Narrative: It’s early, I made a pot of Coffee that we normally drink at 07:00. I put the remainder in a thermos. One decision point that the Home Assistant platform doesn’t have an input for is the brightness of the sun. The two solar panels generate about 170W of electricity in bright sunlight approximately 5 hours a day starting about 9AM. They make almost no power on a heavily cloudy day.
The software does have triggers, but they are not very accurate. It was bright sun yesterday morning when we went for a walk and the software had it as cloudy. The plan is to mount a small solar cell on a weatherproof box somewhere close to the two solar panels. The box will report to the Home Assistant if there is enough sun to release the relay powering the refrigerator UPS and let it run on battery. The two solar panels are connected to the batteries and can easily maintain them at 27 volts with a 10A bench power supply providing the remainder of battery power. About 16:00 the shadow of the tree next door will shade the panel and we’ll want to close the relay powering the fridge UPS.
Waiting on the box, should be here Thursday
We spent most of the evening working on our grocery list and deciding what we’re going to freeze for storage. We don’t know what the store will have which makes it difficult to get too picky. This will be our third week of managing our groceries on a strict weekly basis. Like most Americans we were used to being able to just run to the store for something anytime during the week.
Our backup refrigerator and freezer arrives on Wednesday, we’ll likely move some items from the freezer into that on Thursday. (After it’s chilled down.)
I had planned on working in the attic but decided to wait on the thermostat wire. I can work on the bi-phase inverter tomorrow and run up in the attic on Thursday.
Tomorrow: Go grocery shopping first thing in the morning.
Status: Staying Home, managing our resources. Building up a smart home with 10 NodeMCU’s and counting.
Home Assistant running on a Raspberry Pi
I have 8 high power relays, four 16 Bit A/D lines, five remote controlled outlets and two temperature/humidity sensors on one interface. (So Far)
Plans: Keep putting these things together and working out the bugs, it took 6 hours to figure out how to connect four relays last night! I also got a blood pressure cuff to check on the ole Heart during this stressful time.
Narrative: Didn’t sleep very well, spent most of the morning putting my relay module on my NodeMCU. I finally got it to work about 6AM this morning.
The DHT22 was equally difficult because I bought a Chinese fake on Amazon. The fake looked more like a DHT11 but I couldn’t get that to work either. The data line is pulled low by the NodeMCU and when it lets go, the DHT22 sends the digital data immediately afterwards.
I really like this little Digital Storage O Scope, it’s less than 3″ and is perfect for grabbing a short data burst.
The grass was getting a little long so I mowed the front yard today with my EGO Electric mower. The grass was a little wet, but otherwise easy to mow.
I’ve run DC wire to most of the rooms in the homestead using a red/black 12AWG wire terminated with a 45A Power Pole connector. The NEC incorporated DC wiring that declares the black wire as “Hot”, the common (close to ground) connection is White even for DC. My best option is to run “White” wires alongside the red/black ones. I might be able to split the voltage so that Red is +12 and Black is (-)12 volts. The following diagram shows the 1000′ of red/black wire already in the attic.
House DC wiring distribution.
I’ve bought 1000′ of 5 x 18AWG thermostat wire that I intend on using to replace the low current end points. (Class 1) I’ll pull back the 12AWG and use it for high power distribution. (Class 2 < 100W, Class 3) 18AWG should be fine for the IR illuminators on the cameras. (Which I am having an issue with EMI on the Ethernet cables.) The power wires are in the same conduit as the Ethernet cable. I may change that when I replace the cameras since they have caused me so much trouble.
The other “Idea” I had was to send split phase 117VAC (59V+59V) to end points so that commercial grade power supplies could be used. (They are quieter than the low voltage variety.) NEC only allows me to send split phase if the power is “Inherently limited”, or in my case from a DC to AC inverter. (There’s no way to start a fire because the low output current from the Inverter is a fail safe.)
