#low water pressure water heater

[hitechhotwater]

Once you've diagnosed the issue, there are several steps you can take to improve the low water pressure in your hot water system

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[furnacerepair7]

DIY Pool Furnace Repair: A Step-by-Step Guide

Pool Heater Not Working: Identifying the Problem When your pool heater is not working, it can be frustrating, especially when you’re looking forward to a warm swim. The first step in addressing this issue is identifying the problem. There are several reasons why your pool heater might not be functioning properly. These can range from simple issues like a tripped circuit breaker to more complex…

[911plumbinghouston]

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[fontainesplumbingheating]

Fontaine's Plumbing & Heating

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[winterrrnight]

husband!rafe just doing the little things like turning on the car ac, tracking his wife’s period, buying her skincare products when she runs low

ouuuhhhh my goddddd I am going feral over this cause this is just so accurate!!!

part of this little universe <3

rafe is just always making sure that his lovely goddess of a wife doesn't feel out of her comfort zone at all.

she usually goes to her work before he leaves to get to the business, so while she is getting ready, he goes to their driveway to do a quick check of her car.

he checks the tires once for their air pressure, he checks the engine every now and then, checks if the car has enough gas or not (even when he got the tank full just the previous day).

if there is any issue, he gets to fixing it immediately. lets say the tank was almost empty, he would've taken it to the nearest gas station and would've bought it back before she is even done getting ready.

once he gives a green light to everything, he turns on the ac to cool the car before she comes (or the heater if it is winters).

next topic of agenda: her periods.

he always keeps a mental note of her period dates so he can estimate when she'll get them the next month.

when he knows she's going to her period in a matter of days, he does some... preparations.

preparations include stocking up on everything she craves when she is on her periods: sweets, chocolates, ice cream, candy; you name it, he has it.

if she tends to have bad cramps, he keeps hot water bottles ready for her.

at night when she feels troubled from the pain and can't sleep, he gently rubs her tummy, lower abdomen, thighs; wherever her cramps are bothering her.

if she tends to have mood swings, he stays as gentle as he can with her, always talking to her softly and just simply taking care of her.

and the last one!!!! personally I'm here for that😚he keeps a good check on her skincare products and how close they are to finishing.

he has her skincare routine memorized, he knows the steps and he knows the products and the brands she uses.

in fact I strongly hc that his wife is the one who got him into skincare too!!

"sunscreen is important and there's no way I'm letting you leave the house without it."

she only had to say it once; he always listens to his goddess.

but yeah, he keeps a check on the products, and sometimes his wife is surprised to see she has received a skincare package but then she realises she was running low on those specific products.

and if his wife likes to do make up, I feel this applies to that too!!

he heard her talking about this eyeshadow palette, and bam! it's on their porch in a few days. (probably the very same day cause he is a proud amazon prime member and wants his wife to get her gifts as quick as possible 😁).

(share any of your husband!rafe thoughts and headcanons or for drew/rafe/zach! sfw only <3)

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning - occurs when carbon monoxide gas is inhaled.

CO - a colorless, odorless, highly poisonous gas.

Produced by incomplete combustion.

Interferes with the ability of the blood to carry oxygen.

Found in: automobile exhaust fumes, faulty stoves and heating systems, fires, and cigarette smoke.

Other sources: woodburning stoves, kerosene heaters, improperly ventilated water heaters and gas stoves, and blocked or poorly maintained chimney flues.

The result is headache, nausea, convulsions, and finally death by asphyxiation.

Symptoms

The symptoms of CO poisoning in order of increasing severity include:

headache

shortness of breath

dizziness

fatigue

mental confusion and difficulty thinking

loss of fine hand-eye coordination

nausea and vomiting

rapid heart rate

hallucinations

inability to execute voluntary movements accurately

collapse

lowered body temperature (hypothermia)

coma

convulsions

seriously low blood pressure

cardiac and respiratory failure

death

In some cases, the skin, mucous membranes, and nails of a person with CO poisoning are cherry red or bright pink. Because the color change doesn’t always occur, it is an unreliable symptom to rely on for diagnosis.

