As part of my commitment to my constituents, on the first Saturday in April of every year, I do yard work for one lucky voter. This year’s winner was local Solar-guru, Dave Strenski. Fortunately we had good weather and I was able to help him fill in a trench that he’d just dug.

Mr. Strenski’s yard played just a small part in what has become the greatest Wireless Ypsi installation to date. Until now, my most favorite install was when we put an antenna on the roof of the Deja Vu. That now pales in comparison. I’m afraid I can’t share too much, but let’s just say we put up a 20 foot antenna on a very tall (and probably very unsafe roof). It was so windy and dangerous up there, we ended up using guywires to anchor this thing firmly in place. I’m confident when I say we’re broadcasting 60 feet off the ground.

At the end of the day, a very significant portion of the Historic East Side now has free wireless. This is all geek stuff and may only interest me, but the new radio we put up sees FOURTEEN other radios with the furthest away being 351 meters! Three hundred fifty-one frickin’ meters! That is phenomonal.

The other part of this past weekend’s work involved Mr. Strenski mounting another outdoor radio in a 35 foot tall pine tree. This happened to be our first “natural” install. In case you hear rumors on the street, I want to assure everyone that we properly relocated the nest of what we determined to be a spotted owl.

The past weekend has only made us more emboldened. I’m currently trying to convince my partner that we need to begin mounting radios on racoons. The only issue we haven’t overcome yet is the size of the battery pack. The working prototype we have is too heavy for anything less than a twenty-five pound animal.

Entries for 2010’s Yard Work By a Council Member may be mailed to the Ypsilanti City Hall, 1 South Huron Street, Ypsilanti, MI 48197 ATTN: Council member Robb.