[{"content":"","date":"March 8, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":" Background # Over the past few years, all my images and files have become unwieldy. At both home and work, I was finding it more and more difficult to find what I needed when I needed it. Here is a summary of how I have been managing things.\nFirst I run a home lab that consists of, among other things, Nextcloud. Though it has a ton of features I don’t use, the file storage capabilities meet my needs better than others I’ve tried (eg, SeaFile, OpenCloud and ownCloud). I also use Deck (Kanban cards) extensively.\nFor files and home projects, my folder structure consisted of a main Archive folder. Within it, I had a folder for each year. Within that, I had a few subfolders like this:\nArchive YYYY !Drafts !Inbox Documents {Project/initiate} Here was the concept:\nArchive: Yes, I put everything in Archive at the start rather than ‘archiving’ it later when no longer top-of-mind. The idea was to preserve links to folders and files from other files. Back in the day, this also helped keep backup sizes under control as the files were already in a long-term location and wouldn’t get backed up again once moved to special archive folder. YYYY: Simple enough. Just a folder named for the current 4-digit year. !Drafts: First, I named it with a bang (I) so that it, and the Inbox below, would always sort alphabetically to the top of my folder tree. This kept all of my journals, notes and in-progress drafts in a single, flat folder. No further organization beyond a naming convention. Each filename started with YYYY-MM-DD so I could sort chronologically, keeping the most recent near the top of the list. These were all plain text files using Markdown. !Inbox: This folder is where I dumped things to deal with later. Anything sent to me or that I found online (Word documents, PDFs, images, diagrams, etc) would first go here. Once I was done with it, it would be deleted. Or, if if it was something I wanted to hang on to for future reference or relevant to an ongoing project, I’d move it to where it belonged. Documents: This was the destination for most stuff. I had no rhyme or reason to how I named things in here. Folders ended up like: “Taxes”, “St Louis Trip Planning”, “Water company billing issue”, “Lawn care schedule”, etc. Then, inside those folders would be whatever was related, except the drafts and notes, which were plain text files than stayed in !Drafts. In addition to the Archive folder, I had a few more root folders:\nVault: This served as my reference library. Anything that I wanted to hang on to long-term when in here; things like server build steps, configuration change logs, owners manuals for tools, receipts, car titles, software documentation, etc. I had an informal taxonomy to organize things, but sometimes it went pretty deep. Photos: This is where I stored pictures of people, events (travel, birthdays, etc) and those things you want to hang on to. Pictures: This is where I stored temporary pictures of things I was working on like screenshots, images downloaded from the Internet, pictures of the lawn, things I was selling on Craigslist, etc. When done, these would be deleted or moved elsewhere. Videos: Same as Pictures, but for videos. Family Documents: This folder is for documents shared with my wife. Things like budgeting, taxes, insurance documents, medical records, etc. Family Media: This is where we stored and shared all of our family pictures and videos from trips, birthdays, etc. Instant Upload: This is a Nextcloud-specific feature related to the mobile app. Rather than using Google or other cloud-based service, we all had the Nextcloud mobile app on our phones and uploaded photos to our Nextcloud storage. On top of that, I have local storage on my laptop. The folder structure above was mostly duplicated on my laptop. I used the Nextcloud Desktop app to keep them in-sync. I didn’t sync everything, though. I only synced !Inbox, !Drafts, the current year’s Documents folder, Pictures, Photos, Videos, and Instant Uploads. Archive and the Vault stayed on the server.\nFinally, in Nextcloud and my laptop, I pinned or favorited the folders I used most for quicker access.\nAs you can probably see… it makes sense intuitively but also requires a lot of discipline to keep it under control. After 20 years of this method, I realized I did not have that level of discipline. Files and information I needed were all over the place, I had tons of “to be sorted” folders within all of the above that I never got around to. The Inbox was HUGE and full of junk. The Vault was usable, but also contained a lot of out-dated things, multiple copies of the same things, and the structure was challenging. I relied heavily on search.\nIf you’re managing your files and folders like the above, I recommend going through an exercise like I just did and document what things are used for and what your workflow really looks like in practice. Then imagine if it’s still workable 10 years from now.\nThe new method # I decided to start fresh. Instead of trying to clean things up following the above method, I spent some time documenting some needs, wants, and key principles for a new method. From there, I would decide what needed to be restructured or what may best be left as-is.\nWhat I needed and wanted # The folder tree needed to be browse-able. Searching for filenames is good if you’re consistent with naming conventions. Full-text search can be good within a few folders, but is less-than-useful when searching thousands of documents, including archives, looking for something specific.\nUsing it needed to be intuitive. I didn’t want to have something that required months of teaching myself completely weird workflows and complicated structures.\nIt needed to be consistent at home and at work. I didn’t want one strategy to use at home and another for work. (FYI: My information management at work suffered much of the same as I described above.) Though I had different tools (eg, Nextcloud and Deck at home vs Office 365 and Planner at work), I wanted it to conceptually be the same.