Because some idiot forgot to take some site pictures after the installation of a new weather station in the flood warning system a couple of days ago(which would make the federal grant administrators who funded this unhappy), that idiot drove back out to the site to take a few pictures. It was also a good way to put miles between me and any other person for awhile today.
Most of my sites use omni-directional vhf antennas, but this one is over fifty miles out from the nearest repeater so it takes a directional antenna to make the radio magic happen with our five-watt transmitter radios. We’re one of those Western counties that is bigger than a couple of states back East combined. This site should be fantastic for us, as many summer thunderstorms roll through this area before eventually getting to the populated areas along the river valley. It will be nice to get an idea of how much watter is coming before it shows up.
There be cows here.
My work truck hit a milestone on the way out. I’ve actually put over 1/3 of the miles on this 2016 in the last four months. It would be safe to say there had been a lot of deferred maintenance in the system over the last couple of years.
Yes, it has the wrong the motor in it. The 5.0 V8 makes wonderful sounds on full throttle on-ramp runs, but it get truly shitty gas mileage for a modern truck. It’s also slower than a comparable ecoboost motor, as all the horsepower magic really only happens above 4k. Anyone who bought a 2015+ F-150 with the V8 bought the wrong motor. The 2.7 ecoboost in my now former personal 2017 F-150 was a vastly better motor under all circumstances. The naturally aspirated V6 ain’t an option in this application, as I’ve got to be able to tow.
In general, current events haven’t had too much impact on my job. The flood commission still has to function, so we’ll make it work. I moved into my new office in our off-site shop building, which was going to happen in a month or two anyway. I just got my new digs earlier out of this. I like literally having a building to myself, and all the toys are here anyway. My work truck gets to live inside now, too. If it comes to it, I can also work from home. The software side of the flood warning system can be run from anywhere with an internet connection. In such a scenario, I’d probably take my work truck home to have a supply of tools and spare parts on hand without having to go into a building in the event something went down out in the field. For other folks in the commission, some are working from home, and some are working rotating schedules to not have more than one person in any area of the main office at a time. I’m happily doing my own thing in my own building.