Two weekends ago we spent an overnighter at The Lot and could not help but notice the aspen are beginning to turn into their fall colors. It seems early for that to happen, but then again it always seems to be “too early.”

Fall marks the end of our work season in the high country, as the temperatures drop along with the leaves. Our remaining work days are limited and we won’t be at The Lot every weekend; time to start thinking about wrapping up for the year.

A few things remain to be done to meet my goal of cleaning up the Aspen Grove. We chipped several piles of brush last week but have a few more left; I cut more logs to be brought home to cut into firewood, and there is a large pile of chips to be spread on footpaths and trails. Pam suggested I load the truck with some of the “burn pit” quality wood at Sanderling and bring it home with the firewood and chipper, then drop it here in town at the local “organic materials” site where we take our grass clippings. (There is a spot reserved for trees, limbs, and other larger chunks of wood.) Good idea! I won’t be able to bring home all that has been accumulating but I might manage to get the stuff out of the Aspen Grove. Photos will follow after our next trip.

Closer to home, we stayed put for  the Labor Day weekend — just too much traffic to fight and I needed a weekend at home to relax. This doesn’t mean we weren’t busy; far from it. Pam is putting another coat of waterproof sealer on the front privacy fence and I had several projects (mowing lawn, weed-wacking, maintenance jobs) to attend to.

One of these projects was to install a backup camera in the F-150. The truck is so large that backing up to either of the utility trailers or The Box can get to be a chore so I decided to try the high-tech approach.

The backup camera is located above the rear license plate:

Backup camera mounts above rear license plate

The 4.3 inch monitor is mounted on the dash:

Backup camera monitor on dash

Biggest problem was stringing the wire from the camera to the monitor and connecting the system to power. Per recommendation, the system is powered from the backup light circuit and only comes on when the truck is in reverse. It took me a while to run the wire from the camera into the cab; I finally located a place near the parking brake cable to make the transition from under the truck into the truck. I’ll have to see how well this system works. The camera arm is metal and can be adjusted a bit up or down so I should be able to set it so I can see the trailer’s hitch while I am backing up.

Another job was replacing the tail lights on the utility trailer. I had dropped a log on one and cracked the housing quite badly. The light still worked with it’s cracked  lens but I wanted to get the fix in place before the next trip. A replacement set of LED tail lights was purchased from Amazon and installed. This took longer than it should have as the lights came with no wiring instructions and I had to figure out which wire did what. (3 wires: Ground, turn, tail /running lights.) I did get the replacements in place and wired up; they sure are bright compared to the original lights.

Still another job was done; the water hoses going to the clothes washer were replaced with stainless-steel braided lines. I had noticed the hot water hose was bulging and looked to be ready to fail. I have no idea how old those hoses were but it was obviously time for a new set. As part of the project we labeled the water faucets for future reference. The new hoses are supposed to flow more water as well, leading to faster fill times and shorter wash cycles. I don’t know about that but having the new hoses in place gives us some peace of mind; we won’t have to deal with a burst hose flooding the laundry room!

Pam has been keeping up our corner (location of the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden); morning glories have started blooming there late this summer, and everything looks good.

Corner garden looking good

Here are a couple more morning glory pictures:

Morning glories in 2018

Morning glories on fence line

Next week will be busy with a trip to The Lot and more clean up work.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

The best thing about summer ending is the temperatures are coming down to something resembling normal.  The bad part about this time of year is the continuing loss of daylight in the evenings.

Happy Trails.