Today started out bad. When I got up the pump wasn't working. I went out and flipped the circuit breaker. No joy. I went inside the pump house. The pump switch housing was covered with fire ants. I took off the cover. The switch switches two 30 amp legs. The ground contact on one of the legs was completely covered in dead fire ants. Apparently the fuckers love electricity.
I switched off the circuit breaker and got out the compressor. I blew off all the ants and then scraped the dead bodies off the contacts. Then I sprayed the hell out of the whole area with ant killer. I filled the bottom of the switch housing with it. When I put everything back together and turned it on the pump started working again. I'm glad it did. All I needed was a dead pump on Easter Sunday two days before we have to go to the tournament. All in all it was a successful debugging exercise. Literally.
I hope the pump wasn't damaged any more than before. The ants may have reduced the power on that one leg before it shut down completely.
After breakfast it was time to prepare. I loaded the truck with the stuff it needs to carry. I also rearranged the basement in the trailer and put some stuff there. Finally I put away the presents in the trailer cabinet. Ellen changed out the sheets with the new ones. She also took some pictures of the house and apartment interiors.
After the dog got a dogicure (and some cookies), I did the water test. It brought back the days of chemistry classes. The good news is that no contaminants of any kind were indicated. The bad news is that the alkalinity and hardness were off the charts. Tell me something I don't already know.
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