Bob's Eyes

Sunday November 27, 2022 Guerneville CA.

Easy project, But

I’ve had this pump starter laying around for some time now and it was time to get it hooked up, just to get the job out of the way. We have spring water so I don’t really need the well or rarely even use it. But I like to keep it going just as a back up, just in case.

New controller

All I had to do was plug the piece on the right into the panel on the well as it was the same as the old one. Should be a piece of cake. right.

This is the well area where I needed to plug in the new pump controller and I did.,,,,,,,, But.

Nothing happened

When I turned the power on to test the pump, nothing happened.

I checked the circuit breakers at the power box and the breaker was off so I turned it back on but it hummed badly so I turned it back off.

I had the wire disconnected at the well so there shouldn’t of been that bad hum as nothing was connected or so I thought.

Get the meter out

Fortunately I know how use one of these things to measure electrical stuff as you can’t see electricity to test for it, but you can feel it to test it, but that’s not the way to go. That’s why they make meters.

Testing

I pulled the wires apart where they left the garage and got zero resistance sometimes.

And sometimes there was no short, so something was wrong for sure, but what.

Dusty blanket

I needed some time to think about it so I washed one of the dusty blankets from my last van trip as a lot of dust got in the van and my blankets got real dusty.

I put this temporary rope up to dry the blanket on in the sun. That big blanket was a bit hard on my washer and it danced around on the floor a bit during the process.

Remembered something

I thought I had all the wires unhooked but then I remembered I’d hit a wire that goes to my gate controller some time back when I was weeding it and that wire went to the well for power. I didn’t do anything about it at the time as I use another wire for the gate now.

That was an A Ha. I checked the wire where I was weeding and found the bare wire was exposed, so I disconnected it at the well and the wire to the well now tested good..

One more chore

I put that aside for the day as the sun was about to go over the hills to the west and there was still something I wanted to get done while there was still a bit of sun shining.

I got the tools out for this job and took my shirt off.

Hair day

I gave myself a haircut and trimmed my beard back. I always do the best I can at it, but if I mess up, it really doesn’t matter. Have you seen how people are wearing their hair these days? I did notice I’m getting older and not the young guy I used to be. :O)

The sun went down and I put my shirts back on and put the tools away and did some chair hopping around the yard. I’ll finish hooking up the well another day.

My blanket didn’t dry out all the way so I took it down for now as the dew will make things damp around here tonight.

Apples

I was thinking an apple would be good so I went in the back yard and picked one and indulged in it.Yummy.

There’s no better apple than one off the tree in late fall. The right apple is crisp and tasty, very yummy. It always amazes me that most people never try an apple off the tree in winter. They can be the best, if not, just throw it on the ground. You never know about an apple unless you try it. There’s a lot of things in life that way.

Nice day.

Saturday November 26, 2022 Guerneville CA.

Quad oil change

I fed the chickens this morning and then finished changing the oil in my quad runner. I thought I had a new oil filter for it but the one I had turned out to be too short and for another one of my quad runners so that didn’t get replaced and I’ll just use the old one again.

Today’s projects

I decided to take a break from working on burying the spring water line as I’d worked on that for several days now and needed a break from that, just for a change.

Throwing rocks off the roads

Instead I decided to ride up to another old road and throw the rocks off the road, as it was a steep one and there were some rocks as big as six inches laying on the road. Rocks just slowly work their way down the hill, especially when it rains so throwing rocks off the road is a never ending process and good exercise.

Tree trimming

I rode on up this road and was surprised to find this tree across the road. At first I thought it just fell down but on inspection turned out to be one I fell with the chainsaw on the pipeline trail, which was just below this road. I stopped to remove some of it as all I had was some big loppers.

I cut enough for a truck to get by and threw it down off the side of the road.

Work along the way

I continued on up the hill and stopped at this road to throw rocks and sticks off it. I was working my way up to the steep road near the top of the hills a bit further on.

Not this one

I stopped here to get this one off, but it was a bit on the heavy side and would be hard on the back, so I left it there for later as I would need my back for what I had planned.

Brush trimming

I stopped here to trim this brush and now have to throw that pile off the road.

Getting up the hill

After that I decided I better make it on up to the hilltops to get what I had planned done or I would poop out and not get that done for all the other stuff I found to do on the way there.

Working on this one

I turned down this trail where I wanted to throw lots of rocks off the steep trail.

Brushy trail

The trail could use some brush trimming but there was just too much of it to do right now and the rocks where more important to do right now as they can be hard on the dirt bike tires. I’m headed on down this road throwing small rocks off it as I go.

Easier to park

Most of this old road looked like this and I just had to stop and throw the small rocks off the road as I went. I brought the quad runner today as it’s easier to park on the steep parts of the road than the dirt bike is.

Oil Can Flat

It took awhile and I got a lot of exercise. I finally made it down to Oil Can Flat, here, which also had a lot of small rocks on it.

I turned around at the flat and stopped to clear a couple of paths through these small rocks before starting back.

Just one more task

On the way back I stopped at this brush growing over the road. I was pretty beat but I figured I could do this one more task, so I got to cutting the brush.

I got all the brush cut, now all I had to do was throw it off the road. I was getting real tired out and all my muscles were screaming but I kept at it.

I got the road cleared off, just barely. Now I could barely get on the machine which is normal for me after working in the hills, most everyday.

More than I needed

I could barely get off and back on the quad to get through the gate but I made it. A few hours of rest at home and all is good and I got a lot of exercise, maybe a little more than I needed. :O)