Although most CO poisoning is acute, or sudden, it is possible to suffer from chronic CO poisoning. This condition exists when a person is exposed to low levels of the gas over a period of days to months.

Symptoms are often vague and include (in order of frequency) fatigue, headache, dizziness, sleep disturbances, cardiac symptoms, apathy, nausea, and memory disturbances.

Little is known about chronic CO poisoning, and it is often misdiagnosed.

Treatment

Immediate treatment: Remove the victim from the source of carbon monoxide gas and get him or her into fresh air.

If the victim is not breathing and has no pulse, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) should be started.

Depending on the severity of the poisoning, 100% oxygen may be given with a tight fitting mask as soon as it is available.

Taken with other symptoms of CO poisoning, COHb levels of over 25% in healthy individuals, over 15% in patients with a history of heart or lung disease, and over 10% in pregnant women usually indicate the need for hospitalization.

In the hospital, fluids and electrolytes are given to correct any imbalances that have arisen from the breakdown of cellular metabolism.

In severe cases of CO poisoning, patients are given hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This treatment involves placing the patient in a chamber breathing 100% oxygen at a pressure of more than one atmosphere (the normal pressure the atmosphere exerts at sea level). The increased pressure forces more oxygen into the blood.

Prevention

Carbon monoxide poisoning is preventable.

Particular care should be paid to situations where fuel is burned in a confined area. Portable and permanently installed carbon monoxide detectors that sound a warning similar to smoke detectors are available for less than $50.

Specific actions that will prevent CO poisoning include:

Stopping smoking. Smokers have less tolerance to environmental CO.

Having heating systems and appliances installed by a qualified contractor to assure that they are properly vented and meet local building codes

Inspecting and properly maintaining heating systems, chimneys, and appliances

Not using a gas oven or stove to heat the home

Not burning charcoal indoors

Making sure there is good ventilation if using a kerosene heater indoors

Not leaving cars or trucks running inside the garage

Keeping car windows rolled up when stuck in heavy traffic, especially if inside a tunnel.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Poison ⚜ Fictional Poisons

[valuewaterheaters]

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[n1ghteeea]

hi feel free to ignore this but……..do you have any egon/egon-centric polybusters headcanons….perchance………..i absolutely adore your headcanons :)

Ohhh, you asked the right person, buddy 💪

Cw: cheesy at times. Also long. Sorry!!

Sometimes Egon goes days without rest and proper food / water intake due to hyperfocusing on his work and research. The guys obviously worry because he literally exhausts himself, and often isn’t able to tell that he physically needs to stop. So they have no choice but to take on the mission of dragging him out of the lab for his own sake. Words and logic never help because he easily fights them with his own, so they use something he isn’t so good at: affection 💪

They don’t even have to do much: one of them comes to him from the back, hugs him, rests their head on his shoulder and just says nice relaxing things in a soft tone - and it works every single time. He acts like he hates it, but he’s actually very thankful to them for not letting him crash out in the lab. This method might be a bit embarrassing, but hey - if it works, it works!!

Also sometimes Peter abuses it, but what did you expect, it’s Peter 🤷 Egon can never be mad anyway, not really.

Overall, I imagine that Egon isn’t very affectionate. Physical touch is definitely not his love language, but when he does feel like it, soft stuff works best on him. Teasing is fun and all, but gentle hugs, caresses and words melt him on spot (and the others know it all too well).

Another thing (super basic, sorry) is that Egon has low blood pressure and consequently constantly cold hands (projecting? maybe). During winter they get really, really bad, so whenever they have some relaxing group activities, for example, movie nights, Ray or Winston hold his hands in theirs to heat them up (they are human heaters, trust me on this one).

