Spring

It’s the time of year again for the sun to start showing here again. That means fun yard projects! Man, do I have a list of things to do this year:

    • Get the sprinkler system up and running again. I started this today. I fired it up (my in-lake pump got bumped around during a storm in November so I was a bit nervous about it’s condition…it worked!), and replaced a few broken heads and installed a new one after digging a 4 ft long trench to some bushes that weren’t getting water before. I also upgraded the software I use to control the system. My sprinkler system is controlled via a set of RS485 controlled relays hooked to my Premise Home Control Software server. I had modified the built-in IrrigationSystem component last year and passed those mods back to the Premise forums. Over the winter Michael Lehv re-wrote it all with a nice new UI and better options. Today I downloaded his upgrade and installed it and I love it.
    • Install my manual override for the sprinkler system. At some point I’ll post an article about how I built this thing. It was a fun hardware project!
    • Install my rain sensor for the sprinkler system. Bought it last fall…
    • Clean out the basement. I guess this didn’t need to wait until spring. But it’s a mess.
    • Install the dock. Our floating dock needs to be taken out of the water in the winter. Total pain, especially since it got a bit damaged last year. Gotta recruit friends to come over and help me… The good news is that we got our permit to build a fixed pier and construction should start late July! The floating dock will be for sale at the end of the summer. You live in WA and you want a floating dock?
    • Do my hard core detailing of my 540 M-Sport. I keep it as clean as I can over the winter, but never seem to find the time to give it that concours detail due to the short days we have here.
    • Clean and organize my office and workshop.
    • Clean the window screens with the air compressor I just bought and install them.
    • Get the boat ready and in the water.
  • Clean the windows (outside).

And that doesn’t include any of the home automation things I want to get done (e.g. finally get a UI setup for my all-house audio system).

The good news is when the weather’s good like it was this weekend, these things are fun!

1 comment


  1. http:// says:

    I forgot one big one:

    – Install landscape lighting.

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