Monday, March 8, 2021

The tide is turning

 No Beans, this isn't another chapter in Sarge's book, but it does involve water.  

Just a quick update on what the battlefield looks like now.  21 days since Icemageddon, there are still quite a few folks without power or water.  Black Helicopters have been flying overhead regularly.

I'm hoping he's just inspecting the powerlines, but it could be the feds!


So...When last we visited, the Well Dude, a newly wealthy man, had arrived and fixed the cracked pipes from the well that provides water to our old house and our, soon to be two, guest houses.  When asked if he could work on the connections to the buildings, he stated, "his responsibilities end at the wellhead." 

So, it's back on the phone and start dialing plumbers.  After dialing 7 different numbers and not getting even an answering machine, Mrs J struck gold.  The guy was on his way back from Austin and was bored, so he answered on his cell.  Unfortunately, his wife had had back surgery (It went well, Beans, thanks for asking), so he'd not taken any jobs not knowing what his availability would be.  Since she was going to be in the hospital for a few days, he was available.  He agrees to meet with us Tuesday.

We had three parts to this project. Since we'd had to cancel reservations to the current guest house until water was restored, that was our first priority.  We had a reservation on Thursday ($$$$, Beans). Second priority was re-attaching the kitchen sink in our old house, the final phase of the renovation of the kitchen required by water damage.  Since Phase 2 of Operation "Everyone move one house clockwise" (Moving my sister into our old house) was completed, having to wash dishes in the laundry room sink, while doable, wasn't optimum.  

Yeah, I know, optimum in a disaster isn't a high priority,  however, making progress in returning to "normalcy" or a reasonable facsimile thereof, is important for one's mental health.

So, his second priority, was our old house, hereafter referred to as "My Sister's House".  Third priority was fixing her old house, "The New Guest House", in preparation for DIL and dog, Tex's arrival the last week in March. 

No problem he says, we'll get it done.  That small bit of hubris, was probably the cause of the graying of what little hair I have left. We asked him to let us know by Noon on Wednesday if he didn't think he'd get it done. It takes him a day to get the water leak in the handle of the shower fixed.  Unfortunately, the construction of the guesthouse (640 sq ft), required some tight quarters.  The plumber had played football in college, Big Guy.  Finally, he's able to get the handle off.  It's going to need replacing, but he's got the water shut off to the shower.  He turns on the water to the remainder of the house, and goes to wash his hands in the kitchen. Shortly after he turns it on, he notices the water is now leaking from the kitchen faucet where it hadn't been leaking before.



I learned quite a bit about plumbing this past week.  Apparently, water flows to the point of least resistance.  If that point goes away, it seeks other points that might have shortly before been more resistant than the first one.  

Water goes off again, Kitchen faucet comes off, another replacement needed.  I'm now scheduled for a trip to Lowes as we already know that the Sink in what will be the new guest house has a leak in the handle.  

It's only money!

 I had taken a picture of the faucets with my phone so I'd have something to guide me in getting close to a style Mrs J would like.  Show it to the Lowes plumbing guy.  He say's wait right here, goes and gets the scissor lift, jumps on and pops it up to the top of the shelving, grabs a single box and comes back down. 

Fortunately, the box contained two kitchen faucet kits, because when I asked him how many he had left, he just smiled.

Mrs J hadn't gone with me to the store to be my design approver as she had to deal with AirBnB to cancel the reservation we had scheduled for the next day.  Apparently, not having plumbing is not sufficient reason to late cancel a reservation to an AirBnB call center in some parts of the world.  Mrs J can be chillingly polite when provoked.  When the call was finally escalated to someone who spoke a more familiar brand of English, the situation was resolved.

The next day, the plumber is back and installs the faucets.  At this point, with great trepidation, I turn on the well and water is restored.  That was last Thursday, 18 days after we lost it.  Our first guest, post storm, arrived Saturday.  We explained what had happened and asked her to "PLEASE call us at any indication of water problems regardless of the time of day."

The plumber, shortly to be a very wealthy man, will be back today to get my Sister's kitchen back up and running and hopefully by the end of the week, water will be on in the new guest house.  

We must be getting closer to normalcy.  Mrs J actually found time yesterday to begin a water color painting project.

She's tracing the outline of a photograph she'd like to paint.

Peace Out, y'all!

Update

Rat's Nest? A phone charging cable and a desk lamp?  


33 comments:

  1. Hmmm - was plumbing invented by Murphy?
    Frank

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    1. Frank,
      Frankly, yes!
      Or at least when associated with me.

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  2. When it comes to home repairs the flowage of filthy lucre about equals the flowage of river water. Good to hear repairs have progressed juvat. Now about that rat's nest of an outlet in that last photo.........:)

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    1. Well, there was an awful lot of flowing going on at Rancho Juvat as well as most of the state. So the demand for Well Guys and Plumbers soared as did the price. The customers are faced with "Pay the Man" or "Go thirsty, dirty and Stinky". Mrs J would not let me even think about taking the latter option.

      Rat's Nest. Rats must be pretty neat up in your neck of the woods. See Update above. :-)

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    2. My apologies, NOT a rat's nest but time for an eye exam.........(sigh).

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    3. No worries, Nylon. When I looked at the photo, I had to go and look myself. I hear ya on eye exams. First thing I do when I open blogger is crank up the font size, my grammar is bad enough when I can actually see what I'm writing and punctuating.

      Delete
  3. One of the things I learned from dad was to have the tools and parts to do the job (since we seldom did). We had a small farm, and cutting and threading pipe were skills I learned early. Digging and repairing in the hole was just YUK!, but I can do it. I don't know how to be comfortable without the tools handy to meet what may come.

