Current Project: Move mom to grandpa’s farm.
Status: 80% of mom’s stuff is still on the farm.
Today’s Plans: Replace mom’s cordless phone! Buy Hay, Setup Firewalled LAN, computer, printer, phone.
Theme: Get’re done and get home! (before Thanksgiving.)
Engineering: Research backup power needs for mom on grandpa’s farm.
Repairs: PU Truck starter, Security light.
Purchases: Long extension cord for Desk, maybe some floor lights for mom.
Narrative: As we progress through this move it has gotten significantly more complicated to assess priorities and then have the resources to follow through on a prioritized task list.
We’ve had a long day today, it started about 8AM packing up the car and driving to grandpa’s. Auntie was headed out the door and she had pulled the DSL modem out and it was laying on the desk. We brought several items that mom had asked for like the steps her dog needs to get onto the bed. We also brought several boxes of stuff from the previous night that didn’t get taken over.
It took about 10 minutes to terminate the new telephone wire in the Network Interface box. We plugged the cables up to the DSL modem and everything worked the first time. We tested the cordless phone I brought from the farm and mom is good with a landline again. (SHE CAN CHANGE OUT THE BATTERIES IF THE PHONE HAPPENS TO HAVE RUN DEAD to recover a full charge in about 2 minutes!) Mom also tested her Internet connection which was working as well. I put the Fortigate 60D under the DSL modem and tied the WAN1 interface to the DSL Modem LAN1 port. (LAN2 is the printer) The Fortigate 60D is a $600 firewall appliance to help keep mom from getting into too much trouble.
We left grandpa’s to get some grub and go shopping for some stuff at The Home Depot. We ended up at Lowes since they again honor military members with a 10% discount. They started a program a while back where we were asked to go online and register with Lowes to receive the 10% discount. (I just went to THD and used their discount instead.)
We spent about $200 today buying some floor mounted Torchiere lamps, power strips for the desk and some remote controls for the lights.
Last holiday season a remote light control appeared that could turn off your tree and window decorations from a simple hand held wireless remote. I came in looking for the two channel setup and ended up buying the three channel one. (It’s all I could find, but it was only $25.)
Once we got to grandpa’s we assembled the lights and performed a basic test of all the lights. The lights are in the corners of the room and the night light (#3) is on mom’s wire shelves that she’s got her clothes on. (In plastic tubs or airtight / vacuum bags.)
Auntie and I worked for about half-n-hour getting her tablet onto the printer and printing a test page. (A Lot more difficult than it had to be.) The printer is currently in the DMZ which should be reachable from the LAN inside the firewall. I didn’t have the waterproof box ready to use on Auntie’s yard light, I need to punch a 1″ hole in the bottom. (Yes, I happen to have a Greenlee punch set with me.)
The cows are hungry enough to crawl over the tree limbs I cut a while back. I have a picture of a cow between the fence and the building. I was thinking how on earth did you get in there?
I bought 8 bales of hay this evening for the cows, they came running to the pickup when they saw the hay over the top of the bed. I gave them one bale and loaded the rest in stall #3 for later. I decided to give them two bales and see where they are in winter feeding. I put one additional bale under the Bumpkin awning and took a bunch of hay from the hay ring so they would follow me to the Bumpkin. The large cow got wind of me taking her hay from the hay ring and she ran after me (A LARGE 1,000 Lb. Cow!) trying to knock the hay off my shoulder so I wouldn’t take it. LOL. When she realized that there was a whole bale waiting on her, she left me for the pile under the Bumpkin awning.
I did manage to shore up the cables holding the tree together next to the house with the recommended three cable clamps on each end. I also tightened the cables as tight as I could using the come-a-long and one arm. (The leverage looks to be at least 8 to 1. At 2,000 capacity and a lever that’s 10-1 I should be able to pull 200Lbs on the arm of the Come-a-long. (I am probably 1/4th of that, say 500Lb x 2 x 2 = 2,000Lb pull on the tree limbs.) I should be able to attach a rope to the handle and get some good leverage from the ground with my 200Lb Butt pulling on it. I think another option is to get the pole saw working and trim the tree a little more.
An observation I made today is that mom has gathered enough trinkets and other stuff at her chair in the living room that she looks uncomfortably crowded. I was thinking, how we could get her to “Trade” stuff so that we just don’t keep loading the house with “Stuff” which is detrimental to controlling the bugs? How to tell mom that we’re not bringing any more “Stuff” from the farm into grandpa’s house.
Tomorrow:
Injuries: Arguments: Exercise: Feeling words: Travel: Noteworthy: Accomplishments:
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