Weekend light work

[greatbear]

So my weekend was practically bi-polar. Saturday the weather was rainy and cold, I was in a bit of a mood, and I think I did more sleeping than anything productive. Sunday rolled around and the weather was nice once again, but I elected to spend most of the day up in the attic resuming the skylight project that I began last fall. It had gotten too cold and my broken-down body was not up to doing much more work up there post-surgery. I had practically knocked myself out with the work I had done, and winter was a break for me. Hurting my knee at this time sealed the deal.

As it stands, I have a limited window of opportunity for attic work since a sunny, 70 degree (F) day will heat the attic well into the 90s and make life miserable. And a cold, blustery winter day outside is not much better up there either. The other reason for the delay was I thought I had moved all of the electrical wiring from the area the skylights were to be installed. As I dug out more insulation I found four more electric cables in the way. My saving the additional tasks in the project for another day had finally come due, so I climbed up the attic stairs and started at it.

In addition to moving the cables, I needed to bring in a new branch circuit for the skylights themselves. I mounted all the electric boxes and ran the new wiring between them, well out of the way of the skylight shafts I needed to build. I then had to cut the wiring apart and move it to the boxes and new runs. To make life interesting and keep me on my toes, I did all the work with the wiring energized. Yes, the stuff all had full 120 volts as I was cutting, moving and installing the cabling. Being that my (real) work finds me needing to maintain uninterrupted power to certain systems while I work on them, I am very adept at live work. I have yet to get zapped or have my work blow up in my face. My little live wire exercise went off without a hitch. The only disturbance happened when I moved the low voltage wiring for the doorbell and decided to make the bell ring with no one at the door. Kodi was fooled, Jeff wasn't.

I managed to complete all the relocations last night, and was only missing a cover for one of the splice boxes, which I picked up today. I put back most of the insulation after cleaning up sawdust and mouse shit, then removed all the tools and supplies that had taken up residence in the attic for that phase of the job. Now all I have to do is frame up, insulate and drywall the light shafts, and there will be light. I tested the skylight remote operators last night and today, this is going to be pure awesomesauce. The remotes are bidirectional, not only do they control the skylights, but also read back status and other info. The units use an industry standard wireless protocol for home automation, and I will eventually integrate this into the Mayhem Mainframe. The skylights I installed in the sun room about ten year ago are also remote controlled, but use an infrared system much like a television set. The new stuff uses 2.4GHz RF, sorta like WiFi. I am contemplating an upgrade...

This evening Jeff cut some of the grass with the push mower while I get the tractor in shape for the season. This is the first lawn mowing of the season, one of many. Also, the weeds have sprung up in earnest, I hope I am able to rein in some of this before it gets out of hand. Last year I was completely unable to work in the gardens, I think this year I will be able to do some stuff. The yard is in terrible shape, there are busted branches everywhere, and I just began some of the tree pruning and cleanup. We wished there was more help available, but we'll make do just us two.

Other sundry stuff like more doctor visits and errands are on tap for this week. I need to pick up a few bits of lumber for the skylights, and I have a set of shocks/struts to put on the Stratus, and a lot of work on the old Cummins to get that back in usable condition. I hope my rickety old body does not leave me stranded like it has been. It's hell getting old.

Comments

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Ph34r my sawzall of d00m!

[vicar.livejournal.com]

Ditto - that's all kind of awesome.

[maxauburn.livejournal.com]

You seem to be managing quite well, in spite
of the surgery having imposed it's limitations on you.

I think you are in better shape this April than you were a year ago.

You are very handy. I'd be scared to try and work with electricity!

I keep tellin' you, if you need help in the yard, I'm your man.

Remember - I lived on a 100 acre farm - there was ALWAYS plenty to do there!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

You need to recover too! No hard work for you (yet)! ;)

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Sounded like a productive weekend my friend. :-)

I, mostly sat on my ass installing software on my computer since I had no backup when the Trojan virus hit 2 weeks ago.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I love putting together new PCs. What gets to me is shoving them full of all the apps and software I use on a regular basis. Cleaning up after a disaster like a virus or a crash is even worse. Blecch.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

Hence the backup! That way, I can just re-image the drive and be done! :-)

[danlmarmot.livejournal.com]

What home automation protocol are you using?

(yay for geekery)

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I'm leaning toward Leviton Vizia components, they use Z-Wave protocols. The Velux skylights have some sort of interface module available, but I don't know much about it. There are aftermarket interfaces I looked at, but that was a while ago, and I need to refresh my memory. I'm just beginning to put things in place for home automation, it will be simple at first but I want things to be expandable and open source friendly. I did have some X10 stuff, but I gave that away.

[danlmarmot.livejournal.com]

Cool! Reason I'm asking is that I just installed some RF dimmers from Lutron that use RadioRA2. Seem to work well, but the interface thingy is proprietary. And yeah, I have X10, but it wasn't ever all that reliable.

(next project is more interesting: an IP thermostat, with sensors for both outside and inside temps. It's not always obvious here when to turn on the heat or the AC!)

[erstexman.livejournal.com]

Wow - I thought I accomplished something by getting the car washed in gorgeous weather here. I am horrible at household tasks like that anymore since the arthritis has set in, but thank goodness the roommate is handy with tools and such - but then it is his house. OH - and glad you both are doing better...

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I need to wash my cars/trucks. That will happen soon enough. Last year I didnt wash any of them at all, and it shows now.

[restoman.livejournal.com]

I sometimes work on live wires too, but over the years have zapped myself several times, created some unintentionally exciting fireworks shows, and arc-welded several tools by accident. ....I probably should not be doing wiring!

I'm glad to hear that you are able to get back into doing some work around the house.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I've had my share of accidents, and I was even hit by lightning. I guess you can say electricity is in my blood. lol

[geometrician.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure whether to be more impressed that you are climbing up in the attic, or that Jeff is out pushing the lawn mower. Sounds like things are settling back into place. Hugs!

[2stroker.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you are getting back into the things you love again! Just don't push too hard.Getting old is a wonderful thing,I know 'cause I've got a few years on you. What I've learned is to lower my expectations as to the amount of work I can or am willing to do in any given time frame. This makes it less frustrating for me and keeps me from becoming a slave to all the chores.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I'm so impressed with guys, like yourself, who are so handy. It would not occur to me to tackle any of the projects you've described by myself:)

Take good care of yourself!

HUGS!

[bygbrat.livejournal.com]

wow live wires! that stuff scares the bajeezus out of me. you're amazing!

[tibortiger.livejournal.com]

Wow - you did have a productive weekend, awesome! I know what you mean about the window of opportunity on the attic, I have to deal with some insulation issues in my attic and I never seem to get it done in the spring or the fall and forget about the summer, I'd expire in minutes in there.