Pumps Pipes and All That Kind of Stuff

It has been mentioned that there was a plumbing situation over at the Old Place.  And it had been that way for a long time.

It was not completely a P-Factor thing, but it must be admitted that the P-Factor did figure into it.

Just a brief refresher here.

Way back in February, it was discovered that the well pump had failed.  But of course with the Topsail Trip coming up there was no point in worrying about it then.  After all, the place is only used occasionally, and has a good back-up system-

A bucket and rope!

But the problem needed to be addressed.

So the Fuzz began planning.  It really shouldn't be difficult.  He would just order a new pump and fix a couple of other small issues while he was at it.

A new pump was ordered.  But whilst researching this online, he came across something interesting.

"There are certain types of bacteria called “anaerobic bacteria” that can grow where air does not touch the water. If your well has this kind of bacteria in it, the bacteria can start to grow once it gets inside the bladder since that water is not touching air. This bacteria is usually harmless..."

"... There are only two real solutions here: 1) Install a “contact tank” with a chlorine dosing system. This type of system injects a small amount of chlorine into the water as it comes into the house. The chlorine kills off the bacteria so it can’t grow in your tank.  2) Switch back to the older technology of an air-over-water standard tank. In that kind of tank the air touches the water and this anaerobic bacteria cannot grow."

Well, there had been "stinky" water over there for some years.  In fact, The Fuzz and His Sweetie had been bringing good well water from the woods for drinking.

Solution 1 was definitely out.

Solution 2 looked good.  That had been the original type tank, and there was no stinky water then.

And it had been replaced with the new type!

But it seems that the Home Improvement Store no longer sells the old school tanks - even though they carry pumps from the same manufacturer.

(like the one purchased by The Fuzz!)

However The Fuzz was able to order the tank from someone out here in the country.

Of course this meant a bit more delay.

Which turned into even more when the company sent the wrong stuff!

But it finally came, and all the stuff made it over to the house.

The old pump and tank were cut loose.

And the new ones were moved in...

And put together.

All the pipes and wiring were hooked back up.

Then it was time to fire the thing up.

Alas.

The Fuzz wasted a lot of time trying to get that thing primed and pumping.  Finally, he gave up.

To be continued...

Gone To Pot

It may be remembered that The Fuzz had dragged an old Iron Skillet out from his pile for the campers.

Well that wasn't the only cast iron down there.

So he brought this other one out to the woods.

As can be seen, it wasn't in exactly pristine condition.

He put it out under the shed for the time being.

This was probably another manifestation of that dreaded P-Factor.

The Fuzz is actually quite fond of iron cookware.  And people seemed to discard it from time to time.  With his position on the trash truck he had the opportunity to pick a piece up from time to time.

At one time he had a set stashed out at a campsite in the woods.

Unfortunately, this stuff sorta "disappeared" on him.

Of course there were still the ones in the kitchen- just some of the skillets.

Iron does have it's limitations.  For instance it's a bad idea to cook up tomatoes (or other acidic stuff) in it.

But let's face it, what better way to fry up a mess of bacon?

In this case, The Fuzz finally faced the fact that he would never get to actually use this thing until he got it cleaned up.

So he put some wire brushes in his drill and got the worst of the rust out.

Then he brought it inside, washed it off and dried it good in the oven.

Next he coated it pretty well with some oil and popped it back in there few a few hours.

It was looking better at that point.

To finish up, The Fuzz got out a nice little piece of Fat Meat and heated it up on the stovetop.  Then he rubbed this all over the inside of the pot and lid, and put it back in the oven.

A few days later, he finished the job by cookin' up a nice mess of pork, carrots, turnips and taters.

And here we are!

By the way, it was quite tasty.

Just Keeping Up With Things

Life is going on here in the woods for The Fuzz and His Sweetie-

And a lot of other places these days!

But here at home things are pretty much normal.

Like a lot of folks, The Fuzz likes to start his morning off with a bit of coffee.

