Monday, January 19

Sandwiched Between the Days

Well, folks, as we are motivated by urgency, I can finally say we have re-insulated the water line where it crosses the creek. This sounds great, doesn't it? Except for that bit about urgency. Yeah.

Thursday night, the low was 8 degrees. The first thing I heard that morning (around six) was Zorak announcing from the bathroom, "Bad news, sports fans." Ugh. I guessed (correctly) that didn't mean we were out of coffee. Turns out, eight degrees is cold enough that even leaving two faucets going doesn't help. Gah.

Since the weather wasn't looking to go above freezing anytime in the next two days (it had warmed up to a sultry nine degrees by seven-thirty), he stayed home that morning, we relegated the children to the wolves that raise all children-who-live-in-renovations, and we went about fixing the pipe.

We couldn't use flame to thaw the pipe because it's PVC. So we took the stockpot down to the creek and filled it with water. (Yay for the creek!) Then we boiled the water (yay for the camp stove!), cut an old towel into strips (yay for the rag bin!), and proceeded to strip the old insulation away from the pipe (boo-hiss for whoever insulated it that way to begin with).

Then it was just a matter of dipping and wrapping the towels around the pipe, refreshing each towel as it cooled. That took quite a while, but it worked beautifully as we went up and then over the creek. It was at that joint leading downward that we ran into a little glitch.

The pipe popped right out of the joint! It fell into the creek, and immediately cleared itself of residual ice, along with a few gallons of water, until we could find the key and turn off the water at the meter. Ah. Lovely. Turns out, it was never glued in. Well, not only was the pipe not cut at right angles, nor did it run at right angles, but it was jammed into 90-degree fittings and just sort of held there by a mixture of God and gravity.

It's not like whoever did this didn't know you should glue the pipe joints in a pressurized line together, as the various bits of wildly different lengths that were all stubbed together at random points were glued (though not w/ PVC glue - not sure what that was all about). It reminded both of us of Cinderhenge, in the Scary Room (the cinderblock pillars stretching up to nothingness, spread out through that room).

By then, it had warmed up to a balmy 19 degrees, and we figured we might as well put it back together properly. OK, Zorak figured we should put it back properly. I was all for just slapping it back in for now and thawing ourselves a bit before the frostbite set in. But for all my bellyaching, he was the one standing in the creek (the makeshift bridge kept giving way, and he finally just quit trying), and he wasn't wearing gloves (once they got wet, they were useless, anyway)... and HE wasn't complaining. So. Fine. We fixed it.

One trip to the basement for pipe and a hacksaw; one trip to the feed store for fittings and fresh glue; a whole lot of self-deprecation on my part for being such a total weenie when he's so stinkin' tough... and it's back together, with everything that goes into a 90-degree fitting actually running at a 90-degree angle, better insulated, and - most importantly - no longer frozen. Yay.

That set us back considerably on our weekend plans, but it was worth it. We have water. Yay.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

9 comments:

mere said...

Dude. DUDE!!!!
The pictures in my head of this procedure of you two working patiently to fix this thing...Man, I am glad you're on my team!

Wouldn't building a new bridge be a good father/son scout merit badge earning project? Here's a fun site for you:

http://bridgecontest.usma.edu/download.htm

Enjoy!

P.S. go visit my blog!

mere

H said...

LOL @ Cinderhenge! :)


I'm glad you were able to get that pipe fixed. Imagine how much you'll save on your water bill! Now, just as soon as you can relay pipe and "accidentally" find an extra set leading off the the neighbor's house, you'll be set!

I'm so impressed with all the work you've done on that house.

Dy said...

Oh, no, Mere. HE was patient. I was mostly huddled by the camp stove, passing wet towels back and forth, praying nobody called the police to report two homeless people setting up camp and trying to tap into a pipe up by the creek. This is why I want him with me if I'm ever stranded on an island. (He, however, might pick someone other than his beloved...)

Hillary, you know, that's what's weird - there was no leak. Our meter will show if you even have a one drip at a time leak going out, and it never registered anything. I'm guessing that was the God part, and the gravity part is what kept the whole thing from caving in at all. *shrug* So bizarre.

We're hoping to find someone w/ a tractor (a working one, which has been the problem) and a single blade plow attachment sometime this year to help us solve the water issue. Keep your fingers crossed. (You don't know anybody w/ a working tractor who'd come this way, do you?)

Jennie C. said...

a whole lot of self-deprecation on my part for being such a total weenie when he's so stinkin' tough...

We had some unreasonably cold weather up here this week, too. I mean, -2? In Kentucky? Puh-lease! And my beloved was out there working away while I holed up in the house. I used the "nine months pregnant" excuse. He doesn't buy it, but he let me get away with it. :-)

H said...

I know lots of people with tractors. (Love, love, LOVE Nebraska!), and many people who want to travel, but not so many who want to travel *with* a tractor. Sorry.

Hopefully you'll find someone who can help. Surely it's cheaper to hire someone to dig up the line than to keep paying for your neighbors' lush, green lawn in August!

Jenni said...

You know, all that self deprecation is kinda funny. After all, you were out there helping. I think I would have wimped out completely. I'm glad you got it fixed.

Heidicrafts said...

It may have changed your weekend plans, but it sounds like a giant leap for Forever-Home-kind.

My town set an any-day, any-year record of -29 last week. School was cancelled for three days so kids waiting fir a bus or walking to school wouldn't have to face the wind chills. And bus fuel doesn't flow well at those temps.

But I also appreciate that 8 degrees just isn't in the plan in your neighborhood. Hooray for running water, which leads to coffee.

Melora said...

And all of that before coffee. You guys are just Amazing.

Jules said...

Sounds like quite an adventure!

But now it's done. Done. Hopefully there won't be any more "surprise" projects in your future.

Oh, and "Cinderhenge" is hilarious. I can just picture it. :)