What’s a piece of technology you’re convinced will exist in 20 years?
When I’m in my mid-seventies, I want to be able to put a down payment on an exoskeleton. If I become fragile in my 80-90s, I want a way to remain in our forever home here on the North Bruce Peninsula. I want us to move past the walkers available to us. They’re stronger and lighter, sure. They’re collapsable and don’t look too pathetic & undignified. I want more assistive tech ready to go when I need it, in the meantime…. I’ll rely on physically maintaining my hips, lower back, and knees.
Neural implants? I only want to consider them as a control or therapy for neurodegenerative ailments that might strike me! My mum’s cognition right now, at 86-88, is reasonable. She’s a chaos demon at my sister’s home (and I’m grateful for my sister’s willingness to have her live with them in Maple Ridge). I’m hopeful my genetics stay true. My dad’s alcoholism is the epigenetic boogeyman I have to watch out for.
Rock Farm Updates.
Here are the jobs that keep us occupied right now. Pavilions. Bunkies. Strawbale walls. Rodent control. Firearm safety courses (still waiting). Driveway medians & encroaching flora. Attending Wiarton Homecoming, with Black Dog Biscuits, cat rescue, and the Bruce Mens Shed.
Pavilion. Framing the bug screen.
It took a lot of measuring, mitre-cutting, fitting, pilot-hole drilling, scrounging around for recycled screws, and placing cedar strips. All the bug screens are now anchored in place. When I ran out of cedar, I used some recycling banister-dowlings from the bunkie kit. They’re facing the south surface, so they’ll dry out quickly and are out of sight (from the living room bay windows).
VIDEO = Side one of the pavilion. Note how the structure is INDEPENDENT OF THE MAIN HOME. It doesn’t share any infrastructure.
VIDEO = I had a hell of a time securing the bug screen to the pavilion’s south side. If our next generation of house-cats decide to take naps up in the rafters, I’ll need to add additional barriers!
VIDEO = Here’s the 3rd side of the pavilion. TS and I plans on enclosing that gap WITHOUT violating the local bylaws. and the consequences of having different materials expanding-contracting-flexing at different surface temperatures. The barrier needs to prevent cats from squeezing out and uninvited guests from pushing themselves in. We have a lot of rodents nearby, so steel wool can be used for some of the gaps near the ground.
Steel flap for the storm door.
I want to add additional locking mechanisms to to reduce the risk of a curious omnivore from pulling the door open. That south-facing door will also get buffeted by the winter winds, snow, and ice. I also want it less likely for future house cats from pushing their way out… if they ever enter the pavillion unsupervised. I looked at the extra steel roofing from our original build and am pleased to see some prospective raw material for the steel door flap. The storm door’s bolted onto the outside of the pillars and it swings out. That gap can be made tiny.
Gentleman forestry? I’m putting that on hold.
Bird nesting season, so felling, skidding out and cutting up felled logs has to wait. I have about 2-3h/morning to do yard-work before it gets too fucking hot. Our resident hummingbird population had babies and the adolescent hummers are trying to access the feeder. The dickhead alpha male tries to scare them off. They just hover around the old bugger. Good!
It’s been 3 weeks, where’s my PAL application link?
2.9 weeks of administrative processing with the CFSC instructor guild. Then RCMP-OPP vetting-referencing-paying followed by a 28 day cooling off period.
Next big job: patching the strawbale wall cement-plaster.
Patching up the natural cracking found on our strawbale cement-plaster walls.
Next ongoing job: widen the driveway’s edges and property lines.
Property line clearing. The brush is ridiculously fecund. Widen the driveway medians. Collect that green matter for shredding and mulch.
Save some money for a major rental: bring home a truck-hauled wood chipper.
Rent a proper 10-12″ diameter, truck-hauled wood chipper. Make mulch. Those fungus-laced logs by the shipping container can’t be used for firewood. We have to wait until nesting ends… as in hornet nests. They’re active right now. Leave them be.
Forest gardening: too much of a good thing.
Raised garden beds. Prune my devil lettuce, as its fan leaves are getting too overbearing (it’s in its vegetative phase). The 3 poor plants also had too much nitrogen and are yellowing somewhat; therefore, we are flushing the roots with extra water. The wacky-tabacky are in their own pots so that don’t crowd out the asparagus plants. The tomatoes are overcrowding their spot. Is the basil still alive? The motley crew (of plants) are enclosed in a deer-rabbit resistant cage.
Harvest more mint and dry it out. Dry out catnip in the mechanical room. It’s warm and dry in there!
I’m unimpressed with our e-shed’s heatpump.
Jeeze Louize… who would have thought mouse urine would damage electronics on an Italian-made heating/cooling device. The outward facing ports were NOT designed to keep rodents and reptiles out of the inner workings. After the 2nd cooling season, the USA Olimpia Model Maestro Pro Inverter 12HP requires a replacement integrated power module. What makes me sad is that the installer, Design Electric, did exactly what I instructed them to do. Design Electric’s staff members carefully followed the manufacturers installation guide. The Olimpia isn’t designed for rural use… or frankly any application where the risk of vermin might exist. Why is it up to the end user to kludge together a solution?!
I appreciate Mr. Rick Monk at Cooks Heating & Cooling educating me about how rodents and snakes inhabit such warm places. Mice are notorious for chewing through cables. And their urine can short-circuit unprotected components. If there’s a ~1/4″ hole, a mouse can squeeze through it (((that’s why you can see so many additional screws added to the DIY metal screen I installed over the default Olimpia grates))). Throughout the visit, Rick remained diplomatic about the installation and didn’t blame other parties. He focussed on trying to revive this dead machine. As of August 4th, Rick and his service department are sourcing out legitimate replacement parts.
If I could redo this whole project, I would have purchased a proper Mitsubishi inverter system that isolates the condenser from the inside heat exchanger. I instructed our electricians to install the heating-cooling unit that we had in storage… and over-rode directives set out by Evolve Builders. I was getting frustrated with the costs, oversights and delays I witnessed in our build, so I took a risk using a cheaper Olimpia system. Now, we’re living with the consequences of those actions. For now, we will try to repair the unit we have in the e-shed so that we can delay replacing the system for a few more years.
I like picking at wounds. Here’s some images of the damage we had in that cooling-heating unit in our e-shed ((btw, we do have maximum-minimum temperature sensors installed in the e-shed to alert us of potential thermal shutdowns with our inverters and/or battery banks)):
2026 Wiarton Homecoming. Supporting my BMS & BDB, eh.
We’re making the DAY-USE-ONLY bunkie a little bit safer.
TS and I installed a grab bar at the top of the ladder to the out-building’s loft. I want to access this living zone without being fearful of losing my balance on the steep stairs. My bifocals (progressive lenses) screw around with my depth perception. It’s so bad that I can freak out at TS whenever she’s trying to park the SNOWKAT in a parking lot (((that’s uncool and I need to self-regulate better… the woman knows how to park a vehicle, for fucks’ sakes))).
