More Than I Ever Wanted To Know

 I awoke to the magic humming of my morning sprinklers.  Lately I've been learning more than I ever wanted to know about things I NEVER wanted to know about.  First things first.

I had to go to the far side of the next town in order to pick up a quilt I was having quilted.  Yes I have a longarm just for that purpose, but it's in Arizona.  This is the Father's Day gift and I didn't want her to have to wait another two months.  

I stopped by to pick it up and was rewarded with this ... a huge bag full of quilting thread.  She has changed the type of thread she uses and was giving all this away.  This stuff is not cheap and more than paid for the gorgeous quilting she did.  WINNER!!!

  She just happens to live close to a Starbucks ... so the big test was on!!  Here's an interesting thing ... see those little green thingies coming out the top?  They keep the screaming hot coffee inside while you drive. So here it is folks ... one small and one medium, although they call them something completely different.

According to the video going all around, the amount of coffee held by each cup is exactly the same.  I poured out the medium to find it was two full cups.  Okay .. drum roll please ...

I poured the small into the medium cup and looky here!!  It is NOT the same amount as professed by the video guy.  HE LIES!!!!!

Just for giggles, I emptied the cup into a measuring cup to see what the difference was.  Exactly four ounces.  So you are NOT being cheated if you drink Starbucks coffee.  I have to say it smells wonderful, but it will melt my stomach, so I didn't drink it.  I put it in the fridge to use in my next beef recipe.  Yup coffee enhances the beef flavor.  

Well that was more than I ever wanted to know about Starbucks, and the day ended up being like a college class for me.  SO MUCH TO LEARN!!

I have lived here 14 years and never knew what all this stuff was hanging on the side of the house.  What I DID know is that it's been making lots of noise ... on off .. on off .. on off.  That can't be good.  I called the pump repair company to come check it out.

This stuff is connected to the well out front and keeps pressure in the lines.  Since I never ran out of water, I never thought to have it checked.  The guy said I would probably need an 80 gallon tank and the whole shebang would most likely be $1500.  YIKES!!

Mr. Personality showed up yesterday to take a look.  There was a tank in the above picture that he removed.  It seems the inlet and outlet were completely plugged with sediment and hard water scale.  Here's where the learning part came in.  The tank is there only to keep pressure in the lines.  It has a bladder inside that does just that.  If it gets a hole in it, the bladder fills with water and makes the system think it needs more pressure when it doesn't ... thus the motor on and off business.  Yessiree ... more than I ever wanted to know.

Here's the new tank, a new pressure gauge and he cleaned out the control panel.  This morning my pump is humming like a champ with no banging as it turns on and off.  WINNER AGAIN!!!

No idea what this is going to cost me because they can't give an estimate until he writes down the hours and the parts used.  The price has to come from the office.  Well that's a first.  I'm hoping it's under $500.

He also checked the water level ... 92 feet he said, and when measuring the well depth, it was only 102.  He suggested an immediate drilling to lower the well depth.  I'll check out my paperwork from when I bought the house and let you know!!

I was surprised to find the Health Department certification of a well with gravel from 170 feet down to the bottom at 220 feet.  That sounds just fine to me if water is at 92, but I'm no well expert.  Anyone know about this sort of thing?

At long last school ended for the day as I went about sewing binding on that quilt.  I better go write all this stuff down before I forget!!!  Next up ... SOLAR SCHOOL!!