Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
Chipmunks zip into drain pipes when they detect even a slight threat:
Chipmunk peering from drainpipe
When I installed the drain pipes for the gutters & retaining wall along the driveway, I added a grate plug to keep critters from setting up housekeeping in what must look like an extensive cave network, although later experience showed I must clean debris out of the plug more frequently than I expected:
Driveway drain – fountain
I didn’t glue the PVC pipes together, because I knew they’d need adjusting, so it was no surprise when the last section of pipe shifted enough to open a small gap, probably because my lawnmowing passes always proceed from right to left over the pipe:
Chipmunk Refuge – shifted drain pipe
The front yard chipmunk immediately claimed the pipe and zipped into the opening whenever we met on my way to the mailbox.
When I reconnected the pipe, the chipmunk knew something had gone wrong and started some exploratory excavation in about the right spot to find the missing tunnel entrance:
Chipmunk Refuge – missing gap
Not being one to rebuff the humble, I decided to make the world better:
Chipmunk Refuge – site overview
It’s a short section of PVC pipe with a wood plug in the far end to keep what I grandly call “our lawn” from filling it up. I bandsawed a disk from a scrap of inch-thick lumber that used to be a door and introduced it to Ms Belt Sander often enough to make it a snug push fit in the pipe.
Some decoration seemed in order:
Chipmunk Refuge – decorated end plug
Which gives the place a nice, homey look:
Chipmunk Refuge – installed
Now, we’ll see whether the critters enjoy it as much as I did.
The only reason we haven’t seen a standing raccoon is because we’re not awake when it happens:
Raccoons vs wheelbarrow – 2023-06-09
The glowing dot over on the far right is a third raccoon!
They are athletic critters:
Raccoons in wheelbarrow – 2023-06-09
Mary puts garden clippings in the wheelbarrow before hauling them over the hill to our organic dumping ground. Something must smell pretty good in there:
Raccoons around wheelbarrow – 2023-06-09
The wire mesh over the new plantings in the garden seems to be holding them at bay, but it must come off before it snares the growing plants. We hope whatever is in the fertilizer will have worn off by then!
The fox caught what looks like a small groundhog for supper:
IM_00307 – Fox with supper – 2023-05-25
The tom turkeys have been forming and re-forming their groups:
IM_00178 – Turkey parade – 2023-05-24
The gray cat may have spotted breakfast out there in the yard:
IM_00112 – Gray Cat – 2023-05-23
We haven’t seen a raccoon stand up like this before, so something must be very interesting out there:
IM_00089 – Standing raccoon – 2023-05-27
Off to its far right, Mary had fertilized a new pepper planting, which evidently smelled good enough to motivate vigorous digging. None of the plants sustained damage, despite being tossed around, but dexterous paws were surely involved!
The trail camera uses two parallel banks of four series AA cells to get enough oomph for its IR floodlight. I’m not convinced using bucked lithium AA cells in that configuration is a Good Idea, but it’s worth investigating.
These are labeled HW, rather than Fuvaly, because it seems one cannot swim twice in the same river:
HW bucked Li AA cells
In any event, they come close to their claimed 2.8 W·hr capacity:
HW bucked Li AA – 2023-05
The lower pair of traces (red & black) are single cells at 2.7-ish W·hr, the blue trace is a pair at 5.4 W·hr, and the green trace is a quartet at 9.8 W·hr. Surprisingly close, given some previous results in this field.
Recharging the cells after those tests shows they all take 3 hours ± a few minutes to soak up 730 mA·hr ± a few mA·hr, so they’re decently matched.
Measuring the terminal voltage with a 10 mA load after that charge lets me match a pair of quartets to 1 mV, which is obviously absurd:
HW bucked Li cells – initial charge 2023-05-05
The numbers in the upper left corner show the initial charge of four cells at a time required the same time within a minute and the same energy within 4%.
Sticking them in the trail camera must await using up the current set of alkaline AA cells.
Bonus: a lithium fire in a trail camera won’t burn down the house.
After all, pictures like this are definitely worth the hassle:
We’ve never seen a skunk by day, so this was a bit of a surprise:
Skunk by night
We occasionally smell a skunk by night, but this critter seems peaceable enough:
Skunk by night – detail
Skunks usually have a striped back, so this one’s pure white fur will be easy to identify should we meet again, ideally at a mutually respectful distance.
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 