This is why it works

You might suspect that I subscribe to a bunch of social-media groups about Heelers, but I don’t. Not even one, in fact. My feed serves up plenty of those posts anyway, thanks to The Great and Powerful Algorithm, so I don’t have to bother joining.

Most of the stuff I see is pure entertainment. I do pick up a helpful tip here and there. Occasionally, it validates the way I relate to Miss Smudge.

This morning, an infographic of Heeler “don’ts” came across my Facebook feed. I thought I’d share it here.

That crystallizes perfectly my approach with Smudge — undoing damage resulting from inconsistency and, quite frankly, from speaking a training language that this breed doesn’t understand. Though I’m far from perfect, she responds to me.

She’s been reclaimed. Her inner dingo has been unleashed. Smudge’s transformation might be the best part of my very good life.

I remember as a kid thinking how great it’d be if all batteries were rechargeable. Well, I got my wish — now it feels like I spend half my time charging batteries, from phone to vape, flashlights to Smudge’s tracking dongle. And dozens more.

Most of the time, I charge off of a portable power station (which itself needs to be re-charged periodically, but whatever). My go-to is a small Anker 521 rated at 256Wh.

The first 521 I bought — three years ago tomorrow, in fact — developed a problem. It charged and supplied power just fine, but its display was scrambled. Anker not only promptly replaced it under warranty, they told me to just keep the wonky unit and “dispose of it properly.”

Since it still functioned (though its state-of-charge would remain a mystery), I kept it. These days, it supplies power in the shed.

At some point, skeptical that the replacement Anker would be free of the issues afflicting the first, I picked up a 268Wh Bluetti EB3A. It had a few more watts, a few more features and could be controlled via an app on my phone. And it was a screamin’ deal.

Six months later, it exhibited the same annoying symptoms as my original Anker. Bluetti asked me to send it in for warranty repair. I managed to pack it up right about the time that… well, my life got complicated.

I never did send it in. The new Anker ended up working perfectly, so the JANG Bluetti sat there in its box.

I came across that box the other day. I unpacked the unit, 16 months after I’d readied it to ship, and tried to wake it up.

Nothin’. It was stone-cold dead.

On an optimistic whim, I plugged it in and attempted to charge it. To my surprise, the display immediately showed status the way it should. Once charged, I started using it again, and now, after two charge-discharge cycles, it’s still performing the way it’s supposed to.

My guess is that when the Bluetti was allowed to go completely dead, it re-set itself. Essentially, it “forgot” the malfunction.

So today I have two fully functional quarter-kilowatt power stations. Thanks to a stroke of dumb luck, that’s a win.

Every time I figured it couldn’t possibly rain any harder today, it rained harder. The roar on the metal roof over my head has been hilariously loud ‘most all day.

The Mountain is at the business end of a meteorological fire hose streaming up from the Gulf of America. There are a few storms associated with the system, but heavy rain has been the story.