I’m pretty tired.
Tried to fight off the morning light for a good long time before finally just getting up.
The goal tonight and going forward is to get to bed earlier. I’m going to try and get to bed by like 9:00, so I can get up with the light and have good morning studies.
I don’t generally have good studies unless I’m the only one awake. It’s just too hard to try and focus when other things are going on. Likewise, I don’t have good studies, even if there’s no one else around, if I get up later. I just feel in a rush, like I’m behind, and I need to get going.
Definitely thinking errors that I’d like to correct one day, but we’ll get there.
Got up and did my morning routine. Then I spent a good little while trying to get my new Bluetti power station set up and going.
The whole process had a gazillion sideways moments, and I did really really well for the first several, just reminding myself that I was giving a worthy effort, and that if the result is good enough for god, then it’s good enough for me.
I was able to maintain that perspective for a good little while until so many sideways things piled upon piles that I finally just succumbed to frustration.
The new power station is an upgrade and a downgrade at the same time. It’s smarter and dumber. I’ve got nearly twice the battery capacity, and this power station will work down to I think negative four degrees Fahrenheit, so that’s a big deal on both counts.
But it also didn’t ship with a cigarette lighter charge adapter because, in the words of their customer service rep they had a lot of customers who didn’t use or need that adapter.
To me, that’s just code speak for, we were too cheap to include the cigarette lighter charging cable adapter even though you paid twice the price for this power station as the other one.
Anyway, it took me a good long time to get the power station all figured out. It requires a Bluetooth connection to change settings on it, which is really… Not ideal. And it’s not smart enough to know what it’s supposed to be doing out of the box. It’s got all these great settings, lots of things to choose from, but when I plugged in my solar panel cables, it was only charging a 33 Watts, and it took me a fair bit of time looking at the manual, and then asking customer service what on Earth to do, before I was able to figure out there was a particular setting I needed to set it to, and that I had to access that setting through bluetooth, and once that setting wasn’t able to, then it would recognize and allow the full charge for my solar panels.
Funny how the upgraded system needs to be told what to do, whereas the old system would just do it automatically. Additionally, the new system has that beat powered on for it to receive the charge from the solar panels, so I have to remember to turn it on if I ever turn it off, otherwise it won’t get the charge from the solar panels, apparently.
And yeah, no cigarette lighter adapter cable. Good gravy. If you’re going to charge me twice the price, the least you could do is make sure the equipment is twice as good. 🙃
There are other ways that this is a downgrade, but the additional capacity and the ability to use it in Sub-Zero temperatures is a big deal.
I spent a while getting all the cables figured out so I could charge it with the solar panels. I ran my power cable for my satellite dish between the top of the van and the headliner, but for some reason, I couldn’t figure out how on Earth I did it, so I thought with the solar panel cables for a little while before finally just deciding to drill a hole in a hidden area of my headliner. It was a little awkward, but eventually I was able to drill the hole through, fish the positive and negative solar panel charge cables through the overhead storage area, through the headliner, and into their connections right at the solar panels. The other end is still a bit aesthetically not pleasing right now, as the cables are all bunched up and not neatly stowed away, but at least I’ve got solar working to charge the new Power Station. 🥳
I did manage to either pull a muscle or slip a disc in my back in the drilling and wire fishing effort. Fortunately, though it bothered me for a little while, I completely forgot about it later in the day until just now as I’m writing this journal entry.
Hopefully, it’ll stay as it is right now–better. 🙃
Once I got most everything squared away at least enough to have the cables going through the ceiling like they need to and properly charging the power station, I headed over to start digging the trenches again for the septic drain lines.
That job took up pretty much the rest of the day, starting around 11:00. I dug and dug. Hans reminded me after I thought I was done with a whole row that I needed to have it at least 2 ft wide, and I only had it a bucket-width wide. 😬
So I went back through and redid that one and went back to all three leech lines and carved them all out at least 2 ft wide for each. The bucket only being 16 in wide made it a fair bit of a challenge, as trying to carve out a straight channel at an angle is a bit difficult.
Anyway, I worked and worked and worked until probably mid to late afternoon, when I took a break, 8th and sandwiches that my sister had made for me, chatted with her for probably 30 minutes or so, and then headed back out to work on the trenches again.
Couple hours later or so, we all headed over to Cascade Springs, Hans and I going swimming, and my sister doing whatever it is that she was doing in the car while we swam.
I managed to break my toe, accidentally kicking a rock trying to climb up one of the sections where the water spills over. It’s all turning black and colorful and hurts a fair bit. Middle toe on my right foot. Not even sure how that darn toe would be able to get hurt so badly without the other toes around it getting hurt. But go figure, is what it is.
After getting back from swimming, I hopped right back on the backhoe, and I spent the next however long finishing up the trenches.
I think they are finally all done. 🎉
I hung out with Heather and Hans for a bit, ate dinner with them, and now here I am, just after 11:00, hoping to fall asleep soon, so I can get up relatively early and get some decent study in before the world leaves me behind.
The new back injury for today is absent, but my toe certainly is letting me know that it is present and not happy. 🙃
I think there’s more to say, but I just, maybe I’ll add a little bit to the gratitude section.
Gratitude:
- I’m grateful for my friendship with Cory. After my frustrating morning, I had a wonderful spiritual conversation that lasted a good little while and left me feeling so much better. Thank you, Cory!
- I’m grateful for the sunshine today.
- I’m grateful for Cascade Springs and that there was less trash today to clean up in there has been on other days recently.
- I’m grateful for the opportunity to deal with having a broken toe, the pain that it causes, and the reduction in capacity. I need the practice in being grateful for uncomfortable blessings, and this one definitely fits the bill. 😆
- I’m grateful I was able to get the trenches dug and done today. Of course, there’s still a heck of a lot more that needs to happen before the trenches can be filled back in in the system set and ready to go, but I’ve got the trenches at least dug.
Success:
- Though I eventually crashed and burned, I did manage to stay positive and focused on seeing all those sideways issues this morning as being opportunities for growth. I lasted longer, and that’s the most important thing. Hopefully next time I will last even longer. 🤞
Improvement:
- I did get frustrated in the end, so there’s definitely room for improvement.
My eyes are closing on me, so I’m going to head off to bed. Hope my toe doesn’t get any worse than it is now, so I can fall asleep.
Good night, neverland.
My love to all of you.
Lift the world.
Bring it on.
~ stephen
Lift the World 