In this Episode we will be discussing pipes, pings, and papayas. The Pipes part is particularly plain; the Pings part may appear perplexing, but it will all pan out, and the papayas are planned to be productive.
* A note of clarification: "Ping," is a computer/networking command that is oft' used to verify network connections between two devices on a network, or on the internet.
Pipes I
Can you believe that we have already had to make four repairs to our PVC lines since moving into our Texas House back in the summer of '019? Of the four, one of those repairs was because we damaged the PVC and the other three were because of nothing we did. Now we are going to discuss repair number five, and yes, the damage was caused by us.
Following a rare run of our irrigation system (we are on stage III watering restrictions as I write this), I noticed a stream of dirt on our driveway where no dirt stream had been previously. I traced it back to a spot where we had installed a solar light by our driveway, and I ran a quick system test. Leak location confirmed!
That is definitely a man-made hole. It seems that someone was not careful enough when installing said solar light next to the driveway. I need to remember to be mindful of irrigation pipes.
Repaired and tested. No more leaks (for now).
Pings I
Due to a recent upgrade to our internet connection (faster speed for less money), our internet modem's location had to be moved to an outside wall; with the result that our main wifi access point would also need to be moved. Said wifi move would require running a Cat6 cable from the modem room to the laundry room. No problemo - I've made and run plenty of Cat6 in my time, so this would be a blue milk run.
First up was cutting holes in drywall. Because you are an avid reader of the New House Blog, you will recall that I am not averse to cutting holes in drywall. But this project marked the first time I had cut into ceiling drywall. As you can see, my first attempt at locating the stud was not completely successful. D'oh!
This is the ceiling hole in the laundry room. If you look closely (or zoom in (or click on the photo to enlarge)), you will notice all of the yellow romex lines I had to work around and among. My plan was to run the cable up through the wall in the modem room, through the crawlspace above the ceiling, and down the wall in the laundry room.
In this photo you can see my fish tape bending around some PVC. Don't ask me why it's called a fish tape.
As it turned out, this project was not a blue milk run after all. I had to cut more access holes than anticipated, and running my fish tape through the ceiling was not as simple and straightforward as I had assumed it would be.
This is a view of my fish tape with the Cat6 cable firmly in its grasp as it pulls said cable through the area above the ceiling.
Tool Break Interlude
In the
previous Episode you read about a small paver project. The chisel in this photo was used on said project. It did not survive intact. Too bad - it was a good chisel while it lasted.
Pings II
In the modem room I had anticipated only needing to cut one small hole in the wall for the rj-45 jack, but due to reasons I won't go into here I had to cut and patch a rather large hole in the wall.
The end result of all of my hard work can be seen here. Holes were patched, textured, and painted. This was my first time working with canned texture, and if you don't look too closely, it doesn't look too bad. All in all, this job had several complications and challenges that I have not discussed here, but we are mostly pleased with the results.
After all of the hole-cutting, cable running, drywall dust vacuuming, patching, texturing, and painting, I was able to successfully ping our new modem. And for anyone interested in pinging my computer, my IP address is 192.168.86.33. Alternately, you can try to ping 127.0.0.1.
Weather Break
Back in February we had some cold weather.
Here's a picture of some icy trees.
Here's another icy tree.
We stayed quite warm, despite the cold exterior temperatures, thanks in part to our wonderful wood-burning fireplace.
Papayas I
We here at the New House Blog are fans of fresh fruit. At our California House we had several fruit trees, and we have planted a few at our Texas House, but we want a few more.
Behold our papaya project! Yes, we are attempting to grow whole papaya trees from seeds. The plan is to start them in pots, then separate out the strongest and healthiest into their own individual pots, and one day plant them in the actual soil somewheres around our Texas House. We are also growing an avocado tree inside (we started with two, but let's not go into that...).
Word Of Truth
This is my new Legacy Standard Bible, or LSB. It is a new English translation of the Bible. The publishers have stated it better than I can, so I will quote them, "The vision was twofold, update some of the language of the NASB, while preserving the accuracy and trustworthiness of the translation for generations to come."
https://lsbible.org/origin/ *Note: NASB = New American Standard Bible, a very trustworthy Bible translation that I used as my primary Bible for many years.
I am currently reading from the LSB and the ESV (English Standard Version).
Grow, little papayas, grow with all your
bIsh
This is a view of my fish tape with the Cat6 cable firmly in its grasp as it pulls said cable through the area above the ceiling.
