After minor heart surgery on October 23, I have been taking it easy—aided and abetted by the cool and rainy weather. 

Kay had a break from her busy schedule of activities, moderated by the rain. She did have lunch and a great visit with lifetime friend, Sue, on Monday, but had to cancel golf Tuesday because of rain. It was the same with Paddle Wheelers Pickleball and happy hour on Wednesday, again because of rain. I spent most of the down time, countless hours in fact, learning how to program the old Canon 5d Mark III full frame camera, a small but complex computer in and of itself. Wednesday was the start of a cardiac rehabilitation program at CHI St. Vincent, Hot Springs, involving about an hour of exercise and stretching. 

Our normal “abnormal” life during this pandemic somewhat returned on Thursday. I played pickleball after lunch, despite a light mist, though sun shone through the clouds several times the last 30 minutes. We did have to squeegee the court before playing to remove the standing water.

Kay played golf with the Ladies’ Winter Golf group on Friday—not a great day for any of them as they played one of Hot Springs Village’s toughest and longest courses, Isabella Santa Maria. Saturday was a nice day to clean out the house basement, aka the “crawl space”; it has become our “go to” storage area. 

I am trying to wrap up remaining projects before leaving for Arizona on Sunday after Thanksgiving. With afternoon sun warming the garage, the “On the Go” water softener was overhauled. It was disassembled, the old resin removed, the tank cleaned and sanitized, new resin added, and new fittings installed.

It was back to the Briefcase Solar System Saturday afternoon, temporarily connecting both the “battery” and solar panel wiring to the charge controller.

For the battery, I tried substituting the Rockpa 250 watt portable solar generator, but it has only worked sporadically the 7 weeks I’ve had it; good use will be made of it but it doesn’t fit the criteria for which it was purchased!

The lugs ordered from Amazon came in, and will be used to build a cable to connect real batteries to the charge controller, perhaps next month, i.e. tomorrow, November 1. A couple additional parts should be in next week including two 15AH batteries which will be incorporated into the briefcase at just over 15 pounds, and a combination cigarette lighter socket, dual USB ports socket, voltmeter, and on/off switch panel to be mounted on the front or side of the briefcase.

By golly, I think this thing is going to work!!!

Happy Halloween, y’all.