Well, another bit of the great 2011 water leak has come up. I got my monthly water bill. It looks like the leak most likely started in late March because there was a slight up-tick in usage. It wasn't enough of a change to make me really sit up and take notice. I'm sure when I got March's bill, I just put it down to my taking longer showers or something similar.
However, April's bill is when the monthly usage really goes off the charts. I'll bet the leak was fairly active for a while before it finally got around to leaking through into the house. Ah, well.
I can't be too unhappy because the leak kicked me out of my rut of hoping there wouldn't be any more leaks and got me started in the right direction of fixing the problem and stopping the opportunities for future leaks. Giving me much needed peace of mind.
Onto related thoughts - here in New Mexico, rock lawns are very popular due to the lack of moisture. (After all, Albuquerque is located in a high desert area - low rain and high altitude.) For those who are not familiar with rock lawns, instead of grass lawns we have front and back yards where black plastic is laid over the bare soil and then several tons of pea-sized gravel are poured on top and smoothed down into a thin, uniform layer.
I have never been fond of rock lawns, although it has meant I didn't have to mow the lawn. Several years ago I heard of an idea for a thyme lawn. So I've decided to start one of my own. Where the plumbers had to dig the trench to lay the new main water line from the meter to the house, they had to remove the plastic from that area. I've decided to start my new thyme lawn along that trench and then expand it slowly across the rest of the yard. It should ultimately be pleasing to the eye and also pleasant to smell. And I'll never have to mow it!
So far I've just got one plant put in - a small woolly thyme. It's listed as a ground cover and is a nice green grey. I'm not sure if I'll use more than one type of thyme or just bung in several varieties. I'll have to think on that a bit. Now that warm weather's here, I do need to remember to water it regularly. If I recall correctly, it should help the effort by spreading out a bit on its own.
Papillon
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Random Things
My plumbing project came to an official end this past Monday (4/4). When the plumbers were working on my house, they had to go into the attic crawlspace. The panel giving access to that area is made of drywall. The original panel was original to the house and due to its age was rather fragile. A corner was accidentally broken off and the plumbers said they'd replace it. Unfortunately, they were busy with other people's leaks during the last week of March so we scheduled for panel replacement on Monday the 4th. The plumber showed up a bit late (he called and let me know) due to yet more leaks elsewhere, but I now have a new attic access panel. As the plumber was leaving, I said, "you guys did a great job and I really appreciate it, but I hope I don't see you for a very long time." The plumber smiled and agreed with me.
Since then things have gotten back to normal.
For those who don't know, I belong to an informal quilt group that meets once a month. Sometimes we quilt, sometimes we don't. We've known each other for the better part of 20 years and always have a good time when we get together. This year we decided to have a group project. For that, each of us brought in a yard of 'mystery' fabric whose identity was hidden in a brown paper sack. We each drew a sack and now have to make a project of our choosing using the fabric and employing a log cabin block of our choice for the pattern. I've been working away on my project and have now gotten the top about 95% done. The design is done and now I just need to decided on what to do for the borders. I think I'll use my mystery fabric (turquoise background with a brown vine design) as a narrow inner border. I'll put a wider border on the outside. I've been looking for something in a nice chocolate brown on brown. I found one that was close but didn't really quite make the cut (pun intended). I've seen some lovely tone on tone fabrics, but not a lot in a nice deep brown. Rats!
Anyway, here's a picture of the top as it stands so far.
I call it 'A Cheerful Heart'. It's based on a pattern in an older quilt book that I have. I'm not doing the pattern exactly as shown in the book since it involves doing applique flowers on the bottom point of the heart. One, I think the flowers make it look fussy. Two, I hate, hate, HATE doing applique. It makes my neck muscles tense up just to think about doing applique. So, I won't, I won't, I WON'T!
Now that I've got that little tantrum out of my system, I'm off to surf the net.
Papillon
Since then things have gotten back to normal.
For those who don't know, I belong to an informal quilt group that meets once a month. Sometimes we quilt, sometimes we don't. We've known each other for the better part of 20 years and always have a good time when we get together. This year we decided to have a group project. For that, each of us brought in a yard of 'mystery' fabric whose identity was hidden in a brown paper sack. We each drew a sack and now have to make a project of our choosing using the fabric and employing a log cabin block of our choice for the pattern. I've been working away on my project and have now gotten the top about 95% done. The design is done and now I just need to decided on what to do for the borders. I think I'll use my mystery fabric (turquoise background with a brown vine design) as a narrow inner border. I'll put a wider border on the outside. I've been looking for something in a nice chocolate brown on brown. I found one that was close but didn't really quite make the cut (pun intended). I've seen some lovely tone on tone fabrics, but not a lot in a nice deep brown. Rats!
