GVTC has started on the internet fiber connection. The fiber cable is now through the conduit and they’re hooking up the cable to the fiber box on the other side of the road. I’ll be glad when the router is connected tomorrow; I can’t even browse web pages. The only thing that still works is email and these blog posts (obviously)
This is what the upstairs bathroom now looks like. Until today, it was my storage room. It has hardy backer board on the floor, as this will be tiled using the same tiles as downstairs. I probably won’t be finishing it this time, as I need to put a toilet, sink and shower in, and run the pipes through the wall to the technical area, which will be challenging. The reason I started, is that this room still had all kind of gaps to outside, making multiple entrances for Paper Wasps. I took out around 50 nests, some of which can be seen below
I first wanted confirmation, but it seems that my trenching activities turned up the first arrow head. I checked with Bob and he thinks it could be Comanche.
That would have been around the year 1740. It’s fascinating to possibly hold a bit of Native American history in your hand.
No, literally; I’m crushing rock with my pick axe to cut my trench. It’s a slow process which has taken about a week to get to 10″ deep.
This bad boy is the biggest one I came across that I could not pick axe through. But other sections have a more clay like base, making it a little easier. But a shovel is useless here; it really does take a pick axe and many blows. But I’m getting there and a trencher (big machine with diamond saw tooth on tracks) would have been impossible for me to get out here alone, as they are super heavy. And the rent alone would set me back a thousand bucks. So that’s why I’m ok with the manual labor.
Friday GVTC (Guadeloupe Valley Tele Communications) are planned to hook me up to their fiber internet.
Going from a few Kb to 250Mb will be a delight. And no more data limit. The LTE I’m using now is ok, but hugely expensive and capped at 30GB per month, which I reached in about a week.
I had power for a long time, in fact earlier than a roof or windows. But a requirement for fiber internet is a power outlet outside, to feed the router they will install at the end of the conduit. 
I will probably glue the conduit pipes together tomorrow. Today I took a 26 miles bike ride to Wimberley to get a pulling line and lubricant, so the fiber cable can be pulled through the conduit pipe. I did not want to take my truck there as I like the ride and last time I drove my not yet passed inspection truck to Wimberley, I got pulled over by two not too friendly cops. I don’t want to risk running into them again.
Apart from flat tires, the bike (that I bought two and a half years ago) was in pretty good condition; all it took was some vegetable oil to lubricate the brake lines.
Vegetable oil turns out to have many purposes besides cooking; I also used it to fix the hood of my truck not popping open when the lever was pulled.
Although I’m not here to code, it can’t be helped that I have to do a little bug fixing sometimes. So I’ve set up a little offline upstairs, with 3 displays and a printer.
Which also came in handy to print my car insurance. Drove the truck to Canyon lake today to fill it up. It still drives well and driving a truck does make you feel more like you “own the road” then when driving a Toyota Yaris.
Although it looked great for a few months, after that, the Big Bend Wall paper vinyl started to come off, due to high temperature variations. I had put it back last time I was here, but not well enough. Arnoud did a better job early this year, but the damage was already done; the vinyl had shrunk and it didn’t look great anymore.
Lois and Kirsten (Bull Creative) were sweet enough to reprint the wallpaper on a high tac material, which I brought with me this trip. The old wallpaper was pulled off and the new wallpaper is now on. It looks best at night, as during the day, the light reflects on the shiny wallpaper and creates a hot spot.
I messed up a bit with the wallpaper; to the right of the support beam, I accidentally swapped tile 5 and 6 ☺️ To cover it up, I added the vertical cedar strip, that hides those two don’t match on the edges.
When I get tired of this picture, I will put a matte new wallpaper in, as that works better, not reflecting light from the Window on the left.
Although I’m not complaining, it’s been a little too hot to dig trenches with a pick axe. To minimize blisters (avoiding them altogether won’t be an option; that ship has sailed) I’m digging for short times, and then take a break. Some parts are relatively easy, like tough clay, yet other parts are literally hard as a rock. But it’s doable.
Here’s what it looks like near the pole;
It’s not very deep yet, I think I will stop around 10-12 inches. The guy from the cable company stated; we don’t care how deep it goes. And fiber cables can take frost.
A long time ago, in the previous century, there was a project in the Boston area called the Big Dig. It was a highway that decreased travel time through Boston. It took over 20 years to complete and cost billions.
My Big Dig project will hopefully take a little less time and a lot less money; I have to dig a trench for a fiber glass conduit pipe that will speed up my digital highway.
The length is 130 ft (40m) and will cross my driveway. The plan is to make it as straight as possible as any corner means more friction to pull the fiber cable through.
The picture below shows the trajectory;
As you know, I have a Ford F-150 cabin crew pickup parked next to Ozuye. I knew that despite being disconnected, the battery would be flat. But much to my surprise, after recharging the batteries this morning, I tried starting it and it did without any hesitation.
So now I can get my insurance running too and hopefully get the truck approved again. It beats having to rent a car all the time, every time.