Working on the fence and programming the sauna

Mark & I started walking the dogs along the canal then turned around to cross the highway and return via Greenwood Road. Mary & Cindy had left later than us so they met us at the crossover to Greenwood Road.

When we returned to the house, Mary continued to remove English ivy and Asian blackberry plants from the edge of the back lawn going toward the McKenzie River. Mark & I moved the temporary fence to enlarge the area accessible to the dogs. Because the order of additional fence panels and posts had not yet arrived from Home Depot, the fence lacked three 8’ panels from being complete. The gate that was damaged in transport also needed to be replaced so part of the temporary fence remained in place. Mary had picked up some wood filler for me when she and Cindy were out yesterday afternoon, so I repaired the superficial damage to the right side of the sauna when the panel toppled during the assembly. We dug around the irrigation line that was damaged when we dug one of the postholes. We dug a trench under the gate to allow redirecting the line. Once we had the ditch dug and the lines cleaned, reconnecting the line was easy. Mark went to the shed and turned each irrigation line on to test for leaks and to help him identify which irrigation circuit fed which area with irrigation water.

Lunch was a sandwich of deli turkey on seed bread with potato chips and Kirkland dark chocolate almonds. Michael came by to visit and have lunch with us. It was good to see him doing well.

We positioned the latch on the gate that we installed earlier in the week and assured that the self-closing mechanism would lock the gate keeping the dogs from getting out. We helped Mary haul some of the cuttings away from the clearing work that she was doing. She had created a space outside the fence that would be an ideal site for a small vegetable garden that is within reach of their irrigation system.

We brought ladders and extension cords to the area outside the front door where Mary & Cindy strung three 90’ strands of white mini-LED lights in the shrubs along the walk. Mary & I worked to set up the controls for the sauna. We were able to get everything to work on using the touchscreen panel inside the sauna. However, it took some time to get Mark’s iPhone connected with Bluetooth to turn the sauna on and off, adjust the temperature and time and control the lights. We were eventually able to get his iPhone to send audio to the sound system inside the sauna. We believe that the major obstacle was my unfamiliarity with settings in the Apple operating system. We were pleased that Mark and completely control the sauna from their bedroom allowing him to get the sauna preheated before he goes out.

We were all filthy after working outside in the wet soil from last night’s shower so we bathed and did laundry before dinner. Mark grilled some wild caught halibut that was given to him by a friend who was fishing in Alaska. Robert came in as we were finishing dinner.

Since we had an early flight, we turned in early.