What did you do today?

My son and I busted up the front porch steps on my remodel project. Ouch, not as easy as it used to be! Probably better for a younger guy. Now I will build a cool deck across the front of the house. Now that the tough part is done, I'll enjoy the rest of this phase! 2 brownies will beat back the pain and get me back in the right head!
Jack Hammer is not a real friend of mine!
 
Crawled through a fire ant bed while thinning okra.
I hate fire ant more than I hate ticks and I really hate ticks, especially the ball suckers!
The summer of 25 was horrendous for ticks. I'd find a dozen on me every time I went to the farm. Don't think I've found a dozen all year this summer. That 6 feet of snow we got in mid-March didn't do them any favors I don't think. I didn't like the snow at the time but if it knocks down the ticks like that, I'm all for it. I hate them disease ridden things so much.

Thankfully I've never seen fire ants. But I did have a colony of black ants move into one of my 20-gallon pots in the swamp. They killed the plant that was in there. Had no root ball, not sure if they were eating the roots or what but it just kept getting worse and worse until it was a goner. Couldn't keep any moisture in it either.
 
IMG_2768.jpeg
Today I’m pruning outdoor plants!

Goals: Improve overall shape to minimize larf, and open up the center to prevent airflow problems (mold & mildew).

These two plants were pruned to the max.
It always looks too extreme at first, but they always bounce back beautifully.

Removing large branches is fine at this stage.
It becomes more risky after they start flowering.
 
Getting fed up with the frequency and duration of power outages caused by storms in my area, so I've been getting educated about backup power systems. I found out today that our company IT guy is a total solar power nerd, and what he didn't teach me today is accessible by text or phone as required. He is a fantastic resource.

I also picked up a portable power backup today from Costco. I have another LiPo battery I can hook up to it for a bunch of extra capacity as well. I can run the basics off this setup for quite a few hours if need be.

The next step is getting an automatic transfer switch with 10ms response time wired into my house breaker. Then I can start building a complete backup power system, piece by piece as the budget allows. Inverter, then storage, and finally panels.

While the final goal is electrical independence, the first is a rack of batteries that will give me enough backup juice to get me through a day or two. It can charge from the grid and be a standby system, even without solar panels.

I'm pretty exited about the whole thing. Having someone to ask rather than wading through AI slop on the internet makes it so much easier.
 

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