04-28-2026 — Plugging away

Howdy all. Phew, weather changes both to the good and to the bad over last 3 days. Rain, wind, sunshine. Today was decent, but I was tired from overnight. I’ll explain shortly.

Yesterday, I planted over 80 spring/summer/fall flower bulbs.  That means I created that many holes in ground with a shovel or a hoe, or a hand plug digger, with each being either 2-3 inches or 6-7 inches deep.   I added to the front beds under the windows, and the north side of the deck’s bed with the little shrubs. There should be some tall flowers that may reach the top of the deck’s railings, and then mid sized, and shorter ones to the edges.

And,,,, I only lost my shoe once.  Of course, I did step into the dirt with my sock to retrieve the shoe. Could I have stepped forward with the other foot? Sure, if I wasn’t an id-jut..  

After that planting I was not only more tired than before noon when I started, but the body now has many aches. Especially the feet 🦶!

And the worst part is, all that is visible is some messed up mulch that covered the dirt now covering the bulbs.   Can’t see that I did anything useful other than remove the box of bulbs off of the dining room table.

Oh yeah, I had to rake that mulch out of the way before digging. And then put it back after. Just so the skunks and possum and coons can dig through that mulch to find insects, and now crunchy root vegetables.

Left me sore going into the night. I guess I’m just too old for this sheet.

Last night, around 22:30, the winds picked up, and from then until close to noon today, winds were blowing from 20-30 mph with gusts pushing 40-45 mph. And thus, at 05:26 this morning, the street utility power dropped (and Spectrum Internet too). There were other outages in the state, but this one reached from west of the Perry Power Plant, to 2 streets to my east. We all seem to be on the same segment. This is semi-good because if the whole segment drops, the area around the power plant seems to get priority attention. Now we can go down because some big-arse tree branch chopped up a power pole a block from here, and that won’t have the priority, but this one was big enough that they were on it quickly.

I switched to battery power at 6:01 after sending my “down” text to the utility company at 05:41 (I wait 15 minutes to allow for a switchover). And, by 6:48 the power and Spectrum were back up and running. My backup ISP, T-Mobile 5G, was up and great the whole time. It gets much better up and down speeds than Spectrum. But, they have limits on number of IOT devices.

If the new Fiber company doesn’t hook up here soon, I’ll probably go through the trouble of re-setting my various SSIDs for 2.4/5 GHz and WiFi 5/6, that are needed for various IOT devices, onto a Dual-Wan Router/Mesh Access Points, using Spectrum as Primary and T-Mobile as fall-back WANs. I must have 50-75 or more IOT devices when you count the various security cameras/Sync units, appliances, light bulbs/switches, Alexa devices, air purifiers, HVAC thermostats, USPs and power stations, printers, lasers, etc. Okay, more like over 100 IOT devices easily. If I hook up my Google Home Mesh, and my T-Link Mesh, to a Dual-Wan Router, and just delete the Spectrum SSIDs and create the same names on the Mesh units, I won’t notice any dropping at all during outages.

Today’s outage did put some pressure on me to add a couple more 6KWH batteries to the EcoFlow DPUX. Because I waited a half hour before coming downstairs to do the Manual Interlock and breakers, the USPs around the house were in need of charging when I flipped on the batteries.

I was using around 1.5-1.75 KWH for a half hour as the USPs recharged. Then it fell back to just 1KWH So, my existing 12KWH batteries, that were only at 90% when the power dropped, would have lasted about 6-7 hours before I would need to turn on the generator to recharge and use pass-through power. And that was with me not doing anything special. Heat/AC was off, and I didn’t cook anything or do much else other than the web surfing.

Another 12KWH (2 batteries), would allow much more to be running, and give me a longer break before needing the generator. If I have 10-12 hours of using anything needed, I would feel safe to go through a night.

I’m watching for the batteries to go on sale at a price around what they were in February. Then I’ll pull the trigger. Or sooner if more power hits happen..

Anyhow, yesterday, the ball field in the park, got its first practice of the year.

They are out there again this evening too. Chilly in my mind, but these are kids.

Today I did only a few minor things. I set up an indoor Gray Oyster mushroom kit. Already had a Lions Mane Mushroom and a King Blue Oyster Mushroom kit started. Will be a week to 10 days I'm guessing, before any can be harvested. Right now they are just moldy looking spots on the packs.

I did get 2 of the 3 tomato plant deliveries I expected. Two more yellow tomatoes, and 4 big-boy like red tomatoes, arrived. Tomorrow, two of the husky red cherry tomato plants should arrive via UPS. Those are the plants that put out tons of the little tomatoes, over the long season. Each year I buy one less of those plants, and still seem to get more than I can harvest and use.

The Orkin man did a spraying around the house and deck and shed today. First outdoor spraying for the year. Had been doing indoors to keep them out, now he’ll switch to keeping them away from perimeter of the house.

As for the bugs, for the next few hours only, I hope you Enjoy Life.