June Bug

Give me a sec and I'll check UrbanDictionary. *OK, I'm back* Besides the usual predictably tedious naughty stuff involving "coil" and "hose," the search returned "yoga pants season" and "Tesla coil" so there's that.

AC guy: dirty condenser coils combined with heat caused the fault code. Coils cleaned, filter changed, tuned up and ready for the summer! He recommended hosing down the coils every three months or so. All good. So glad last night and today were relatively cool so the house never got really hot.

Always completely wipe down my bike before taking it in, like, you know, you always wear clean underwear to a doc's appt. Is that a guy thing, too? Anyway, it shows the mechanic you respect your bike and his time.

Stan's guy/gal ETA is 6 to 9 pm today. Our Gold Service contract is still in effect, so Yeah! for that. I looked at the compressor and all looks clean and spiffy; no ants. There's a hackberry that's resprouted about a foot away from the compressor pad, though. Started lopping it down down last summer without realizing there was a wasp nest in there & won't make that mistake twice. I hope the tech person gets a bunch of overtime pay. They confirmed that the technicians use appropriate PPE. re: Ants. Strawberry/tawny crazy ants have colonized the Southern WC multi-use path in the section adjacent to the rugby fields at the gravel road crossing. You never, ever, ever want those things anywhere near your property. I occasionally worried about bringing them home on my bike frame/tires.

Not as far as I know. This morning the code message has disappeared from the thermostat, I turned it back on and things seem to be working...maybe. I'm trying to figure out if it will cool down to 76 from 78. Left a voicemail on the Stan's answering system, and haven't heard back yet. They do the twice annual service and sold us the Carrier system two or three years ago. With the CV 19 crazy, we didn't do the Spring tune up. I'm assuming for now that it was related somehow to yesterday's heat, but it's handled worse in the past...and cooling the house in hot weather is what AC systems are supposed to do. Also, this reminds me. If I get this code again, I could turn the system off and then back on to see if that resets everything. I used to have this note taped to my computer at work: Turn computer off and then back on before making panic stricken phone calls to IT help desk.

Gah! 10:15 pm: System Fault Code 84, High pressure lockout Box fan activated

One solution: Community First! Village, an outreach of Mobile Loaves and Fishes

That's the second massive clear out in the last year or two. The first was definitely the city.

Mr. JB watched the first part; I have no interest any longer. Read the many, many books by all the people that he screwed, watched Alex Gibney's The Armstrong Lie and saw Oprah's interview. On a related note, I still have mixed feelings about Tyler Hamilton, who had an entire public relations operation going on with a group (including his father) who fanatically believed in him and was dedicated to proving his innocence. IIRC it was called Believe or something similar. When he finally came clean, he did it by sending out an email to family and friends, which was certainly a confession but not an apology for sucking in so many people and lying to them for so long. Anyway, Tyler does not think that Lance has 100% come clean. Tyler Hamilton casts doubts on Lance Armstrong's 'truth'

That's a "thanks for clarifying" thumbs up. Sigh.

This has been discussed periodically. Again, Cullen (ARR Trail Steward) is the go-to guy for all things trail on City of Austin property.

Were you originally referring to the downhill section on the paved bike path that is between Metric and MoPac?

There are a few social trails here and there -- there are paths taking off into the woods. I like the idea of sanctioned paths being built. Cullen McMorrow is now the Trails Program Director for the Austin Ridge Riders and does a lot of work on the Walnut Creek Trails. From his bio on the ARR Board of Directors page: Send Cullen a message at the ARR contact page here: http://austinridgeriders.com/contact-us/

"Fall down nine times, get up ten." Even Bon Jovi says so.