    Hope it all wrings out for you.

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    Replies
    1. STxAR,
      That skillset would definitely have been handy in this circumstance. Pipe threading skills would be useful even in my day to day existence.
      I do have a pretty good tool kit in the back of my truck to handle most problems around here. Another one in my office at the house. Anything not there is in my workshop. Anything I need that's not in one of those three locations is either lost or above my skill level to use, so time to reach for my phone and wallet. Not that I don't try and watch the professional and try and learn.

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    2. ARPaladin: Have pipe cutter, will travel.

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    3. There was a couple of times in the last two weeks when phones were not getting answered, I would have called.

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  4. We will do a large amount of home plumbing, but we do know when something is beyond our skill set.

    Fingers crossed that normal stays for a long visit.

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    Replies
    1. A guy has got to know his limitations, my plumbing limitation was reached very early on in the episode.

      Thanks

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  5. Makes me appreciate the accomplishments of the Romans all the more, as they had no Home Depot or Lowe’s...

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I thought about that a bit as I was digging for the shutoff valve in single digit temps standing in water.

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  6. Glad to hear that the tide is finally turning. Sounds like it's finding all the weak spots in your plumbing!

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    1. Thanks, Boss! I'm sincerely praying that the verb in your last sentence is now past tense.

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  7. Wow!! Just Wow!!

    I have no words, just prayers for you and Mrs. J that this entire episode comes to a rapid and happy conclusion, without completely breaking the bank.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Suz! Prayers is good. We're actually pretty well off comparably. There are still quite a few people in the county without electricity/water. Our guest's that left on the first day we lost power, checked into a hotel in town. They said they'd gotten one of the last rooms. The rest were filled with locals from the outlying farms that had nothing. As I've driven around town lately, those parking lots are still pretty full, so I think it's still an issue and I've heard it's pretty much the same throughout the state although it is getting better. Provided something else doesn't happen, we should be back to at least semi-normal shortly. So, your prayers seem to be working, keep up the good work! :-)

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  8. In defense of plumbers (my late son was one before he went into the Army) their overhead is something many people don't see.

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    1. I've spent a lot of time with the plumber over the last few days, playing Step'in Fetchit for him. It's been interesting and I know what you mean. It's even worse now because EVERYBODY needs PVC and Faucets and Valves and....So maybe it's the Lowes and Home Depot and the like that are getting very wealthy. I'm just grateful he answered the phone.

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    2. I was a gopher in my apprentice days... Gopher this, gopher that, I wish I was a rabbit.

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    3. Well, I felt it was in my best interest. If I could bring him the tools he needed without getting in the way, it might make the job get done quicker. Besides he's an interesting guy (which may be the subject of a future blog) and I learned quite a bit. Not enough to have done the job, but a better understanding of the system.

      Delete
  9. Yikes. What a mess.

    So.

    How's the planning on PumpHouse going?

    Glad things are returning to 'meh' okay levels. Just think, in 3-6 months everything will be A-OKAY, just in time for Hurricane Season.

    Any plans on getting a whole house generator?

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    Replies
    1. We went through a lot of our reserve cash dealing with the water issues. However, guests have been making reservations. I'm about to go and help Mrs J quick turn the guest house from our first post flood guest to our second. We don't have any open nights for the next week, so once cash reserves are available, the Well House is #1 on the list.
      Once that's done and again cash reserves reset, we'll be looking into the WHG. Got a lot of good info on options from you guys a couple of weeks ago, so thanks to all y'all.

      Delete
  10. I've been chasing plumbing bug-a-boos for the last two weeks. The exterior water leaks were simple repairs. The very rare drain problems were slow to be found, but so far, they seem to be repaired.

    During my career, I've worked on some onerous plumbing issues, and most were freeze related. I've been blessed, since somethin I finally figured out to handle.

    My wife uses colored pencils for her art. She tried paints, but with here demand for perfection, paint dries too fast for her work. Pencils allow her to ponder, change, and finally decide she is disgusted with her drawing. Me? I'm amazed, but all of my praise doesn't make her happy with what I consider masterpieces.

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    1. Thanks Jess. Mrs J has been youtubing water color painting for a couple of months now. Her "practice" paintings are WAAAY better than I could ever do. I'm really looking forward to seeing this final product.
      As to plumbing...I can hook a horse trough up to a PVC water supply and repair any leaks that may subsequently happen, but this episode was way (way, way,way....) beyond my capacity. To get it done quickly and correctly was worth more for my sanity than the money spent.

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  11. Pop, my stepdad, was taught many aspects of the construction trades as a youth. Plumbing was one of them. He attempted to pas his knowledge along. I now know enough to be dangerous. My checkbook, or credit card is the best tool. We never delved into the electrical aspect and I learned enough about it from the Navy that I won’t got anywhere outside of replace plug covers.

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    1. Knowing one's limitations is underrated as a good trait to have, Skip. I too am a believer in reaching for my wallet early in a project. I've found it to generally be a less expensive fix. I'm with you on electricity also.

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  12. Good to hear things are settling down, and the BnB is back in operation.

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    1. Thanks DrJim,
      Always nice to have money coming in...especially when a lot is going out!

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  13. Now that you have water, the Mrs. can do her water color project? haha. Glad things are finally getting back to somewhat normal. We need to keep telling kids that college isn't necessary- being your plumber is enough to pay their mortgage!

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  14. Yay for normalcy! And yes, fix one leak, find at least one more, and, and... sigh

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  15. A moat can be useful for storing water...jes' sayin'.....

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