Again there’s two ways to accomplish this. (I’ve purchased the hardware already.) One way is to use another transformer to split the phases if they can be unbalanced. The second way is to center the output transformer using two tiny transformers. (Unbalanced current will appear on those tiny transformers, so it needs to be kept very low.)
Tomorrow: Monday, get prepared to go to the grocery store at 08:00 on Tuesday.
Status: Hunkered down practicing Social Distancing.
Plans: Get organized.
Narrative: Walking through everything we do to mitigate the virus threat just wears me out. I’m ready for a nap after two hours of deciding how we’re going to bring in groceries and sanitize the stream of germs. We’ve even decided to stage our mail (Including Amazon) in the car for 24 hours so that any virus contamination can dissipate.
I went to Lowes this morning after trying to purchase some CAT-6 Network wire for the cameras for two days. It wasn’t very crowded and I exited the store from the garden center. I’m leaving the wire and the lawn fertilizer in the car until tomorrow. (Again staging it.)
My second tier of power in the homestead is for the TV.
Local information during a storm on a regular TV antenna is pretty valuable during the event. I had run a remote switch that powers the TV from a separate set of batteries only when needed. (So not to deplete them unnecessarily.) During the two years since I constructed this arrangement, lightning destroyed the Inverter’s ability to be remotely controlled. We often get struck by lightning, but I was surprised it took out both of them using a piece of wire with no connection. (Just a switch between the two wires.) I’ve left the Inverter remote control disconnected until I could build an isolated relay to protect the two inverters.
Tomorrow: No large Sunday service, service is recorded and we’ll take communion here at the homestead.
Status: Been on Leave and staying home for a week. I am officially not employed and my access to the company networks has been pulled.
Plans: Get organized and adjust our budget while we do our taxes.
Narrative: I got discouraged today, we saw a video of our next generation rebelling the norm and risking their lives at the beach during Spring Break. The news downplayed the seriousness of this global event for months and now it’s grabbing at our throat’s.
I’ve drawn up several power cascading plans where upon a power failure a organized shutdown of the house systems occurs depending on the length of the outage. Yesterday I got a novel idea, start with the devices that I don’t want to shut down and work my way towards the outage incident. (It prevents me from unnecessarily consuming battery needed for the highest priority circuit.) In my case our two 400WH CPAPs ended up to be the top of the list, the 100WH emergency lighting and the 2400WH refrigerator being a close third.
Most needed powered devices
Our battery powered Ice Chest arrives next week. The plan is to use is as an overflow or backup for the big fridge. It draws about 75W which is about half what the refrigerator does
We ended up ordering food from Chili’s today, it arrived 20 minutes early and was delicious. We may use this to extend our food storage by an additional week.
Our first meal delivered at the homestead other than Pizza.
I didn’t accomplish what I set out to do when I re-joined the team in January 2019. When I left the company in 2017 we were an experienced team with the knowledge and talent to go and do, that sadly is no longer true.
My life at home is a mess. I had planned on working on the homestead in 2018, but things happened. It was good to be able to buy a 2nd car in 2019 and to pay off some debt that I incurred. We’ve got money in the bank and our needs are met, so it’s time to make a fresh start once again.
The siding on the homestead needs work along with the eves that the carpenter bees have punched holes in. I don’t have enough siding or the boards for the eves to make an attempt without buying more. With the virus it’s difficult to go into these stores without taking a personal risk of getting the virus. (No way to know who has it.) But, this “Pandemic” hasn’t peaked yet and it may be prudent to purchase these items while the concentration in Gwinnett County is still low.
Lowes website just will not let me order a box of cable. I’ve tried for hours using all three browsers I have on this laptop. Aggravating!
Tomorrow: Island Time, sleep in and enjoy the coffee.
Coronavirus could be changing grocery shopping forever.
The outbreak of coronavirus is pushing Americans to buy their groceries online, a development that could have a lasting effect on the supermarket industry.
While shopping for books and electronics online and ordering dinner through delivery apps have become staples of American life, most customers still prefer to purchase their meat and vegetables at the store. Last year, just 4% of grocery sales in the United States came online, according to Nielsen.
