Dog Days of Summer

Sirius is the Dog Star.  It disappears into the sun’s glow from July 3rd to August 11th. According to the Greeks and Romans, the dog days of summer produce heat, drought, thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, and bad luck.  I’ve experienced some of those things this week while making trailer repairs and completing hikes in the summer heat.

For me, it’s all about the humidity.  I was perfectly comfortable last September out west with hot, low humidity days and cool nights.  However, the high humidity and heat  in Wisconsin make me want to curl up on the basement couch and take a long nap.

Having said that, I did take care of a couple of repairs this week on the Brew Hut.  The first was rewiring the trailer plug again.  I am not getting any 12 volt power from the Nissan at the 7 wire connection. Instead, I was getting 12 volt power running from the trailer battery to the trailer plug.  That situation was causing blown fuses at the trailer battery.

Lots of other people on the internet seemed to have similar Nissan issues.  The brown relay under the hood was properly activated.  There might be a blown fuse somewhere, but the schematics in the owner’s manual are terrible.  One guy reported that he replaced the tail light fuse, and that fixed his 12 volt power problem.

But then I got to thinking. Maybe I really don’t want 12 volt power going to my trailer battery, which is a sensitive Renogy pure gel battery.  Gel batteries have a particular way to get charged, and a 12 volt line from the truck feeding constant voltage might not be the best idea.  So I just removed the 12 volt trailer wire from the connection at the trailer plug. So far, so good with no more blown fuses.  Now, I will simply charge the Brew Hut battery with either solar or a charger that I can plug in when I have AC power to the Brew Hut.

Some of you more savvy electrically-minded folks (than me) might be asking why my trailer converter isn’t charging the battery.  Ahhh, that’s because I believe the converter is dead.  Plugging into power wasn’t charging the battery or running the 12 volt appliances.  I ordered a new converter from progressive dynamics.  I haven’t decided yet whether I will need help swapping out the old dead one, but I’m not going to do anything with the new converter until it’s cooler out.

The final completed repair this week, and the one that convinced me to stop working on the Brew Hut until it’s cooler out, had to do with the water tank.  On the way back from Texas this spring, both metal straps securing the water tank snapped, allowing the water tank to “move freely about the country.”  Well, only a few inches from side to side in the water tank compartment, but that wasn’t sustainable without causing further damage.

I bought some strapping earlier this year to replace the snapped strapping under the grey tank.  That was a pretty easy job, although I’m getting to the point where crawling under the trailer isn’t my favorite activity.  The water tank is located at the rear of the Brew Hut, under the bed inside a fiberglass bench enclosure with a small access door.

There just isn’t much room to work under there.  I had all of the windows and door open, and I was soaking wet with perspiration dripping into my eyes and everywhere else.  I unscrewed the original broken strapping from the floor. The new straps needed to be screwed to the floor on both sides of the tank.  I was able to move the water tank over a few inches to barely access the back side (good thing I don’t have big muscular arms or hands).  After screwing those ends into the floor, I moved the tank a few inches in the opposite direction and attached the front side straps.  The original metal straps lasted 18 years.  I hope to never have to do that again.

Julia hoisting a Belgium style beer

Yesterday, we did what many Wisconsin folks do when it’s to hot and humid.  Julia and I went to a new brewpub:  Union Corners Brewery on Winnebago Street on the east side of Madison.  I’ve told Julia that I never want to live in Madison again, but if great brewpubs like this keep opening on the East Side, I might have to change my mind.  There are condos upstairs, and I was seriously thinking about buying one and never leaving.

The owner spent some time with us, talking about the difficulties of building the brewery and just getting things done in the People’s Republic of Madison.  In the end, although opening took much longer than was expected, Union Corners Brewery is a very comfortable space with 24 excellent beers on tap.  They currently feature 3 of their own beers, and that is going to quickly increase.  I had a Berliner Weisse beer that was perfect for a hot day:  mildly sour and low alcohol.  Julia had a Belgium Single with a malty, sweet finish.

The next Brew Hut journey won’t happen until August.  Until then, I’ll be taking daily long walks through Lodi, which end with Callie jumping into the creek.  We also like to hike at  Gibraltar Rock, which features shade and fewer mosquitoes/biting flies.  Later in the summer, we will travel with friends to Montana.  You  might not hear about that one until we get back, depending on internet connectivity.  With higher elevation, we should be experiencing cooler weather on that trip, I hope.