Another vision I have is that Egon is shortsighted and sometimes gets visually overwhelmed, especially after multiple days without proper rest. Basically, his eyes wander around uncontrollably, taking everything in, thinking, analysing and overwhelming his mind. In order to calm him down the guys take off his glasses, forcing him to only see their faces in close proximity, so his mind has no choice but to shut up (Ray came up with that in college when Egon would grade papers throughout the day and then stay in the lab till the dead of night).

Oh yes, college!! Based on an unconfirmed wiki trivia fact, I hc that when Ray, Peter and Egon met in university Egon was a physics instructor, even though they were the same age. Ray and him bonded over their love for supernatural and eventually became friends, starting with doing research together and growing closer with time. Peter, on the other hand, was a dickhead to Egon the entire semester he had to take physics bc he hated the class and was pissed off at the fact that Egon wanted him to study instead of barely passing (who was this guy, same age as him, telling him what to do??)

But with time all of them became friends and eventually roommates, working on their doctorates together 🫶

Some more random ideas:

I hc that Egon uses unscented soap and shampoo, but the others swear it smells like pistachio ice cream. Egon doesn’t believe them, but they genuinely love it.

Egon likes lukewarm showers, though switches to hot ones later in life when his body starts cramping with age. It gets especially bad during cold weather.

The guys almost never see him in the morning because he wakes up first, but sometimes they do get him to sleep in and morning Egon is their favourite sight in the world. They also share morning cuddles ☝️

Egon thinks ufology is a pseudoscience that focuses on something that clearly doesn’t have enough proof to be worth researching, but still watches UFO documentaries for fun with Ray.

He loves Frank Sinatra. Ppl always say he’s a classical music guy, but I think he’d love smooth jazz and even smooth 80’s music, too. Let him be fun!!

Egon is quite sensitive to food texture and whenever someone else cooks dinner they always take that into consideration, and either make something all of them can enjoy, or do a little portion of his safe food so he can be comfortable eating.

All the guys absolutely adore Egon’s science talk even if they have no idea what he’s talking about most of the time. Sometimes he randomly goes on rants and they just sit there and listen to him with lovestruck expressions.

Obligatory EGB hc: the guys ADORE his long hair. And if you’re unfamiliar, it’s LONG long. It reaches his shoulder blades. It’s longer than Janine’s. I imagine it would take him a while to start leaving it down around them just because after so many years of living alone and being a teacher and a mentor he’d mold himself into this ideal always-stoic version of himself , and it would definitely take a lot of time and effort for him to learn to be open and vulnerable again.

To sum up, Egon Spengler is a great guy who loves and is loved!!

[ohhgingersnaps]

Stars The Same As Ever (Hallmark AU)

Ch. 1/? — This City Always Hangs A Little Bit Lonely On Me T+ | Sebastian/Farmer

It’s the first week of winter, and Sebastian is having a bad day. He wakes up at six, nearly an hour and a half before sunrise— too early, in his opinion, but his boss is a morning person, so their standup meeting is at eight (spirits, really, who’s awake at eight in the morning?)— and he spends thirty minutes hitting snooze on his alarm before he hauls himself out of bed. Brushes his teeth. Hops into his little five-square-foot excuse for a shower, which has absurdly low water pressure, and then tries not to freeze as he towels off, because baseboard heaters are useless against the cold, and the windows in his studio apartment are drafty. This apartment may suck, he reminds himself with chattering teeth, but it’s his.

I've decided to start posting the Hallmark AU I've been working on, because it's about 30 chapters long and I want it posted before the end of winter! Buckle up for some holiday sweetness, angst, mutual pining, and a sprinkling of mountain family dynamics.

(Read the prologue on AO3!)

[cricketnationrise]

CONGRATS ON HITTING 500!!! Sooooooo deserved frfrfr Here's to 20k MORE fic prompt: -3 AM -Basement bungalow -Chris ''Chowder'' Chow -Can be M or E, dealer's choice :-)

HI ATLAS obviously i had to write polyfrogs for your prompt so pls enjoy this lil senior year momente 💜💜💜

read the rest of the ficlets here

🏒🏒🏒🏒

3:00am, haus basement

It’s late.

