Last Sunday, I tore down the other fence. The posts were so affected by the wet ground that they leaned like drunken sailors, and the panels were continually dropping off. Straightening the posts and screwing the panels back on did not help for long, as I've done for the last couple of years, as the movement of the posts just popped them back off.
The poor potted maple tree got planted in one of the post holes (about the 3rd post from the right in the picture of just the posts before I took them down).
I placed the panels out at the side of the road, and they were taken by another neighbor (1/2 mile down my street) for a dog pen. A former coworker came and picked up the posts Friday evening. She will be painting them and using them as a boarder for a small patio.
Monday afternoon, a heating/plumbing guy came and worked on my water heater. It had suddenly started losing 5-10 gallons of water thru the pressure overflow (thankfully that runs into a 5 gallon bucket so no damage to floor). The only reason I noticed was I had lost water pressure early last week, and thinking the worst, that the water heater had died or let go, checked the basement first. At that point the bucket was 3/4 full. After emptying it, I kept an eye on it and was emptying it every 12 hours - when it was at 1/2 to 3/4 full. Oh, the water pressure thing was the town flushing the pipes, so it came back after they were done. Happily, instead of needing a new hot water heater, the plumber just replaced the expansion tank. As an aside, it is amazing how quickly you can get work done when you are an existing customer; I called Friday afternoon and he was there Monday afternoon - unlike the boiler which I spent months just to find someone who not only actually came out, but was interested in working on it.
Last Tuesday evening (5/19) I mowed for 2 hours between the neighbor's yard and mine (I had just mowed for the first time on Friday, 5/15). I even left part of his backyard since it needs limbs and other crap cleaned up before I do that. Yeah, that's what a whole bunch of rain Friday night and 3 warm days will do for grass and weeds. I'll need to mow again today or tomorrow.
And you may dust off your hands from another job well done. Glad you didn't need to replace the water heater. I had to light our pilot light yesterday morning, having noticed that the water was not hot when I washed up and dressed. With an electrical lighter, it isn't the job that it once was.
Posted by: Cop Car | May 24, 2020 at 12:33 PM
Hmm, my water heater doesn't have a pilot light, it is self lighting. I don't know how that works since it doesn't have any electrical wires running to it.
Posted by: bogie | May 24, 2020 at 06:49 PM
I was surprised the first time our pilot light was blown out. I didn't know our heater had one (and it cost me $80 to find out by calling out a service tech - lol.) A piezoelectric igniter needs no external electrical source.
When a quartz crystal (such as may be in a piezoelectric igniter) is compressed, it produces a voltage (over 10,000). I don't know how your igniter works; but, when I push the igniter button (to light the pilot light), it releases a spring loaded striker (I hear a "thunk") to hit the crystal. The voltage is led to the pilot light via thin wires and the voltage produces a spark in the gap between the wires, lighting the gas.
The same principle is used on vinyl audio recordings - making the varying grooves in the platter by subjecting a crystal to varying electromagnetic fields, and playing back by having a needle follow the grooves in the platter, thereby producing distortions in a crystal that converts the forces to varying magnetic fields. I know...you didn't really care.
; )
Posted by: Cop Car | May 25, 2020 at 09:38 AM
Funny because I had always assumed that my water heater had a pilot light, until I changed propane companies. The tech was making sure my water heater would start (after lighting the pilot to my boiler), and I tried to hand him a long match. He was kind in not laughing at me :)
Posted by: bogie | June 07, 2020 at 04:58 AM
If each of us laughed every time someone else showed their ignorance, we would all spend all of our time laughing. We are all (in my case, very) ignorant of some things!
Posted by: Cop Car | June 07, 2020 at 09:09 AM