Anyway, here's a picture of the top as it stands so far.
I call it 'A Cheerful Heart'. It's based on a pattern in an older quilt book that I have. I'm not doing the pattern exactly as shown in the book since it involves doing applique flowers on the bottom point of the heart. One, I think the flowers make it look fussy. Two, I hate, hate, HATE doing applique. It makes my neck muscles tense up just to think about doing applique. So, I won't, I won't, I WON'T!
Now that I've got that little tantrum out of my system, I'm off to surf the net.
Papillon
Monday, April 4, 2011
Putting a Period on It
The plumber came by for the (hopefully) final time today. It really wasn't a truly plumbing related visit. During the 're-pipe the house' project, at one point the access panel to the attic crawl space had a large corner broken off. It was a piece of wall board cut to fit the opening. Since it was original to the house, it had gotten rather fragile with age.
I really didn't expect it, but the plumber offered to fix it. I, of course, said OK. Originally, the plumber said he'd bring the replacement sometime late last week. He got busy and couldn't make it.
We scheduled him to come by this morning. Shortly before the scheduled time, he called and say he was running late. He arrived and I now have a new access panel for my attic crawl space. Plus, the plumber got to pick up the tape measure that one of the workers had left behind.
Win-win all the way around.
As the plumber was leaving, I said, "Don't take this the wrong way because you've been very nice and very professional, but I hope I don't see you again for a VERY LONG TIME!" He smiled and agreed with me.
All in all, it's nice to have everything back to normal.
Papillon
I really didn't expect it, but the plumber offered to fix it. I, of course, said OK. Originally, the plumber said he'd bring the replacement sometime late last week. He got busy and couldn't make it.
We scheduled him to come by this morning. Shortly before the scheduled time, he called and say he was running late. He arrived and I now have a new access panel for my attic crawl space. Plus, the plumber got to pick up the tape measure that one of the workers had left behind.
Win-win all the way around.
As the plumber was leaving, I said, "Don't take this the wrong way because you've been very nice and very professional, but I hope I don't see you again for a VERY LONG TIME!" He smiled and agreed with me.
All in all, it's nice to have everything back to normal.
Papillon
Friday, March 25, 2011
Bummer - An Update
The plumbing in my home is now fixed and well insulated and working. Hooray!
It's nice to know that the next time the temperatures drop below freezing, I don't have to worry that the pipes leading to my bathroom fixtures will freeze as well.
I also can stop worrying that a new leak could pop up at any time, especially in light of having 25+ year-old poly-butylene (sp?) pipes.
Plus I have several small projects that had been needing to be done that were taken care of as part of the re-piping project - like new water connections for the washer/dryer.
All in all, a good ending to a bad episode. Now I get to spend the weekend with an open trench in the front yard and several openings in the walls where the new pipes were threaded in. They can't be closed up until the City of Rio Rancho sends somebody out to inspect the work. But it's OK, I can live with that.
Papillon
It's nice to know that the next time the temperatures drop below freezing, I don't have to worry that the pipes leading to my bathroom fixtures will freeze as well.
I also can stop worrying that a new leak could pop up at any time, especially in light of having 25+ year-old poly-butylene (sp?) pipes.
Plus I have several small projects that had been needing to be done that were taken care of as part of the re-piping project - like new water connections for the washer/dryer.
All in all, a good ending to a bad episode. Now I get to spend the weekend with an open trench in the front yard and several openings in the walls where the new pipes were threaded in. They can't be closed up until the City of Rio Rancho sends somebody out to inspect the work. But it's OK, I can live with that.
Papillon
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Less Bummed
Well, the plumbers showed up today. The work is about 90% finished and I am now back to having water available. So VERY nice!
I called the insurance company and they might pay for a portion of the work. Because what I'm doing is considered preventative, the insurance company is not willing to pay for everything. I got an estimate from the plumber showing what would have been the costs if I had chosen to just repair the leak and then held my breath for the next umpteen years waiting for the next leak to bust loose.
