29 November 2018, Another Cold day from Mark’s past

Status: Making good progress on sorting the pile on the living room floor from all the trips to Florida.
Theme: We are switching gears and putting things away in hopes that Florida won’t need significant effort in the future.

Narrative: We’re finally taking a minute and looking back over what we’ve done/not done over the last 10 months. We’ve been running so hard that much of our lives got terribly disheveled or put on hold. We’ve also gained a commitment that our home is not a warehouse of stuff. We’re seriously looking at what we have and do we really want it living with us 10 years from now. We usually put up a tree after Thanksgiving, but bringing 7 tubs of supplies out of the car dampened that effort just a little. (I’m working on it.) I normally work up a “To Do” list, mostly because I easily forget things I have to do. I had to go back almost a month to find the last list about stuff in Atlanta that was posted on this blog. It will probably take me a week to scrub the list and bring it up to date.

I’ve tested the seven small 7AH batteries, only ONE is worth keeping and it’s pretty OLD. The newer Power Sonic ones have all failed at about 3-4 years. There are a couple brands that seem to last longer like BB, however is not a brand that I am familiar with. I have switched up from buying “Power Sonic” to Interstate batteries (They have several brand names of their own.) last year because they’re local. (No shipping charges which can be significant with a 18Lb battery.) Today I am testing the bigger 18AH Power Sonic batteries (1/2 Group U1 if you’re a geek.) I’ve connected the batteries to a UPS and then to three 60W incandescent bulbs. The tests finished with both banks of Power Sonic 18AH batteries being about 15AH, quite reasonable. I had thought of combining the two banks of batteries into a four battery box, but they are terribly heavy at 60Lbs. (2 batteries 30Lbs is quite manageable.) I borrowed these batteries from my house systems earlier this year to make sure mom made it through hurricane season. The decision is to put them back onto the house electrical system where they came from. (They are worth $100 ish) The first two went back onto the 2nd of two redundant power supplies that power the critical DC loads of the house. (They’ve been solo for most of the year, now that it’s winter I need to reduce the risk by repairing the 2nd supply.)

Two UPS units (One with Internal batteries, one with external batteries) are installed in grandpa’s house. One provides backup power for the “Hopper”, the other (Larger one) provides backup power for their house phone and Internet. I may deploy more of them, but I want their buy in. (They want them.) They cost about $200.00 to put together and money has gotten rather short.

We watched the “Christmas Cottage”, well most of it until we got too tired to stay up. Read a little of the Wife’s book, it’s interesting she wrote the book because so many people were asking about a single chapter in her previous book.

No roaches, just ants today.  Batteries are charging, headed to bed.

One of my difficulties of sleeping through the night is breathing through my nose and I just thought of those silly “breath rite” strips advertised on TV.  I’ve tried them when I was much younger, but now I may actually need them.  That and a saline spray for the sinus I may yet be able to sleep better!

TO DO:
Repair the VPN between Ricky’s Fortigate and home.
Dental coverage for us is in “Open Season”, we need to enroll soon. (Eye coverage?)
Card for the drama department.
Lighting and Audio support for the Christmas play.
Get two teeth pulled and one post put in.
Call the doctor about the anti inflammatory that I seem to be allergic to.
Call Fl Blue, Lisa Rhodes 352-854-2100 about part D.
Read the book “Men and Women in conversation”

Tomorrow: Friday, take out the garbage/recycling.  Rain is forecast, but it is also much warmer.

https://www.verywellfamily.com/feelings-words-from-a-to-z-2086647

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
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