- Ran the Scout up for the first time in two weeks. With the battery conditioner I bought this fall, there’s plenty of cranking power, so the trick has been learning how to prime the carb correctly. She’s running well when she warms up, and she feels completely different with the top on. It was dry enough that I wasn’t worried about salt, so it was nice to sneak out and home again in the sunshine.
- Started reorganizing the basement to fit our stuff better. I moved a large shelf from the center of the floor to one of the side walls and it opens the whole center area up to more sunlight and space. I’m going to buy a second shelf and continue organizing this week while I dig out the Christmas gear from the iceroom.
- Organized and shortened cable runs and our punchdown block. When I ran network and coax cable through the house in 2003-2005, I left several feet extra on each line so that I could orient the block in the right space. Fast forward ten years and it had become a rat’s nest, both up in the ceiling and over the network board. So I pulled all the extra out to the wall, disconnected and re-ran some of the hairballs up in the ceiling, bundled the main runs of cable together, and started shortening ends at the block. Most of the coax I ran is unused so that will get tucked back up into the ceiling. I’ve been putting this off for years, but now that I’m working on it, I’m happier than I should be to be working on it.
- Took in a friend’s opening at Union Brewery, across the street from my old office in Hampden. Union makes some very tasty beer locally, and we got an unguided tour of their space as well as pours of their latest seasonals. I stayed and caught up with a bunch of friends until 10:30 and then found my way home over an all-too-familiar route.
- Used a $12 laser temperature gauge (thanks, Amazon!) to discover the microclimates within each of our rooms; We’re losing heat in most of the places I already suspected–the weight pockets on either side of our windows, around old doors, the floor of our pantry, some of the sill plates in the basement.
