Sorry, Dogs, the Knotholes are Gone

Younger Me might be chagrined to hear this, but I'm at my happiest when I'm building something.

So our neighbors to the north sold their house. Given that they took their big dogs with them, we thought this would be the perfect time to replace the fence along that property line, at least through their backyard.

So that's what I did today.

I had to do some trimming to let this cedar trunk poke through. I'm not sure I did enough of a gap, but we'll see. Had to do the same thing along the bottom as the roots are protruding. You can see in the picture that the tree is so close to the fence I had to secure the slats from this side rather than the other. Not necessarily happy about that, but it is what it is.

The next bit of fence along the sideyard is going to take some work, as I have four posts that have to be replaced because the current posts are leaning heavily toward the north. I'm not sure I'm excited to dig that many postholes this close to winter. It's also hard to think any concrete I pour to hold the posts in place won't freeze rather than cure. So that'll be for next year.

Much to the chagrin of our dogs, this means the knotholes they barked at when the dogs next door were barking are gone. I'm sure they'll still go to that part of the fenceline to bark. Old habits die hard.

Authentic Instructional Gibberish

About a year or so ago, we replaced the water heater in our camper. The previous heater froze up and burst after we loaned it to friends building a house,

When you put a new water heater in an old camper, of course, there are always complications. In this case, it was that the old one had a pilot light one lit from the outside of the camper, while the new one has an electronic ignition system. That's all and good -- an electronic system that you start with the flick of a switch is a heck of a lot handier. But that meant installing a new electric system to go with it.

Now, I am fairly handy at some things. Electrics, however, are not within my realm. But thankfully we know some people who tinker, and they got the water heater working this weekend at Island Park Scout Camp, where Michelle is for the summer. I spent a good portion of my day yesterday gathering the parts they requested -- in fact, gathered quite a few parts they ended up not using, but at least they were there if needed. I'm just happy the thing is working.

Part of getting it working was interpreting the instructions provided with the unit, which weren't all that great. First of all, it's a set of instructions for several models -- never a good situation to be in-- because which model are we dealing with? Then there are the little things. in the operations section, the user is directed to "turn the switch" to turn the heater on. None of the switches involve turn. Turning implies a specific action that can't be accomplished with the tools provided.

Then there's the tools provided: Those handy supply chain issues meant the standard switch called for indirectly in the instructions (and it does not turn either) was not available, so I had to guess at what was needed.

I'm just glad it's working.