However, with shoppers stuck in their homes in the wake of the virus, online grocery shopping is exploding. Downloads of Instacart, Walmart’s grocery app and Shipt increased 218%, 160%, and 124% respectively last Sunday compared with a year prior.
“We are seeing a larger percentage of customers over the age of 60 that are coming online,” said JJ Fleeman, chief e-commerce officer for Ahold Delhaize in the United States, which owns brands like Stop & Shop, Food Lion and the online delivery service Peapod. “We’re seeing a lot of new customers coming into the channel.”
A third of consumers said Sunday that they had purchased groceries for online pickup or delivery in the past seven days, according to a survey by analysts at Gordon Haskett Research Advisors. Around 41% said they were buying groceries online for the first time.
“Consumer behaviors always shift in times of disaster,” said Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations at FMI, a trade group for food retailers. “People are learning new skills and how to shop online as a result of what we’re experiencing today.”
Maria Alvarado in Phoenix usually shops in person for groceries at Walmart or Safeway, but she tried ordering online last week for the first time through Walmart’s in-store pickup option. She plans to keep using the service.
“Once things go back to normal, I will probably use online again,” she said. “It was really easy.”
Related video: Is it safe to go to the grocery store?Click to expand
Big grocers like Walmart, Albertsons, Stop & Shop, Meijer, Hy-Vee and others have been experimenting with new ways to fulfill online orders in recent years. They have increasingly looked to technology to reduce costs and keep aisles from jamming up with shoppers and workers picking customers’ orders.
Grocers have been building automated mini-warehouses inside their stores and opening up “dark stores” — locations that look like supermarkets but are closed to customers — to make deliveries and prepare pickup orders.
Yet the crush of demand in the wake of coronavirus has overwhelmed grocers’ delivery and pickup networks, causing long waits, cancellations and outages in some parts of the country.
“The surge in online grocery orders is causing operational difficulties,” said Bill Bishop, CEO of grocery consulting firm Brick Meets Click.
Grocers are scrambling to adjust and hiring workers to keep up.
Fleeman from Ahold Delhaize said the company was adding “web servers to help us process the increased demand” and offering more windows for customers to pickup their orders or get delivery.
This shift online during the crisis may reshape the supermarket industry by helping large grocers consolidate their grip, experts predict.
“We see this unfortunate period accelerating structural changes in consumer shopping,” possibly by five years, said Seth Sigman, analyst at Credit Suisse, wrote in a report. “This is driving significant growth in new customers” to Walmart.
Consumers adopting online grocery shopping may add to the pressure small and mid-sized grocers already face, analysts say. These smaller chains don’t have as much capital to invest in building out their delivery infrastructure. And delivery is less profitable for grocers than traditional purchases in stores.
Coronavirus “may hasten the adoption” of online delivery and pickup, touching off long-term challenges for smaller chains earlier than expected, Kelly Bania, analyst for BMO Capital Markets, said in a research report this week.
I attached four more NodeMCU (The name “NodeMCU” combines “Node” and “MCU” micro-controller unit) to my network this morning. These four are attached to a wireless access point near the garage and will control the shedding of loads and the solar charging to defend the refrigerator and our CPAPs with their last gasp.
For these small microcomputers to switch the loads I’ve bought some relay modules. They will either control the UPS using the Remote Off connection or larger relays to do the switching.
Four channel 250VAC @ 10A Relay module.
I attached five WiFi controlled outlets the Garage access point that I’ll use to switch UPS units on and off when solar is available. (Keeps me from opening the garage door to unplug them.) They can be programmed in advance with an assortment of triggers. I found five of the eight that I own, no idea where three of them are…
Had an awesome dinner and a good game of scrabble tonight. It’s looking like rain is approaching, but it was a beautiful day today.
