One
of life's rules is that nothing ever breaks or fails until late at
night, or on a weekend or holiday. And the failure is always
something that has to be lived with until a repair man can come. So,
the home well-water pump failure early last week was in keeping with
all of this.
First
problem out of the box is the inability to flush the toilet. Yes, one
flush left in the tank, but then what? In our case, there was enough
pressure left to fill each toilet once. Good for 24 hours max.
A
trip to the store to purchase 6 gallons of water for toilets, making
coffee and some hand-washing. I could have tapped some of our
emergency storage but it was quicker and easier to go to the market.
Four dollars!! Those 6 gallons can disappear in a heartbeat and they
did.
We
have always counted on being able to run the water pump in a long
emergency with a generator. But when the pump or low pressure switch
fails, that plan fails.
A
call to the pump guy brought him the next morning, prepared to
replace the pressure switch, the pump and or the holding tank.
Replacing a well water pump with a 400' vertical run is not a quick
fix but this kid had pre-planned having to do any or all of this
project.
He thinks that the motor is starting to fail and that
the motor stopped on a dead spot in the turnings where the electrical
current would not turn it on. This is not a hundreds of dollars of
repair, but thousands!!
He
got the pump started and working with some fiddling. We ruled out a
leak in the system and now are running the system until further
notice. We are fortunate to have a repair man that is reliable for
repair in a short turn around. The other positive is that this repair
man has been with us since we built the house and knows the system
well.
The
lack of water in the after will be a killer: quickly. But it can be
pre-planned for. With fresh portable water storage and a rain water
collection system, this problem can be managed.
The
storage of fresh water and a rain collection system is short
money. How much water do you and your family need on a daily
basis. Figure that out and increase the gallonage by 25%. How many
days will that give you? Think Venezuela!!
Lesson
for me this time, was how much water 2 people use through the day and
night in everyday living.
Here
is an excellent project, again, short money. Make one, set it aside
for back up along with dry sawdust. I have mentioned this option before.
…...................
MARVELS
AGENTS OF SHIELD...
...aired
last week and I need to dredge up the bottom of a crap vocabulary to
adequately cover my disappointment in how low this series has sunk.
The entertainments industry agenda is alive and well this season, but
there is no story line. None. Nada, Kaput! An excellent series to
turn on and then go outside to do chores.
Many
new actors now that need to be developed and old favorites completely
destroyed in a desperate attempt to keep the series moving ahead with
meaning and interest. The lack of talent of the writers and
producers is the best story line of all. I can go on, but only deeper
in disappointment and a fans contempt for the literal destruction of
a television series.
Maybe
Marvel is taking notes from the last of Raymond Reddington and
Elizabeth Keene's fall from a series crew utter failure to keep a
good story line alive.
We
were loyal fans, but then again what do we know?
…...................
THANK YOU JOHN WICK 3
Don't ya just love the dogs?
…....................
PLANTING
SOME HERBS
No
more gardens for us. All taken down last year and now just some
dabbling in a few fresh herbs and flowers for color yard happiness.
Cool
temperatures and rain holding on to the beginning of continuous warm
dry spring/summer days. Yes, we middle New England folks are
complaining about this too.
As
the growing season progresses, my wife and I are again going to sell
our act as older folks and just happen to stop by more often at our
younger neighbors and friends homes. They always seem to have some
extra home grown garden veggies.
“Oh,
you don't have to do that, but if you have extra and need to get rid
of some of these fresh tomatoes, zucchini, string beans and green
onions, we will be happy to help out.” “You don't have chicken
yet, huh?”
We
do not have them fooled at all. Our acting is not that good.
…...................
STEM
CELL INJECTION UP-DATE
Been
4 weeks now and I can confidently say that the injection is working.
Little things I could not do a month ago without noticeable pain I
can do now. Lifting a cup of coffee off of the table next to my arm
chair all the way to taking sips to returning it to the table. The
downward motion of buckling a safety belt in the passengers seat.
Lifting a half gallon of milk out of the fridge using my left arm.
Others!
There
are still places I cannot go with my arm. I do not know how well all
of that will improve. But I think that when all is said and done, my
every day comfort and basic close in arm movements will be worth the
endeavor. Anything beyond that will be lagniappe.
A
15-20 pound loss of weight has also helped. The diet is working and I
have not cheated once. I have wanted to: a gin and tonic, the warm
bread and butter, the chocolate cake and ice cream at a social
gathering this past weekend. Hard and all of me wanted just a sneak
taste. But that would have meant starting all over and 28 days of
good behavior lost. So, on with the program.
Now
the 4-8 week of healing and additional activities begin. Some lifting
of weights. A little testing of what is working until the shoulder
reports it has had enough.
Maintain
the diet, no alcohol, no stress and practice cautious optimism. A
check up visit with the nurse recently reinforced that this is a 6
months healing process. He explained it does take time, but from our
discussions he noted that my progress is positive. I will continue to
exercise good sense and work the time table.
Canceling
two shoulder replacement surgery appointments over the past 3 years
have been two of the best decisions of my life.
FOILING
THE ROBINS
For
some unknown reasons, the robins have found that sitting on my tuck
mirrors to poop is their only option here. Over and over and over. Every time I walk out to the
truck, a robin is sitting on a mirror. I moved the parking spot and
the robins followed.
"Not Today"
…..................
Living
in a crazy world continues on high. Coast to coast and around the
globe. No one I visit with has any good news about our tomorrows. The
divisions amongst us seems to be getting more pronounced. Regardless:
work the days, the family, the happy and prepare one more thing this
week. Check it off your list.
Thanks
for the visit.