\nPrinciples # With those in mind, I came up with 4 principles:\n3-Level Hierarchy: No asset (a PDF, Word document, picture, video, note, etc) would sit more than three levels deep inside a folder tree or require more than three clicks to get to it. PARA Method: Roughly following the method as described by Tiago Forte, my top-level folders would be: Projects: All those things that have a done state. Whether driven by a date or deliverable, the finish. Areas: All those things that are ongoing/perpetual. These do not necessarily live on infinitely, but it’s hard to nail down what ‘done’ looks like. Resources: I’m going to call this my Library, and serves the same purpose as my Vault above. This holds all the information I hang on to for future reference. Archive: This holds all the inactive things from the above three. Strict Categorization: For both home and work, maintain a strict taxonomy of Categories to be used consistently across the top-level PARA folders. File Storage Supports, not Drives, Work: Work is primarily done in notes. Files that are not notes live in a separate, supporting file repository. The Setup # Modularization # As part of this effort, I decided to investigate whether it made sense to move away from Nextcloud and toward best-in-class applications suited for a particular purpose. As I saw it, I have 4 related but different functions:\nPhoto and video storage, management, and sharing: Nextcloud can view photos, and there are some add-ons that can facilitate management. The inherent file sharing capabilities make that part easy. However, the mobile app is a bit clunky and unreliable for uploading photos and videos from a phone. And the Nextcloud interface doesn’t stream videos well. In my research, I found Immich. It’s like Google Photos and then some. Too many things to talk about here, but it’s awesome. I moved all of our personal and family photos and videos out of Nextcloud and in to Immich. General file storage, management, and sharing: I’ve been using Nextcloud at home for years as the main hub for everything. Nextcloud is good, but often described as a ‘jack of all trades, master of none’. I installed and played with ownCloud Infinite Scale, OpenCloud and Seafile, all of which claim to be ‘file storage first’ apps with no extra bloat. In the end, however, for a technical reason I’ll get to in a bit, I opted to stick with Nextcloud. Project management (Kanban cards): I’ve used the Deck app within Nextcloud for years. It’s simple, straightforward and basically does what I need. I installed and tried a few others, including Planka, OpenProject, Vikunja and Taiga. All of these were either missing something key (like the ability to get a birds-eye view of upcoming tasks across all project boards) or just overkill. In the end, since I had decided to stick with Nextcloud for storage, I decided to stick with Deck. The ability to link to files and folders within Deck is an added bonus, making this call all the more obvious. Note taking: As mentioned earlier, I used a single folder with Markdown files for my notes needs. As I was considering moving away from Nextcloud, and none of the other file storage apps had good markdown text editing capabilities (to me, anyway), I spent a few weeks with Trillium. This was a slick app. I loved it. If I ever need a dedicated note-taking and management app in the future, this is where I’ll go. However, similar to Deck, after deciding to stick with Nextcloud, it made sense to just stick with it for note-taking too. At work, I don’t have nearly the flexibility to try different apps. I’m limited to making due with what I have, which are the Office365 suite of apps. So it’s really just OneDrive, OneNote and the Planner app for all of the above. It’s not a 1:1 feature set compared to Nextcloud and I find it limiting. More on this at the end.\nFolder Structure # Following PARA, but also not, the root of my folder structure looks like this:\n00_Journal: I use this for daily and weekly reflections, just to get things out of my head, to clarify a thought or mentally walk through a decision. These are rarely, if ever, referenced again. Anything important (like a decision) that gets noted in a journal gets moved (not copied) to somewhere more appropriate. 01_Stickies: This is really an extension of my Library, but are things I reference often, like bike tire pressures, what to wear cycling at different temperatures, car insurance card, etc. 02_Areas: Yes, I flipped the order and put Areas before Projects. Ongoing initiatives. 03_Projects: Things with a definable done state. 04_Library: My “resources”. Reference information, documentation, etc. This DOES include binary files such as Word docs, PDFs, images - not just plain text files. 05_Vault: The ‘file storage’ repository that holds deliverables and other supporting files (for projects and areas) that are not plain text/markdown notes. 99_Archive: Where notes that are no longer current go. One important thing to note here is that the files and folders in the Vault are never archived. Once created, assuming I don’t delete it after completion of a project, they stay in place forever. This isn’t so much for backup size anymore (as block-level backups and de-duplication remedy that), but to ensure links to those folders from elsewhere will always work in the future.\nNow, this is where it gets confusing sometimes. In principle, the Areas, Projects, Library, Vault and Archive folders would have identical structures, like this:\nContext: Either Area, Project, Library, Vault or Archive. Category: See below ‘Topic’ Name: This varies based on the Context. For projects, it is always the project name (eg, “YYYY-MM-DD Test and Evaluate OpenCloud”). For the others, It could be a sub-topic of the Category (eg, “Retirement Planning” under “Finance” category or a specific server under the “Servers” category). Assets: For folders in the Vault, this will be the binary files supporting a project or area. For Areas and Project, it’s the related notes themselves. For the Library, it’s likely to be a mix of plain text notes and supporting binary files. With that said, at least so far, I found it easier to flatten the Areas and Projects folders and exclude the Category level. Within those, then, it just a list of folders for the specific topic or project. Inside those folders, I have a README file that indicates what category it belongs to just as a reminder. I try not to have too many active projects going on, and flattening it saves a click.\nCategories # I decided not to spend too much time on this up-front, and instead let it evolve. I needed my categories to be broad enough to keep the total number of categories manageable, but detailed enough that I could find what I was looking for simply by browsing. I also need them to be consistent and not require much change.