Back in Business.

Or something like that.

Yesterday afternoon,  as I was quietly perusing the weekly flyers that come with the local "newspaper",  and "newspaper" is in quotation marks for a reason,  but that's another story,  I could not help but start to hear a high pitched intermittent beeping coming from upstairs somewhere.  I'm pretty sure my adrenaline level increased ever so slightly,  but within a very few screaming beeps I was able to determine that it was the DVR for our security camera system.
Yes,  we have cameras.   This came about mostly as we were heading away for a month a couple years ago (2016)  and I originally wanted some way to monitor the temperature in the house,  but soon discovered that a "smart" thermostat was neigh on impossible,  as I only have the two leads from the boiler to the thermostat,  and I'd need a 24volt supply.  Not happening.

So,  the next best thing was putting a camera in the boiler area so I could monitor what was going on from anywhere that there is internet.  Like that.

Anyway,  after I shut the thing off, I couldn't figure out what the heck was going on,  as the DVR would NOT boot up again.

Took a look on the Lorex website,  and in very short order,  I was "chatting"  with someone named "Rafael".   Like that's their actual name?  *snort*.

That actually was helpful,  believe it or not,  as "Rafael"  was able to take me through a couple steps for diagnosing the problem.  When I took a look at the front of the unit (involves taking it down off the wall,  and you'll see why in a minute)  I couldn't help but notice that the "power" light was sort of flickering,  and I thought,  "I wonder if there's something up with the power supply?"   Sure enough,  after retrieving a tester,  the thing was barely putting out a volt.   Totally pooched.

So,  I wished "Rafael"  a fine weekend,  and this morning I went to a local supplier of all things electrical here not far from The Ponderosa called Sayal where,  after being able to extricate the Punjabi speaking cashier away from her boyfriend (or whoever that Dude was)  she was able to point me in to the correct aisle to see if they had the proper "wall wort".   It needed to be 2.5 amps,  which precluded being able to use any of the cast offs that I have out in my treasure trove in the shed.  Annoying really.

Not only that,  but the adaptors at that amperage were just a wee bit more than I thought was a reasonable price,  considering that I've purchased adaptors for as little as a couple bucks.   This thing was twenty-two! 

But,  like Travelling Companion was quick to point out,  "You bought the system for 500 dollars and you'd sooner have it sit there useless instead of paying a few bucks to have it working?"
*sigh*    "OK, fine."

Anyway,  I thought maybe I'd need an adaptor for the adaptor, since the little plug thingy did look slightly different,  but it works.

Did I ever mention that I had put the entire system in the upstairs hall closet?   See,  the DVR is kinda noisy.  It just is.  And previously,  when the system was in one of the spare bedrooms,  I'd have to make sure to turn it off anytime we had guests sleeping up there.  I didn't think it was that bad,  but I got overruled.


Meanwhile,  we had Tree Cutting Dude back yesterday with his two helpers to take down the third and final Ash tree.   You may or may not have heard of a little creature called the Emerald Ash Borer
and we have been blessed with these little bastards for a few years now.  They have basically decimated most,  if not all of the ash trees around these parts.   If you've ever come across warnings about moving firewood around the country side,  these little bastards are the reason why.


I took a photo of the type of damage that they incur.

It's no wonder the poor tree was dying.  Now we're down to a couple oak trees,  a basswood,  and the maple trees I've planted out on the boulevard.

Any tree planted on the boulevard,  by the way,  becomes the property of,  and responsibility of the city.  Works for me.   Cutting down or trimming trees is pricey.


I took a bunch of photos and videos,  but I'll only put up a few here of him going out to cut off this one limb that was hanging precariously over our cable/phone/internet.

And if you click on that one to make it bigger and think there's something wrong with the camera?  No,  that's snow.  There were brief moments of nastiness a couple times there.
But,  he hung in there.
(see what I did there??)

Um ya,   NOT my cup of tea.

Needless to say,  I'm going to have firewood until the end of time.  And,  that's not counting the huge stack up against the house.  OR the stuff I've split and is stacked up way over there under that green and yellow left over bag from some soil we bought a couple years ago.

And of course,  the thing is,  taking it "camping" say?  is out of the question.  Wouldn't be prudent.

Can't take it anywhere,  really.

So now at some point,  after I've split up all the stuff that I can with my small splitter (it's *only* five ton)  I'll once again rent a 25 ton jobbie from Home Despot to split up the really big pieces.

This might take a wee while.

Like,  maybe next fall I'll have it sorted out?   Who knows?


Once again,  thanks for stopping by.

Keep your stick on the ice.