Two years ago, Mr. JB was bitten at WC by "a dog that doesn't bite." He had actually stopped to let the woman and her dog get by. Fortunately, this was a very responsible dog owner who followed through with confirming rabies vax and Mr. JB was cleared by his doc, with no resulting infection. Rabies is a terrifying illness. Through my Nextdoor list serve and my own observations, I know that the wild world interacts seamlessly with the domesticated world in the evenings and during the night. I've seen opossums and foxes in my back yard (one block north of Braker Lane) and there are regular coyote and raccoon sightings. There are even bobcats in the Walnut Creek corridor, confirmed by neighborhood game cameras. Of these animals, only opossums don't carry rabies. If you do get bitten by a dog, be relentless in making the owner confirm a current rabies vaccination. Considering the current climate of utter wingnuttery about vaccinating kids and vaccines in general, I would not be surprised if at least some of those people have stopped vaccinating their pets.

It's heavily dependent on time of day/day of week. BCV (before corona virus) the park was mostly empty during weekdays, with a few early morning hikers. Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings saw minimal use as well.

Flashback: Yup, with our original clog, we had to get the hand vac on the exit pipe to suction out a bunch of nasty goop, similar to that. Along with vinegar and hot water I think we poured a bottle of hydrogen peroxide down the tube to soften things up.

I'm 180 from you. Create a dog park on the north side of the park with a water features, utilizing the empty area between the ball fields and Old Cedar Lane, east of the BMX/Wells Branch Creek and ban dogs from the rest of the park. Another area for a large dog park is the area south of the swimming pool, bounded by the old two-track park road and the current entrance to the trail system off the parking lot. This would take care of the unending problem with dog poop all over the park. I actually do encounter people walking extremely well behaved dogs who stay close and respond to voice commands. I'm totally fine with that. There is explosive population growth going on in the general vicinity of WC, along Braker, in the Domain, and along North Lamar. The park is being loved to death and it's only going to get worse with increasing user conflicts that I truly hope do not result in mountain bikers being shut out of WC.

There is also one at the Main Creek Crossing on the "far" side. However, for the average trail user with dog(s) and the complexity of the trail system, it's incomprehensible. I noticed a new "on leash" sign near where the trail comes in from the neighborhood by Shady Springs by the power lines. I'll keep an eye on it to see if it's vandalized. Back in the day the little "on leash" icons on the carsonite posts were vandalized within 24 hours in that area.

1998, appliance salesmen at Hancock Center Sears: "With the more basic dishwasher, there are fewer things to go wrong." Evergreen. Yes, bad design is an understatement. I'm putting a piece of tape over the USB port on the new (identical) laptop. RIP Macbook, AB. Is 4 years a typical life span? Somewhat related, in an opposite way: a twitter thread yesterday revealed how many people loved WordPerfect, miss it, and have never EVER gotten over the loss of Reveal Codes (ditto).

Indeed. We drove to Cottonwood/Sedona the last day of Feb and returned a week later, taking the southern route on I 10. AZ is amazing with little mountain ranges everywhere. To live there would be to explore every weekend.

This happens every year with some take you dog to a park day or something. REI posts Walnut Creek as an appropriate venue every year, and every year I respond with a long reminder about not leash free, lots of park users including mtn bikes, etc.

Excellent. It really is a disconcerting feeling to feel the heat creeping up in the house. Maybe this bad looking line of thunderstorms will cool things down just a bit.

Last week: 1) The check engine light was triggered by rodents chewing up three wiring harnesses. 2) Chromebook died when the earbud plug touched the USB port, which is about a 16th of an inch from the audio jack. With a new Chromebook, you log in and it has all your stuff, just like the old Chromebook, which is simultaneously totally comforting (awww, my stuff!) and deeply creepy (they have MY STUFF!) On a positive note, we got our wills done, that landscaping project is almost finished and we don't have The 'Rona. Y'all stay well and cool (to the extent possible).

There have been many complaints on Gracywoods Nextdoor about loose aggressive dogs at WC, to the point where many neighbors don't try to walk with their dogs on leash in the park anymore. The city/parks has never installed effective signage about leash status.