Successes, setbacks, and set ups

Wednesday was actually a very good day. After meeting with our tax accountant, I started working on the duck pen we are re-tooling to serve as a weaning area. I redid one part of the structure that I had made a mistake in assembling, and then sealed up a gap that I had here-to-fore left open to let the rain blow in on our ducks. Once that was done, I started lining up the roofing and was able to complete getting the roof on in about an hour and a half. 

One of my serious challenges in putting on roof panels is that when I am standing at the side of the roof panel looking across the roof panel at the two-by that I will be nailing the roof panel to I cannot see straight, so I miss hitting the two-by about a third of the time. I was too lazy to go over the shop and get a straight edge that would have helped me hit more than I missed, but eventually I got everything done. That roof will be tested today because we’re supposed to get about an inch and a half of rain through the late evening and early night hours. I also sealed above the windows on the container (I am calling it Kim’s Craft Cube) and hopefully that spray-on seal will provide the additional seal that I’ve needed to stop the persistent little leaks that we saw during the last rain. I will know by tomorrow at the latest. 

As far as my day at the museum went, it was just a series of setbacks and frustrations. After watching several videos on how to change out the filament on the microscope, I was confident when I started that operation earlier this morning. Sure enough, I was able to get the filament changed out pretty quickly. One of the challenges that I had though was lining up that filament in the holder so that the filament would be lined properly to shoot the electron beam down into the sample. I was pretty happy with how easily it all worked out, but when I started up the microscope, I was still getting the same error. That is, that the filament was not putting out any heat, and therefore was not producing any electrons to scan the sample. 

I tried looking through the software program to see if there was something I was not doing electronically that was required by the computer program. I could not find anything, so I went to looking at mechanical issues. I double checked all of the interlocks and switches that told the microscope that the gun chamber was sealed and ready for service. All of that seemed to check out. By the time I had eliminated all of those it was going on 2 o’clock. 

I would have continued later into the day but forecast for very heavy rain and possibly some strong thunderstorms were saying that those rains and thunderstorms would begin somewhere between four and 6 o’clock. So, I headed home at 2 o’clock hoping to beat the rain and thunderstorms and get in the garage before all that nonsense starts. It’s not that I mind the rain, it’s just kind of a pain to be driving in the rain on these two-lane roads that are the thoroughfares I travel going to, and from, the museum. 

I hope to go back tomorrow and pull the back panel off the electron microscope and start looking at the fusing and the wiring in the back of the electron microscope. It would be easy if all I had to do was replace a fuse. Life isn’t always that easy. But it is the next thing I need to do to troubleshoot the problems that I am having. 

Norman and Grandpa picked up freezer today. It is a small upright freezer. I have never seen one like it. It has no open shelves, only drawers. I like it. Mama and I had thought seriously about going with the chest freezer for a couple of reasons. First, they tend to be larger and can accommodate more food items. Secondly, they tend to last longer, and seal better than the upright freezers do. The issue was pricing. The chest freezers we could find that we thought were probably good enough were between $400 and $500. The upright freezers that would certainly be adequate for what we needed were between $150 and $200. So, the upright freezer one out strictly from the Financial setpoint. 

The one that was bought is only two years old. The young couple that was selling it was being relocated by their work, so they couldn’t take the freezer with them. Or it just did not make financial sense for them to pack the freezer up and take it along when they could buy another one when they got into their new housing. That additional purchase will enable us to have adequate freezer space when we take the hogs for processing. Of the hogs we are going to process, the two largest will go to the processing plant tomorrow morning. Mama and Norman have loaded them loaded up already. I am predicting Grandpa will go along on the delivery just to see what the set-up is like at the processor. We’ve had good success with this particular processor. I don’t know if they will take the time, seeing that they’ll have the stock trailer with them, to stop by HEB to do some shopping but they will be close since the processor is in Weatherford. 

My day tomorrow will be spent at the museum.