It’s so late it’s on the bubble of being early, actually. Chowder should be sleeping—all three of them should be sleeping—graduation is tomorrow. He should be deep in a REM cycle, blissfully unaware of the creaking of the Haus, or the occasionally banging of the hot water heater. He should be dreaming, with the soft snores of Dex on one side and the endearing nose whistle of Nursey on the other. 

Should be. 

Instead, the bungalow is filled with the sounds of rustling bedsheets, of straining mattress springs. The quiet of late spring night is broken up with stifled moans, with whispered pleas, with gasping breaths of pleasure. 

Chowder trades long, heated kisses with Dex sprawled haphazardly across his chest. His hips writhe, straining to buck up into Nursey’s mouth. It’s overwhelming—in a good way, in the best way—to be between them like this, to be so utterly vulnerable and yet completely safe in their hands. He never wants to be anywhere else, would happily live in this moment forever, but—

Dex nips at the hinge of his jaw and Chowder’s thoughts scatter with his whine. All he wants is more: more pressure, more contact, more lips and limbs and tongues and just—more. His orgasm has been ebbing and flowing for a while, completely at Nursey’s whim. Chowder’s more than ready to come. 

“I think,” Nursey starts, getting the words out between kitten licks to the head of Chowder’s cock, “that he’s enjoying himself, Dexy.”

Chowder can almost hear the fond eye roll in Dex’s voice when he pulls away from Chowder’s mouth. “Get him off so we can sleep already, Nurse. He’s been waiting long enough.”

Thank fucking god. 

“Aye aye, captain,” Nursey says before swallowing Chowder to the hilt. Dex’s muttered why are you the way that you are is half-lost in  Chowder’s shout, consciousness narrowing to the tight, wet heat of Nursey’s mouth and the feeling of Dex’s fingers gripping his hair. 

“Please—Nursey. Derek, ‘m close—”

Dex stops whatever smart remark Nursey would have given by placing a hand on the back of his head, keeping him in place, sucking Chowder’s cock. “Stay focused, babe. No more teasing tonight.”

Nursey’s choked off assent is enough stimulation to get Chowder right to the edge of orgasm, but it’s Dex’s low, gravelly words—crooned directly in his ear—that push him off the cliff. 

“You look so beautiful; come for us, Chris.”

Chowder does, and it feels like making a save at the final buzzer, like breaking the surface after diving just a hair too long, like a wave crashing on the shore. 

He’s sort of out of it after that; the combined late hour and powerful orgasm is a potent sleeping agent. He blinks and Dex is wiping his stomach with a warm cloth. Blinks again and Nursey is untangling the bedding from Chowder’s ankles. Blinks a third time and the room is quiet and dark, and his partners are octopused around him. 

It's late. 

It’s so late it’s definitely wrapped around to being early by now. Chowder closes his eyes, sighs contentedly, and lets himself drift to sleep; they’re graduating tomorrow. 

[snapthistiger]

update 07232023

last Tuesday, son in law finds the hot water heater in their new house leaking

i've been working with them since Wednesday, hauling boxes of stuff and small furniture

on Wednesday, he contacts Lowe's and arranges to buy a hot water heater and have it installed on Thursday afternoon

Thursday afternoon, i work at the new house on electrical switch replacement while waiting on the plumbers with new hot water heater from Lowe's. they never show up.