Tomorrow: My last day with Triple Canopy and probably working altogether. (We’ll live on my AD retirement and SS)
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes *Did My Best To Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
Status: We went out last night to an almost empty Kroger and replenished our produce. The store was closing in 40 minutes at 9PM so the traffic was light. (Website said nothing about the limited hours that are applied store-by-store and I looked earlier today.) Thankfully the produce section was stocked! I think the only thing on the wife’s list we didn’t get last night was bagels.
Disinfecting our return trip was loaded with obstacles. If we assume that the buggy could have a virus on its surfaces then all the grocery items are now contaminated. Cept maybe the produce that was in separate bags. But even then the cashier handled the produce to get the bar code scanned.
We do have the option to wash the cans or just let them sit for a few days until the virus dies. The frozen shouldn’t be a problem. The produce surely is. Apples we can wash, bananas are a bit more difficult. Oranges are considerably more difficult but maybe the citric acid will kill the virus. (Need to look that up.) The plastic containers for the Strawberries and Blueberries are something we handle before we touch the fruit. (But we keep them in the fridge.) Anyways, we need a good plan going forward. Bringing disinfectants into the store rather than depending on the disinfectants that were previously in the store. (Not last night though.)
Found the following article online from NBC Today show in two places.
Unless you are sick, elderly or an individual with a compromised immune system, grocery shopping can still be done safely. However, there are several guidelines shoppers should follow before, during and after their next trip to the store.
For starters, food isn’t the enemy.
“In general, places that sell food are hard-wired for sanitation and hygiene,” Celine Beitchman, director of nutrition at the Institute of Culinary Education, told TODAY Food. Health officials have yet to name food as a source of transmission, but since the virus spreads by human contact and can live on certain surfaces for hours, or even days, it’s important to minimize points of contact as much as possible, especially in the most public of places, like a grocery store.
When is the best time to go shopping?
Traditionally, it’s been early in the morning or late at night. But with major stores like Walmart, Albertsons and Trader Joe’s cutting store hours, and more people working from home, it’s harder to tell these days.
If you can go earlier in the day, you’ll have a better chance of finding what you’re looking for, but you may end up waiting in a line to get in. If you go later in the day (closer to closing time), there will likely be fewer crowds but emptier shelves.
While shoppers can’t control who they will encounter in the store, they can make things easier — and safer — by preparing in advance. Now, more than ever, Beitchman recommends creating a list of what you’ll plan to make and eat for the days ahead.
Based on that list and your budget, make your concise shopping list. And don’t just rely on non-perishables. “Fruits and vegetables provide a wealth of nutrients that support whole body health, including a strong immune system,” said Beitchman.
Also, make sure to bring sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer with you to the store.
Don’t take the whole family along
In order to streamline the trip and keep grocery stores less crowded, try to limit how many people you take with you. The elderly and any immunosuppressed persons should stay home during peak hours. Kids may be attending school at home but, according to Beitchman, they probably shouldn’t be shopping unless they’re old enough to help and can be counted on to keep their hands away from their faces.
Sanitize your surroundings
When you get to the store, use a sanitizing wipe to rub down high-touch areas like cart and basket handles. You should also use hand sanitizer or wash your hands immediately after leaving the checkout lane, especially if you used the touch screen for payment.
Stay focused and be mindful
“I think the best strategy is to limit your time in the store as much as possible,” said Amanda J. Deering, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Food Science at Purdue University. Part of limiting one’s time in the store means understanding the general layout of aisles and knowing where everything is.
Most perishables (produce and dairy) are kept around the periphery of the store, while shelf-stable processed foods and cleaning products are in the middle aisles, said Beitchman. Plan to start with the non-perishable items.
Shop with your eyes, not your fingers
Deering told TODAY Food that the riskiest areas will be those with items people touch the most, like salad bars (which should be avoided these days) and the produce section. “Make these your last stops in the store to avoid transferring the virus, if present, to other areas,” she said.
Typically, picking produce involves touching and poking around for desired ripeness, but these days it’s best to avoid touching anything you don’t have to and use your eyes to dictate what’s fresh. For example, avoid fresh foods with obvious bruises or brown spots. If the food comes in plastic packages, be mindful to touch just the one you want to select.
