Pool pump arrived Thursday late and Friday morning it was off to the hardware stores for connectors to make the entire project of installation easy… Went to Sutherlands and got some parts not entirely what I had envisioned but parts I could work with to hook it up directly with the existing plumbing…
Then went into Wally-World P-ville for just regular household things as was spotted by senor Jason… He had his 2 daughters with him — they’re cute — must have gotten that from Erin, though I have never seen her — but I’ve seen Jason… Anyway spoke briefly about my pool project and his experience with pump replacement work for pool and hot tub and how Lowes had couplings that you could tighten by hand and not have to fuse everything together so if you ever had to do work in the future just hand loosen and pick it right out… After I got home and looked at the plumbing, I decided the Jason method, the method I had planned on before being the most practical and went to Lowes…
Now to digress for a moment…
What is it about me that makes me so recognizable ??? Jason spotted me — I would not have noticed at all — and this has happened before at the Julie Ogden Benefit with Laura and Julie (although there was a slight name recognition problem — Feb 2006)… Could it be the Dallas Mavericks cap I was wearing — heck — I probably have the only one in the area and I ordered that from Mavgear.com — or am I just still the same dumpy looking fella from "back-in-the-day" with just naturally added weight ??? I no understand this… When people have described me as "nondescript" yet I can be spotted and identified after 18 years ??? What is it people ???
We now rejoin our pool project already in progress…
With my new connectors in hand, I started with a precise not-so-surgical cut of the pipe above the connector to the pump discharge… I cannot hacksaw in a straight line… Made that cut hoping that would be all but there was some water leakage from the water that was in the pipe and it appeared that I had broken a seal further down the backbone, so I decided to rebuild the entire backbone… Off to Grimes True Value Hardware — across from Timber Trails on US Hwy. 71 — got some T connectors got back to the house hacksawed the backbone off and off to the makeshift work shop of the tailgate of the truck… Sawing from this point on was mostly easy as it was time for the power tools — Compound mitre saw and sheet sander… Chop, sand, clean, and glue… Using the backbone as a guide measurements were mostly true to form and only 2 mistakes made — 1 easily corrected the other, was not revealed until pump was up and running… One of the T joints had a piece of pipe that extended into a pressure or compression coupling — whatever, its called — not knowing exactly how this worked or more accurately how far the pipe actually had to go into this coupling, I cut a piece too short so I had to modify that by cutting with the hacksaw and using my last straight line connector coupling to extend the pipe further into the thing-a-ma-jig… Now that I was a coupling sort — back to Grimes — last piece I said — "We’re open ’til 6", they said… HA !! HA !! Got final pieces secured and waited 2 hours to cure and cranked it up — 1 small, little bitty leak at the coupling above that !#$%#% !@#$%# (golf technical jargon) pressure coupling — I apparently didn’t rotate it to fully to get the pipe cement covering the entire piece — AUGGGGGHHHHH !!! Leaks less than 1 and a half gallons in 24 hours, so for the short term, we have a pitcher catching the drips and pour it back into the pool… Once pool is uncovered and chlorine at proper level and algae (if any) is dead will attempt to seal hole with additional cement or something…
Other news…
Mom back from her Seattle trip flew back Friday… She ended up doing 2/3 of the driving up there… and once there had to work to set up the condo — no sight seeing… That condo is a 2 bedroom and just over 1000 square feet — before it was rented they were trying to sell it for $215,000… Oh well… It was probably good that I was not chosen to be the primary driver for that trip…
Sick cat here seems to have recovered after receiving anti-biotics… My yard destroying friend A.R. MaDillo is still on the loose, but not for long — I’ve got a .22 bullet with your name on it buddy !!!
Injury Report…
"Lil’ Twit" aka younger Sis, Cheli, has started copying my previous injuries for a change… For years it seems we’ve been linked to like injuries, though for me never quite as severe… In Jr High she broke her left middle finger playing basketball, I later broke the top knuckle of my middle finger on my left hand… She got rear-ended twice in auto accidents — I got rear ended twice… She slipped and injured her right knee requiring surgery — I sprained my right knee… Now at least this once it goes the other way — in college probably 1990, I whacked myself with my tennis racquet just above my left eye below the eyebrow creating 1 inch or so cut… Last week in New Orleans for a Financial Conference she slipped in the shower in her hotel, nails the soap dish rack in the shower and got herself a nice cut near the same location… Hope neither one of us falls off a building or gets run over by a bus anytime soon….
THS 88 on the Web 