\nAt both home and work, I made a note in Stickies with the master categories list. Here are a few examples:\nAdventure: All things related to camping, hiking, bikepacking and other non-family trips. Cloud Apps: All things related to 3rd-party apps and services. For Sale: All things related to selling stuff, like Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace ads, images, etc. IoT Devices: All things related to the various control systems around the house. Self-Hosted Apps: All things related to my self-hosted apps like Nextcloud and Immich. Deck # Deck serves as my Kanban “to-do list”. I think of it like this: My Notes tell me what needs to be done. Kanban tells me what I need to do next. That’s it. I try to keep it simple and use it as a visualization dashboard. I don’t store any important information in the cards, but instead link to a note within the cards.\nDeck follows a similar structure as above, but with a few small adjustments.\nEach context gets it’s own Kanban board. Tasks within Areas get their own card. These are usually one-off tasks. If not date-driven, I’ll set a due date. Eg, I have my entire lawn care fertilizer and herbicide treatment schedule as cards, with due dates to project which weekend I plan to do them. Tasks are ‘tagged’ with the Category. Projects with less than 20 or so discrete tasks get one and only one card. Any discrete tasks are included as checklist items within the card. This isn’t conventional, but I move project cards between Next|Doing|Blocked based on the next task. Eg, if I finish a task in a project (in the Doing list), but it’s going to be more than a day or 2 before I get to the next task, I’ll move the entire project card back to the Next list. Notes are stored in the project Notes folder. Larger projects with more than 20 tasks get their own Kanban board. These get treated more like typical projects, with each discrete task getting it’s own card, potentially with subtasks. I try to put due dates on all cards, especially if it’s something coming up in the next week. This is where both Deck and Planner (at work) shine. With due dates set, I can look at the Upcoming Cards or Tasks views and see what’s on the list for Today, Tomorrow, in the next week or what’s overdue.\nThe Workflow # Projects # This works for Areas too.\nStarting a new project # Let’s say I wake up one day and during my morning reflection I realize I need to do something that counts as a project (a one-off thing with a definite ‘done’ state that’s bigger than a single task like ‘take out the trash’).\nCreate a new folder in Projects, named like YYYY-MM-DD Project Name.\nInside YYYY-MM-DD Project Name, create a README.md file. Within this file, record:\nProject Name: What we’re calling this effort Category: From the master category list Summary: 1-2 sentences about the effort, the goal/objective Status: Active (later can be Blocked, Stalled, Closed… whatever. Nothing formal here.) Assets: Initially “n/a”. If there are binary files supporting the project, update this with a link to that folder. Next Step: 1-2 sentences or bullets as a reminder of what’s next. Then… add any other relevant notes, expand on the goals and objectives. This is a living document meant to serve as a quick reference for the project.\nCreate a Deck card for the project.\nTag the card with the Category. Attach a link to the Project folder. Give it a due date based on when you tentatively want it done, or when you want to be reminded to revisit and get started. If/when there are supporting binary file assets, create a folder in the Vault under the Category named exactly the same as the Project folder. Then go back to the README and update the Asset link.\nWorking the project # Here, you want your focus to be on the actual project and not managing the assets. With the above setup, you should be able to easily click a link to find what you need or easily browse to it.\nKeep your notes and drafts (as plain text/markdown) in the Projects folder. Keep your supporting files in the Vault. As you complete tasks: Update your Kanban checklist and move your card around as-needed to help visually track what’s next. Update your README with the Next Step (for a quicker memory jogger if you step away from the project for some time). TIP: Once you move from a plain text/markdown draft in your project folder to a Word doc or something else intended to be a deliverable when complete, update the the draft note in your project folder indicating this so you’re not tempted to work on the same content in two places. Completing the project # This is where the discipline matters to keep things clean and organized for the future.\nClean up the Vault: If you created one, clean this up.\nRemove any old versions or drafts of deliverables, unless you really need them. Only keep the final, deliverable version. If anything is needed for future reference, move it to the Library instead. If you emailed a final deliverable, or stored it in a document management system or elsewhere, consider whether you really need to keep your own copy. If not, delete it. If after cleaning, the entire folder is empty (which often happens to me), make a note in the project README | Assets that the folder was deleted and where you sent/put the deliverables. Then delete the whole folder. If after cleaning, there are still files left that you need for historical purposes (eg, tax returns), just leave them as they are where they are. Clean up Deck: Confirm all tasks are complete. Mark the card as Done and move it to the Done column.\nThe only real difference between a small/medium project with one card and a large project with its own Kanban board is that you’ll want to archive the entire board.\nClean up and archive the Project folder\nIf anything here needs to be formalized as documentation for future reference, do it and move it to the Library where it becomes a living document. If you really need all those notes, keep them. If not, summarize any key decisions, strategies or other insights in the README and delete the note. Make a final update to the README with any last notes, and mark the status as Closed. Move the entire project folder to the Archive/\\[Category\\] folder. Caveats and Shortcomings # Here are a few gotcha’s I’ve run into that, should you decide to adopt something similar, you should be aware of.\nBroken links when moving from the Vault to Library # Earlier, I described that when closing a project and cleaning the project folder in the Vault, you should move files needed for future reference to the Library. Be aware that if you’ve linked to a file in the Vault from a note, that link may break. I think you just have to accept that this may be the case. The key is to document in the project README where files have moved. I also recommend linking to folders as much as possible rather than individual files, as folders in the Vault are less likely to change and, if completely removed, should be documented in the README.