“If you’re immunocompromised, consider buying pre-packaged produce that likely has undergone strict sanitation standards at the packing site,” added Beitchman, who also advised cooking any raw vegetables to further cut down on the risk of contamination.
Don’t hoard
Unless you’re shopping for dozens of people, buying a year’s worth of food may not only lead to potential waste, but it will also make it harder for others to feed their families. Unless your family has been placed under quarantine, current Department of Homeland Security guidelines recommend buying enough food to last for two weeks at a time. The same goes for toilet paper.
When you get home
After you wash your hands, don’t forget about washing your produce. There have been no reported cases of COVID-19 being transmitted through food, but it’s possible for the virus to live on surfaces. When you get home, scrub hard-skinned produce with a soft-bristled vegetable brush, using a little bit of soap and warm water. Other types of produce, like fruits or leafy veggies, can be soaked for about 15 minutes in soapy water. Make sure to rinse them thoroughly before consuming.
If you used reusable bags at the store, make sure to wipe them down thoroughly or wash them immediately.
Yesterday we were looking for a freezer that could be used as a backup refrigerator. The smaller ones are all sold out of most stores. I was looking at Wally World and noticed they had an online seller that had one.
It was smaller than what I had hoped, but it uses a DC compressor and can get to a temperature something like -5 degrees. The battery connection is automatically used if the AC power fails. It’s about the size of a good sized ice chest ~3 Cu Ft. The vendor cancelled the order citing something wrong with my credit card. I checked my CC and reordered it. Again they cancelled the order with no explanation. I sent them a message and they cited the unit they were boxing up was damaged. (And it was out of the box Why?) I checked Amazon and they had one for $200 less than Wal-Mart at $600. It arrives next Wednesday, hopefully we’ll not need it. But we’ll have it if we do.
Plans: Stay low and plan our activities to prevent infection.
Narrative: Slept in again until 8AM, the Wife made healthy scrambled eggs (With Spinach) and a good pot of coffee.
The guys at work have been unbelievably quiet. (I assume that they’ve decided I am on Leave and to leave (No pun intended) me alone.
I’ve finally gotten through my magazines and most of them are in the recycling. My travel pile is still in the Livingroom, I’ll deal with that next.
My skivvies arrived yesterday from Amazon to replace the 16 pairs that I left at the hotel in Costa Rica. I don’t carry dirty ones home. I just toss them in the waste basket when I leave. (I used to toss them daily, but the housekeeping staff get a little too helpful and wash them for me. I’ve also had one instance when I was extended with only three pairs left to even wash them LOL.)
One thing I need to do is build a routine, I don’t have one. At the moment I am reactionary to stimulus that seems to keep me occupied throughout the day. Hopefully that will die down and i’ll be better organized.
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes *Did My Best To Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
Status: We’re staying put with the Virus outbreak like it is. We are good on supplies and have lots to do as can be seen below.
Plans: Continue to work on clearing my 2yr old magazine collection and learn enough about these ModeMCU’s to make them useful.
We also may need to rethink our food supplies: Like most Americans we have fresh “Perishable” food on the table and in the fridge. We also have frozen food, canned foods and dry goods. I am thinking we should go ahead and consume our perishable while looking for a way to replenish them and stocking up for a 30 day supply between the freezer and pantry.
I checked getting a small 7 CuFt freezer and everyone’s sold out here in the city. (That’s why the shelves at Kroger are empty, everyone is freezing their food.) Boy, you hope the power doesn’t go out! I did find a Whynter 85qt freezer on Wal-Mart’s website. It’s a bit small, but it is also DC compressor type (24V) which could be handy backup if the big fridge died. It can be a fridge up to 50 degrees or a freezer down to -8 degrees which is perfect if that is accurate.
Narrative: Had a hard time getting to sleep last night so I slept upright in the lounge chair, which worked pretty well. Kathy made a great pot of coffee and i’m typing on my blog at 07:00 DST.
