Stone, plumbing, and Arizona

I had every intention to write at least one more blog in September, and thought my life was going to get more simple, but it was just the opposite. The good news is that all the things that complicated my life were good things, well, except for the plumbing.

Randy, in the alley with his pavers. Sounds like a
murder accusation from the board game Clue. 

To start off, first brother in law and #1 realtor Randy showed up with some large slate pavers and helped me make the dirt "alley" between the pantry and the sun room more useful. To explain, the back porch of the house was enclosed and a bathroom installed at some time many years in the past. This left a 4 1/2' wide dirt floored leaf collector between it and the sun room. It's covered by large overhangs from both the second floor to the north and the pantry to the south so it is bone dry and shaded such that no grass or even weeds grow. We wanted to use for storage, at least, but were still working on how we would like to cover the dirt. Then Randy stepped up to the plate with enormous slate pavers he had salvaged from an old house years ago. The stone almost fit perfectly side by side. but did not. We ended putting them sideways leaving about an 8 inch gap which I need to somehow fix. Still, the space is immediately usable allowing me to store both grills, recycling bins and garbage can. Very nice.

Ugly pale pink tub with caulk removed at seam with wall.

Plumbing continues to be an issue. For some reason, when I shower, occasionally water leaks into the kitchen below. It never happens when Cindy showers. The joke is that when I step into the tub the flooring is crying from strain of holding the extra weight, but seriously folks, take my wife, please! But really, a viable theory is that the extra weight is causing a separation in the caulking so I removed and re-caulked the tub, which didn't help. I then got a plastic, pre-caulked seal that presses into place along the seam of the tub and the showers surround. That didn't work. SO, next step will simply be to caulk everything like crazy (it worked before), and perhaps lose some weight (HA HA!).

Stuck knob removal tool. You can also see the plastic seal in
place around the tub. 

Another on going issue has been the leaky faucets. All three tub controls (hot, cold, and shower control) leaked water around the handle when turned on. I've been delaying the repair since they don't drip when off but it is a waster of water, and there's the off chance that the leaky faucet is partially responsible for the leak into the kitchen, so I forged ahead, First thing was that the knobs would not come off, I'm guessing that the faucets have not been touched since the Truman administration and despite pulling and even banging with a hammer, they didn't budge. So, off to the trusty hardware store for a specialty tool that removes stuck faucet handles, which worked perfectly. After that, the stems came out rather easily and I was back to the hardware store for advice on gaskets and repacking the seals. That seemed to work and there has not been a leak around the handles or in the kitchen since so fingers are crossed.

The only picture I took in Phoenix., captured while waiting
to enter Fort Knox aka WFO Phoenix. 

A a part of my job I am a member of the IMET program (Incident Meteorologist) and I occasionally get sent to fires, usually out west. I got the call a couple weeks ago to go to Arizona and a fire near Payson in the Tonto National Forest. The flight out was miserable despite getting an "economy plus" seat for my $1000 one way ticket. Then, at the airport in Phoenix, things got worse. It took them almost an hour to get our bags off the plane (I don't travel light, with camping equipment and enough clothes for a 2 week dispatch), followed by a 2 hour wait at the Budget rental car counter. Then, I was off to the Phoenix weather office to pick up my weather and computer equipment that I had overnight shipped. Well, due to an office move, there was confusion as to the shipping address and my equipment had not arrived.  At this point I just threw my hands in the air and headed out on the 2 hour drive to the fire.

Fire camp. Note the complete lack of smoke.

If you've ever driven out west you know how rapidly things can change. The area around Phoenix is desert with the huge Saguaro cactus. As I headed north, the cactus finally petered out and gradually various species of pine appeared. By the time I reached Payson and the area of the fire, it was heavily forested and much different from the desert further south. Unfortunately, when I reached fire camp, things were winding down, and with rain forecast for the week, they decided they wouldn't need me. So, after only a few days, I was wedged into another cattle car...err...airplane and shipped back home. Despite the short time the trip was great experience and I got to see another part of this amazing country of ours. I am very lucky to be a part of one of the premier programs in the NWS

Selfie after just a few days in
camp. You should see me
after two weeks. 

On the next blog...we've finally picked a color for the porch floor but will the weather cooperate?, chimney inspection, firewood delivery, and probably more about that damn leaky tub. Oh, and maybe a winter weather prediction. Warm? Cold? Snowy? Your guess is NOT as good as mine. ;)