I'll be sending the estimate to the insurance company and then we'll see what they decide to pay. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Papillon
I called the insurance company and they might pay for a portion of the work. Because what I'm doing is considered preventative, the insurance company is not willing to pay for everything. I got an estimate from the plumber showing what would have been the costs if I had chosen to just repair the leak and then held my breath for the next umpteen years waiting for the next leak to bust loose.
I'll be sending the estimate to the insurance company and then we'll see what they decide to pay. Keeping my fingers crossed!
Papillon
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Bummer!
I'm sitting here at 11:30 PM and feeling rather bummed out.
I'd been having a fairly normal day. No big deals. No problems.
I was in the bathroom around 6:30 PM & it was dry as a bone. Then, around 7:15 PM I walked into the bathroom and started splashing as I walked. PROBLEM! By the time I noticed it, the water was about 1/8th inch deep in the bathroom and was headed down the hallway.
I put a bunch of sponges down to try & stem the flow & sprinted over to my neighbor (a handyman kind of guy) to ask if he could help me shut off the main valve at the meter. Believe it or not, he actually has one of those wand tools that is designed to shut off the valve with a minimum of fuss. Which he did. I then went back inside to start mopping things up and also to call a plumber.
I tried calling the plumber I'd used on the past 2 plumbing problems. I discovered they don't have 24 hour emergency service. Since I didn't notice the leak until well after 5:00 PM, they were out of the equation. Having seen a RotoRooter truck doing work at a couple of houses down the street after February's freeze, I called them. The supervisor said all their work crews were booked for the evening and suggested I call someone else. I then called a plumbing firm that I'd used several years ago for a small leak at the T-joint behind the kitchen sink. They'd done good work then, so decided to use them again.
They had a crews out on several jobs but said they could get someone out if I didn't mind waiting. I said OK. A tech called around 9:15 PM and said he was finishing up a job and could be at my house in 45 minutes. I said OK and then sprinted down the hill to Walmart to use their bathroom. Thank goodness for stores that are open 24 hours a day!
Side note: when you ask people a question, why do they give you an answer and then say - oh, but you might want to disregard what I just told you? When I walked into Walmart I asked the employee near the door where their restrooms were. He pointed to one near the front of the store. Then he said - but you probably won't want to use THAT bathroom since they called for housekeeping to clean it and nobody's been in in yet. Sigh. He then said there were bathrooms at the back of the store. Why not just say - the bathrooms at the front of the store are out of commission so you should just head to the back?
In any case, the plumber showed up around 10:00 PM. I was hoping it was something small. It wasn't. It was coming from under the slab. Sigh. The plumber gave me two options. He could fix the leak which would involve jackhammering through the slab. Unfortunately, I could expect more leaks in the future since I have that poly-whatever piping which has been discredited in recent years. This is also the fourth leak I've had to fix in the past however many years - including one several years ago which did require jackhammering through the slab.
I decided to go for Plan B. This would be re-piping the house. (Although the price is about what I expected, I do have room on my credit card - thank goodness.) The plumber did a whole lot of explaining what would be involved. Interestingly - there will be no jackhammering. What they will do is replace the water line from the meter to the house. They will then run a pipe inside the wall up to the crawl space and then run the pipe over to the area of the house where my pipes are located. (Note: I have one bathroom. It and the laundry area and the kitchen area are all located in one area of the house. This makes it easier to do the work). They will then replace all poly-whatever pipes in the work area. In addition, they're replacing all the turn-on/turn off fittings. Plus they will put a main turn-off valve inside the house so in case of future leaks I can sprint into my bedroom and turn things off instead of sprinting out into the front yard. Much nicer. Plus, I've had a few turn on/turn off fittings that really need to be replaced. These will be replaced as part of the work. Oh, and they will also be putting some insulation in so I won't have to worry as much in the future. (The builder put NO, absolutely NONE, insulation in the area where the pipes are located. Was this stupid or what. Cheap jerks.) I decided to go with this plan since I'm still 'between jobs' and I might as well take the time to do it now instead of worrying that when I get a job - I'd come home one day to a flooded home due to yet another leak.
The plumber said he could have someone out to start the work tomorrow morning - around 9:00 AM or so. The job should take about 1 1/2 days. The plumber said he'd guarantee that by the end of day one I will have toilet use. Day two should be involved with insulating the pipe area. (Another good note - the price I was quoted is the final price - the plumber guaranteed I would not be hit with any surprise 'extras'.)
