Today was a “get stuff done around the house” kind of day, where I basically knocked as many items off my to-do list as possible. Among the fun stuff accomplished:

I finished winterizing my chipper/shredder, pressure washer and trimmer. The chipper/shredder takes the most time, because I like to break it down, clean debris out of the blade housing, inspect the blade, and lubricate the metal flails. I also clean it off with a blow gun. For the others, it’s just a matter of adding some oil to the cylinder. I like to do this particularly with the chipper/shredder and pressure washer, because they can go long periods of time without being used.

I drained 2-3 inches of water out of the pool, to get it back below the tile line. This is one of those thankless busy-work type winter chores. However, I’ll take this any day over a pool that is losing water. This winter, I decided to just pump the water back behind the deck, rather than running it all the way out to the side street. It’s much less of a hassle. I thought it would be faster, too, but it still seems to take forever. Best guess is around an inch an hour with my dinky 1/6hp utility pump.

I noticed that our timer switch, that controls the front porch light, had stopped working. I only noticed because I happened to drive by the house around 2:30pm, and noticed that the porch light was on. I checked the switch and find the display said “No Op”. The switch is basically dead, and the light won’t turn off. I checked the trusty internet, and apparently these switches are basically garbage. Wish I had checked before I bought it. It’s a bit of a surprise, given that I’ve used lots of Intermatic products before, and generally been happy with the quality. However, this particular model seems to be a dud. Which leaves me without a timer for the front light. I pulled the switch out, so the fixture would go off. I guess I need to find a new switch. The challenge with this particular setup is that it’s a 3-way switch, and let me tell you, 3-way timer switches are haaaaard to come by. I have a standard single pole timer switch that I’m not using, so for now I may put that in and just forgo using the remote switch (we never use it anyhow). Long term, I may check into an X10 type switch, but there’s a limit to how much money I’m willing to pour into this. If a working 3-way setup turns out to be cost prohibitive, I’ll probably just live with the single pole.