He used to use an Old School Percolator Coffee Pot on the stove.

That worked pretty well for years.

But then he got exposed to those fancy "French Press" things.

He resisted for a while, but then finally caved in.

So now he starts out heating some water in the water kettle.

Then adds some grounds to the press, and pours in the water...

Gives it a quick stir...

Puts in the plunger...

And waits.

This gives him a chance to take care of some of those other waking-up-sort-of-things.

And then after 5 minutes or so...

There's a nice hot cup waiting for him.

And there are the other daily things going on.

There's always firewood to deal with.

Which brings us to this subject.

One of The Fuzz's firewood stashes, is under this porch.

It's handy, and keeps it kinda dry.

Well the problem was that whenever it rained-

which was when he wanted dry wood,

The rain would run off of the roof and onto the back

(and down the neck!)

of the person getting it.

The Fuzz had found a couple of old gutters in his scrap pile

(a handy thing to have)

over at the Old Place.

So he had brought them out to the woods and installed one over the cat & dog food compartment by the shed.

The that "P-Factor" kicked in, and he didn't get to this porch roof.

But now, as can be seen, even that has been took care of!

Just so everyone can see-

Just keeping up with things out here in the woods.

Finally- Finishing Up

Well, yeah.

It is another case of that "P-Factor".

The Fuzz and the P-Factor go way back-

all the way to grade school and homework and stuff like that.

But this is not the time to go into that.

Remember the Shower project?

Well everything was done and in fine working order.

At least on the surface.

And while The Fuzz and His Sweetie have been enjoying those nice long hot showers-

There did remain one little detail still unfinished.

And with the cold weather moving in, it could no longer be put off.

It will be remembered that there was a considerable amount of plumbing done under the trailer.

And that is the sort of thing that can freeze if left uninsulated.

And due to that P-Factor, that was the situation.

So The Fuzz grabbed his trusty roll of Gorilla Tape, and crawled back under there.

It was a simple matter to pull the insulation back into place and tape the membrane back together.

Except for the feed lines!

With no place to put the cut-offs in the bathroom, The Fuzz had put them under the trailer.

It would have been easy enough to simply cover them up, but they needed to be accessible of course-

That's what they're for!

First he boxed the area in.

This is a shot looking up at the arrangement.

Then a bit of insulation was stuffed in-

It would be easy enough to remove if necessary.

And finally a door-

And latch.

This should be sufficient to handle these North Carolina Southern Winters.

And The Fuzz can scratch one more off of that

P-Factor List!

The "P" Factor

Ah yes- that "P" Factor!

So just what is this?

It's the reason The Fuzz has not been heard from for 20 days.

Otherwise know as Procrastination.

The Fuzz is an expert at this, having been an active* procrastinator for years now.  In fact he has become rather adept at this useful skill.

Of course there is a down side to this.

Procrastinations seem to pile up after a while until the pile is a bit hard to even see past.

Well, The Fuzz and His Sweetie have been kinda busy, in a way;

But that is no excuse.

Anyhow...

Previously The Fuzz mentioned something about things getting back to normal.  Well what is "normal" anyway?

In this case it turned out to be looking out after a grandchild whilst her usual caregiver was out of town.

(actually out of the country)

It's not that they have no experience in this matter, but it has been a few years since they were dealing with a Sweet Little 2 Year Old!

But all in all, they were glad to have the opportunity for some of that "quality time" again.

But getting back to the woods and "normal" it was time for The Fuzz to get back onto the project he had started.

He had picked up the motor for the table saw from the Electrical Motor Doctor and actually gotten the thing put back together.

Other more pressing matters (such as working up a bit of firewood!) had been taken care of, and The Fuzz felt the itch to get out into the shop again.

He had fun playing with his toys-

and even made a slight improvement to the design.

And here's a look at the new arrangement.

It seems to have turned out rather well.

Now the rest is up to His Sweetie.

*as if this word can be applied to the phenomenom!