The company still has not approved my Expense Report, but my boss did approve my Vacation on my timecard. (That should be the last time I have to enter anything in Deltek.)
My cameras and DVR are here, I need to decide where to put the DVR. The logical place would be the closet with the Network and Alarm system. However, there is no cooling in that small closet and it already gets too warm in the summer months. If I add another 30-50 watts for the DVR I will have to vent air into/out of that closet. The master bedroom closet is another option because it has direct access to the attic. But it backs up against the fireplace which can get a little warm. The garage is out of the question since it does get too warm. My cave is already getting too crowded, but that is where the old DVR is. Geez
Home Assistant is an ELEPHANT, my goodness…. Where have I been?
Kathy is getting restless, she asked if she could go to the Gym next week. The longer story is that the two of us are 65 and are high risk if we get the virus. The media is saying that we should “Stay Home unless we NEED to go out.” , the Gym is not quite a need. I get it, we (Americans) like our mobility. It’s that mobility that is aggregating the persistence of this virus into a nationwide outbreak. (My opinion, but hey this is my blog not a newspaper.)
We are still navigating my being home which has accelerated changes in my wife’s routine. They would have happened over the next month or so giving her time to acclimate to having me home emotionally. Now we are pinging our feelings between us. (Her feelings against my feelings.)
Tomorrow: No church since they’ve closed the schools.
To Do List
Check PO Box at night when traffic is minimal.
Travel paperwork (Waiting on approval)
Use Audible credits before May 24th.
Repair Toshiba laptop or replace it.
Order blood pressure cuff.
Instant ink for Mom’s printer
ST Fiber connectors
Car Emissions (One of two done.)
Clean out then sell Blue Saturn
Change Insurance to Leisure driving.
Repair homestead outside cameras using new ones.
Continuity Folders
Solar charge MOI
Router license
Circuit boards
Return TC Badge
Verify passwords for retirement websites then return CAC.
Weed & Feed for the lawn. (Forgot to look for the bag yesterday.)
Mow the back and side yards when the grass is dry. (Rained all day)
TPM sensor reset in both Ford Focus cars. (Ordered tool)
Return TC Phone to Dobbins ARB with CAC and badge.
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes *Did My Best To Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
Status: Home bound for two weeks. Need to take company property to Dobbins this week.
Plans: Coordinate the best time to drop off the company property.
Narrative: Had to make a few changes in plans today due to the speed of which this virus is spreading and the Governments trying to contain it.
It’s raining today, actually I think it is going rain all week. (Might put out some weed and feed. (If I have it.) It’s also a good day to get in the attic and check things out. (It will be cool and I can look for leaks while I rewire the cameras.)
I’ve worked some on my IOT (Internet of Things) while I am home bound. A friend of mine got my Raspberry Pi setup with the Home Assistant software.
I have setup dedicated Wireless for it and attached three “NodeMCU” modules yesterday. I’ve played with the three NodeMCU’s most of the day. I spent almost all evening fighting with a sensor that is clearly not what it is supposed to be. (Someone on Amazon substituted a cheaper version.) All in all it was a good day to be inside while it rained outside.
I emptied the 5 Gal gas can into the five generators and the two one gallon cans. I’ll get the 5 gallon can refilled with non ethanol gas to reduce the acid in the carburetors.
Had Pizza for dinner tonight and worked on the NodeMCU integration while the wife watched TV tonight. I had to get some of the hurtles behind me so I can start making plans how to use these devices that are a lot like lemmings, they cannot do a lot by themselves but are easy to connect together.
The DC systems in this house have a lot of tentacles, having these NodeMCU’s will make it possible to manage them as a team. Hopefully they can make decisions on maintain power to critical devices their own if need be. Another benefit from them being wireless is that they can float on the battery powered systems they are controlling.
I did log onto my company website and download my pay stubs for last year. I lost the pay stubs for 2017 due to a hard drive failure.
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes *Did My Best To Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
Status:Home bound for the next 14 days, a person 2x distance from us was exposed to the virus. We’re in great shape and have everything we need.