After the plumber left, I went back down the hill to Walmart. I bought three 24-packs of bottled water. This way I have water to brush teeth. Fortunately I washed my hair last night and should be able to stretch things until the water's back on. If I really need to pee - I can use a bunch of the bottled water to fill the toilet tank. Otherwise, there's always Walmart.
In the meantime, I'm curtailing my fluid intake.
Papillon
I'd been having a fairly normal day. No big deals. No problems.
I was in the bathroom around 6:30 PM & it was dry as a bone. Then, around 7:15 PM I walked into the bathroom and started splashing as I walked. PROBLEM! By the time I noticed it, the water was about 1/8th inch deep in the bathroom and was headed down the hallway.
I put a bunch of sponges down to try & stem the flow & sprinted over to my neighbor (a handyman kind of guy) to ask if he could help me shut off the main valve at the meter. Believe it or not, he actually has one of those wand tools that is designed to shut off the valve with a minimum of fuss. Which he did. I then went back inside to start mopping things up and also to call a plumber.
I tried calling the plumber I'd used on the past 2 plumbing problems. I discovered they don't have 24 hour emergency service. Since I didn't notice the leak until well after 5:00 PM, they were out of the equation. Having seen a RotoRooter truck doing work at a couple of houses down the street after February's freeze, I called them. The supervisor said all their work crews were booked for the evening and suggested I call someone else. I then called a plumbing firm that I'd used several years ago for a small leak at the T-joint behind the kitchen sink. They'd done good work then, so decided to use them again.
They had a crews out on several jobs but said they could get someone out if I didn't mind waiting. I said OK. A tech called around 9:15 PM and said he was finishing up a job and could be at my house in 45 minutes. I said OK and then sprinted down the hill to Walmart to use their bathroom. Thank goodness for stores that are open 24 hours a day!
Side note: when you ask people a question, why do they give you an answer and then say - oh, but you might want to disregard what I just told you? When I walked into Walmart I asked the employee near the door where their restrooms were. He pointed to one near the front of the store. Then he said - but you probably won't want to use THAT bathroom since they called for housekeeping to clean it and nobody's been in in yet. Sigh. He then said there were bathrooms at the back of the store. Why not just say - the bathrooms at the front of the store are out of commission so you should just head to the back?
In any case, the plumber showed up around 10:00 PM. I was hoping it was something small. It wasn't. It was coming from under the slab. Sigh. The plumber gave me two options. He could fix the leak which would involve jackhammering through the slab. Unfortunately, I could expect more leaks in the future since I have that poly-whatever piping which has been discredited in recent years. This is also the fourth leak I've had to fix in the past however many years - including one several years ago which did require jackhammering through the slab.
I decided to go for Plan B. This would be re-piping the house. (Although the price is about what I expected, I do have room on my credit card - thank goodness.) The plumber did a whole lot of explaining what would be involved. Interestingly - there will be no jackhammering. What they will do is replace the water line from the meter to the house. They will then run a pipe inside the wall up to the crawl space and then run the pipe over to the area of the house where my pipes are located. (Note: I have one bathroom. It and the laundry area and the kitchen area are all located in one area of the house. This makes it easier to do the work). They will then replace all poly-whatever pipes in the work area. In addition, they're replacing all the turn-on/turn off fittings. Plus they will put a main turn-off valve inside the house so in case of future leaks I can sprint into my bedroom and turn things off instead of sprinting out into the front yard. Much nicer. Plus, I've had a few turn on/turn off fittings that really need to be replaced. These will be replaced as part of the work. Oh, and they will also be putting some insulation in so I won't have to worry as much in the future. (The builder put NO, absolutely NONE, insulation in the area where the pipes are located. Was this stupid or what. Cheap jerks.) I decided to go with this plan since I'm still 'between jobs' and I might as well take the time to do it now instead of worrying that when I get a job - I'd come home one day to a flooded home due to yet another leak.
The plumber said he could have someone out to start the work tomorrow morning - around 9:00 AM or so. The job should take about 1 1/2 days. The plumber said he'd guarantee that by the end of day one I will have toilet use. Day two should be involved with insulating the pipe area. (Another good note - the price I was quoted is the final price - the plumber guaranteed I would not be hit with any surprise 'extras'.)
After the plumber left, I went back down the hill to Walmart. I bought three 24-packs of bottled water. This way I have water to brush teeth. Fortunately I washed my hair last night and should be able to stretch things until the water's back on. If I really need to pee - I can use a bunch of the bottled water to fill the toilet tank. Otherwise, there's always Walmart.