Thursday evening, son in law decides to buy a hot water heater and we will put it in. i've told him that i can install it and i have experience with several hot water heaters before.

on Friday, we go to Home Depot and he buys a hot water heater and we bring it to the new house. we install the hot water heater but have to modify the PVC inlet water piping because the height of the new water heater is sightly different. we glue the new PVC piping and let it dry overnight

on Saturday, the movers come to the town home to move their furniture. i fill the new hot water heater and it leaks. the water is coming from under the insulation and not any of the connections we have made. i contact the manufacturer and they will send some parts and reimburse for a plumber to repair the leak. later, i call Home Depot and they say they will exchange for a new water heater. the movers deliver the big furniture to the new house. we drain and return the new water heater to Home Depot and get another just like that one. bring it back and install it and it leaks. feel like i'm going to puke. we drain it and bring it back to Home Depot, this time getting money back on credit card. about 830pm, son in law buys a new hot water heater at Lowe's. different brand from the Home Depot water heater. we install it Saturday night but have to modify the cold water inlet piping again and let the glue dry over night.

Sunday morning, filled the new water heater and no leaks. thankfully. in the process, i noticed that the water pressure reduction valve for the house may be faulty and letting the water pressure go above normal at times. new water heater is working well.

unpacking all the boxes and i'm changing more electrical switches and resting some.

top left = one of the first new hot water heaters

top right = moving company truck. the moving guys were super.

i've also been able to enjoy some time with my grand daughter, Ariel.

hope you have a peaceful afternoon and evening.

[hitechhotwater]

Understanding Low Water Pressure From Water Heater: Common Signs of a Failing System

Are you facing low water pressure in your hot water system? everything you need to know about low water pressure issues and diagnosing. Read the Blog! Visit Us:- https://www.hitechhotwater.com.au/low-water-pressure-in-water-heater/ Email Us:- info@hitechhotwater.com.au Contact Us:- 1300 011 015

[woolandcoffee]

What are you most proud of this year?

I love this question so much, and I actually had to sit with it for a while before answering.

2023 ended up being a fairly challenging year for me. During the first half of the year, my partner was dealing with some fairly tough family stuff that was difficult for both of us. He was gone for long stretches of time, and when he was home, he was completely exhausted. As a result, I ended up tackling most of the house work on my own for a significant portion of the first part of the year. For the most part that was fine, until our water heater broke and the home warranty company sent me someone who wanted to cut a door-sized hole in my wall (I will never get over that).

Almost as soon as my partner's family stuff was resolved and he was able to come home and start decompressing, my work travel picked up. A lot. I have traveled more for work this year than I've ever traveled in my life. Since May, I think I've had at least one work trip a month. And due to the nature of my work, every trip I make, I'm going somewhere to present. Public speaking isn't something I have a problem with, but it is exhausting, especially when you're presenting on a new or developing topic that people want to ask lots of questions about. Add that on top of the fatigue of traveling (particularly for someone who isn't used to traveling this much), and I've been feeling whomped since about September.

Work and family stuff aside - oh yeah, I also had some family travel this year - I also took on my most ambitious sewing project to date this year. I made an entire 18th C costume, from chemise to stomacher, in about four months, which I then wore to an 18th C costumed ball this October. The experience was incredible. It was so much fun, and so fulfilling to be in a room full of people who all had the same passion for the same thing. I wouldn't trade the experience for the world. That said, finding time to squeeze in that amount of sewing (with the pressure of a deadline to boot) on top of everything else going on was a bit of a challenge.

So, that brings us back to your question, what am I most proud of this year, and honestly, the thing I'm most proud of is simply that I made it through. This was a tough year. We had a lot of highs, and a lot of lows, and while the highs were definitely worth it, I do feel a bit like I'm limping across the finish line. But I'm still crossing the damn line. I still made it. And that's is something I am unequivocally proud of.

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

NASA scientists recreate Mars's spider-shaped geologic formations in lab for the first time

Tests on Earth appear to confirm how the red planet's spider-shaped geologic formations are carved by carbon dioxide.

Since discovering them in 2003 via images from orbiters, scientists have marveled at spider-like shapes sprawled across the southern hemisphere of Mars. No one is entirely sure how these geologic features are created. Each branched formation can stretch more than a half-mile (1 kilometer) from end to end and include hundreds of spindly "legs." Called araneiform terrain, these features are often found in clusters, giving the surface a wrinkled appearance.

