If you have an iPhone then contact Chris and he can add you to the Home where you can control some of the lights as well as view the camera feeds
The doors to the main house, the man gate, as well as the shed use Level locks and should be accessible through the Home app. However downloading the Level app is recommended as this will allow lock access even if the house looses internet access.
WiFi: unscnet2, contact Chris or Amy for the WiFi password
Trash and Recycling
Trash and Recycling pickup is on Wednesday, if you are here you can drag the bins through the front gate to the street and pull them in after they are picked up.
Recycling is not single stream, notably for Austinites glass does not go in the blue cart. Instead there is a small bin that you can leave your glass and we’ll run it to the recycling station when it gets full. Recycling details.
The kitchen trashcan is located in the utility closet / pantry. There are extra bags on the shelf. The big container is for recycling and the small container is for trash.
Small bags for the bathroom waste bins are also located in the closet / pantry.
Heating & Cooling
There is no active cooling ==> open the windows or turn on a fan.
Heating of the back half of the main house and all of the casita is via hydronic radiant heat.
Main house zones:
Living Room and Office
Master Bedroom
Master Bathroom
Casita zones:
Living Room and Bathroom
Bedroom
The front part of the main house is heated with hydronic baseboard heaters and the thermostat is in the hallway leading to the front guest bedroom
It takes a while for the radiant heat to move the temp in the house, it’s a ‘set it and forget it’ type thing. Adjust the temps to something comfortable, 69 or 70 seem to work well in the winter and hit the ‘Hold’ button on the thermostats. When you are leaving the house after your visit hit the ‘Run’ buttons to have the thermostats resume their programming.
Fireplace
There is a Kiva style fireplace in the front living room
The flue needs to be opened and left open as long as the fireplace is active. I usually keep it open overnight and close it in the morning. The flue control is on the top of the firebox near the mouth of the kiva.
Please keep the spark screen in place when not accessing the fire
There is a basket containing lighter and fatwood near the fireplace
There is a small log rack near the front door and the main wood pile is on the fence line to the side of the casita.
The main wood pile also has a log splitter and hammer to make kindling out of large pieces of firewood.
Parking
There are two spots in the driveway. If you need to park on the street please use one of the parking passes so that you don’t get ticketed. Please don’t lose these!
There’s a Tesla Mobile Charger in the shed that can be plugged into the outlet on the outside of the shed. It’s better than nothing™. Someday we’ll extend a high amp 240V to the shed…
Kitchen / Cooking
The kitchen in the main house is a full kitchen and should have most things you are looking for:
Note: The KBT has a manually adjustable drip stop. Set it full open if doing full carafe, half for a half carafe, and closed if you want to remove the carafe during brewing or if micromanaging the brew. If you set it to closed during a brew it will overflow…
If you are going to have the coffee sit then swap out the brew lid for the travel lid to keep the coffee hot.
The combo washer / dryer in the casita reportedly drys very slowly
Pets
There are skunks in the neighborhood so please keep your dog on a leash at night for potty breaks or risk being skunked… (ask magnolia about this)
There is skunk shampoo in the guest bathroom of the main house under the sink. When magnolia got skunked I just picked her up and walked into the shower and started washing her off, that seemed to work ok
Internet / Office
xFinity cable modem, 50Mbps/10Mbps located in the office under the desk
Networking is three eero Pro 6 and a unmanaged GbE switch under the desk in the office
One in the office
One in the casita with wired backhaul
One in the guest bedroom with wireless backhaul
LG UltraFine 5K Thunderbolt 3 monitor on the desk, works great with a Mac. There is a USB-C Ethernet dongle attached to the back of this monitor if you need a direct connection
24″ Dell in the office closet if you need something with HDMI
TV / Entertainment
There are LG C2 OLED in the main house (65″) and casita (55″)
They both have OTA antennas but house construction makes the OTA basically useless unless you move the antenna to a window…
They both have Apple TV 4K’s that the LG remote will operate, the Apple remote is probably in a drawer nearby. Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, etc.
OLED burnin is a thing… so turn them off before you leave the house
Nintendo Switch Dock in the main house as well as a Pro Controller in the left drawer of the TV stand
HomePod mini in the front room of the main house, please don’t unplug or move it as it needs to be in the window to talk to the Level Lock for the shed
Beoplay A8 is attached to the ‘office’ Airplay 2 target
Sonos Move in the living room, it’s wireless and splash proof so feel free to take it outside to the yard, just don’t be obnoxiously loud or forget it outside in a heavy downpour. Should be logged into Apple Music and MixCloud
