It's Thursday, so I returned to the house in Wisconsin for some chores and to be here for the HVAC guy tomorrow.

Unfortunately, as I got just a few miles away, he sent a text saying he can't make it tomorrow, feeling a bit under the weather.

I'm just disappointed but understand as I'm also getting over a bit of a cold. I have other chores that need to be done, so it isn't a trip wasted. It is abutting a few holiday weeks, at least for the kids, so it might be harder to find time in the next few weeks.

I need to replace six or seven (if I can reach it) smoke detectors that have been in place since 1999. I have two cameras that need to have their batteries replaced, going dark last week and forgetting to get to them when I was here earlier this week. I also brought my snowblower to try to tackle at least the berm at the end of the driveway, where the plow piled everything from the street, if not also on the apron in front of the garage.

It's been warm the last few days, so I expect the snow to be a bear. It's also getting colder by the minute, so the wet and rain we have had is turning into snow. It's also snowing now and blowing like a blizzard, so that's not great for outside snow work, even with a little machine.

My snowblower is a hand-me-down, 24-inch wide, single-stage that I only use when the snow is too deep in a single falling. We had one of those last week, when a few days of snowfall left about a foot on the driveway and sidewalk. I got our driveway clear and then dragged the snowblower all the way down the alley, and did a couple passes down the whole sidewalk, a little more in front of our house, and back, giving everyone some relief, even those who had done some shoveling between snowfalls. It's not meant for that much work, but does get the job done with some effort. I'm expecting a hard time on the hundreds of feet long driveway.

Since it's a mini blizzard right now, and the HVAC guy has begged off, I decided I'm going to let the snow wait and judge in the morning. If it's nice enough I might clear the apron, and if that goes easy, I might take to the end of the drive. I'll try to get the middle by driving back and forth a few times with my big, knobby tires.

In the last week, not one peep out of the smoke detectors. There are still some that are disconnected. No one is here to hear them anyway. I know it'd probably be a thing insurance would jump on if the house burned down, but I can take that risk. I double-checked and do need seven, including the one I'm not sure how to reach. I checked online, and the nearest Menards has more than enough in stock, with a good blend of smoke-only and smoke-and-CO2, and some that talk. All with 10-year batteries, no less.

I did the same as last time, tapping up the thermostat on arrival. I did a different thing than last time and also tapped on the other thermostat. I have a background thought that the heat and cooling might have different controls in this house, because they aren't otherwise integrated. Although the one does have a "heat and cool" setting, I suspect it only cools. There's a separate AC and in-floor heating system, and I'm face-palming that it didn't click. I mean, they're literally next to each other.

Several hours after arriving, the temperature has approached the setting, so that was probably what I did wrong last time.

I've tried tapping on both the fireplace and stove a few times to get the pilot to light, and thereafter light the flame within, but neither wants to start. The stove still burns, and I left one burner on for more than 10 minutes while I was tinkering with the fireplace, and it didn't do anything but burn.

Relating the two, while working on the fireplace, I laid on the floor, and it was nice and warm, so clearly the furnace is working. I guess it's more a boiler.

I also replaced the batteries in the outside cameras that weren't working. Simply taking them down, opening their waterproof cases, swapping batteries, and they rejoined their spots on the app. I positioned them again, and now I can see the critters that go into the (screens broken) screened-in 3-season porch, and the open deck above it.

Before did any of that, I stopped by T-Mobile and grabbed a Home Internet kit. I've been long considering it, but all the cellular carriers say there's no service out here. I can get decent LTE connections on my phone, and usually use that as a hotspot instead of adding load to the 1.5Mbps DSL we have. I chose T-Mobile because their rate is lower than the DSL, and their "try it for 14 days free" is a helpful test period. Also because their router offers an Ethernet port, so I can connect the access point the cameras are configured to use. 

It was easy to set up, although it wanted me to run through a setup routine that seems more related to billing and not connectivity. It failed to allow my e-mail address and the number for the router to be associated. I called the suggested number and the very helpful Liz said it might just take some time for their systems to align, so maybe try tomorrow. While we were talking, I did connect to the WiFi offered by their router, and the Internet worked. So I'll test it while I'm here, and either complete the set up later or return the unit on my way home.

I'll probably keep it, though, as it seems to work about 90% better. It's tons faster, with Orb reporting 24Mbps instead of 1.5Mbps, but it does hiccup sometimes.

I've got Alexa playing Holiday music on Sirius XM, which never hiccupped on the DSL, but it skips and pauses on the cellular. I've not noticed any other slowness on any seat-of-pants things, like other web use. I did an update on my little PC, and it didn't go as fast as at home (where we have consistent 900Mbps speeds), but it went fast enough. I thought maybe that was causing the skips, but they're happening even after the downloading has completed.

I also brought a big monitor that I've yet to set up at home, my mini PC (which I'm using now), and an Amazon FireTV stick for things to do. The FireTV connected automatically to the AP, which is how the Alexa and Blink cameras are configured, so it probably got it from there, right? It also did a firmware update. Alas, the monitor seems to not have speakers, because while the Firestick worked fine in the HDMI port, no sound actually emitted (even though I told Amazon it did). The video that I let run didn't seem to disrupt the Alexa (still playing in the background) any more than other things, and I didn't notice any hiccups there, so it's probably better at buffering (the Sirius XM is pretty much a live broadcast).

The monitor didn't come with an HDMI cable, though, and I didn't bring one with my mini PC, although that's how I connect it to a bigger monitor at home. The monitor supposedly supports USB-C video, but plugging in the USB-C on the mini PC shows it seems not to. I did find an HDMI cable in the house, between a disconnected TV and DVD player, but while both the PC and monitor can detect it's been plugged in, neither seems to be able to see the other, so it doesn't work.  The mini PC has a built-in 5-inch(ish) display, too, so I can still use it, as I am right now.

I'm jumbling the timeline a lot. Lemme see if I got all the high points, retracking in order.

I grabbed a cellular router on the way down. Also on the way down, the HVAC guy called in sick.

After I got here, I turned the temperature up on two thermostats, and now the house is warm. I cannot get the fireplace and (faux) woodburning stove to light, though.

I did get the Internet router installed, and it's mostly better, with blips and bops. Better enough that I'll keep it unless something spectacularly fails.

I did finish fixing the cameras this time.

The weather outside is frightful, so I'm going to dash to the hardware store tomorrow for smoke (etc.) detectors.

I ate some chips, but forgot to make dinner. I did make the bed, and now that it's after 11PM, I think that's the next thing I'll do.

I logged this ramble in the blog, too.

I think I'm done now.