March 26th

I started the day tinkering with the facia I'm building for the fridge in the kitchen in the van.  It's not warm enough to do the laminate just yet, so I have time to kill :o)  I think I've thought of a better way to do it that pretty much requires me to start over, but that's maybe not so much of a bad thing.

Tilly and I went for a long walk through Mahaney Park, but she was quite upset that we weren't meeting Vic for a cup of whipped cream at Starbucks :o)

In the afternoon I went to the airfield and took the plane out for a flight.  It was quite bumpy, as I should probably have gone up later, but it was interesting to see how full Camp Far West reservoir is now.

March 23rd

I've finished transferring data to Vic's new PC, so that's being used now.  The ~850M video card is getting ~65fps in World of Warcraft with everything turned up to 11.

March 22nd

We watched "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" and completely hated it.

Vic's PC arrived, so I started getting that set up.

March 21st

Vic's PC looks to have a borked SSD drive, so I've set her up with my old laptop until the replacement arrives, hopefully tomorrow.

March 20th

I did a bit more work on the kitchen for the van, and now the panel fits over the fridge.  I'm going to cut out a door for the space in the top, then it's time to start playing with laminate.

Of course, there's now a guy in Sacramento selling a kitchen cabinet that I could probably use to make up the panels I need, but where's the fun in that?

Vic's PC has hung in an update loop, so I'm glad I backed it up about a week ago, and that a new PC for her is going to be here probably tomorrow or Tuesday.  In the meantime, I'll try and restore it and see what happens.

March 19th

I got up early and headed over to the airfield to cook pancake breakfasts for a bunch of people at the historic aircraft display day.

After that, I went home and worked on the kitchen in the van.  After doing a bunch of trimming and building a tongue and groove for the face panel, it fit so tight I struggled to get it back off again.  Imma call that good.

March 16th

I went to the EAA membership meeting - the first based in our own hangar.  I also paid $280 to get a free cheeseburger.

March 15th

Rich, Sharon and Josh came over to play with Tilly, and work on a sponsorship package for Josh's racing.  After a few hours, we went out to dinner :o)

March 13th

Due to the crappy weather, I wasted the day playing Warcraft :o)

March 12th

The weather's sucky, so obviously the temperature sensor is playing up on the weather station - this necessitated a climb on to the roof to take out the batteries and cover up the solar panel for a few minutes, followed by hitting the reset button.  Still, I've found out that the maximum temperature it can send is 140F, the minimum is -50F and it actually displays an average of the last 15 minutes.

I did a little wood cutting for the cabinet in the van, but I didn't feel like hanging out in the garage to do the final trimming and test installing before starting what looks like a complicated process of applying laminate.

March 11th

I took the van over to Stephan's for an oil change, general checkup and an AC recharge.  I ended up giving him the foot brake pedal, as I have spares, and looking at his Truckfridge install.  His is at the top of the cabinet, as he has a Propex heater (I use a standalone Mr Buddy), but he doesn't like the little drawer he has down there as it won't open without rolling back the carpet, making it seem a lot more illicit than necessary :o)

On the way home, I went via Rancho Cordova so I could pick up a sheet of 5/8" (15mm) plywood.  The problem is that this is in 5'x5' sheets, rather than 4'x8', so I couldn't get it in the van.  They don't have cutting facilities there, but luckily there was a contractor who lent me a circular saw out of his truck, so I left with a 2'x5' sheet and a 3'x5' sheet.  I need a single piece, less than 1'x2', so bah.

March 10th

I just did some tidying up, and put the USB charger plate in place.  I'm tempted to try again, as the old one is slightly bent to make it sit flush.  This one isn't, so it seems to bow out a bit at the top and bottom.  Shouldn't take me that long, now I have the old one to use as a pattern.  I could try and bend it, but with my luck the paint'll crack off.

March 9th

I mounted the fridge properly, and made up the wiring for the USB charger that'll be mounted on the old fridge vent.  I've also used caulk to take up some spaces that were left around the frame of the fridge.  Not sure if I like that, to be honest, but it'll be easy enough to pull out if necessary.  I also cut a laminate panel for the fridge door, so it's the same colour as the cabinets now, rather than being black.  It's a lot better looking like that.

March 8th

I cut up some wood to make a better shelf above the fridge in the van, but I think I'll probably be looking at making a different mounting pretty soon - I'd like a shelf to be mounted to the van rather than just sitting on top of the fridge.

I've cut a piece of aluminium to make a new fridge vent (seeing as it's no longer really necessary), and I'll mount a USB charger (and a switch to turn it on and off) to it.  For now I've thrown paint over it to see what it'll look like.

A while ago I ordered some Garibaldi biscuits fro, Amazon, not realising (due to the free shipping) that they were going to come from England.  They arrived today, and Kelly, the postie, brought them to me as I was in the garage with the door open.  This caused a long conversation about biscuits vs cookies while I broke into the packaging so she could try them.  They're not all sugar and chocolate like American cookies, so I don't think she was impressed.

March 7th

I've taken the week off work to use up some holiday time, so I spent the day peering at the fridge in the van.  I can't get it to sit under the sink, as there's a bulkhead in the way, but I've managed to make it sit a little further back, so the frame is level with the cabinets, rather than sitting on top of them.  Now I'm just trying to figure out everything else I want to do there.

The SPDT relay I'd ordered arrived, so I got that hooked up for the halos on the LED lights on the Van, and all's good there.  Yay, something finished!

March 6th

The back fence had come down partially in the storm last night, so we propped it up, and Vic hammered the post support I'd put in a few weeks ago so it's now further in.  That's the only reason the whole thing didn't fall down.  It's all pretty rotten, so I guess I'll have to go and point out to the owners that they should be looking at replacing it soon.  Joy.

Gwen and family came over to play with Tilly and visit the guinea pigs.  Jahzara went home and crashed out, and Tilly went for a rest when they'd all left.  Poor old thing - she doesn't have the stamina she used to :o)

March 5th

I met Bruce at the airport, where we were aiming to seal the floor in the EAA hangar, but there was a leak under one of the walls, meaning the floor was all wet.  Bugger,  Still, I'd left a can of spray foam sealant that'd help with that, so we opened it up to find it wouldn't spray.  Double bugger.

I went home, and screwed around with the EAA membership newsletter, and a bunch of stuff for the web site, then went out and installed some LED headlights on the van.  They're working, but not completely finished, as I need a SPDT relay to get them to do what I really want them to - I've ordered one and I don't have one in all my current junk.

March 3rd

Gwen came over and played with Tilly, then picked up one of the foster guinea pigs for a vet checkup, and it finally started raining properly.  Are these two things connected?  Who knows.

March 2nd

I went to go to the EAA board meeting, and thought I'd take the DRZ to test the keyless ignition.  Damn thing wouldn't start, until I figured out that I'd left the vacuum line off the petrol tap.  Doy.  Plugged that in, started it and went over for the meeting.

March 1st

A new month, so here are the power stats:

Power paid for

Power generated