Occupatus apis lithohermaea*

 Well...It's been a busy week at Rancho Juvat.  Lot's of little things that needed doing, but also needed some expertise which I didn't have.  Also, there's that old saw, "Many hands make light work."  Alternatively, "There's no time like the present"

So get started, juvat!

Aye, Aye, Sarge.

As to the truly important event in my life right now, the prayers seem to be working.  While still in the NICU, as of Friday, LJD is off the internal (infernal?) ventilator which was the probable cause of her lung infection.  Re: that, the antibiotics did the trick, she's much better.  She still needs a little help breathing as her diaphragm muscles aren't quite up to speed yet, so they're trying out a CPAP and a nose clip to see which one works best for her.  Taking her off the ventilator also had an added benefit.  Little J and LJW were able to hold their daughter for the first time.  

Evidently, it's called a baby taco roll. What do I know?

Yes, we're excited.  Not out of the woods yet, but headed the right way.  Thanks for all y'all's thoughts and prayers.  Keep up the good work...Please.

On to the "Busy Bee Week" part.

Yes, Mrs. J has taken to feeding Bees now.  They were stealing from the hummingbirds.

In addition to Little J and LJW staying with us, last week saw MBD and MG come to visit.  SIL was taking a week long class in Dallas, so the Ladies decided to visit us.  Haven't laughed that much in quite a while.  Key among the reasons is MG's personality is developing quite nicely.  

Mrs. J had given MG a Joovy as a baby shower gift.  (Joovy is the name of a  particular walker that is the IN thing in the getting ready to walk generation.  Turns better than an F-15 at 9G.)  MG has developed her motor skills enough that she took to it immediately.  She's even learned how to turn while backing up.  We've taken to calling her Speed Racer.  The Fighter Pilot in her is strong.

As you can see, lots of laughter this past week. Which was needed.

So what project did you complete this week, juvat?  Well, Beans, I think I've mentioned that Little J has a Master's Degree in Computer Engineering.  I had mentioned to him that our wireless internet connection had been somewhat iffy recently.  He said he'd take a look at it.

It took a  couple of hours for him to  stop laughing at my lashed together network.  I believe he said two paper cups and a bit of string would work better.  

In any case, networking equipment soon started arriving at a rapid rate. His plan will take care of a lot of "issues" we have living out in the country.  Not the least of which is knowing who's on or was on the property at any given time.  

Masked Thieves!

One of the other issues that will be resolved is whether or not the gate in the fence around our house is open or closed.  We rather like letting our dogs go outside to take care of "Business" rather than inside on the floor, but sometimes someone who shall remain nameless leaves the gate open when he exits the house to go to his workshop.  Mrs. J would rather they not roam the great state of Texas on their own.

She's picky like that.

So,  with a quick peek at a monitor, she'll be able to see whether it's ok to let the dogs out, or holler at me to close the flippin' gate!  

Win/Win.

The network is also a stepping stone for when StarLink becomes a reality for us.  We'll be able to ditch the three wireless accounts with 2Gb max download speed each and use a single account to download the data and parse it out to whomever asked for it, to include transmitting it to our Guest Houses.  We can also make access to our network much more secure.  Not that our guests would ever, never ever, try to get into our network.

My role in this project was to climb up and down the ladder to the attic bringing whatever item Little J asked for while he dragged Cat6 wire to the various rooms in the house.  Then, I was to stand on a ladder and pull the wire through the hole he'd just cut and attach it to the access point.  

You ever looked up into a freshly cut hole in a plaster ceiling?  Don't!  Your ears, eyes, nose and throat will thank you.

Don't ask me how I know.

I did get to hone my woodworking skills in the project by building the rack to mount the devices on.  Given that the rack had to very closely match the dimensions of the equipment being mounted, I checked, rechecked and checked again each piece of lumber I cut.  I was pretty proud that I only had to pad 1 cut with 3 playing cards (about 1/32") for the rack to fit.

We loaded the equipment on the rack, connected the wires, adjusted some settings and told HAL to start computing. 

"Sorry, juvat, I'm afraid I can't do that!"

(The video was cooler, but something is keeping it from working.)

You had to know that was coming dincha'?

A couple of  "Oops, forgot that"'s later and voila'

For the computer geeks out there, yes, it's a tad warm.  Next step is an AC vent in the closet and pulling  some cables back into the attic.  I'm starting to get familiar with the things I can do with the network that I had no idea were possible before.  So.  I'm calling it successful so far, even though Little J and I still have a few things to do.

In the meantime, Mrs. J is working on the NEXT phase of Operation "Keep juvat Busy!"

Yes, the cat was supervising the design.

She and the Builder are designing our third guest house.  Which will require network support.  Ah well, keeps me off the streets at night.

Peace out, y'all.

* Busy Honey Bees