Archive for ‘August, 2014’

Plumbing, i.e. drains

I read a lot of English “cozy” mysteries and often the condition of plumbing in an English country house is referred to as the condition of the drains.

The drains.

Really, plumbing is all about the drains!

The condition of the drains in my house has been mixed. After much trial, error, venting and some kvetching, it was determined that my washing machine was draining into a dry well versus the septic system. I actually had no idea there was such a thing as a dry well prior to this diagnosis.

Bottom line, the dry well was apparently clogged with lint and/or ??? and because the washer backed up to the kitchen sink we assumed that the kitchen sink also drained into the drywell.

What to do.

BUT…it suddenly occurred to me that we *assumed* the kitchen sink drained into the same spot as the washer.

However, I had info that my plumber did not. The kitchen had been redone by the previous owners shortly before I bought this house.

Fast forward to some testing done with the help of my neighbor and we determined that the kitchen sink drained into the septic system.

HURRAH – hopefully not a bad project to reroute the washing machine drain into the kitchen sink system and “Bob’s your Uncle” – we have excellent DRAINS!

Meanwhile, my plumber had some emergency stuff to deal with and as I told him, my washing machine is hardly an emergency on par with no water or no toilet or gas line ER, etc.

But I still wanted to run the washing machine versus going to a laundromat.

I got to thinking about my washing machine’s proximity to my front door. All I really needed to do was get the drain water OUT the front door.

I went to the local hardware store to buy some drain hose…

And rigged up a sump pump hose to the washer drain hose…

…which I ran out the front door.

Yes!

I call it “redneck plumbing”. There is probably a more “politically correct” term, but I’m happy with mine :) !

Auggie loved it!

He was fascinated.

Every time I did a load of wash he stayed by the hose watching and listening.

Ok, sometimes he got a bit bored – HUGE yawn!

But, today…

TODAY…

Plumber Pernell arrived and did the re-routing and now I am doing laundry like a 21st century person with good drains!

It is wonderful.

Auggie might be disappointed, but I am not – Thank you, Pernell of Touris Plumbing!

In other news…on the sidebar is an Instagram icon. Yep, I joined Instagram and will try that out as a way to make mini-posts of life here on the road home.

AND…in addition to resolving drain issues, Wild Thing was delivered into the hands of BillyBob’s RV and Truck Service to have some maintenance done on the levelling jacks and related room hydraulics.

Meanwhile, the work day was on the extra light side so much catching up to do, hence mini-posts on Instagram.

All good things.

Bear, Auggie and I wish all a good and happy Friday and if you are of the U.S. persuasion, we wish you a wonderful Labor Day/end of summer week end.

A beautiful Monday

It was one of my favorite kind of days weather-wise: it started at a cool and crisp 41F, clear skies which turned sunny, a light breeze and the high topped out just under 70F at my house.

I had windows open all day.

Bear and Auggie were out most of the day.

We had several wonderful walks

I had a good work day…

and a delicious supper of stuffed pasillo peppers.

A lovely, beautiful Monday.

Bob

A year has gone by, but never a day without a thought of Bob.

When tears threaten, I remember Margaret’s mind picture of Bob as a “big orange sun spreading love across oceans, to another continent and into her heart”. ( Big Orange Sun )

Bob: always and forever in my heart.

Zoodles for Zupper and the Montana August Singularity

Zoodles = zucchini noodles, i.e. zucchini shredded/spiralized into “noodles”.

There are various implements available to “noodle” a zucchini. I tried a $6.00 spiralizer and got what I paid for …junk that fell apart at the first zucchini.

I did not want to buy a medium-largish thing…

….then, I saw a post about a julienne peeler.

THAT was that. I found one on Amazon and ordered…

The peeler and the zoodles.

The “scraps” I saved and chopped and blended with the sauce.

Zoodles: actually, I used a summer squash and some sweet red pepper – sautéed the lot in olive oil …briefly until all was tender.

A bit of chipotle-tomato-ground beef sauce and fresh grated parmesan on top…with a side of toasted bread.

Zoodles for Zupper!

Weather-wise…

My kind of weather.

NOAA will not cotton to the term, but it is the Montana August Singularity. A weather singularity is a weather phenomenon that regularly happens around a certain date.

Search (Google, Bing or your favorite search engine) “Montana August Singularity”.

Yep.

It is true – more often than not the 20 years I’ve lived here.

Pffht – NOAA! ( I emailed them and commented and ZERO reply or acknowledgement )

All the colors of a rainbow…

It is nearly the 2/3 mark on the way from the summer solstice to the autumnal equinox.

It is now dark when I get up at 5ish …this morning 4:50 a.m.

I love the change and although I enjoy the early summer light…to a point…I love when it starts back to being dark in the morning.

This morning, I was sitting in the sunroom with Auggie snuggled on my lap – I’d had my turmeric tea and was thinking about starting coffee as the early dawn light rose.

And then Auggie jumped up and I noticed why…a bat… *IN* the house. I grabbed Auggie as the bat was flitting about the sunroom, threw open the sunroom slider and shut the sunroom doors to the kitchen, which left the bat in the sunroom. The window opposite the slider was open – screened. But I forgot that the slider had the split screen.

With Auggie still in my arms, I ran outside and around to the outside of the slider and pulled down the split screen.

The bat left on the draft.

People try to somehow shoo bats out, but the easiest thing (per Google and my experience) is to open a window or door and an opposite window or door and the bat will immediately find its way out on the draft. It doesn’t want to be in the house any more than any person wants it in the house.

The mystery, though, is how it came in. In springtimes past, they have come down the woodstove chimney. But after 3 or 4 episodes, I finally put a reminder in my calendar to close the damper in late April – opening it only if I have a fire. I checked the stove and all was locked up. BUT…bats are like mice and can squeeze through very small openings so maybe it got in the chimney and found a way out…a mystery.

Continuing with Wednesday morning… I had a hair appointment in town at 9:00 a.m. and a few things I wanted from the grocery. Bear and I headed to town in the Jeep about 7:45 with my plan being a walk, the grocery, my hair appointment and then home and to work.

Adding to the “wild kingdom” theme, we saw a large healthy skunk about a mile down the road home. It crossed the road in plenty of time, but Bear saw it and raised the alarm which caused the skunk to raise its tail but no spritz and we continued still smelling our normal sweet smell.

And then…

A rainbow.

A bit faint, but nonetheless, a rainbow.

The sky to the west was dark and low.

The sun was rising above the mountains behind us – backlighting the valley.

And after watching and taking photos of the rainbow, I turned around…

…the rising sun sending rays through the cloud breaks: lighting the wheat and hay fields.

All of the colors of a rainbow: on the road home.