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Alex's Boot Experience

 
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Post 1

Started the day by working on the insinkerator hot water under sink heating element.

Spent a good few hours breaking down all of the calcium deposits that built up using citric acid and even occasionally baking soda

Then we went up and chainsawed some dead standing trees that were already felled by nature.

We got a few logs chopped to size and hoisted up onto the truck Roy. He struggled a bit to get up the frozen hill, but he made it up alright.

Took a bit of work to drag the logs over to the truck using some log carriers and ran past Stephen's fallen tent that was felled as well, but by the weight of the snow.

After hoisting the logs onto Roy then getting them down the mountain we went back to descaling and fixing the sink issues. Aside from the hot water spout on the insinkerator spitting out hot water after it turns off, it was also leaking into the sink cabinet.

We had to readjust the sink's pea trap as the threads are shot on the main drain under the sink.

Unfortunately after the insinkerator was all put back together, the gasket was no long doing gaskety things and so the insinkerator is now on the repair shelf with a replacement coming in through Amazon. Can't win every battle, i suppose. but some potential solutions were looked at, such as using cut out gasket or fill in gasket to fix the leaking.

We then spent the remainder of the day getting the sink back in order and cleaning up the mess that existed beneath the sink.
 
alex caldwell
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pictures
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instant hot water heater disassembled in a sink
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water heater cleaning supplies citric acid sitting on a table in a kitchen
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unscrewing an insinkerator instant hot water heater
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insinkerator water heater filled with white gunk
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scraped most of the white gunk out of the instant water heater
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rinsing more gunk out of the instant water heater
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Logs loaded on Roy the Maverick
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wood burning in a jtube rocket masonry heater
 
master gardener
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Thank you for documenting your experiences at the lab!

I love to see what is going on even if I am near the opposite coast.
 
gardener
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Hey Alex, I hope you have a wonderful time at Wheaton Labs!
 
alex caldwell
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Thank you Timothy and Jeremy, more to follow.

Just fighting to get the GoPro Video imported to linux so I can upload to youtube, etc.
 
alex caldwell
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BEL Day 2

Currently on day 3 but takes a bit to do videos so I'm posting with a one day lag.

We worked on the flooring, moving some logs and toured the Labs while checking the status of everything for the winter.


Video below:

 
author and steward
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Roy's book:  Stephen took it with him on his trip!  He's reading it!

I have ordered a replacement!
 
steward and tree herder
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Good to know the book is safe....

Thanks for the tour round Alex! Not all glamorous tree cutting, but floors and sinks are also important parts of living well. I'm really intrigued by the greenhouse
 
alex caldwell
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Nancy Reading wrote:Good to know the book is safe....

Thanks for the tour round Alex! Not all glamorous tree cutting, but floors and sinks are also important parts of living well. I'm really intrigued by the greenhouse



I might make a trip up to the lab in the coming blizzard, but we'll see how things go.

Definitely curious to see the temp readings and see how it feels during it.
 
alex caldwell
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BEL day 3

Currently day 4, but will post about it tomorrow

Video for day 3
 
alex caldwell
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Feel free to let me know if there's anything anyone would like to see (or not see)
 
alex caldwell
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BEL day 4

As always feel free to give feedback on what you'd like to see more/less of.

 
alex caldwell
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BEL post 5

Days 5-6 + weekend
 
alex caldwell
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Giving a read to the 2nd copy of The Order of Natural Necessity that came in today.

Enjoyable read so far, an interesting approach to a philosophical methodology that encourages approaching the world from a non-dualistic way of being.

Just starting the read, we'll see where it goes 🤔
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The Order of Natural Necessity by Roy Bhaskar
The Order of Natural Necessity by Roy Bhaskar
 
alex caldwell
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Having studied a bit of philosophy in the past, one think I enjoy so far about this approachable version of Bhaskar's work is 'The Sixth Feature' or 'The Principle of Hermeticism'. What I've found in my philosophical journey is that frequently the philosopher is detached from the reality of being.

