Day 34

The day started off early because Een had an 8:15 doctor's appointment across from Freescale.  It was my first experience with local morning traffic.  I stayed off 290 and took Escarpment to William Cannon.  I had to wait some cycles of the light at 290, but that was expected.  All in all it wasn't bad.

While she was doctoring I looked up batteries for the gate.  Interstate carried them, so I looked up where they were.  They are just south of 290 and a mile or so east of I35.  So we went there.  They had exactly what we needed at a good price.  I'll remember the place next time I need a battery.

On the way home I stopped at Harbor Freight to get some crimp connectors.  The ones on the gate were so corroded that they broke when I tried to remove the battery.  We also stopped at Home Depot to buy a motion light for the garage.  I've wanted one for years, but I've always forgotten to buy one.

When we got back I replaced the connectors on the gate and plugged in the battery.  It worked fine (more on that later).  Then I installed the new light.  It went pretty smoothly.  There was one surprising thing.  I needed to caulk the new light, so I looked in the drawer where I keep that stuff.  There was an old partially used tube.  It was really old, it had a G. I. Joe's sticker on it.  That means it was at least 8 years old.  It worked!  Normally those tubes are one shot affairs.  It worked really well, too.  I wish I had more of the stuff.

I had to unhook the gate opener from the gate when we went out and came back because the battery was dead.  When I closed the gate when we got back, it latched (or so I thought).  When I put in the new battery the gate opened normally.  I thought "Cool, the latch works".  I had never seen it work because the gate never fully closed.  So I got out the manual.

After reading the manual I decided to reset the gate stop position so that it would always latch - and the circus begins.  I missed the part that said I had to reset the stop position.  So Ellen and I spent a lot of time trying to set the opener connection to the gate at the right place to open and close as desired.  It was no dice.  After going back to the manual, I reset the stop position.  Then we couldn't set a new one because the gate pad no longer stopped the gate.  More time was wasted until we realized this.  Finally I got the remote from the truck and used it to set the new stop position.  The thing works nice now.

Of course the gate opener was filled with fire ants.  They even had several queens.  I filled the opener with ant poison before I closed it up.  I even put some in the cable guide.  Hopefully that will do some good.

Since today seemed to be gate day, I decided to take a crack at programming the truck remote.  After reading the manual I decided that it wasn't too hard, so I did what the manual said to do.  We'll see if it works next time I drive the truck.

The doctor's office called with my blood test results.  My cholesterol is high, and the PSA indicates a prostate infection.  The doctor wants me to take antibiotics and see him in two months.  Cigna says they'll cover Cologuard with a prior authorization.  The nurse at the doctor's office says Cologuard doesn't do prior authorizations.  I'm confused.  I thought doctors did that.  I'll probably fight with them in two months.

It was after 4 when I got done with everything.  So I called it quits for the day.  Mowing will have to wait.