Alexa Guard with Home Assistant

With one of the latest releases of the Alexa Media Player custom component for Home assistant, there is a way to Arm and Disarm the Alexa Guard feature. Alexa Guard is a feature of Alexa that offers 3 features via your Echo units:It sends a notification to the Alexa app if one of the first 2…

Calling Alexa routines from Home Assistant

I have been trying to find a simple way to have Home Assistant start and stop the internet radio station Radio Paradise on all my Alexa speakers in the house. I have a couple of Echo dots and Echo Flex hooked up to various speakers around the house and I wanted to be able to…

Harmony Hub – where are my activities?

I have a Logitech Harmony Hub to control my entertainment devices and it works well, I never have to touch my original remotes, ‘One remote to rule them all’! I have been starting to incorporate all my devices into Home Assistant and started to redo some of the Devices and Activities I have in the…

Ender 5 – Adventures in 3D printing

I have had my Ender 5 for about 6 months now, I bought it slightly used and got a deal that included a bunch of filament etc. I have had a great opportunity to learn, learn and learn as I explored this new hobby. Thanks to YouTube channels like: Kersey Fabrications Filament Friday / CHEPTeaching…

South Chilcotin – 8 day backpack August 2020

Another backpack adventure that I have been wanting to do for some time. The South Chilcotins, just north of Pemberton and accessed via the seasonal Hurley forest service road, or the rugged Lillooet Pioneer Road 40 via Lillooet. You first come to the very small town of Gold River with a population of 43. So…

Spring is on the way

It has been a slow winter with not many adventures to write about. I have tried to get out for my regular hikes around Buntzen Lake and the surrounding area, but not much else. I have been planning a few hikes for the next 3 seasons, with a trip to Death Valley to kick things…

Installing a Yamaha RX-V683BL

Since I have been revisiting vinyl and bought a Turntable, I decided to look at a new receiver with a Phono input. I searched around and found that the Yamaha RX-V683BL had a high rating and everything I needed. The US price for this is 329.00 on Amazon.com, so I checked Amazon.ca and it is…