{"id":3355,"date":"2015-04-05T11:51:46","date_gmt":"2015-04-05T17:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/?p=3355"},"modified":"2015-04-06T08:23:43","modified_gmt":"2015-04-06T14:23:43","slug":"easter-sunday-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/easter-sunday-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Easter Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Happy Easter to all. Hope you are enjoying the day. \u00a0(Nice Spring temps for later today, a rhubarb pie in the oven for us.)<\/p>\n

The past week was quiet but weekend is busy, a common pattern for us. Here is a bit of what’s going on…<\/p>\n

I have upped my game on riding my bicycle, expanding my 2.5 mile route to 5.6 miles (round trip) for a lunchtime ride. It still takes me about half an hour to complete the trip. \u00a0These distances are measured by an electronic speedometer I had added to the bike a few weeks back.<\/p>\n

\"Bike<\/a>

Bike speedometer measures my distance traveled.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few people, including Pam, have asked if I feel better or notice a difference in energy since I started treating my diabetes. The answer is — not really. I can go up and down stairs (at work) with a bit more energy, and I can feel the difference when riding the bike, but for the most part I don’t feel much healthier overall\u00a0than I did before my diagnosis. I suspect the true test will come when we start working on The Lot again this year and my level of physical activity\u00a0is pushed to the limit.<\/p>\n

The health discussion led into a question about happiness. Pam asked me if I was happy. The answer is generally yes; my definition of happiness is enjoying the passage of time. Yes, it would be nice to have more money and have a higher level of financial security and the ability to retire and pursue other hobbies and interests, but while you can plan to make that happen, happiness (not euphoria) can be realized\u00a0at whatever level you happen to be at.<\/p>\n

So I enjoy a good song, talking\u00a0with friends, reading a good book, or working on photos and this blog. I enjoy working on The Lot, riding my motorcycle and ATV, sharing a joke with Pam, and accomplishing tasks I set out to do.<\/p>\n

Speaking of tasks, we had a day full of them yesterday. I started out doing some yard maintenance (digging dandelions, running the weed-wacker, and some mowing) on our very dry lawn. Irrigation water won’t be available until mid-month, and the lack of rain so far has the lawn looking pretty brown. Pam has been hand-watering some of the trees and plants to help them make it through until irrigation begins. (A gallon or two a week applied directly to trees works wonders in this climate).<\/p>\n

After that the fun really started. Pam initiated\u00a0a project to go through some of the kid’s boxes that were in storage above the garage. Boxes of games, toys, costumes, and general “stuff'”\u00a0were taken out and tagged for more thorough\u00a0examination. Most of the boxes have been put in Pam’s bedroom, the master bath, and in the 3rd bedroom. Pam will go through these boxes in the next few weeks and ask the kids what they would like to keep, what can be donated, and what can be thrown away. It is time to start cleaning out some of this stuff and moving it along. \u00a0Plenty more “kids stuff” still in above-garage storage, for future sorting.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A few of the many boxes we took out of storage<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A<\/a>

Some of Felicity’s 3-D puzzles from storage<\/p><\/div>\n

Then it was RV time. I installed the new batteries in The Box and moved it from our neighbor’s yard, where it has spent the winter, back to our yard, parking it\u00a0along our driveway. I opened the windows, doors, and vents to start the airing out process. We will begin cleaning and replenishing over the next few weeks with an eye to getting it back to The Lot in early May. \u00a0Probably still some mousie turds to seek and destroy, hopefully no mousies.<\/p>\n

One decision I had made about The Lot and The Box was to locate\u00a0a larger generator, which would power The Box and could be used during construction of a cabin on The Lot. I wanted a unit with enough power to operate a well pump until we could \u00a0install an off-grid system. \u00a0This would take an output of around 3,500 – 4,000 watts. Looking at new and used units it looked like I would have to spend $500.00 – $700.00 for such a unit. Then I came across a Craigslist ad from Grand Junction; a guy had a non-running 4,000 watt Generac generator\u00a0(Generac is based out of Jefferson, Wisconsin) up for sale at $100.00. I did some research and found this unit to be out of production but highly rated by users and consumers, so I decided to take a chance on it. I picked it up last Sunday.<\/p>\n

The older guy who had the generator\u00a0said it had quit running and he didn’t have the time or interest in repairing it. A quick look, after I had it home, revealed that one of the valves had a problem; a “valve keeper” had broken and the intake valve was not opening. Generac had changed the design of this part and the only option for repair was to install an upgrade kit. Price of the kit and a few necessary\u00a0gaskets (with shipping) came to $40.40.<\/p>\n

I spent a couple of hours installing the kit, which involved removing the head from the generator’s motor. However, once I had everything back together (no leftover\u00a0parts after assembly, always a good thing), the generator started on the 2nd pull. I was delighted. We now have a unit that can power The Box’s microwave oven and quickly recharge the batteries, and have power for future needs. I\u00a0will take the generator up to The Lot and store it in the shed when we don’t need the extra power.<\/p>\n

\"Generac<\/a>

Generac 4000XL generator, now running<\/p><\/div>\n

Saturday was a busy day, covering lawn work, storage work, RV work, and generator work. We knocked off and had dinner (Pam made turkey tacos) well after 7:00 PM. However, we did get a great deal done!<\/p>\n

Today it is tax time, car cleaning, and maybe an ATV ride this afternoon.<\/p>\n

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!<\/p>\n

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:<\/p>\n

What to do with handmade Halloween costumes of various sizes, collected over the years? \u00a0One of my co-workers has two kiddos under the age of ten, she’ll take some costumes\u00a0for her dress-up \u00a0area. \u00a0The rest will, I guess, go to the Boy Scout yard sale. \u00a0A real trip down Memory Lane, looking through the Halloween boxes.<\/p>\n

A comment on Fields’ expertise with small engine repair: Is it possible I could actually use the microwave in The Box for the first time in two years? \u00a0(At the moment, it provides mouse-proof food storage.) \u00a0Technology marches on.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0philosophical discussion of happiness in the blog today…\u00a0h-m-m-m. \u00a0Being a rather more “glass half empty” sort, I think maybe not a topic to which I care to contribute.<\/p>\n

Happy Trails.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Easter to all. Hope you are enjoying the day. \u00a0(Nice Spring temps for later today, a rhubarb pie in the oven for us.) The past week was quiet but weekend is busy, a common pattern for us. Here is a bit of what’s going on… I have upped my game on riding my bicycle, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3355"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3381,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3355\/revisions\/3381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.appleattic.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}