Saturday, November 4, 2017

I'm In Hot Water

Remember my plumbing problem?  I have two of those instant hot water heaters instead of a regular one.  Effective Plumbing came by and checked it, then called the manufacturer to find out why it wasn't working.  Buildup from the hard water they said.

I have my own well with water that comes in at the 7 mark on a 1-10 scale.  A couple years back, I checked in to a water softening system.  What a pain that was going to be, what with all the salt and monthly upkeep $$$$, not to mention who would take care of it when I'm gone.  I passed.

Come to find out, these hot water systems need maintenance once a year.  No one told me that.  Problem numero uno was you can't do maintenance unless there's a flush valve, which there wasn't.  After ordering parts, the plumber installed the valve and flushed the crud out of the unit with something akin to CLR.

Interestingly enough, one morning I turned on the hot water in the kitchen and it worked!!  Yahoo!!  I immediately ran the dishwasher which had just about every dish in my house inside it.  Of course it needs help too, since it ran for 2-1/2 hours and refused to drain.  Good grief Charlie Brown!!

In the end, at the cost of $409, the unit is clean of calcium buildup and working great.  I will only need a $90 maintenance once a year.  Yes, you are right, I have TWO of those buggers.  The same work will be completed in three weeks for another $409.  House maintenance sucks!!  Luckily, being the accountant I am, I have a savings account where I put away money every month just for the occasion.

Here's something out of the blue ... after nine years, I have finally retrieved a box of slides found in an old desk at the ranch house.  Funny, I don't EVER remember my mom taking slides, and she was the only one with a camera.  Somehow these two pictures got in with the bunch.  This is me on one of my first ocean dives in Monterey California.
I was scared to death, being highly claustrophobic.  It took me MANY dives before I convinced my brain I really COULD breathe underwater.  The peculiar part is that the rest of the slides were from the Halstead family in the 1960's.  I have absolutely NO idea who they are.  I even took pictures with my camera and enlarged them on my computer to see if I recognized anyone.  I did not.  How in the world did those pictures get in an old desk in my garage?
Still trying to heal up from the school kid crud, I've been staying home and coughing less.  Time to get back to those pillow cases.  With only three seams of straight sewing, I whipped out six more.  The next time I hit the fabric store (maybe today) I'm picking up some fabric for MY cases, both here and at the Lost Horse Ranch.
Since I'm finally in hot water, I not only did the dishes, but four loads of laundry.  Funny how I take hot water for granted!!  Dinner was a couple of tamales ... YUM!!  I know they aren't exactly good for my girlish figure ... I'm sure I'll gain back all that weight I lost ... but they ARE delicious and really hit the spot.  I'm going through my old recipes for pork tamales ... maybe for New Years, since they are said to be good luck.
On to the next problem in my life ... my truck.  I can get it started if I pump the gizzy enough to get fuel to the engine, just don't turn it off because it loses pressure almost immediately.  Friend Mark will fix it soon I hope!!


4 comments:

  1. Amazing when you come across old photos and even more amazing how did they get there?

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    1. In going through them, I found several that were "souvenirs" from the Columbia River area. In other words, they bought them as "postcards". No idea where they came from.

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  2. If it's a diesel truck all you're doing is exercising your right foot
    When you turn over the engine The engine turns the fuel pump to allow the fuel to the piston
    On your jeep if you turn the key on The fuel goes to a electronic fuel regulating system,, however if you try to pump it more than three times it goes into a failsafe mode it won't start
    Now if you go back to your 69 GTO it had a gas carburetor yes Louise you could pump that up
    So welcome to the modern world,, diesel trucks don't have carburetors
    So if you really want to pump the throttle pedal think of a catchy little tune that goes along with it
    Tell Mark to use oil on the NEW new O-ring
    If you examine the old O rings you'll probably find some cuts that's allowing air to enter

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    1. It wasn't the throttle I was pumping. There is a small pump on top of the engine to bleed out the air and bring fuel to the engine. THAT's what I was pumping. Mark thinks the same thing about the O rings. Hoping he can get it fixed soon!

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