Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1185)

Hello Everyone!

Being up late, Some gaming regression, A hot water snafu & A long hike down a dodgy road!

Alright, I am running about three hours and fifteen minutes behind schedule with my writing routine this evening... so I do not have much expectation that I will spell much out here but will try my best nonetheless. I once again found myself having a long chat on the phone with an old friend... and yup it was one of those three hour chats much like those ones that I have had with that other buddy.

The day got off to an incredibly slow start... because I was up rather late last night more or less stressing over what to do next in life. The stress itself got to me so much that I even fired up my favorite video game... and zoned out playing it for an hour or so... just to do something to take my mind off everything.

I briefly considered doing my coding habit instead (or even just talking to an AI some) but both of those things did not seem like the right 'outlet' for what I was seeking. Playing the game was pretty fun though... and just revisiting it briefly simultaneously reminded me of why I enjoyed it so much... and why I ditched the hobby... so go figure.

Since my sleep cycle was already on the wonky side of things (because of all the thunderstorms) I wound up catching up on resting and sleeping in until almost noon this morning. Although, I briefly considered forgoing my Hive engagement routine (due to the late hour) I gave it some marginal effort... before moving on to other things.

With all the recent stress I have been feeling I burned through way more tobacco than I usually do... and after three days of being out of the stuff I finally started really craving it... and decided that a hike to the closest store would do me good. Of course, doing so also meant that I wanted to take a bath given that is my usual routine before 'going in public' because... well... I am not completely uncivilized!

Thankfully, the tub was already empty (besides a few inches of rainwater) so emptying it out was not that big of a deal this time. I also had my timing all figured out for the walk... so I began filling it with 'hot water' with just enough time to get a bath, hike the road at the safest time, do my marginal shopping and hike back to the homestead in short order.

Unfortunately, things got way off track from there... because although I filled the tub (while doing some other chores) when I went to get in the tub the water was ice cold. Discovering that was the case... I hiked to the outbuilding where the water heater is... and found that the on-demand water heater had thrown an error message and was not heating the water.

In short, I figured out how to reset the device (to clear the error) then ran the water long enough to find there was still no hot water... before finally checking the propane tank just to find that it was empty. Thankfully there was another full tank next to the empty one... and it was just a matter of powering the unit down, finding a wrench, disconnecting the hose, muscling the empty tank out of the way... and getting the full tank put in its place and connecting the gas supply line again.

All of which threw my timing way off... especially since I also had to then get my sump pump from the solar shack, pump the bulk of the cold water from the tub... and then fill it with actual hot water. Knowing how far off it was going to make my timing for walking along the road... I almost took a bath in the cold water but the wind was blowing super hard... and I just did not have it in me to get that chilled, have to warm up again and then do the hiking.

To be clear about what I mean about the timing, there are a few times a day when there is a lull in the traffic... and I had already missed my first time frame due to sleeping in so late. The second timeframe during the afternoon is after the lunch hour but before the school buses start running... and ugh I went for the hike at the timing I like least because there were several buses.

As I have stated before, there is no real shoulder to the narrow road... and in most places the only way to get far enough off the road (to be reasonably safe) is to venture into a ditch. It is definitely a nerve racking experience even at the best of times... but doing it when there are lots of vehicles (and especially the buses) makes it even more of a cluster-cuss.

Obviously, I made the hike just fine and all... but I did have to get way off the road several times... and the soft uneven ground of course left me with more than one twinge in my lower back afterwards. Aside from all that jazz, just getting away from the place and getting in such a long hike was nice... and by the end of it I felt like I had gotten more than enough exercise for one day.

Well, on that note I am going to call this entry good enough and get on with the proofreading, editing and posting before the hour grows too much later. I hope that everyone is doing well and making the best of things. Ta ta for now.