We're at that stage of our stay where we're doing "the last of". Whether that's food or a trip to town, we're doing the last of things as we prep for our departure.
The pike have been biting like crazy today. I learned something -- use Shiners. While the Dace minnows might last for days alive on a hook, the Shiners don't have to ! I've got two rigs in play and the Dace on the one has been there for two days while I went through six Shiners on the other, bringing in five fish. The rigs aren't far apart, so it's not "location, location, location" :).
One went back, a size that I would normally keep but since I'm doing so well, we'll save him/her for next year. All but one of the fish that I've caught were females ... do the males rest and relax somewhere this time of year ? Is it warm and sunny ? As I said to David, I don't feel bad catching my limit at this time of year because basically I don't fish for pike the rest of the year.
We'll be having our third feed of pike tonight and the rest are in the freezer for our return in May.
I've had internet service all day today albeit marginal this morning -- hey, marginal is better than none ! Even though the cloud cover is heavy right now, the signal is at 45. We've got light snow coming down, but from the looks of the forecast that won't be "the last of" ! We'll see more tomorrow, but no accumulation.
Jim and Bonnie are supposed to be coming over in a little while; likely our last visit for the season.
Sandy has dinner for tonight and tomorrow night all planned with leftovers of this and that in the fridge going with us, to Kim and to Stef. There isn't much. The fridge upstairs is pretty well prepped for defrosting ... another "last of". The tire swap takes place tomorrow, hopefully that's quick. It will be quicker if I use the impact wrench !
That's about it ...
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Morning again -
16/30 ... signal strength is down. Internet is down. I'm not sure what's magical about those numbers. I never see signal strength in the 20's ... I wonder why ? At any rate, I know how to fix it now but it won't be done before we leave tomorrow, that's for sure.
Bonnie brought her laptop and I updated her virus database, fixed an option on Firefox and added a link to my blog on her browser bookmarks bar. If she starts reading these blogs she'll truly learn the meaning of boredom.
Today -- last trip to the dump, swap tires, pack car, call Xplornet and Bell to cancel service (Bell to cancel long distance package).
I'll make a million trips up the stairs today, inside and outside, as I pack the car with dry goods. A number of things will have to wait until tomorrow a.m. -- our one bag each of luggage, two cases of wine, groceries, cooler, etc.
The worst part about packing the car is that I'll probably leave it up in the barn, not taking a chance on coming down to garage level with only all-season tires on it.
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I suddenly remembered that I had to turn off the fridge this morning. I just made a dozen trips up and downstairs bringing the last of the food from the upstairs fridge to the downstairs fridge. You can only appreciate how large the fridge-only unit is downstairs when the entire contents of a full fridge disappears into it, not even disturbing the existing contents. There's no question but if you had a large enough kitchen it would be great to have a side-by-side setup -- i.e. two units. Our Florida kitchen is large enough but we don't really need the space there.
By the time we leave tomorrow morning the woodbox close to the house will be empty, or only have a couple of pieces of wood left. I've hauled a fair amount of wood down from the woodshed as well, so I'm guessing that we've gone through about 3 cords in the last month, give or take. Some of that was fast burning stuff that I cut but much was heavy maple from Halle Brooks. If we stayed for the season, we'd probably burn 15+ cords, maybe more. Of course if we lived here year-round, a tank of propane would last several years !
I've half a mind to setup the stepladder and blow warm air at the satellite dish head. Come to think of it, the inch of snow that we got overnight might also be impacting the signal ... hmmm ...
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Nope, I traipsed up there in my housecoat and snow boots, luckily no-one there to take my picture, just touched the dish with the broom and it all slid off ... the signal strength is still down cycling back and forth between 17 & 30. Extension cord, ladder, heat gun would do the trick. I'll only do that if this persists after the sun is up.
Speaking of the sun -- the sky is clear, a big moon shining through the trees out back, about to set. The day will start out bright, I think.
In my research on the dish-head problem, I ran across dish warmers. Now these aren't plate warmers for a chef, these are dish warmers for satellite dishes. They can either be powered by 110v with an extension cord or 24v and a spare coax cable. If I ever wanted to leave the service on and monitor the place via cameras etc. that would be the trick.
That's it. I'll have to finish up anything internet-wise that I want to do this evening in case I don't have a signal tomorrow morning.
Onward !
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