOAA, so I need to bring in my hummingbird feeder.  I've been doing that anyways.

I went by Lowe's and picked up a couple more solar lights, so that I can move the ones in the backyard to the front (since they match). These are a bit more different than I realized when I got home, using lithium-phospate batteries, rather than nickel metal hydride, and tiny - only 350 mAH.  Well, they aren't critical, so I guess it's OK.

I also bought some more base for the pathway, since I was there, and I am very unimpressed with the composite panels.  I bought 20 bags, but when the guys were loading them there were so many torn bags that they gave me about 30.  This is as many as I dared put into the truck - they'd offered me the whole pallet!

Thursday - Typical weather.  Supposed to get a bit colder, but no precipitation.

Worked on the app for a bit.  Not much to say there.  Things have improved in the world of SpriteKit and GameKit, but reverse integration into the existing app is an issue.

Wednesday -Typical weather.

I took my walk at noon, very pleasant, perhaps 65F with just a slight east wind.

The pellet stove has developed a rattle.  I should disassemble it, clean, and then re tighten.  At a guess, however, it's the air circulation fan - I replaced the exhaust fan last year, and I suppose the other fan is due for a replacement too.  Then the auger motor, then the control board,then...  Still, a new unit is over $1000 because of government regulations now, so it's smarter to repair as needed. I'll burn the rest of pellets currently in it so that it's light enough to move, then work on it.

Worked on the app.  'Worked' as in wasting my time battling with Apple's indifference/malice.  I started up Xcode and imported the last complete working version (v8) onto the Mini and started dealing with weird errors in a formerly working version.

1. It said that files were missing.  They've added another type of mystery folder that looks like a system folder but isn't, and some files were missing.  There were little pale ghosts where they should be.  So I had to mess with that. 
2. Even though the GIT SCS files were there it pretended they weren't, I had to debug and fix that.
3. Then all the background images were offset weirdly.  Turns out they changed the default storyboard layout from "full size" to "centered".  Why? I have no idea.  Since it's an already existing app, there is absolutely NO REASON to mess with this stuff even if you've changed the default for NEW stuff.  Anyway, figured it out and fixed it.

I feel like a battered wife going back to an abusive husband.

Then, irritated with Apple and the App I just worked my way through a couple chapters of Swift tutorials from BNR.

Then the work day was done.

There was a call late afternoon from S, she was setting up her new iPhone and needed someone to call her to test it out.  Seems to work fine.  It isn't as small as she expected - it's about the same size as an old iPhone 6s, whereas she was hoping for 4se size...

My new Roku Premiere arrived yesterday, so I got around to unboxing it and installed it.  It connects via Wifi to the internet, so one less cable.  It was very easy to do, and works very well - the pictures on the screen are bright and sharp again!  It also logs in to streaming channels and stays logged in, and doesn't freeze up like the old one. A $25 well spent.

Dinner, btw, was bell peppers stuffed with Spanish rice.  Delicious after a diet of turkey stuff for days...

Tuesday - Typical early winter weather.

Working on the app mostly.  I had to clean up the office - I moved the Linux and Win10 machines to another desk since the big desk was getting cluttered to the point of unusability.

And when I say 'another desk', I mean an unused door on it's side. I don't want to get a big heavy desk until the (notional) flooring is installed.

I kind of want to go outside and work, but I promised S that I'd get back to programming this month, and it's the 1st.

I ordered some RAM for the mini, hopefully it'll show up soon.  It is ok-ish with 8GB, but with Xcode, and the Simulator, and Safari, and a terminal and editor open it is swapping to disk. Ughh.  Well, it's $120 for 32GB, and an hour of two of my time to install it.  Apple claims now that ram isn't user installable, but it is, there are YouTube videos.

I will upgrade to OSX Big Sur after I have more ram, and after the first "dot" version (bug fix) comes out.

Monday - It's OK, weather wise.  A decent 65 or so midday, and in the mid-20s at night.

I spent most of the day with the app project, mostly just fighting with Xcode to properly import the old project.  This never works properly, Apple JDGAF about developer's time. It doesn't look like there are any simulators for iOS less than version 10 now. And of course my Developer's credentials seem to not have been imported correctly...

Also fiddled a bit with SpriteKit using Swift.  Ugh.  But it's probably better than rolling my own, one more time.

So, Swift, SpriteKit, and probably GameKit for the state engine stuff.

There was a nice copper full moon that I tried to photograph with the cell phone, but it didn't come out well.  I didn't realize but there was also a partial lunar eclipse in the early morning.

Sunday - Pleasant.

Shopping in the morning, with S.  I needed some small stuff mostly, I have left-overs to last for days for evening meals.

The crowds were, as expected for the end of the month and after a major holiday, light.

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Picture of the Week


A foggy night on the dock at Channel Islands harbor.

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