Wednesday, June 3, 2009 -
The morning is sunny and bright with only a few thin clouds high in the sky. A last night low was 26.2, so it did go below freezing. I didn’t bother with building a fire this morning as the sunroom was in the low sixties and I knew that as soon as the sun moved it would heat the cabin up.
I have spent the morning working up these updates and reading more about possible fixes for the water heater. I tried one suggestion from my book on how to fix everything, but the pilot light wouldn’t stay lit. I am going to completely disassemble the burner and control unit and see if I can fix it, as I have nothing to loose, if I am already planning to buy a replacement.
I will also remove the tarps from the garage and start the truck, as I need it to get the old batteries to town and bring the new ones back. I also need to buy some blue board insulation to redo the battery box, and pressure treated 2 x 4s to make a cattle grating for the road.
On my trip to town tomorrow, I will take my computer and if I am not feeling too bad after my root canal, I’ll stop at the RV Park and use their wireless connection to collect my emails and send these updates. No promises, but I’ll try.
Okay, it is now 7 PM, and I have been working, working, working. I worked on the water heater for about an hour and a half, without any luck. I removed and cleaned all of the lines and even tried the old thermal couple, but the pilot light wouldn’t stay lit. I guess I’ll be shopping for a new water heater when I go to town.
I removed the tarps from the lean-to shed and put my quad in to protect it from the sun. I also removed the tarps from the garage and tried to start the truck, but the battery was completely dead. That is a new battery from last summer, so there may have been an electrical draw that used all its charge. I thought that maybe all the batteries would need to be charged before starting, but the Argo started immediately on the first turn of the key. Now I think that is amazing as I often had trouble starting it when the engine was cold. Next was the bulldozer and it too started immediately. Being able to start both the Argo and the dozer so easily, confirms that the truck must have had a drain on it.
I removed the truck battery and took it to the cabin, putting it on the trickle charger. I’ll see what condition it is before I go to bed and turn off the generator, but because my dental appointment is at 1 PM tomorrow, I doubt if I’ll have time to put the battery back, start the truck, back up and disconnect all six batteries, put all eight in the back of the truck and then be down to meet the follow me truck at 10:15.
I told Greg I’d meet him for lunch BEFORE they do my root canal, so I need to get into town before noon so we’ll have enough time to eat and then get to my appointment. All of this means that I’ll have to start the truck and load the batteries on Friday, making the trip to town to get the batteries and a water heater so I can install them this week end, hoping I don’t need to go to town again for a while.
I just played with and fed Zack, so he’s upstairs taking a nap on my bed after a busy day. He chased deer twice this afternoon, even though I admonished him not to. He was napping in the Jeep when three deer wandered into the yard and went to what’s left of the salt lick. I didn’t see him respond, so figured he hadn’t seen them. I went back to work and the next time I looked, the deer were gone. I thought they crossed the creek and went up the hill, but Zack soon returned from up the road, panting hard.
I am going to heat some water for a shower and then fix myself some dinner before relaxing and watching some television before bedtime.