\nIs the Library Just for Markdown? # I tried to clarify above, but as I read through it, it may have been a bit confusing. While I recommend keeping only plain text/markdown files in your Areas and Projects folders, and using the Vault to store supporting file assets, the Library is different. It is intended to be a one-stop location for your reference information. This is likely to include PDF manuals, images, diagrams, etc. You should keep those in the Library rather than maintaining notes that do nothing but link to a file in the Vault.\nStructural Mismatch between Areas, Projects and the Archive # I mentioned above that, ideally, the folder structure would be consistent between all contexts: Areas, Projects, Library, Archive and the Vault. Then I said I flatten Areas and Projects removing the Category layer, to save a click and make it easier to view all my active things.\nThis works at home, because I only have 3-7 ‘active projects’ or ‘active areas’ at a time. Nesting those within Categories seems overkill and removes the at-a-glance feature of just looking at the folder to see what’s going on.\nI definitely would not keep an empty Category folder in either as a placeholder, but you could. And you can absolutely maintain consistency and keep active projects and areas inside a Category folder that only exists as long as there is an active project or area under it.\nIn this case, though… and I may end up there myself… using a tool like Deck as your ‘dashboard’ to get that at-a-glance view of what’s going on might be the better tool.\nOffice 365 for this? # This is probably my biggest frustration. Microsoft products are designed for… I don’t know what. Whatever it is, it’s exactly unlike how I work. There are so many tools with so many features, but they only really work together is specific ways, and not the simple ones.\nFirst, there’s Planner. It’s actually really nice and comparable to Deck. I use Planner at work exactly as I do Deck at home. You can create links from OneNote sections to Planner cards, and Planner cards to OneNote notes. And with different view, it works well as a dashboard, just like Deck.\nNext, OneDrive. It’s just file storage. You can create the same structure as in Nextcloud, or your laptop hard drive. Nothing inherently limiting there, or added.\nFinally, let’s talk about OneNote. It’s horribly time-consuming to use, puts too much focus on formatting rather than content, and requires far too many mouse-clicks rather than keeping your hands on the keyboard and actually doing work. So, yes, you CAN use it for your notes, and I do today, but I wish I had something simpler and better.\nOn one hand, OneNote, being a standalone application and separate from your file storage, seems primed for this kind of setup where your file storage is intended to support your notes. However, I’ve experienced a lot of issues linking OneDrive folders to notes in OneNote. I can’t explain why the links break, but they do.\nThen, there’s the issue of storing notes together with PDFs, Word docs, images, etc for purposes of a single Library. You can embed these files into notes, but given the architecture and fragility of OneNote’s database files, I’m not sure I trust it.\nI think the OneNote limitations could be resolved a couple of ways. I could just use Notepad and keep plain text notes (which is looking more and more attractive), but it doesn’t handle links. I understand there is a new version of Notepad with a Markdown editor built-in. My work environment, though, hasn’t pushed this out and the policies in effect won’t let me install it or any Word markdown add-ons either.\nSo, for now my options are OneNote or classic Notepad… and I think I’m just going to make due with OneNote.\nFinal Thoughts # It’s not a perfect system. And though it’s a lot to explain and to read (I didn’t expect this post to be this long), I think it really is intuitive once you get the concepts.\nIf you’ve read this far, you’ve realized that this isn’t really about software. Whether you use Nextcloud, OneDrive, or just a folder on your desktop, the tools will always be imperfect. I’ve gone through cycles of \u0026ldquo;tool-hopping\u0026rdquo; hoping for a perfect solution, but the only thing that actually changed my workflow was defining the principles first and the technology second.\nI think the most important takeaway is to manage your files to support your brain, not the other way around.\nMy system will continue to evolve, and yours should too. The goal isn’t a perfect system that you never have to touch once in-place, but a system that is transparent, maintainable and doesn’t require a manual when you come back to it six months later.\n# # ","date":"March 8, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2026-03-08-managing-digital-stuff/","section":"Posts","summary":"How I manage all my digital stuff","title":"How I manage all my digital stuff","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"March 8, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Posts","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"March 8, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/productivity/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Productivity","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"March 8, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"Xenodoros","summary":"","title":"Xenodoros","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"March 1, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/bikes/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Bikes","type":"categories"},{"content":"Back in April 2023, I got my dream bike - a Salsa Cutthroat. Actually, I didn’t get the entire bike. I got a Cutthroat frame. To build it, I mostly stripped down my old 2018 Motobecane Mulekick CX Pro for parts. I moved as much as I could, including the SRAM Force 1 shifters, deraileur, handlebar, seatpost, saddle and brake rotors. Some things weren’t compatible, like the brake calipers, wheels, cassette, cranks and chainring.\nSo, I built the Cutthroat, then put the parts I had leftover up for sale on Craigslist, hoping to recoup some of what I’d spent. I sold 2 wheelsets, the cassettes, and brake calipers. Three years later, I still had, unsold, the seatpost, saddle, Quarq power meter, chainring, cranks… and the frame hanging in the garage collecting dust.