My thoughts are with you and your DH, Fran.
El Dee, sorry about the loss of another friend.
Hunting for contractors, as State DOT said I'm SOL, they would only cover it if they were already doing a project on our stretch of road. My gut feel is it'll be pricey, but such is life, time to part with some of our hardly-earned $
I just want to get it done, get a few people to provide bids and move out on it. We have a few wrmer weeks coming up, better to do real excavation work.
On the vape front, the Hugo Vapor Squeezer arrived, two thumbs up. I added a little garage door weatherstrip foam behind the negative contact to strengthen it (keep it tight over time), some JB Weld in the 510 connector top plate air channels (hangover from 510 carto days, not appropriate for a modern squonker -- they're a leak point), and gave the 510/feed tube a good cleaning with some cheapo vodka. It vapes well (low voltage drop), has a functional external off slider, is a true mech, feels good in the hand, solid build, and comes with muliple soft silicone bottles (2xsquonk, 1x 510 refill) and an 18650 adapter. Very reasonable price from 3f. I'm running it with a Wasp Nano now, a Dead Rabbit SQ should show in a couple days.