A Good Day to Fix Something

Today started a little differently.

I was actually out of bed by 9:30 for a business meeting.

By 10:00 I was right back in bed waiting for the first hummingbird to show up at the feeder.

Unfortunately, that never happened.

Before I could settle in, the driveway alarm went off.

I looked outside and saw a white pickup truck pulling into camp.

I jumped out of bed, threw some clothes on, and headed outside to investigate while Wyatt remained inside sounding the alarm about the intruder.

Thankfully it wasn't an intruder at all.

It was the garbage company dropping off our new garbage cans.

After that excitement I never made it back to bed, and sadly I didn't see a single hummingbird until just before dinner.

After the garbage truck left, I checked on the garden and sent a few photos to my partner.

Everything still looks great.

The plants are doing well, the garden looks healthy, and some of the seeds continue to show signs of sprouting.

With that done, it was time for lunch.

I had saved a chicken thigh from last night's dinner and turned it into a sandwich.

It were excellent.

After lunch, Wyatt and I loaded into the truck and headed over to the other side of the property.

The first task was finally dealing with the garbage from the workshop cleanup.

I loaded the bags into the truck and brought them over to the new garbage cans.

The cans are much larger than I expected.

Even so, I was surprised that two large garbage bags and one smaller bag filled each can.

That still left three large bags, an old air mattress, and some foam sitting next to the cans.

The garbage company did say they would take items that didn't fit inside the cans.

Do I believe they're taking all of it?

I'm taking bets now.

My guess is NO!

After that, I headed over to the main house to work on the basement.

The first project was installing the dehumidifiers.

One of them worked perfectly.

The second one was a different story.

The manufacturer had sent it nonfunctional and never wanted it returned.

Rather than throw it away, I decided to see if I could figure out what was wrong.

After a little experimenting, I discovered a sensor issue.

A couple pieces of tape later and the machine was working.

Not exactly a factory approved repair, but it was running.

With both units operating, tomorrow's job will be seeing whether they're actually pulling moisture out of the basement.

Then the plumbing parts arrived.

No more procrastinating.

No more excuses.

It was finally time to crawl under the bunkhouse.

As a reminder, the house is plumbed with polybutylene pipe, which was commonly used years ago before it was discontinued.

One of the weaknesses of these systems is the aluminum crimp rings.

Over time they can deform, allowing the pipe to slowly work its way off the fitting.

After doing some research, that seemed to match exactly what I was seeing.

My original plan was simple.

Replace the crimp ring and see if the fitting could be reused.

If that didn't work, I had already purchased polybutylene to PEX adapters and would replace the fitting entirely.

In the end, I had to cut the old crimp off the pipe.

Fortunately there was still enough pipe remaining to slide it back onto the fitting.

I installed a new crimp ring, grabbed the crimping tool, and locked everything back together.

Then came the moment of truth.

I pulled my tools out from under the house and turned the water on slowly.

For about fifteen minutes I let the system fill.

Eventually water began flowing from the faucets.

Then I opened the well valve completely and allowed the system to fully pressurize.

Thirty minutes passed.

No leaks.

The repair held.

No new leaks appeared anywhere else.

Success.

Well, sort of.

The repair itself was successful.

The problem isn't really gone.

Polybutylene pipe has a long history of failures, and the exact issue I repaired today is extremely common.

Realistically, it will happen again someday.

The long term solution is replacing the plumbing throughout the house with PEX.

Fortunately the materials aren't particularly expensive.

The challenge isn't the cost.

The challenge is the time and tight working conditions.

For now, though, the system is working.

And that's a win.

After finishing the plumbing repair, I still felt bad that Wyatt hasn't had much interaction with other dogs lately.

So we headed back to the dog park.

It's about thirty minutes away.

When we arrived, I was excited to see two dogs already there.

Unfortunately their owner informed me that her dogs weren't friendly and asked for a few minutes to leave.

So Wyatt and I waited by the truck hoping someone else might show up.

Nobody did.

Poor guy.

No play date today.

Back at the farm, I was still in work mode.

I pulled the chainsaw out of the truck and immediately noticed something unusual.

A tiny amber colored snail.

After a little research, it appeared to be a native species and was still alive.

My guess is that it had hitched a ride on one of the logs I moved yesterday from the frog pond.

Not wanting it to dry out and die, I drove it back over to the frog pond and released it.

Then I refilled the chainsaw with fuel and bar oil while Wyatt supervised.

As supervisors often do.

From there I headed to the orchard and cut up one of the trees I had taken down a few days ago.

There are still about 5 more trees to cut up... Another day!

By the time I finished it was shortly after 6:00 PM.

That meant it was time for a fire.

While waiting for the grill to warm up, a woodpecker made an appearance.

It's always nice to have a little company while sitting by the fire.

At 7:00 PM, Wyatt and I headed out on our nightly patrol up Memory Lane.

This time we stopped at the main house to check on the dehumidifiers.

While standing there I heard several familiar thuds.

The same sound that had announced a deer yesterday.

Sure enough, another deer appeared.

At this point I'm beginning to think the wildlife is doing nightly patrols too.

Back at camp, I grilled steaks for both Wyatt and me. I had some air fried onion peddles on the side. It was pretty good.

As the fire burned down, a few hummingbirds finally made their appearance at the feeders. No photos today.

I had missed them all morning, so it was nice to see them before the day ended.

As usual Wyatt who had worked incredibly hard today supervising my every move, quietly put himself to bed.

Not a bad day.

The garbage cans arrived.

The dehumidifiers are running.

The plumbing is fixed.

The garden is growing.

The wildlife is thriving.

And for the first time in a while, it feels like a few projects are actually moving off the list instead of onto it.

~Making Memories.