May flowers

Warmer weather has had some problems staying around, but at least it has returned for another year. Winter moisture was good and we have an absence of trees due to the Cerro Grande fire eight years ago. I hope that lowers our risk of another fire. Seems to me May 4 was the day that was 93 degrees F and the National Park Service lit Cerro Grande.

The ground has been thawed for nearly two months, and working outside sometimes doesn't involve shivering. I drilled a hole under my backyard last weekend. I need to enlarge it a little soon so the 2-inch conduit I intend to put in it will fit. The hole is 16 feet long and I spent about 4 hours drilling, so I averaged 15 minutes per foot. When LA Commnet hired Albuquerque Drilling in 2005, they sometimes went 10 feet per minute. Maybe it's worth using equipment that costs tens of thousands of dollars instead of scrimping on much more manual tools that total only a couple of thousand dollars. In a cramped space, though, the big stuff is just too big to fit.

Since last weekend I set up two more wireless links to test how well they work. They are supposed to be about six times as fast, and they do seem to be reliably four times as fast, as what we've been using for about 4 years.

I waited on both projects until the colder days of early April were past. I have some trips to take this summer for family events and a college reunion in September, but between those I hope to use the warm weather to expand internet capacity.

I like warm weather. Once I fill the trenches in my backyard, I would even welcome some rain.