\nI had contemplated doing so over the past year, but late December 2025, I finally decided to go ahead and rebuild the Mulekick. I wasn’t going to be able to sell the parts or the frame for anything. I figured I might as well get some use out of it. Plus, while Cutthroat is great off-road, it’s really intended for long days in the saddle loaded with gear. The Mulekick has geometry that’s between a CX bike and a typical gravel bike of it’s day. It’s a little twitchier, but also more suitable for twisty single-track.\nThe Cutthroat remains my primary do-it-all bike. But the Mulekick has a place for those times when I just want to get more aggressive and focus more on bike handling.\nIn the rebuild, I decided to go as cheap as I could… mostly buying used parts on eBay. If I had to upgrade, I\u0026rsquo;d try to upgrade the Cutthroat first, and move old parts back.\nAfter getting all the parts, it was time to clean things up and assemble. As these things go, the first issue I ran into was that one of the the headset bearings was shot and fell apart in my hands. So… I ordered a replacement. While waiting, I decided to work on wheels and tires.\nFor wheels, always too expensive, I found a deal on some DT Swiss G540’s. These came with some 50c Maxxis Rambler tires that were too big for the Mulekick, but maybe next time the Cutthroat is ready for new shoes, I’ll give those a try. (Although, I REALLY like the Fleecer Ridge tires on there now.)\nThe G540’s were tubeless ready, but not set up for tubeless. I had to tape and add my own valves. I was shocked at how easy this was. I mean, I spent SO much time and sweat with 2 sets of WTB i23’s trying to get them to seal with mixed results. Compared to that, setting these up with my old WTB Nano 40’s was like a dream.\nBefore I got the Cutthroat, I had upgraded the Mulekick’s handlebar to a Ritchey Venturemax V2, which was considerably wider and more flared than that which came on the Mulekick. That moved to the Cutthroat, but I still had the original bar. So that worked out.\nFor the seatpost, I moved the original Ritchey post to the Cutthroat. For this rebuild, I upgraded the Cutthroat to a Salsa carbon post and moved the Ritchey post back to the Mulekick. For the saddle, I had moved the WTB Race saddle to the Cutthroat, but had, last summer, upgraded to a WTB Gravelier. The old WTB Race was sitting in a box waiting to be put back into service.\nI happened to find a used SRAM Force 1 package that included a derailleur, brake/shift levers and some flat-mount brake calipers. This was good, except the Mulekick frame takes post-mount calipers. After a little research, I found a flat-to-post mount adapter.\nIt worked out pretty well. It require me to size-up my front brake rotor from 140mm to 160mm, but that extra braking power and heat dissipation isn’t a bad thing.\nLong story short, I added new shift cables, bled the brakes and there she is, ready for adventure:\n","date":"March 1, 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2026-03-01-mulekick-rebuild/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Rebuilding the Mulekick","type":"posts"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been about a month-and-a-half since I harvested and planted the sprigs. The soaker hose was a cool techie addition to the effort, and definitely worth the effort.\nObviously, not all of the sprigs survived. But those that did really did well.\nI\u0026rsquo;m not sure how it works, but it\u0026rsquo;s almost like the sprigs, once they took off, invited the growing grass from the yard over to the party. It\u0026rsquo;s filling in nicely.\n","date":"July 19, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2025-07-19-shocked/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"A little (lot) shocked","type":"posts"},{"content":"","date":"July 19, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/lawn-care/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Lawn Care","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"July 19, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/lawn-revitalization-project/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Lawn Revitalization Project","type":"series"},{"content":"","date":"July 19, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"},{"content":"I woke up this morning to find the soil moisture held steady overnight. The \u0026rsquo;near\u0026rsquo; sensor (closest to the house) read 55% and the \u0026lsquo;far\u0026rsquo; sensor read 47%. But there were several dry spots and I felt I could change things up and get better coverage. So, I re-did the soaker hose in more of a serpentine pattern, then did a manual run for about 12 min.\n90 minutes after the water cycle, the near sensor reads 60% and the far is at 68%. I\u0026rsquo;m targeting 70-80% saturation for these morning waterings, so I think I\u0026rsquo;m going to need to let it run just a bit longer. I\u0026rsquo;m still going to have some dry spots. But not a big deal, really. I\u0026rsquo;m just trying to get this first round of sprigs to root and take off.\nSpeaking of the sprigs\u0026hellip; I think they\u0026rsquo;re alive. While watching the soaker hose do its job, I inspected many of the sprigs to try and determine if they were goners or still hanging on. I found several that look like new green growth!\n","date":"May 26, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2025-05-26-sprigs-are-alive/","section":"Posts","summary":"Sprigs are alive!","title":"The sprigs are alive!","type":"posts"},{"content":"First, I have to say the Amazon, UPS and FedEx delivery drivers are pretty oblivious to \u0026lsquo;Keep off the grass\u0026rsquo; signs. After having them repeatedly trample over things, I resorted to blocking off the area with orange flags and some old landscaping lights (for those who deliver when it\u0026rsquo;s dark). Not pretty. WAF (Wife Approval Factor) is very low. But it seems to be working.\nThe fragile little sprigs aren\u0026rsquo;t looking so good. There is a hint of green on a few of the stolons, but mostly they just look like dried up pieces of straw. I inspected a few, and absolutely no signs of any root growth.\nThe problem, I\u0026rsquo;m sure, is water. I tried to manually water 2 to 3 times a day to the point where the ground glistened, but didn\u0026rsquo;t puddle. But here in central Texas, it seems like didn\u0026rsquo;t last long. Temperatures have been in the mid-to-upper 90\u0026rsquo;s and humidity in the 35-50% range in the afternoons. It seems like after watering, the ground was dusty again within a few hours. Plus, I actually only watered 3x on days I was home. On the days I had to go to the office, I could only water in the early morning and evening. I\u0026rsquo;m pretty sure there were several times where things just dried out too much.