Good morning! It’s rainy today. Fortunately we got a head of it a little by doing round 6 of raking. Trying to do it every few days instead of once a week as we have in the past. It seems to be easier to handle, but I wonder if I will still be saying that in December when I’m totally sick of it.
We have one more week reprieve before winter finally sets in.
Today and tomorrow are supposed to be in the low 70’s although overcast. Then it will clear and be in the 60’s to 50s, when it looks like it will finally change over at the end of the week.
This gorgeous weather has given us time to get done most of what we want to do outside for the season.
I’ll be clearing out my garden beds of weeds and putting stuff away. I need to mulch the beds and see what I can do about protecting the lavender and small Brussel Spouts and see if I can get them to make it through the winter for a spring crop.
Add chocolate syrup and a glug of Grand Marnier to hot coffee.
Top with heavy cream soft whipped with confectioners and drops of vanilla.
Wednesday – leak discovered between house & barn. No shutoff …. water to the house had to be shut off to stop the leak. I hauled 5 gallon buckets of water to the back deck for toilet flushing. Dishes washed, coffee pots filled for the morning, some extra containers filled & the water was off until we could get an emergency repair done Thursday.
Thursday …. bright and early started digging near the top of the wet spot. This is on a slight hill, so the water would be seeping down hill. It took a while to get down about 18”- 2 feet … and there was the pipe. Dad thought he had a T-joint in that spot & shortly after finding the pipe, there were clamps visible & after maybe 45 minutes to an hour of digging, there was the T-joint. We cut the pump back on & a fine spray of water was shooting out of the T-joint – source of leak discovered..
Then came the REAL digging. I had to dig back up hill until we had enough pipe exposed that I could pull it up to work on it …. that was probably about 2 feet. We made a quick trip to the hardware store to see if we could find a pipe cutter instead of trying to cut the pipe with a hacksaw (which would have been a nightmare, because that's how it's always been done before). Voila – my new favorite tool – a ratchet pipe cutter! Works like a charm – got the pipe cut off in no time.
We got a valve on the end of the pipe (emergency repair, not the final one) & all was grand – right? Wrong ….. the darn valve was leaking. Dad kept saying I didn't have the clamps tight enough. Well, they were as tight as I could get them.(he is mobility disabled & could not get out of his golf cart to help me). I got to looking at the setup. Hmmm …. there should be NO threads showing on the piece that joined the valve & pipe – at least 2 threads were showing & that is where it was leaking. So I pulled it all apart & dad re-did the tape/screwing that piece into the valve. He used two adjustable pliers this time (he'd just hand screwed it before) & got it ALL the way in – no threads showing. Back in the pipe & clamp time. I adjusted slightly the location of the first clamp, got the second one on, tightened with both hands on the screw driver, then used a drill to get maybe another 1/8th inch …. cut on the water …. not a single drip! Success!!
The end ? …. nope! Permanent fix yet to go. Dad kept insisting there was another T-joint that went to a shed. The first T-joint that was leaking went off toward the neighbor's and there is nothing there – no hydrant, no nothing (found out later that pipe was capped). I needed to dig out the pipe below the T-joint so we could connect our new valve back to the pipe – the T-joint could be cut out. So I was digging a good part of yesterday afternoon. The first problem was a tangle of roots at least ¾ to 1 inch in diameter right across where the trench needed to go. I ended up with my Pulaski and chopping out the worst of it. I am happy to report that after being out of trail maintenance for 6 years or so, I am still accurate with a full swing of the Pulaski, hitting the same spot to cut those roots. More digging …. smaller roots, rocks …. frustrating. I was seeing clamps, but no T-joint to the shed. Another 8” to a foot and there was the 2nd T-joint going off the other way. This was about dinner time and a couple of ibuprofen later - rough day.
The brother came up this morning & the permanent repair has been made. We'll leave the hole open for a couple of days & make sure there are no leaks. The plan is to put a valve box over the valve … still a little worried about the other T-joint since it's at least 30 years old! I also have some sand-like stuff to dump in over the pipe/joint so digging it out again if we have to won't be so hard.
Those pine needles have just fallen – really coming down in a good breeze – will probably be raking pine needles for next year's mulch tomorrow.
Garden? What garden? LOL … I did manage to get another roll of fence wire, but that's it.
Howdy! Nice weather, eh? I hope the wind is gone tomorrow.
Hey, was wondering if you have ever tried growing “Raspberry Shortcake” raspberry bushes? Heard about them on YT channel The Impatient Gardener. She lives in Michigan. She gets these raspberry plants from Jungs.
They are thornless and not huge bushes. Can even be grown in containers, but I would plant in the ground. Jungs has them $16.25 a plant/when you buy 3 or more. I will try 3.