don't need nodes, just run the wallet in server mode and point your miners. Only solo mining for now. Haven't gotten any accepts yet though
what do you mean by in server mode???
Create a .conf file with the following info inside of it
pcuser=
rpcpassword=
rpcallowip=
rpcport=9333#random port
daemon=1
server=1
gen=0
if on windows, save it to the %appdata%\husky folder close husky client then reopen after saving conf file. All of the above is unnecessary if you can see difficulty. Didn't see that part of post. Thr difficulty probably fluctuates because of low hash or kgw or some other stuff included.