Chapter 36: Finding Balance

Morning chores, breakfast, check the gauges and then ride the line. I found a place to safely ford the creek on both ends of our little oval and could make the entire circuit in one go. Work the wood and build up the stack: that was my morning routine. I took my shotgun with me everywhere I went.

Watering the livestock had become Matilda’s responsibility, as she had the dog cart. I’d use it occasionally to move things around; Brin was always with me anyway and he loved to pull the cart.

On that morning after my routine Brin and I went out with the cart and started to collect fencing wire; the old fence lines were useless and I wanted to get the pasture fenced as soon as possible. It was a slow and painful process; I needed to try and save any staples or nails I found also. We’d come back around on the next pass and start pulling fence posts. I worked on the fencing until lunch time rolled around.

Everyone had managed to find constructive things to do. Matilda went gathering each morning; the pickings were slim this time of year but that should start changing quickly. Her stash of herbs and spices appeared to be growing, and her tent smelled beyond wonderful.

Sonya shadowed Michelle and learned how to live at a camp site, I was told there would be riding lessons for her that afternoon also. Apparently there had been a feminine conference held and the law had been laid down; I was glad to have missed that.

After lunch I spent time training on the drone, this was a complicated tool with lots of possibilities. It had come in two hardback suitcases, one for the drone itself and the other for the accessories. The accessories case had three cameras, including one with night vision (FLIR), four spare batteries, a cargo carrier and several spare parts. The battery charger was built into the case, all I had to do was plug it into the rig and we were charging.

The case for the drone was fairly large and included a separate charger, the control unit and the drone itself. It was all very impressive and professional; no wonder my drunken self bought it.

I fired up my laptop, loaded up the drone SDK and began to learn. Within two hours I had figured out the autonomous mapmaking functionality and another hour had me eager to try the survey/surveillance functionality. I was excited to learn that I could basically have the drone patrol at night using the FLIR camera.

I also learned how to turn off the altitude limitations and which radio frequencies had the best range under which conditions. All truly handy things to know.

I decided to try the mapmaking function first and wrote a quick script to have the drone map the square mile immediately around our camp site and then return to base. Using the controller, I launched the script and paid close attention to the controls and flight so I could take over if need be.

Up the drone went and started flying in an altitude determined pattern for the best mapping results. Technology was fun.

Thirty minutes later the drone settled back onto its base where it started charging again. I processed the acquired data and minutes later had an overhead view of our new homestead and surrounding forest.

I loaded that data into my next script and created an after dark surveillance script using the FLIR camera, which I would test that evening.

The day was beginning to wane at that point and I decided to evaluate our septic situation. The tank in the camper would fill before too long, and I needed a better solution.