Fairbanks

 

Thursday (SSD Day 4) - When cleaning up the upright freezer, I found about ⅓ of a gallon of honeyberries. Since they are over a year old, I decided to try and make some jam. The Internet said that honeyberries have plenty of natural pectin, all I needed to add was sugar and heat to 220°F. This is after allowing the berries to defrost in a colander to get rid of a lot of water. I then transferred the jam into ½ pint canning jars, that we just happen to have, and they are now in the Instant Pot for 15minutes. They didn't need to be pressure canned but that is the only pot large enough for the jars. I have a couple tablespoons in a partial bottle in the fridge so I could see what it tastes like and if it thickens up like it's supposed to.

From almost a half gallon of berries to a bit over three cups of jam. I just tried some on a toasted English muffin and it tastes great. It looks like blueberry but doesn't taste quite the same. The jam did thicken up nicely just like the Internet said it would.

Only 24 more hours for the required five days of strict social distancing to be completed!

Still in Fairbanks

Wednesday (SSD Day 3) - Since I did get the Ural dug out of the garage, I had to try it out. As I suspected, without studs in the tires, it wasn't a good idea to ride around much. Too much ice on the roads. Even the main roads. I did try out the heated gear and, surprisingly, it all worked. It's been a while since it was last used. I did ride around our subdivision roads and with 2WD, going up hills was fine. The problem was stopping. Lot of pumping on the front brake. The picture was taken around 2:30 which was just before sunset.

No "real" projects for today. I finally made a temporary fix for the steering stabilizer. This is by far the best steering stabilizer I've had. The stock friction one was removed and replaced (twice) with the Ural hydraulic version. This one uses the hydraulic stabilizer for an old VW beetle. The aluminum angle had broken due to fatigue on the return trip from Dawson City back in June, 2019. I made another using aluminum but I need to find a nice piece of steel for this part. 

The "real" project was dumping a lot of old food. The upright freezer is now empty so I’ll defrost it and clean it before leaving. There was a lot of old stuff in the inside refrigerator and freezer as well as in the pantry. Pantry items include cooking oil and various kinds of flour.

Fairbanks, AK

Monday (SSD Day 1) -  Strict social distancing (SSD) here at the house according to the state of AK requirements. It's a balmy 1°F right now as I am trying to get the truck running again. The batteries were dead and I have a charger connected to then trying to get them resurrected. I don't have a lot of hope for them but they are six years old according to the sticker. I was checking on prices and was surprised that Batteries and Bulbs had the correct size and was cheaper than Costco. Pretty shocking. The charger claims that they are actually charging but I'm not sure I believe it. I did install a small trickle charger but it wasn't plugged in. Plus, I had left the air compressor switch on which draws more power than the trickle charger would have able to provide anyway. So, they've been dead for a couple of months.

My old sous-vide stick is here at the house and I found a large enough plastic container to make a roast. Remembering that the temperature sensor reads high, I set it 5°F higher than the target temperature. The meat thermometer seems to agree that this may be a reasonable correction. We'll see how it turns out.

Later - After sitting on the charger for several hours, the batteries barely cranked the engine for a fraction of a second. They are toast. I pulled them out and placed a curbside delivery order from Batteries and Bulbs here in Fairbanks. I found an online coupon for 10% off. Actually, an app called Honey found the discount. My son is picking them up during his lunch break.

Even later -  Batteries installed. Most of the snow shoveled off. I ran the truck for about 45 min in the driveway just to make sure that the fuel wasn't gelled. I had added a half bottle of anti-gel back in September as winter fuel was not available at that time. I needed to add air to the drivers side rear tire again. It must have a slow leak. I then went to Sourdough and filled up the tank with winter blend fuel. I don't really need the truck until the weekend but I knew that it would need work to get it running.

Tuesday (SSD Day 2) - The ham radio club board asked if someone with a Verizon phone could check the signal at a specific location. I volunteered as I could easily drive out and check. No need to interact with anyone. Plus, I can get a few more miles on the truck. I needed to use the drive-thru at the bank. The picture is our house not the location to check out. That was out on Murphy Dome Road.

Anyway, the task for today was replacing the bathroom sink faucet. When we renovated the bathroom, we found a really cool faucet. But finding replacement parts has proved to be a challenge. It sprays water onto the counter whenever it's used. So I picked up a new faucet at Lowe's today. Do you know how hard it is to find a faucet without actually seeing them? I found one online and had it delivered curbside this afternoon. It took all of 30 minutes to replace it. The challenge is that most of my tools are in Texas.

I've been debating on whether to dig out the Ural but after driving around, I think I'll pass due to all of the ice on the roads. I don't have studded tires and taking on a project like that for only a few days seems silly. Maybe if I'm really bored tomorrow...

Later that evening - I guess I was feeling bored. The Ural had been packed away in the garage back in  the summer of 2019. I spent a few hours digging it out, added some gas, added a little air to the tires, and it started on the second kick. Not too bad!