Corona Virus Day 2

Well, not actually Corona Virus day 2 because nobody knows the exact date of the first infection. It is, however, the second day of my state mandated Corona Virus holiday. I get paid - I just don't have to work. Bonus - the President is aiming to give everybody $1,000 to spend at the casino (assuming one can be found that's still open).

I wasted my dollar a few weeks ago buying a green hat in anticipation of St Patrick's day. Today being St Patrick's day, I have nothing to do but salute my wasted dollar by quaffing vodka. I couldn't do that on a work day. Mind, now I gather I'm on call to deliver food and homework to kids so I can't drink it on any other than Friday and Saturday night. C'est la vie!

Today started rainy and sitting at the computer playing solitaire was about to do my head in as was watching silly YouTube videos. Eventually the clouds cleared and the rain eased so I could get outside. Bear in mind there are a lot of things I want to do that need power. I thus needed either to buy a generator or to wire up my TT30 socket with its 30A supply.

Last time I'd looked at the electric box outside I'd seen big black wasps going in and out. It appears the "professional" that installed the well pump couldn't be bothered to put his cables into proper conduit. Now that's one thing I insist on - everything has to be done properly. The wires need not be buried but they must be in conduit. In fact I didn't bury the conduit last time but when it was time to pull it up, it was buried under an inch or two of soil. That's the power of nature!

So, pulling the lid up on the box, the first thing I noticed was somebody had put the panel in back to front - likely because they had knocked out the wrong blanks and been unprepared enough to cover them with tape. In fact they hadn't properly blocked off the hole in the underside of the box where they'd put their wires. Had they done that or better even, used conduit, there would not have been a wasp nest inside.

The wasps didn't bother me because they hadn't had time to lay eggs. They were still building their nest. They flew away when I opened everything so I let it be. Returning after a few minutes they were back so I gave them a good squirt with my wasp killer spray. They'll find somewhere else now. I just hope it's not going to be underneath the bus as it has been for a couple of years.

I'd spent quite a while pulling the ground spike on which I'd mounted the TT30 socket box, a couple of weeks ago. It took a few minutes but I drilled out the rivets that held the box to the steel post and then screwed it to a handy nearby wooden post.

The cable went down to the bottom of the post in my nice conduit then snaked away. I've secure it as best I can with a leftover cable clamp. I never throw things away because there's no telling when they'll come in useful! 

This is the electrical panel. I've turned the front panel the correct way around and taped over the holes where the idiot pulled the wrong breakaways away. I pulled the lower one off thinking I could get my breaker in there. Wrong! It seems that whoever wired the panel in the first place did a hamfisted job of putting the big wires in place. Disconnecting those, trimming and reconnecting them would have been a significant challenge as I don't have the tools and would have had to turn the power off. Yes - you read that right - I did all the work today with the power on, working on live wiring.

It's not actually that dangerous if you're careful. It's like crossing the street. If you don't look and go carefully you could be hit by a car. I didn't want to upset the system because goodness knows whether CPAPs were in use or oxygen machines or whatever.

As mentioned before, the people that did the water pump really weren't good craftsmen. I can't call them rednecks - they probably were and rednecks can usually do a darned good job. This was done by some slap happy amateur that calls themselves a professional. Look at those bare wires. Now compare that with the semi-professional big tube in which the main power supply enters. Then look at the smaller conduit in which my amateur wiring runs.

I have to look everything up to make sure I'm adhering to the correct wiring codes etc. It takes me a long time because I check, recheck and check again. I look things up when I'm not sure. I never make assumptions. Thus, my craftsmanship is likely way better than some professionals - likely because it's not my craft and thus I take more care. My big challenge was that I couldn't dig any holes or put in any earth spikes due to not knowing where the pipes and wires were buried. The city couldn't help with that one as they were all installed by a contractor for the property owner at the time. Now it's just a mystery. Fortunately on the earth side, there were already two earth wires running down the power pole. I just attached my earth to one of those and called it a day! I'm just hoping those earths (which disappear beneath the ground) actually do what they're supposed to.

Anyway - that length of wire (which is now likely 4 feet shorter than when it was installed in the other breaker box) is now correctly installed and gives me probably 20 feet distance from the box toward my bus. That's good enough to connect my two extension cords end on end but to reach the bus I'll likely need another.

I do need to get to Lowes (hiss, spit), Tractor Supply and Harbor Freight for various odds and sods but whether I'll be able to, I don't know. I hear locally there is a curfew. That might get extended if there are enough idiots around having corona virus parties. I remember reading in one of the newspapers that there were "sero change parties" in which people tried to catch AIDS. What sad lives some people must lead!

Now I have the power supply available again, I can try my new flux core wire welder. I have scrap steel to try it with too. Not only that but now I have an apparently unlimited time to do it in. The word is that aside from perhaps occasional driving free meals to school kids or homework to them, I'll be pretty much free until April. Having said that, the way this virus is going, it could be longer.

The USA has the kind of problem most third world countries have. For some unknown reason people believe the nonsense pedaled by the few. The few don't want government healthcare because it'll mean higher taxes to pay for it and healthcare providers don't want to limit their fees to something reasonable. Nobody wants to live a normal, happy life. Instead they'd rather live the lifestyle of royalty while the poor fall sick and die. The fact is most of Europe is happy and healthy because of universal healthcare that's taxed on employers (not the employees) and free at the point of use.

This means that somebody who is sick will keep working through their sickness. They can't afford healthcare and don't have statutory sick pay. If they stay off work sick for a few days to recover, they'll lose income and hence their home. Thus, the sick work and pass on their ilnesses to other poor people and to customers and hence to the wealthy. It makes no sense. The purile hatred of a national healthcare system persists though. That is what is going to make the Corona Virus conquer America!