Plumbing Update

Chad has been here for 3-1/2 hours.  The first 2 hours were spent doing the minor fixes I mentioned yesterday & seeing if the issue with the hot water trickling out of the faucets relates to the pipes.  It doesn't.  John & I had to go to Lowes to buy a new water heater.  We chose a 50-gallon tank since 65-gallon tanks were not offered.  We also had to buy an "expansion tank."  Beats me.  It's something the county now requires when you install a new hot water tank.

Chad has been trying to drain the old water heater to make it easier to get it out of the house.  Yes, our water heater is inside the house.  I have no idea why it's not out in the garage.  It's not like central Kentucky ever suffers from sub-zero temperatures.  Chad hooked up a hose to the bottom of the water heater, took the hose outside & then came back to open the valve.  Nothing.  He said apparently there is a lot of buildup inside the tank.  The water heater filled with water would weigh around 800 pounds.  He finally was able to get water coming out of the hose by using the old "sucking gas out of the gas tank" procedure with the hopes of decreasing the weight.  Siphoning!  That's what that's called   : )   Anyway, the water is now coming out of the hose at a better trickle than it had been coming out of our faucets.  It is a slow process though.

I've been busying myself with my DMC floss.  I finally got it put together into the filing system I used in the past ... baggies & plastic shoe boxes.  Each baggie is identified with a label upon which is typed 6 different DMC color numbers.  The 6 different skeins pertaining to those numbers are then sealed in the bags with the bags folded in half & filed in ascending order.  It's easy to find the number you need with this system & you don't have to bother with winding your floss around bobbins or other holders.

Sorry for the blurry photos.  It was fun playing with all the floss & seeing all the colors.  However, I'd now like to play with some dinner!  Unfortunately I don't feel comfortable making or eating food with Chad here so I haven't had anything since my bowl of cereal around 10 a.m.  I've asked him a few times if he'd like a sandwich or something to drink but the answer is always "no thank you."  Once he gets the new water heater installed (I wonder how much longer that will be???) I will head for the kitchen quicker than the Warner Brothers cartoon roadrunner   : )

Okay ... as I finished writing that last paragraph Chad decided he had no more patience to wait for the water heater to empty.  It was beyond difficult but with sliding it along on a throw rug he was able to get it out into the garage & then flip it into the driveway where he opened it up & looked inside.  There was about a 15-inch buildup of pieces of limestone & other tiny particles of rock.  He brought in a bit of it to show me ...

His exact words were "this is why I don't drink city water."  I haven't dared to drink water from a faucet for years.  I know bottled water can be "iffy" but you're not going to end up drinking this!  

Chad is now installing the new water heater which should be done relatively quickly compared to how long he's already been here.  I can just imagine what his bill is going to be.  Sigh!  Think of all the floss I could've bought!