New living room PC build has run a while. A bit of a niggle with sat tuner card (random crashes that seem to happen on “idle” but change of setting to keep the card on rather than having it released by the recording program when not needed may have fixed that) but otherwise OK. Still got Samba (share with Windows work groups) to set up some time. I'll try to keep to regular software updates with it this time as well as hope that like the last one it largely keeps running 24/7 without hassle.

I’ve got some bits including a small (say 1 ½ x 3/4”) Arduino board that should enable me to try to modify the solar pond pump, I think… Perhaps an electronics person could do it rather more simply but if I can program something to switch in response to an input (light level – light dependent resistor and a voltage divider is within my limits) change, I’m in with a chance. I’ll try it some day…

Junk has been one of the main things here. We’ve had someone in whose taken away a lot of stuff that had accumulated in a corner outside over several years. We’ve still got some plastic and electronic bits they couldn’t take to dispose of but things are much better.

Rats have been a bigger problem here than I realised. I’ve known for some time that the roof space hasn’t been particularly nice. A plumber did some work up there last year for the new boiler and the “rat man” has visited but somehow, the extent of the problem got missed. The “odd job” company (same as did the junk disposal) had to go up there for some reason and they took some photos from some parts. This triggered getting all the roof insulation stripped out and replaced. Fortunately, they said they saw no evidence of damage to the mains electric cables. We also think that all points of entry are sealed now but we’ve been there before...

The grass is growing faster than I want it to and the first cut of the season is overdue. Weather and a couple of other things have got got in the way of cutting but I’d like to think I can do some mowing later in the week. Gardening wise, I aslo want to get the propagator out and start some aubergine and tomato seeds growing.