\nSo\u0026hellip; my next attempt is, as you can probably guess, some home automatition magic!\nFirst, I bought an Ecowitt GW1100 and two WH51 soil moisture sensors. I put these in the ground Saturday night, and they read about 40% saturation. Per my research, this is WAY too low. The sprigs can barely survive, let along try to root. Sunday morning, I tested with my normal hand-watering regime. Afterward, the sensors only read about 47%. That was enough to confirm my hand-watering was insufficient. (FYI: The green you see here are new sprigs I just planted today.)\nNext, I installed a 75ft soaker hose. I got the idea after checking the local water restrictions and found that \u0026ldquo;soaker hoses\u0026rdquo; are allowed. I laid it out, relocated the sensors and ran for about 10 minutes. Afterward, the sensors were reading up to about 62%! I need to test a slightly longer run, but now I have to wait for the soil to dry out, back down to around 40-45%. Then I\u0026rsquo;ll run for 15 min and see if that gets me up to the 70-80% range (which my research says should be my target).\nOnce I get the water duration figured out, my next step will be to install an Orbit B-hyve smart watering timer. I\u0026rsquo;ll set this up in HomeAssistant, where the Ecowitt sensors are already reporting the soil moisture data. Using HomeAssitant and NodeRed, my plan is to trigger a 10-15 minute watering cycle whenever the soil moisture gets below 45%. Ideally, the watering will get it up to the 70-80% range and good for another several hours, depending on the weather.\nFinally, I will probably also work the program logic to incorporate any forecasted rain. My OpenSprinkler setup already takes this into account, and I should be able to prevent running if rain is in the forecast.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll give this setup a go for the next week and see if any of the old sprigs come back to life, and how today\u0026rsquo;s newly planted sprigs do. If needed, I\u0026rsquo;ll plant more sprigs and give the whole thing another go.\n","date":"May 25, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2025-05-25-not-giving-up/","section":"Posts","summary":"Haven’t given up on the sprigs… yet","title":"Haven't given up on the sprigs... yet","type":"posts"},{"content":"This weekend, I was watching some videos and got the urge to try planting some St. Augustine sprigs\u0026hellip; just to see.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve talked about installing a paver walkway along the driveway next year. But I hate looking at bare dirt. If this succeeds or fails, it doesn\u0026rsquo;t really matter, I suppose. But at least it looks like I\u0026rsquo;m trying.\nFirst, I shuffled around the yard kicking up some stolons that had not pegged themselves to the ground and cut them off. I threw them in a shallow plastic container with water to keep them hydrated. For the soil setup, I dug holes about 6\u0026quot; long x 2\u0026quot; wide x 2\u0026quot; deep. I started with a big shovel to loosen things up. Then I went through with a small hand shovel to actually pull out the dirt. I threw the removed dirt in a bucket, about 6 holes-worth at a time, and mixed it with equal parts compost. Then I refilled the holes with this mixture and lightly watered.\nNext, I cut the stolons into 4-6\u0026quot; long sprigs, each with 2-3 nodes. For planting, I stuck the \u0026lsquo;start\u0026rsquo; of each sprig into the ground, then stepped on them to press them into the surface of the soil. (I read that this is sorta\u0026rsquo; the way sod farms do it.) Finally, I did a top dressing with compost.\nAnd now, the tricky part for the next 2 weeks is to keep this area damp enough, but not too wet, to encourage rooting.\nAs for the plugs I transplanted from the back yard\u0026hellip; most still have at least a little green, but I\u0026rsquo;m not seeing any new lateral growth. As long as they\u0026rsquo;re green, I\u0026rsquo;m not giving up. I dealt with this last year and am still confident most of it will start growing\u0026hellip; any day now.\nAnd\u0026hellip; I also have bad news, though not horrible. Looks like the sloppy watering job I did on the plugs was too much for some of the established grass. The heat and humidity along with my watering allowed a fungal infection. I applied a fungicide and have, since I noticed it on Friday, been trying to keep this area dry. It\u0026rsquo;s already looking a little better.\n","date":"May 20, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2025-05-20-sprigging/","section":"Posts","summary":"Sprigging!","title":"Sprigging!","type":"posts"},{"content":"First post of the season. Yay.\nWhen we left off last November, I applied a dose of Prodiamine 65WDG to the front yard to prevent/slow weed growth over the winter. I think it worked really well. I had very little weed growth up until just a few weeks ago. It\u0026rsquo;s also quite a different story in the back yard where I did not apply any Prodiamine. The bare spots there have significant weed growth.\nLast Summer, I was really focused on the front yard and experimenting a little, so I didn\u0026rsquo;t do much in the back. This year, the front and back will get the same treatments.\nToday, I ran the mower over everything at its highest setting hoping to mulch the leaves. That didn\u0026rsquo;t work at all, so I ended up raking it all up.\nYou can see in the pictures below that the St. Augustine is mostly still dormant, with a few areas starting to come alive. The green you see in the bare area are little spots of crabgrass that just started sprouting up.\nAfter raking the leaves and cleaning it up, I applied an early-Spring treatment of Prodiamine and watered it in. Though I haven\u0026rsquo;t started watering regularly, this was a good opportunity to turn on and test the irrigation system and confirm nothing bad happened over the winter.\nThere are a few areas that filled in last summer, but are still a little thin. This summer\u0026rsquo;s growing season should take care of that, as well as (I hope) grow another 2-4 feet into the bare area.\nMy plan next weekend is to spot treat all the bare areas, and the weedy areas in the back, with Roundup to kill any vegetation actively growing. By the end of March or early April, the St. Augustine should be 50-75% green and ready for fertilizer.