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thinking of a Chamomile Creek trail
Tuesday, May 26 2026
Late this morning, I found another set of issues with my ESP8266 Remote Control firmware that I proceded to obsessively correct. The problem came when I was switching into and out of "fast communications" mode, the one where the microcontroller uses a websocket to send out data that would normally be lost or sent out via a local serial port. Sometimes when I made this switch with an instant command, that is, a command picked up via polling (normal http as opposed to a websocket), the microcontroller would get confused and think it needed to return data via polling as well. After some tinkering with how that worked, and some reworking of the process of creating and breaking a websocket, the system became much more reliable than it had been. It was looking like I'd somehow stumbled into build a perfect platform for remotely controlling remote ESP8266s. I then proceeded to add functionality to the web-based control tool allowing me to switch into the fast communications console as needed. That console even supported a provision for telling the ESP8266 that it was time to use fast mode just as the console was launched (a command that has to be sent via polling; basically the insertion of a record into the command_log table).
Unusually, Gretchen worked a shift at the bookstore today, partly so she could have tomorrow off for various animal rights activism meetings via Zoom. I again eschewed psuedoephedrine out of concern about recent clusters of heart beat irregularities but leaned fairly heavy on kratom, whose sludge gradually accumulates in a mug througout the week (as I keep adding more powder without every dumping any sludge out). I've been having more experiences of light euphoria from the kratom lately, and it's a very pleasant feeling, though it can be hard to manage, as it's easy to tip over into dysphoria. I was having such a feeling of mild euphoria this afternoon after walking with Charlotte down the Chamomile Gorge Trail nearly to the old bus turnaround and then heading back uphill via the stony bed of the Chamomile itself (as I'd done a few days before, but hiking up less of the creek). The day was a gorgeous sunny one and for whatever reason there aren't as many defoliating caterpillars down in that gorge, so I could commune with nature while it was in a state that wasn't making me feel terrible about mankind's many assaults against it (both direct and indirect). I'd mentioned the other day the moss, which really is remarkable. It forms a carpet-like coating over the stones and has an unusually thick pile, like a shag rug. Then there are all the beautiful stones, most of them shards of flat bluestone all of whose weak bits have been sandblasted away. I want to collect them and use them for projects, but of course I would rapidly fill a backpack and then curse myself for gathering stones from such a backwoods location.
The gorgeousness of the Chamomile gorge also had me feeling that I should make the creekbed more hikeable by coming through with a chainsaw and cutting a trail through all the fallen trees. If I did that, I'd probably hike up and down the creek all the time (and maybe even gather some of the better stones).
Other outdoor tasks included further processing of the semi-rotten firewood on the edge of the driveway. Today I came very close to filling the second tranche in the woodshed, with many shorter pieces starting to form a third tranche. This means we already have enough firewood stockpiled for an entire heating season. Anything added now is contributing to a heating season eighteen months in the future.
For dinner this evening, I cooked up a pound of red beans in the InstantPot. After 45 minutes under pressure, they were a little more al dente than I would've preferred, though they softened up a bit more when I then cooked them in a big frying pan with diced tomatoes, spices, and a bag of spinach. The resulting "low effort chili" was pretty good, and I ate it in stand & stuff taco shells with lettuce straight from our garden.
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