The leading theory is that the spiders are created by processes involving carbon dioxide ice, which doesn't occur naturally on Earth. Thanks to experiments detailed in a new paper published in The Planetary Science Journal, scientists have, for the first time, re-created those formation processes in simulated Martian temperatures and air pressure.

"The spiders are strange, beautiful geologic features in their own right," said Lauren Mc Keown of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "These experiments will help tune our models for how they form."

The study confirms several formation processes described by what's called the Kieffer model: Sunlight heats the soil when it shines through transparent slabs of carbon dioxide ice that built up on the Martian surface each winter.

Being darker than the ice above it, the soil absorbs the heat and causes the ice closest to it to turn directly into carbon dioxide gas—without turning to liquid first—in a process called sublimation (the same process that sends clouds of "smoke" billowing up from dry ice). As the gas builds in pressure, the Martian ice cracks, allowing the gas to escape. As it seeps upward, the gas takes with it a stream of dark dust and sand from the soil that lands on the surface of the ice.

When winter turns to spring and the remaining ice sublimates, according to the theory, the spiderlike scars from those small eruptions are what's left behind.

Recreating Mars in the lab

For Mc Keown and her co-authors, the hardest part of conducting these experiments was re-creating conditions found on the Martian polar surface: extremely low air pressure and temperatures as low as minus 301 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 185 degrees Celsius). To do that, Mc Keown used a liquid-nitrogen-cooled test chamber at JPL, the Dirty Under-vacuum Simulation Testbed for Icy Environments, or DUSTIE.

"I love DUSTIE. It's historic," Mc Keown said, noting that the wine barrel-size chamber was used to test a prototype of a rasping tool designed for NASA's Mars Phoenix lander. The tool was used to break water ice, which the spacecraft scooped up and analyzed near the planet's north pole.

For this experiment, the researchers chilled Martian soil simulant in a container submerged within a liquid nitrogen bath. They placed it in the DUSTIE chamber, where the air pressure was reduced to be similar to that of Mars's southern hemisphere. Carbon dioxide gas then flowed into the chamber and condensed from gas to ice over the course of three to five hours. It took many tries before Mc Keown found just the right conditions for the ice to become thick and translucent enough for the experiments to work.

Once they got ice with the right properties, they placed a heater inside the chamber below the simulant to warm it up and crack the ice. Mc Keown was ecstatic when she finally saw a plume of carbon dioxide gas erupting from within the powdery simulant.

"It was late on a Friday evening and the lab manager burst in after hearing me shrieking," said Mc Keown, who had been working to make a plume like this for five years. "She thought there had been an accident."

The dark plumes opened holes in the simulant as they streamed out, spewing simulant for as long as 10 minutes before all the pressurized gas was expelled.

The experiments included a surprise that wasn't reflected in the Kieffer model: Ice formed between the grains of the simulant, then cracked it open. This alternative process might explain why spiders have a more "cracked" appearance. Whether this happens or not seems dependent on the size of soil grains and how embedded water ice is underground.

"It's one of those details that show that nature is a little messier than the textbook image," said Serina Diniega of JPL, a co-author of the paper.

What's next for plume testing

Now that the conditions have been found for plumes to form, the next step is to try the same experiments with simulated sunlight from above, rather than using a heater below. That could help scientists narrow down the range of conditions under which the plumes and ejection of soil might occur.

There are still many questions about the spiders that can't be answered in a lab. Why have they formed in some places on Mars but not others? Since they appear to result from seasonal changes that are still occurring, why don't they seem to be growing in number or size over time? It's possible that they're left over from long ago, when the climate was different on Mars—and could therefore provide a unique window into the planet's past.

For the time being, lab experiments will be as close to the spiders as scientists can get. Both the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers are exploring the red planet far from the southern hemisphere, which is where these formations appear (and where no spacecraft has ever landed). The Phoenix mission, which landed in the northern hemisphere, lasted only a few months before succumbing to the intense polar cold and limited sunlight.