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll see how things look in May, but I\u0026rsquo;m still debating whether to repeat last year and rob some \u0026lsquo;plugs\u0026rsquo; from the back yard to move to the front (with which I had good results), buy plugs, or not worry about it and let the grass fill in naturally.\nThe issue I foresee with plugs is that I do get some Bermuda grass runners mixed in where the St. Augustine isn\u0026rsquo;t so strong/full. If I let it grow naturally, the St. Augustine out-competes the Bermuda grass as it grows into the bare spots. That lets me continue to treat any Bermuda grass further away with Roundup without hurting the St. Augustine. With plugs, though, the Bermuda grass will grow in near the plugs, competing with the St. Augustine for resources. And there\u0026rsquo;s not much I can do besides manually pulling the Bermuda grass out. The end result would likely be weaker St. Augustine and a lot of Bermuda grass mixed in that I\u0026rsquo;ll never get rid of.\n","date":"March 1, 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2025-03-01-almost-spring/","section":"Posts","summary":"It’s almost Spring…","title":"It's almost Spring...","type":"posts"},{"content":"This weekend is transition-from-Halloween-to-Christmas weekend. Since I would be removing some things from the yard, I thought I\u0026rsquo;d take the opportunity to remove everything from yard and do a Fall herbicide treatment.\nWith everything removed, I mowed then applied some Image. I\u0026rsquo;m going to let that sit until tomorrow morning. Then I will apply some Prodiamine 65WDG. Hopefully, the Image will take care of the weeds I have now and the prodiamine will stop any new weeds from germinating over the winter\u0026hellip; giving the lawn a good start in the Spring.\nAbout 20% of my front lawn is still bare dirt, with a few weeds. What grass I have is really doing well. I manually pulled much of the spurge a month ago. I still have some Bermuda grass, but only near the edges where the St. Augustine is thinner. When the Bermuda starts encroaching in the bare dirt, I hit it with Roundup.\nAs for the back yard, I haven\u0026rsquo;t been doing anything special here beyond mowing, watering and, like in the front yard, spraying Roundup on weeds as they pop up in the bare dirt to keep them under control and the area clean for the St. Augustine to move in. Comparing this to April, it\u0026rsquo;s pretty amazing how much it\u0026rsquo;s healed itself.\nThis will likely be the last lawn update until Spring. With daylight hours much shorter, and temps starting to cool a bit, I expect the St. Augustine to go semi-dormant soon. I don\u0026rsquo;t expect much else to change.\n","date":"November 9, 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2024-11-09-heading-into-fall/","section":"Posts","summary":"Heading into the fall…","title":"Heading into the Fall","type":"posts"},{"content":"Parts of the back yard are growing really well (though some aren\u0026rsquo;t). In my impatience, I decided to try an experiment. I dug 12\u0026quot; diameter plugs of grass (about 20) and transplanted them to the front yard.\nI imagine these holes will self-heal and grow over pretty quickly.\nThere\u0026rsquo;s still a lot of bare space, but you can definitely see the St. Augustine stolens spreading. Definitely in growing season now.\nAnd remember last month, when I showed the picture of the stolens growing over a large bare spot? Here\u0026rsquo;s that spot today.\n","date":"June 15, 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2024-06-15-making-plugs/","section":"Posts","summary":"A little experiment with diy grass plugs…","title":"I'm impatient, so I'm making plugs","type":"posts"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been a few weeks now since I killed all the Bermuda in the front lawn. I also treated with the 7-0-20 Yard Mastery \u0026lsquo;Stress Blend\u0026rsquo; fertilizer as planned. It looks worse, but I think it\u0026rsquo;s actually better. I was really careful when applying the RoundUp, and the green spots you see among the brown are little patches of St. Augustine that I hope will spread.\nI mowed last night, nearly scalping the dead stuff, but cutting the St. Augustine at my mower\u0026rsquo;s highest setting. My intent is to get the current grass as healthy as I can, then see if I need to do anything to encourage more horizontal spread. I don\u0026rsquo;t think we\u0026rsquo;re quite to \u0026lsquo;growing season\u0026rsquo; yet, but close. I\u0026rsquo;m starting to see some stolens projecting into the bare spots.\nIn case you were wondering, yes, my backyard is just as bad. Here, I mowed the St. Augustine at the highest setting, but didn\u0026rsquo;t mow anything else. I spent much of the day raking up dead leaves and thatch and am about half-way done. I think I\u0026rsquo;m done raking for this weekend. Tomorrow, if I have time, I\u0026rsquo;ll treat everything I don\u0026rsquo;t want to keep with RoundUp.\nIn other news, I did a walk around the front yard inspecting my sprinklers. I partially dug out three to level them as they were severely crooked and likely impacting the efficiency of the system. I also found one that wasn\u0026rsquo;t returning into the body fully. I starting digging to see what might be going on, and found the whole sprinkler body was about 2 inches under ground. I ordered some riser-thingy\u0026rsquo;s from Amazon and should be able to get it fixed and finished tomorrow. Fortunately, we\u0026rsquo;ve had a good amount of rain the past few weeks and I haven\u0026rsquo;t needed to run the sprinklers yet.\n","date":"April 13, 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2024-04-13-looks-worse/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"Killing bermuda. Looks worse.","type":"posts"},{"content":"The yard is looking bad. There are a few spots of St. Augustine that are healthy and ready to take on the summer. So that\u0026rsquo;s good. On the other hand, all around the perimeter along the driveway and sidewalk, the lawn has been overtaken by a combination of Bermuda grass, clover, thistle, crabgrass and other weeds I haven\u0026rsquo;t the will to research and identify.\nLast weekend, I mowed with the mower at the highest setting (which is where I plan to keep it for the entire summer). I let things stabilize and recover for a few days, and then did a full-yard treatment with RoundUp for Lawns weed killer.\nThe RoundUp did a good job on the clover and thistle, but the crabgrass was mostly unaffected.