A quick trip…

With fall fast approaching it was time for a very short trip to take care of a few things before the weather grows too cold. Highest on the list was to improve things for Honey and Bun. Last trip an insulated house was built for them. On this trip their heating system was tested and the dogs were given a chance to see how the house worked with the heat on. They didn’t seem to mind the fan noise and were curious about the heat coming from the house

of course the addition of a bacon treat made exploration a little easier, especially for intrepid Bun – the seeker of snacks!

With supplemental heat provided the next step for the dogs was WiFi. Being all the way down at the barn with slow to no internet would be a catastrophe! In addition to helping the humans at the barn the WiFi will enable us to monitor the dogs remotely through the winter. We have an LTE hotspot set up in Dog Tired, but that is over 1000 feet away up a steep hill and too far away for normal WiFi routers. To reach the barn we added a network of high power outdoor relays, the type used by campuses and hotels to provide signals to large areas. The first relay point was installed on the solar array and the second on Wile-E’s barn.

With a strong signal at the barn the remote dog feeder was brought online and inspected by both labs. The feeder also has a built in camera so we have a bowl cam now!

The neighbors, who we believe are Bun’s (and maybe Honey’s) owners, have not been around recently. We have been concerned the dogs will not have enough to eat as the weather grows cold. The remote feeder was set up to help, but with so few sightings of the neighbors we were concerned perhaps they were moving and the dogs would not have ready access to food. A quick adaptation was made to the feeder by attaching a 30 quart cooler to the top to hold more food. That was a temporary measure and a much larger feeder was configured to be installed on the next trip. Stay tuned for pictures of the new mega-feeder and a better puppy cam!!

With the dogs tended to, the next task at hand was the shed at the entrance to the property. The shed was easily the most neglected building on the property. It was cleaned out last trip, and this trip received a fresh coat of paint. Before and after!!

And a view from the back side

The nicer weather on Sunday also provided a chance to see some of the leaves as they start changing

Of course Honey and Bun took time to play, and also a quiet moment to contemplate life on the farm

It was a very short trip, but they know we’ll be back!

–Al