Rain without, rain within
Aug. 6th, 2020 19:43![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
torquillI woke up this morning, used the bathroom, and when I turned on the faucet, only a gurgling hiss emerged. Sigh.
The ironic thing was that when I went outside to get things to make breakfast, everything was wet. It had rained in the early morning, and it was still threatening showers -- never mind that nobody had expected rain. So all the underbrush was soaking wet when I trekked up to the water box after breakfast.
This time the screen had silted up; I really do need to just spend a day up there cleaning the screen, replacing fittings, and engineering better pathways. Maybe the next time we have a heat wave, when I can strip down to undies and enjoy the cool water when I get too sweaty. Today I just unfastened the pipe, and as I hunted for a suitable stick to poke into the feed, a big plug of mud came out and things started to flow. I had to unplug things in two other places to get a really respectable stream into the box before I left.
At the house there still wasn't any water, but I left knowing that the box might take a while to fill, and if there was a clog on the downstream end, a full box would probably unstick that on its own. By the time I came back almost seven hours later, everything was indeed back to normal.
I spent the day exploring and gathering supplies. I started with Sheridan Lumber, which had very cheap fenceboards (I made a note for later), gate and door hardware, a rubber mallet, and linseed oil and mineral spirits. That should let me finish off the gate I built yesterday, secure the workshop doors, rebuild the back porch door and Shippen door, and put a pneumatic closer on the door to the back hall which won't let it close so hard it rattles its panes.
Next up was Lowes, where I got welded-wire fencing, pipes for the pipe clamps (for rebuilding the doors), a non-slip pad to keep my mattress from sliding off the bed platform, and miscellaneous other stuff. I got fries and a root beer for lunch from a local burger joint, and spent a little time planning my next steps.
Harbor Freight netted me a deadblow hammer, ear protection (yeah, I forgot that last time), a heat gun, one more pipe clamp for a total of three, and a couple of C clamps. Wilco was a revelation; clothing, boots, cover crops, pasture mix, chicks, seeds, tools, plumbing, hardware, dog and cat supplies, horse supplies, woodstove parts... I picked up the fittings for the water box (plastic piping and brass gate valves, because good plastic valves are hard to find and brass ball valves get so stiff they can put stress on the fittings) so hopefully I can tackle that soon.
Finally some groceries, and I came home. The fire danger had been downgraded to Moderate today, so hopefully I'm not the only one who was breathing a little more easily.
I haven't got the chain up across the driveway yet, but as Jenny said, anyone accustomed to her ways won't see the Red Bug at the Flea Market tomorrow, so they'd be unlikely to try the house. The chain is really to deal with wrong turns and opportunists while I'm here, and to help secure the place once I move up here, as it's too hard for her to get out to deal with the chain when she's here by herself. So it's not really all that urgent. I just have the "gotta do everything NOW" impulse going on, which I attribute partly to the fact that I'm feeling good (which historically doesn't last) and partly that I don't usually stay here long. Both of those will change in the near future, and I have to learn to pace myself and remember that I have time, if not this year, then next year or the year after.
The ironic thing was that when I went outside to get things to make breakfast, everything was wet. It had rained in the early morning, and it was still threatening showers -- never mind that nobody had expected rain. So all the underbrush was soaking wet when I trekked up to the water box after breakfast.
This time the screen had silted up; I really do need to just spend a day up there cleaning the screen, replacing fittings, and engineering better pathways. Maybe the next time we have a heat wave, when I can strip down to undies and enjoy the cool water when I get too sweaty. Today I just unfastened the pipe, and as I hunted for a suitable stick to poke into the feed, a big plug of mud came out and things started to flow. I had to unplug things in two other places to get a really respectable stream into the box before I left.
At the house there still wasn't any water, but I left knowing that the box might take a while to fill, and if there was a clog on the downstream end, a full box would probably unstick that on its own. By the time I came back almost seven hours later, everything was indeed back to normal.
I spent the day exploring and gathering supplies. I started with Sheridan Lumber, which had very cheap fenceboards (I made a note for later), gate and door hardware, a rubber mallet, and linseed oil and mineral spirits. That should let me finish off the gate I built yesterday, secure the workshop doors, rebuild the back porch door and Shippen door, and put a pneumatic closer on the door to the back hall which won't let it close so hard it rattles its panes.
Next up was Lowes, where I got welded-wire fencing, pipes for the pipe clamps (for rebuilding the doors), a non-slip pad to keep my mattress from sliding off the bed platform, and miscellaneous other stuff. I got fries and a root beer for lunch from a local burger joint, and spent a little time planning my next steps.
Harbor Freight netted me a deadblow hammer, ear protection (yeah, I forgot that last time), a heat gun, one more pipe clamp for a total of three, and a couple of C clamps. Wilco was a revelation; clothing, boots, cover crops, pasture mix, chicks, seeds, tools, plumbing, hardware, dog and cat supplies, horse supplies, woodstove parts... I picked up the fittings for the water box (plastic piping and brass gate valves, because good plastic valves are hard to find and brass ball valves get so stiff they can put stress on the fittings) so hopefully I can tackle that soon.
Finally some groceries, and I came home. The fire danger had been downgraded to Moderate today, so hopefully I'm not the only one who was breathing a little more easily.
I haven't got the chain up across the driveway yet, but as Jenny said, anyone accustomed to her ways won't see the Red Bug at the Flea Market tomorrow, so they'd be unlikely to try the house. The chain is really to deal with wrong turns and opportunists while I'm here, and to help secure the place once I move up here, as it's too hard for her to get out to deal with the chain when she's here by herself. So it's not really all that urgent. I just have the "gotta do everything NOW" impulse going on, which I attribute partly to the fact that I'm feeling good (which historically doesn't last) and partly that I don't usually stay here long. Both of those will change in the near future, and I have to learn to pace myself and remember that I have time, if not this year, then next year or the year after.