TOP IMAGE: Spider-shaped features called araneiform terrain are found in the southern hemisphere of Mars, carved into the landscape by carbon dioxide gas. This 2009 image taken by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows several of these distinctive formations within an area three-quarters of a mile (1.2 kilometers) wide. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona

CENTRE IMAGE: These formations similar to the Red Planet’s “spiders” appeared within Martian soil simulant during experiments in JPL’s DUSTIE chamber. Carbon dioxide ice frozen within the simulant was warmed by a heater below, turning it back into gas that eventually cracked through the frozen top layer and formed a plume. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

LOWER IMAGE: Dark splotches seen in this example of araneiform terrain captured by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter in 2018 are believed to be soil ejected from the surface by carbon dioxide gas plumes. A set of experiments at JPL has sought to re-create these spider-like formations in a lab. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona

BOTTOM IMAGE: Here’s a look inside of JPL’s DUSTIE, a wine barrel-size chamber used to simulate the temperatures and air pressure of other planets – in this case, the carbon dioxide ice found on Mars’ south pole. Experiments conducted in the chamber confirmed how Martian formations known as “spiders” are created. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

[trivialbob]

Today we got the trailer out of storage. My stress level has been sky high. I (pretty much needlessly) worry every year that systems won’t work after a long, cold winter.

My wife is much more easy going. For example, with a car road trip she will get in her Subaru, put it in drive, and point it somewhat in the general direction of her destination. Only when the low fuel light begs for mercy will she stop at a gas station, make friends with the cashier, and get a snack.

My road trips start a earlier, getting an oil change two months ahead of schedule and tinkering on Google maps for several days before I leave, looking for six alternate routes and making sure gas and food are never more than 1/8th of a tank of fuel away. I add gas often. Driving a horse and wagon through the wild, wild west two centuries ago might have been more my bailiwick.

Sheila happily prepared food and drink for this weekend. She also stopped by the RV store picked up a table-top ice maker and this camper themed night light pictured above. It’s cute!

I have to say, that ice maker is pretty cool (haha, right?). All the while I worried about a milliliter of water left in the line that froze and might have shattered everything down to the axles.

At the storage lot I re-installed the RV battery that had been on a tender for six months. I tried the power jack and -- NOTHING! Shit, my battery is broken. Oh, I have to turn on the master switch to get the battery connected to the system. The jack works now.

The tires looked good. Sure, Bob. But the air is stale. Oh no! I got out a pressure gauge. Each of the four tires needed just one more PSI of air which I easily accomplished despite worrying that I’d be in a news report of a horrendous tire explosion at a local storage lot.

Once the trailer was hooked up to my truck we drove 90 minutes south of the city to our site for this weekend. Because it’s Thursday, we were the only non-seasonal people there. My backing skills with this somewhat newer and larger trailer are not varsity level this early in the season Thank goodness no one was around to watch me make 27 attempts to park.

Once situated and stabilized, I hooked up our utilities. NO HOT WATER! Shit. My water heater broke. Oh, I forgot to turn off the winterizing bypass. Did that and now it works.

I resolved several other issues that seemed catastrophic at first (in my mind only) but were actually no big deal.

Sadly, I have to work Friday. I left Sheila, Sulley, and the trailer at the campground then returned home. Tomorrow after work I’ll go back and join them. Sulley is on trazadone after his neutering. He’s ultra mellow for this camping trip. Ella and Oliver will go to Jack’s house tomorrow so, canine-wise, it will be pretty quiet.

I can’t wait to try these new salt and pepper shakers that you know who also got at the RV store. Adorbs! Notice how the door window on the pepper shaker is a little heart :)

[brokenmusicboxwolfe]

Wanna know how things are going? Awful!

Ok so stuff had been rotten lately. Bills I hadn’t known about kept being sprung on me. I had decided I would only buy groceries once this month, but the financial hit was still leaving me in a bad place.

