New House Blog: Episode CCXII - Water Everywhere!!

Ah, water - the staff of life.  In this Episode we will be surrounded by water, and water-related events and projects, with some possible wildlife sightings.

Wildlife

Let's get right into it with one of those wildlife sightings.  You may recall from this Episode that I had the privilege of witnessing some turkey vultures dining on the street near our California House.  Well, it seems that they do that here in Texas, also.

That's right - some turkey vultures were dining on something in the street in front of our Texas House.

I'm guessing that these are not the same birds I saw in California, but I didn't look closely, and I didn't ask, so who knows?  Stranger things have happened.







Water I

We have talked in previous Episodes about some of the traditions we observe when we buy a new house (tree replacement, PVC repair, garbage disposal replacement).  Another of our traditions is replacing old, worn-out, water heaters.  Our story begins one dark night, not too long ago; or maybe it was an overcast afternoon - who can remember such trivialities?  I turned on the water in the shower, and out came the water - cold, as expected.  Unexpectedly, however, the water temperature never increased past tepid, regardless of how high I turned the temperature.  Tepid showers might be okay on hot summer days, but on cool winter days they are less than optimal, and it was an unpleasant experience, but I needed to be clean.  Very shortly thereafter, an inspection by a local plumbing technician revealed that our water heater had filled with enough sediment/scale that it was interfering with the heating part of the water heater, and it made the most sense to replace the entire unit rather than try to repair it.  We agreed with this assessment, and the same day said plumbing technician delivered and installed a brand new water heater.

Water is heavy, at just over 8 pounds per gallon, so it seemed like a good idea to drain as much as possible before removing the old water heater.

Did I mention that the water heater resides upstairs, right next to the furnace, in the furnace room?

Rather than just letting the water run freely down the stairs and out the front door, we decided to use a hose and direct the water to a more suitable drainage facility.

We chose to use the large basin sink in the laundry room.  Here you can see a little bit of the scale that flowed through the hose and into the sink.

Old Bradford White meet new Bradford White.

Out with the old, on the left, and in with the new, on the right.  Note that the plumbing technician used our dolly to move the water heaters up and down the stairs.  He also used one of our garden hoses to drain the old unit.

Installation is complete.  The water on the floor is just residual from draining the old water heater.  It dried up quickly, and the new unit does not leak, so far.
















Water II

Whilst doing nothing in particulars, I noticed water seeping out from under the back side of the kitchen sink island.  This is not a normal condition, so I investigated immediately.

My initial attempt to stem the flow was a bit inadequate.

Stronger measures were required to stem the flow and seek out the source.  Fortunately, the under-sink area was dry and leak free.  Only one other thing in that area uses water.

The dishwasher!!  I had to unfasten it and pull it all the way out to pinpoint the source of the leak, which turned out to be where that metal flange connects the inlet hose to the dishwasher.

I have some very good battery-powered LED work lights.

I replaced the flange with a much better spare that I had on-hand, and that stopped the leak.

Satchmo tried to help, but he has trouble holding on to the tools, and his concentration wanders easily.










Stump Removal

In this Episode we had our mostly dead elm tree removed and replaced with a young cedar elm.  The old stump was not removed at that time.  In another example of services randomly coming to us, a tree man mistakenly showed up on our doorstep one day.  He was looking for an address on a similarly-named street, and he found us instead.  He offered to come back later to remove the old tree stump (for a fee, of course).

Not being ones to simply turn away services that seek us out, we agreed to pay the tree man to remove the stump.

He returned with his stump grinder and ground down our stump.  Here you can see him operating the stump grinder, or can you?

We moved most of the sawdust to the back yard for another project, and spread some around the area where the stump used to be.  The discoloration on the driveway was caused by some heavy rain leaching color out of the pile of sawdust before we moved it.  Subsequent rains have removed some of the discoloration.

Cute Cat Time

Edgar likes to explore the shower after it has been used.  He doesn't seem to mind getting his little paws wet.


















A River Runs Through It

Well, sort of.  It's dry most of the time.

Here you can see the Wadi al Bish during a good rain session. 

Another section of the Wadi al Bish, full to the brim and flowing downhill.

More of the Wadi al Bish.

This picture was taken about a week after the previous three.  The Wadi al Bish does not retain water for long, but it is nice when it is flowing.
















House Numbers

In yet another New House Blog tradition, we added house numbers to our Texas house.  There were existing numbers already, but they are just a few shades different from the part of the house where they are mounted, and therefore hard to see from the street.

We purchased the darkest, largest-sized numbers from Home Depot, and mounted them to the bright stonework arch above the garage window.  As you can see, the house numbers really stand out now.


BYA Update

Yes, folks, we continue to find ancient artifacts at our Texas House.  This being a younger house than our California House, we did not expect so rich a trove of archaeological treasure.

First up is this mysterious bone.  To me it looks like it might be some kind of bird's bone, but I am no ornithologist.  It appears to be quite weathered.  As usual, the glove is just there to show scale.

A second mysterious bone.  This one is even more weathered than the possible bird's bone above. 

Next up is this ancient glass bottle neck.  At this time we have not yet determined which brand of beverage it once held.

This is just an ordinary-looking piece of plastic to most people, but to my trained archaeological eyes it appears to possibly be a hatch cover of some sort.

It could also be a panel cover of some sort.













Preview

Here is a brief, mysterious preview of the next Episode, which should be published very soon after this (possibly within hours).

What is this?  Is it the foundation for a guest house?  Is it going to be a helicopter/UFO landing pad?  Will we be forming our own micronation and declaring this spot to be independent of the USA?


Stay tuned.
    bIsh