The explorations of the mind while enjoyable, do naught to bring in an integrated depth of being in the world, they construct the world through axioms that are built upon axioms which are their core are neglecting 'The Third Feature', which is to say, they neglect the experience from an internal state of being, the truthiness of not just our subjective interpretation of the world, but also our being in the world and how that state of being in the world as well as being of the world is shaping to our experience of creation within the world.
 
alex caldwell
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BEL post 6

We started the day by heading up to the lab. Checked the pump again for a deeper look. we removed the switch to see whether it was causing the issue. Turns out it's the pressure switch that's causing issues, the little flat white plastic bit. We can manually tap it gently and it will start building pressure and running the pump.

Either the pipe needs to be cleaned out of gunk or the switch went bad. We'll try cleaning it out the connecting pipe below the pressure switch to see if that will fix it. If you saw what happened with the insinkerator then it's likely calcium buildup again.

I took the chance to clear off the solar panels a bit, despite batteries being in good condition and holding a good charge.  A bit too short to reach the top ones without a ladder.


Got two more sections of junk pole fixed up, all the junk pole fence on the half closest to the fisher price house is tided up, but can use a deeper fix with some of the cross beams being warped.

The rock jacks up on that fence line are in need of some TLC and we started removing the rocks from one of the jacks but need to come back to it to fix it up.

We pulled down the junk pole from Roy and staged it up by the other half of the fence to be used in repairs later.

For the final part of the day we continued to work on getting the berm shed staged up for repairs, cutting notches, and setting up flat surfaces for the bottle jacks to life from.

This was all on Tuesday, tomorrow will probably be a video. More to come.

Please send coffee in boot love 🤤🤤🤤🥹🥹🥹🥺🥺🥺

Paul graciously purchased some coffee out of his own pocket for my consumption, but I'm sure to work through it in the next week or two.

Coffee is Life, that is all...
 
alex caldwell
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Due to abbreviations my pictures were removed 😭😭😭😭

reposting pictures here (for the third time)
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Notch cut into rafter of a berm shed so that it can be supported by a jack for repairs.
 
Jeremy VanGelder
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Wow, Alex! You and Clay are really knocking thisgs out!
 
pollinator
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Jeremy VanGelder wrote:Wow, Alex! You and Clay are really knocking thisgs out!



Sadly I had to head home last Sunday.
But I’m stoked to see Alex keep crushing it along with Eliot!!
 
alex caldwell
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BEL Post 7

After a bit of finagling, the pump is back to working, not sure what the issue was exactly. One of those things where it just wants to be finagled a bit. might need a deeper look again at a later date, but after reassembly everything is working as intended.

The tractor is on the fritz a bit, it seems to be collecting some water in the fuel lines potentially or possibly a battery issue. Elliot took a look last week, but it's still being finicky. we purged the water separator multiple times already and it's working off and on. I'm thinking it's potentially a bad battery or issues with low CCA on the battery as if it doesn't start the first time it wants to be jump started.

Mailbox was mildly unhinged so Elliot and I got some screws into it to get it fixed up. Now it's feeling much more hinged and stable.

Been taking a look at Judy as well, haven't discovered much, but took out the battery and charged it up for a deeper look.

Cat feeders at Allerton Abbey have been maybe putting out too much food since there is a pile of food in front of both of them. Cats were sparce and didn't respond to being called much either, but with the abundance of food, it's likely that they were not hungry enough to come.

Watered the green house as well while visiting the abbey. Felt warm and comfortable and plants were doing well, though the thermostat doesn't seem to be accurate, might have inside and outside flipped.

TEFA was having issues, but i got those resolved, just needed to restart the router/modem dohicky, but readjusted the antenna while i was working on it.

Assembled a little free library, replaced and adjusted the band saw blade and machine, installed a padlock for the shop, took a look at the fridge ice making issues, one was just flipped off and the other needs to have a part replaced (on order now), etc etc.

Probably forgetting some things, but basically what's been going on since the last BEL update.
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alex caldwell
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BEL Post 8

Got TEFA wifi running a bit faster.

Moved some wood into the library and ran out on the rack, so did some moisture testing on the wood.

Sharpened up a couple of hatchets that were getting a bit dull. They need to be filed to remove the divets then properly sharpened up.