Then came the broken things, so many more broken things. I got working on them, until….

On Saturday I went out to our shop to hunt a tool, only to discover thieves had been there! Two big tool boxes were gone, the rest opened and rooted through, some large things like the potato rake were gone…I even know how much they got, only the tools are critical for me. And I can’t afford to replace them. And they were my father’s, so I was attached to them. And the thieves got all the way back there, past the house and dogs, making me feel vulnerable.

So, I spent that whole day moving stuff, desperately trying to find a place to put them. I was hauling incredibly heavy tool boxes and such all over the place, which would be tiring enough, but since I hadn’t anticipated this and had planned on having wet feet in what I was going to do, I hadn’t bound up my bad ankle properly. And this reopened the wound on my ankle that had took six months to heal last time!

Today it all got worse. It was my shopping day, and all I was worrying about was having enough for everything I needed. (I wouldn’t. No kerosene for the hot water heater, so three weeks of cold showers….ugh!) Then suddenly I had a much bigger problem.

A tire exploded!

It didn’t get a leak. It didn’t go flat. It went ker-boom!

The good news is I managed to pull into a place leaving just enough space to get in and out for folks. But that car wasn’t gonna be moving.

Seeing a tire place across the nearby busy four lane road intersection I walked over for help. They aren’t allowed to help folks off the property. Sorry.

I crossed the crazy traffic and headed for another tire place. It was less than a mile (just), but felt much further in the sun and traffic.

People in a pickup pulled over to ask if I needed help. I told them what happened, and the driver said he could change the tire for me…and it wouldn’t cost me much. Yes, he offered to help me then added a bill. So no, I am not paying someone to change the tire, thanks though. They said good luck, but did not offer to give me a lift the rest of the way to the store.

I got to the other tire store. A big sign said the didn’t take checks, and since I would have to pay by check, there was no point. Not having a credit card can be damned inconvenient in this world. I walked back to the car. I was sunburned and my ankle was bleeding.

Thanks to the exploded to bits tire, the car was too low to get the jack under the place you have to use it. Still I dragged out all the freshly bought bags of animal feed and empty kerosene containers, piling them by the car, trying to think what I could do.

I called one person. They were over 100 miles away, so couldn’t help. I called another, and go no answer. I didn’t even bother to call the only other person I have to ask because their husband went into the hospital yesterday and, by freak coincidence, they can’t drive there because they got a nail in a tire with no time to fix it.

I got lucky! A couple saw me and offered to help. I don’t really like to concede defeat and let dudes get macho pride at some incompetent girly needing rescuing….but I did need help. The husband had tools I didn’t, and practice I didn’t. He had trouble, and the hubcap broke, but he got it off and got the emergency spare on on.

The spare was flat.

Of course.

Lucky for me he also had a portable air pump.

Unluckily the spare wouldn’t pump up to it’s proper pressure.

But no problem, I knew another tire store down the road. I would just get a tire….

They didn’t have any tires that would fit my car. They could get it by tomorrow morning, but until then I’d have to drive on a mini sized spare that won’t pump up properly and isn’t supposed to be driven on at the speed or distance I had to go. I told the store guy I lived 10miles away, and would that tire be okay with that and highway speeds? It will be fine, he said. Last night I got 4hrs sleep, and had planned to sleep late, but he only had a morning appointment. Oh well, it will be done early anyway.

Yesterday Mom wasn’t doing well, and got worse today. I got to worry about that in the middle of all this.

Tomorrow is supposed to be stormy. I have to drive on the crappy toy tire the ten miles back, and go to the bank to get money to buy a tire. If I have any left over I’ll get the wood shavings I need for the animals. I’ll just have to hope cold showers (YIKES!) don’t kill me, because I can’t afford any more money right now. At all.

Come on universe! Give me a little break! I’m already broke, exhausted, and riddled with anxiety and depression. You can stop kicking now!