In the meantime, I'm curtailing my fluid intake.
Papillon
Thursday, March 17, 2011
A Day Late (or Thereabouts)
I'm not sure why I didn't post this sooner - just laziness, I guess.
Last Friday was a lovely day. I'd heard there was a display of tulips being held at the Botanic Garden as a follow-up to the display of cyclamens (mentioned in an earlier post). I like tulips so I thought I'd head on down and enjoy the weather.
I got to the Botanic Garden and decided that the first thing I would do is ride the train. Now, this is not a full-sized train. This is a smaller version that is designed to chug its way around a route that encompasses parts of the Botanic Garden, Tingley Beach and the zoo. Here's a photo of the engine:
There are actually 2 different trains, usually heading in opposite directions from each other. Each train has 4 cars, 2 that are open and 2 that are partly enclosed. I chose to ride in one of the semi-enclosed cars, here's a photo from the inside looking towards the engine.
It's a pleasant ride, if a little noisy - some banging and clanging as the train rolls along. It's definitely not some sort of high-speed amusement park ride. Gauging by the people we encountered along the ride it was faster than a walker, about the same speed as a jogger and slightly slower than someone on a bicycle. All in all, it takes about an hour to make the full ride, not a bad way to enjoy a lovely spring day.
When I got done with the train ride, I went to see if I could find the tulip display I'd read about. I discovered nary a tulip bloom in sight. I'm thinking there may be a display in the near future, but someone gave the wrong dates to the newspaper.
It wasn't a total waste. There was a magnificently blooming amaryllis.
Plus, here are some photos of some of the local duck population. First of all, a male wood duck.
I have a fond place in my heart for wood ducks. For years I entered my needlepoint in the Texas State Fair. And for years, the best I could do was several second place finishes. Then, one year I entered 3 items and they ALL won first place ribbons. One of the entries was a picture of a male wood duck. Gotta love 'em!
Next we have a male mallard. He's just coming out of the pond and is giving me a hard look to make sure of the following: 1) that I'm not a dangerous carnivore preying on mallard ducks, and 2) that I don't have any food to share.
I like mallards because they were one of the first ducks I could identify when I was very much younger.
Have a lovely spring! And love to all the folks trying to survive following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Papillon
Last Friday was a lovely day. I'd heard there was a display of tulips being held at the Botanic Garden as a follow-up to the display of cyclamens (mentioned in an earlier post). I like tulips so I thought I'd head on down and enjoy the weather.
I got to the Botanic Garden and decided that the first thing I would do is ride the train. Now, this is not a full-sized train. This is a smaller version that is designed to chug its way around a route that encompasses parts of the Botanic Garden, Tingley Beach and the zoo. Here's a photo of the engine:
There are actually 2 different trains, usually heading in opposite directions from each other. Each train has 4 cars, 2 that are open and 2 that are partly enclosed. I chose to ride in one of the semi-enclosed cars, here's a photo from the inside looking towards the engine.
It's a pleasant ride, if a little noisy - some banging and clanging as the train rolls along. It's definitely not some sort of high-speed amusement park ride. Gauging by the people we encountered along the ride it was faster than a walker, about the same speed as a jogger and slightly slower than someone on a bicycle. All in all, it takes about an hour to make the full ride, not a bad way to enjoy a lovely spring day.
When I got done with the train ride, I went to see if I could find the tulip display I'd read about. I discovered nary a tulip bloom in sight. I'm thinking there may be a display in the near future, but someone gave the wrong dates to the newspaper.
It wasn't a total waste. There was a magnificently blooming amaryllis.
Plus, here are some photos of some of the local duck population. First of all, a male wood duck.
I have a fond place in my heart for wood ducks. For years I entered my needlepoint in the Texas State Fair. And for years, the best I could do was several second place finishes. Then, one year I entered 3 items and they ALL won first place ribbons. One of the entries was a picture of a male wood duck. Gotta love 'em!
Next we have a male mallard. He's just coming out of the pond and is giving me a hard look to make sure of the following: 1) that I'm not a dangerous carnivore preying on mallard ducks, and 2) that I don't have any food to share.
I like mallards because they were one of the first ducks I could identify when I was very much younger.
Have a lovely spring! And love to all the folks trying to survive following the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
Papillon
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