Then spent most of the day dealing with Judy stuff.

Battery terminal pin was stripped. Moved and installed the charged up battery into Judy.

Mechanic came by and fully diagnosed Judy's issues and got her up and running.

Ended up being a fuel computer module which has a habit of overheating. She still needs power steering fluid as she's running bone dry at the moment.

She also has a loose connection at the female port of the fuel computer component. Needs the old one cut off, the wires spliced together then a new one slotted in.

Also has a verrrry dirty engine air filter that needs replaced.
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Clay McGowen
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Judy lives!! Big win for WL - I’m sure Paul is stoked!
 
alex caldwell
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BEL Post 9

Started the day by taking Roy to go pick up some power steering fluid for Judy. Filled her up and took her for a test drive. She's driving, but does have some issues with backfiring. Could be tied to the electrical connection of the recently replaced piece, so putting that issue aside until the parts and planning for it are done.

After the drive she was totally out of power steering fluid again, so there is definitely a major leak somewhere in the power steering system. Something else I noticed while looking at the power steering system and filling it is that the pulley is cracked, pretty simple to replace usually and not too expensive parts wise.

Going to look in more detail on Monday at both issues.

Judy took most of the morning to work out the details of, as battery had to be jumped the first time since she wasn't driven after starting previously.

Her park, neutral, reverse, drive, etc marker is not showing current gear she's in. Not sure if that was an issue previously, but doesn't affect anything as long as you keep track of what gear you're in.

After that I took a look around for the Crimson Crimcycle that was graciously donated by Bill previously. Unfortunately could not find the charger, but was able to find the OEM site where they sell it, but it's pricey at $75. Need to see what all is going on with the batteries and whether she charges etc. Was also able to find an aftermarket charger on Amazon for a third of the price, but need to confirm compatibility with the port size and shape, etc.

Did discover some information about the batteries and how they are wired through their naming convention, 13S5P, meaning there are 5 sets of batteries in parallel and 13 batteries in series on each set of 5. Not too bad to purchase and replace individual battery cells to replace the shot ones depending on if that's the issue.

It's also possible to purchase a full package of wired batteries that could be fit into the current slot aftermarket if that's the issue. Needs a deeper look at the electrical status of the system after getting the charger sorted.

Matt arrived today and we spoke about planning for next week. He also graciously brought some coffee 🤤🤤 and some cheese 🤤 and plans to cook up a turkey as well. The cheese will definitely suite the extra pizza Sauce I made, just need to make some Pauly-Dough using the recipe that Samantha shared while she was here.
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alex caldwell
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Clay McGowen wrote:Judy lives!! Big win for WL - I’m sure Paul is stoked!



Almost working well, just working out the final kinks. She does drive though, took her for a test drive and she's going.
 
alex caldwell
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BEL Post 10

We started the day working on the ice auger as it is made of plasticy bits which have snapped. you can see both of the augers side by side to see how the one is damaged, preventing it from pushing ice forward. it is also missing a long metal rod that most likely controls the ice shut off. It's fixed and working, but the rod needs some looking into.

After getting the auger sorted we worked on Judy, we pulled off the serpentine belt to take a closer look at the power steering pulley that i thought was cracked, but looks like it was potentially machined that way. The leak was not immediately identifiable and might due for another trip from the mechanic as well as a worn power steering fluid line that is being dug into by another line.

From there we cleared out a path in the snow, the front of the mailbox and from the fisher price house. We also laid snow down from the mailbox to the red cabin to the fisher price house.

Next we head up to Allerton Abbey and checked up on the cats and greenhouse. More cats showed up today, counted up to 7, so most likely just didn't come out last time. We had to walk from the gate to the Abbey due to the snow being too high for the Rav to get through from the gate. The tractor is due for a repair as well with a mechanic coming this Wed/Thurs.

From there we cut up some logs by Arakkis that were collected a while back and buried in snow.

Finally we worked on one of the classroom shelves to add another layer to the storage. About halfway through that.
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You would be much easier to understand if you took that bucket off of your head. And that goes for the tiny ad too!
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