\nToday, I aerated the lawn with my manual, two-prong aerator. Then, I raked out all the leaves, dead grass and weeds. The thatch, it turns out, wasn’t as thick as I thought and now there is a lot of exposed soil. My intent here was that in raking over the holes in the ground (from aerating just prior), some of the organic material would find its way into the holes and continue decomposing, adding some natural nutrients. And, when it rains and I start watering again, the water will penetrate a bit deeper, encouraging deeper roots.\nAfter all that, I did a spot treatment with RoundUp non-selective herbicide (glyphosate) on the spots of crabgrass and other weeds still hanging on in areas where it’s either Bermuda grass or otherwise bare. I also went around the perimiter to spray the Bermuda (where there was no St. Augustine) as I want the St. Augustine to fill in those areas later.\nThe plan for next weekend is to add some 7-0-20 Yard Mastery \u0026lsquo;Stress Blend\u0026rsquo; fertilizer.\n","date":"March 31, 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2024-03-31-what-im-starting-with-this-spring/","section":"Posts","summary":"","title":"What I'm starting with this Spring...","type":"posts"},{"content":" Background # I really did love my old bike\u0026hellip; a 2018 Motobecane Mulekick CX Pro. It was sold as a cyclocross/gravel bike. It came with a complete SRAM Force 1 groupset, which operated flawlessly.\nOver the almost 5 years I rode it, I did make a few upgrades. I replaced the stock handlebar with a Ritchey VentureMax. I also replaced the BB30 bottom bracket with a SRAM DUB so that I could fit a chainring that supported a Quarq DZero power meter. And I bought a second wheelset so that I could easily swap between my offroad tires (WTB Nano 40\u0026rsquo;s) and my road setup (Pirelli Cinturato Velo 35\u0026rsquo;s).\nThis is the bike I rode for my first century (2018 Livestrong Challenge) and two Texas MS150\u0026rsquo;s charity rides. It was loads of fun on and offroad and pretty comfortable.\nHowever, as things do, my riding style changed and I found myself longing for more gravel, offroad adventure riding and bikepacking. I thought the Mulekick would serve this purpose, but I found it just didn\u0026rsquo;t handle being packed very well. So, I got it into my head to get a new bike.\nAfter a few months of research, I finally decided on a steel frame Salsa Fargo. It was going to be fairly easy to just buy the frame and move over what I could from the Mulekick. Unfortunately, when it came time to order, there were none to be had.\nSo, I went back to researching and after looking at the Surly Grappler, Kona\u0026rsquo;s Honzo and Unit, and Salsa\u0026rsquo;s Warbird and Cutthroat, I narrowed it down to one of the Salsa\u0026rsquo;s. After talking to the guys at the LBS, I concluded the Warbird wouldn\u0026rsquo;t give me much more new capability compared to the Mulekick. They convinced me to bring my pedals, shoes and shorts and take the Cutthroat GRX 600 they had on the floor out for a long ride. They told me to take it on the road, some gravel, some single track and really put it through whatever I felt like.\nI did. And I loved it.\nWell, I mostly loved it. Maybe it just wasn\u0026rsquo;t dialed in, but the Shimano GRX groupset was shit. But that didn\u0026rsquo;t concern me as I knew I would be building my own.\nThe Build # Like I had planned to do with the Fargo, I moved as much as I could from the Mulekick to the new Cutty. That turned out to be not very much\u0026hellip; but enough. I kept my SRAM Force 1 shifters/hydraulic brake levers, my VentureMax handlebar, seatpost and saddle, and the brake rotors.\nBecause the Cutthroat is designed for a MTB crankset, I bought a SRAM GX Eagle 38T chainring and crank arms.\nI had a 40T chainrain and 11-32T cassette on the Mulekick. For this bike, I wanted more range both high and low. So I coupled the 38T chainring with a 10-42T cassette in the rear. It\u0026rsquo;s still a 1x11 with significant gaps between gears. But I\u0026rsquo;m used to it. And not spinning out on a descent plus having a granny gear for climbs is worthwhile trade-off.\nThe frame required flat mount brake calipers, so I had to replace the post mount calipers from the Mulekick.\nBecause the frame 148mm Boost spacing, my old wheels wouldn\u0026rsquo;t work. So I opted for some DT Swiss 1900\u0026rsquo;s. On those wheels I mounted a pair of Rene Herse Fleecer Ridge \u0026rsquo;endurance\u0026rsquo; casing tires.\nI had considered getting the Teravail Sparwoods that come on the stock Cutthroat, but reviews said they\u0026rsquo;re a good general gravel tire, but not great on singletrack or on the road. But I read a lot of good stuff about the Fleecer Ridge tires. In fact, at the local Trek shop while getting my inspection for the 2023 MS 150, I asked the shop guy what he thought about riding them for the 150-mile road trip vs getting some wide slicks. He said he has friends who run them 100% of the time for all surfaces. He confirmed what I read: these are quiet, fast rolling, shed mud pretty well and do great on the road. His recommendation was to use them for everything.\nHe was right. Since March, I\u0026rsquo;ve done 40, 50 and 60-mile training rides on the road, plus a little gravel and singletrack (dry and muddy), and have not once been disappointed or wish I had different tires.\nAnd there ya\u0026rsquo; have it. My custom Salsa Cutthroat build.\n","date":"April 22, 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/posts/2023-04-22-salsa-cutthroat-build/","section":"Posts","summary":"Robbing parts from my old bike to build my new Cutty.","title":"My Salsa Cutthroat build","type":"posts"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":"xenodoros (n.) – A gift or offering received from a stranger or from a foreign land; something unexpected that arrives from outside one’s familiar circle. Often carries connotations of novelty or curiosity,\nOrigin: from Greek ξένο- (xeno-, “foreign”) + δῶρον (doron, “gift”)\nYes, I made it up.\nChad here. I\u0026rsquo;m a husband, dad, big brother, and son.\nI use this site to chronicle my adventures, whether it\u0026rsquo;s a home improvement project or an epic bikepacking trip.\nFYI: You won\u0026rsquo;t see much about my wife or daughter here. We accepted long ago that the Internet is forever. We agreed that our daughter should, once old enough, make those decisions herself regarding what, if anything, about her gets posted.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/about/","section":"Xenodoros","summary":"","title":"Chad M. Goode","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"}]