Basic Necessities
Plans:Spend some quality time with the wife and play with my electronic toys.
Narrative: A friend of mine turned me on to a very small controller called an NodeMCU. They attach themselves to WiFi and communicate with a Raspberry Pi configured as a home controller.
Somewhere in my past I bought three Toshiba laptops. (I have two and a coworker had the third one.) One of the two I own died last night and I believe that the SSD was the cause. I hadn’t done much work on it since 2017 and I moved a bunch of files off of it to reduce the load on the SSD just a few months ago. (I might be in good shape having backed up the files.)
There might be a chance of pulling the SSD out of the laptop and reading the data from it. (But I have so much to do, LOL)
I took the second Toshiba (that I used as a work computer) and replaced the laptop computer at my desk that died. (It has the most recent files by far anyway.) I’ll start purging the files from the disk this week to give the SSD more life span.
I looked at the Intel NUC computers and see what I can get to pull the Toshiba off my desk. It looks to be about 700 bucks to replace the Toshiba.
I am sleeping in on a Sunday morning for the first time in many years. Normally I am up by 7:00 and out the door by 07:30 to set the cones out at the buildings. At 08:00 I assist the team set up the stage for services.
Our TP Link cameras have served us pretty well over the last 10 years but they are becoming problematic. I have a set of similar cameras and recorder, but the new cameras are inexpensive and 4x the quality. I’ve ordered a new DVR that comes with a set of POE cameras.
The one shortfall with these controllers is that they are 802.11A only. There is so much traffic on the 2GHZ frequency I may have to deploy dedicated access points for them.
I have started creating flow charts of what I want to do with these micro controllers. The first thing I want to use them for is a decision tree using Power Outage Time, Solar Power available, Stored Battery Power x 5 banks and have them do the load shedding automatically to maintain critical loads. (CPAP, Em lighting, water line heater etc.)
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes *Did My Best To Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
Status: I have taken leave from work for next week and then I’ve resigned my position. (Retired) The two of us managed to get stocked on food and supplies. However, we’ve been with someone on Wednesday 11 March that was with someone on Monday 9 March that has the virus. They didn’t say what was the first day of the last three weeks that she was with the coworker. (Which would tell us the incubation period that has passed for our contact.)
Plans: Stay put as much as possible. We are in the high risk group of 60yrs and older that are advised NOT to travel unless necessary. I am beginning to believe we need to heed that advice. We’ll also keep close track of our consumption and make a list of any shortfalls as we go forward. I can apply for Social Security after April 4th.
Narrative: Before we knew about the virus risk we were in Kroger this morning picking up a few odds/ends.
I left my skivvies in Costa Rica and I just ordered replacements from Amazon. I tried Target, but it was going to take a week and I didn’t want to drive there and pick it up.
We’ve got lots of time to get organized being grounded for a couple weeks. There are considerable piles of paperwork on the table that need going through.
I pulled the five generators out of the garage and exercised them at full power today. (Okay, they are only 500 watts LOL.) I ran the homestead electronics and refrigerator on battery for about six hours today.
I have a problem with the AT&T IPV6 Internet connection that will have to wait until April to repair.
I broke out the lawn mower and managed to get the front lawn done this afternoon. (Almost the entire thing on just one EGO battery.)
Dinner was really good, some kind of chili with butternut squash. Yummy.
Butternut Squash Chili
Tomorrow: No big church, we were planning to meet with a single family on Sunday. I am thinking we should dodge any contact with church family for at least two weeks.
From the book “Triggers” by Marshall Goldsmith Did I DMBT set clear goals for the day? No Did I DMBT make progress to those goals? No Did I DMBT make my wife feel loved? Yes Did I DMBT help my wife today? Yes Did I DMBT fix something today? Yes Did I DMBT improve something today? Yes Did I DMBT be happy? Yes Did I DMBT be fully engaged? Yes *Did My Best To Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments: Purchases: Project: Theme: Engineering: Repairs: Pi News:
