Adventures in Home Maintenance

Sherry doesn't like the knobs on her shower.



She wanted handles, like the sink has, rather than these ugly round knobs.

Seemed like a modest request.  We found "universal" handles to her liking at Lowe's and took them home.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the universal handles to work with this shower.  But in the process of trying to install them, I more or less disassembled the valves that the knobs attach to.  Fortunately, I was able to reassemble the valves and they still worked.  Unfortunately they now worked backwards.  Turning a knob in the direction that originally opened the valve now closed it.

This didn't seem like a particularly big deal, until I used the shower.  As I tried to make the water a bit warmer, I made it completely cold.  This can be a big deal when you are in the shower.

So today, I decided to fix the problem.  It obviously had something to do with the way I reassembled the valves.  Should be simple enough to disassemble them again and put them back together differently.  Right?  How many ways can a water valve be assembled anyway?

I took pictures as I disassembled the values, to use as a guide when I reassembled them.  (I used to draw sketches in a situation like this.  A digital camera makes it a lot easier.)

Recalling my previous experience with these valves, I knew that I just needed to remove the thingy that the knob attaches to, disassemble it, put it back together (differently somehow), and reinstall it.

I unscrewed the retaining nut that holds the working parts of the valve in place, and stared trying to remove the valve.  Seems like last time, the little white parts that you see in the picture came out easily.  But this time they didn't.  Finally I grabbed the whole thing with pliers and pulled it out.

Hmmm.  This is not how it worked last time.  It appears that I now have a open pipe directly connected to the water main.  The water is coming out more forcefully that I have ever seen it come out of a faucet.  About 100 gallons per minute.  Fortunately, it is going into the shower.

I go outside and around the house to the main cutoff.  Fortunately it works.

Now I disassemble the value and try to figure out what needs to be different in order to reverse the twisting direction. 

It's not obvious what needs to be done differently.  I am reduced to the strategy of "try something".  (A strategy that I used to warn my programming students against.)  I reassemble the valves and reinstall them, hoping for the best.

Back outside to the main cutoff.  Open the main cutoff.  Back inside to check the result.

The shower is running now.  Seems normal.  I twist the knobs.  Nothing happens.  The shower just goes on running.  I try both directions, in all combinations.  The shower just goes on running.

The only way to stop the shower is to cut off water to the entire house.  I am starting to have visions of checking into a hotel while we wait for a plumber.
Back outside to the main cutoff.  Close the main cutoff.  Back inside to try something else.  The only problem is that I don't know what I did differently that caused the values not to work at all.

I remove the valves and disassemble them again.  Try to use logic.  What determines whether these valves stop the flow of water or permit it to pass through?  It's not obvious.  Try something.

I reassemble and reinstall the valves.

Back outside to the main cutoff. Open the main cutoff. Back inside to check the result.



Mercifully, this time the shower is not running.

I try the valves.  Each one starts water running when I twist it.  Unfortunately, I have to twist the two knobs in opposite directions to open or close the valves.

Acceptable solution.  I am greatly relieved to just get the system more or less back to where it was when I started. 

The old round knobs no longer seem so ugly.

Cian Gets a Job

Overcoming the high youth unemployment level, my grandson Cian has gotten a job. I offered him a dollar to rake up the leaves in a 20 by 30 area of my back yard. This is the kind of job that most workers, including my regular lawn service guy, don't find attractive. But Cian thought it was a good opportunity.

Surveying the Job

Hard at Work

Still At It

Time for a Break

I estimate that the job is about one third finished. I'm hoping that he will stick with it and finish the job this week. Or at least before starting to college.

Sidewalk Construction

Hillsborough County is building sidewalks on North Dale Mabry Highway, near my home. This is a busy commercial area and major north-south artery through my part of town, which has always been hostile to pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The area was built up in the 1970s, at a time when everyone in suburbia went everywhere by car. Not to mention the fact that three county commissioners were selling development rights to the highest bidder. http://origin.tampabays10.com/news/article/73000/0/Public-Corruption-Arrests-25-years-later Sidewalks were just not on anyone's priority list.

Finally, that is changing. http://carrollwood.patch.com/articles/pedestrian-pathways-project-begins-soon-along-dale-mabry

This is the area I am talking about:

(Click on an image to see a much better enlarged copy.)

I frequently ride my bicycle through this area, from my home, a bit south of Bearss Ave. and a bit to the right, to the YMCA on Northdale Blvd., a bit to the left. The new sidewalks will make the ride safer and more pleasant.

New concrete segment on east side of North Dale Mabry Highway, north of Carrollwood Springs Blvd. to Zambito apex. On the right is a small wetland mitigation area, the blue triangle on the map where Zambito meets North Dale Mabry.

Wetland Mitigation Area

Bridge from north end of new segment back to preexisting sidewalk on east side of North Dale Mabry, south of Northdale Blvd.


Entrance to Northdale subdivision, on west side of North Dale Mabry Highway. New boardwalks are being built both north and south of this entrance.

Looking north from Northdale Blvd., on the west side of North Dale Mabry Highway. New boardwalk under construction over ditch. Most of the new sidewalks are of this form. Evidently there is not much space available to build concrete sidewalks.


Looking south from Northdale Blvd.


South end of section shown above (looking north, on the west side of North Dale Mabry Highway.)

Beside parking lot for Sonny's BarBQ, just north of Carrollwood Springs Blvd, looking north.

At Carrollwood Springs Blvd, on west side of North Dale Mabry Highway, looking north.

A completed segment of boardwalk on west side of North Dale Mabry Highway, at Bearss/Ehrlich looking north. I rode this section on my bicycle for the first time today.

A completed segment on the east side of North Dale Mabry Highway at Bearss/Ehrlich, looking north. (Walmart is just behind the trees.)

Lake Park, Tampa

Lake Park is a little bit of old Florida, right beside one of Tampa's busiest suburban commercial strips, North Dale Mabry Highway. It is usually uncrowded, despite the heavy traffic just a stone's throw away.


There are nice, well maintained playgrounds and picnic areas.


A family of sand hill cranes shares a picnic area.

Red River County, Texas

Sherry and I were in Red River County last weekend for the 50th anniversary celebration of the Clarksville High School class of 1961. I was a member of the class from fifth grade through 11th. We visited with old friends Kelly and Janice, who picked us up at Love Field in Dallas and carried us around Red River County all weekend.

Cotton farming dominated the economy in this area when I was young. When we were back for the 30th anniversary in 1991, cotton farming seemed to have almost disappeared. But we did see some cotton fields this time around Deport. The cotton gin in Deport appeared to still be in use.

This is just inside Lamar County, Red River County's neighbor to the west.
(Click on photo to see an enlarged, much better, copy.)

Here is a module of cotton, waiting to be processed by the gin. (See question 4 at http://www.cotton.org/edu/faq/ )



We visited the site of McKenzie College near Kelly's childhood home. I had never heard of McKenzie College, but Kelly knew about it. It was once the largest institution of higher learning in Texas. There is no trace of the college now. Just this historical marker:


We visited the Bluff Cemetery, where my maternal grandparents are buried. I had not been to the cemetery since moving to New Mexico in 1960.



There was a church here when I was a child, but it is gone now. So far as I know there was never a town. Just a little country church surrounded by farms. I was pleased to find the cemetery well tended. I need to find a way to contribute to its upkeep.

Sunday morning we stopped to buy gasoline in Bogata (pronounced "buh GO duh".) I got out of the car to the sound of live music from the Full Circle Cowboy Church.

You can't see them in the picture, but there were about a dozen people at Sunday services under the roof on the left side of the building.

Kaufman

After the service at College Mound, Sherry and I went to Kaufman with Tim and his family. We looked for the site of my Grandmother's house in Kaufman, and with a minimal amount of wandering around, found it. We knew that the house had burned down, but we wanted to at least visit the site. Tim and I had both been there as children. This was not really "the old homestead." Our Grandmother had bought the house and moved into town sometime after our grandfather died in 1946. Most of her children were grown and gone by that time. But she lived there until she died in 1966. Our Aunt Jane continued to live there for a number of years. But the house was essentially unmaintainable. Eventually Aunt Jane moved into a modern duplex and the old house was sold. By the time it burned down, the family had had no connection with it for perhaps twenty years.

Next we went to Uncle Jack's farm, about five miles outside of town. This was a real nostalga binge. Tim and I had both visited there as children. Uncle Jack died in 1994, but Aunt Francis continued to live there until about five years ago, when she moved into an assisted living facility, where she still lives. My father and I visited her at the farm, perhaps ten years ago.

The house and the outbuildings are still there, looking very much like they looked when I visited as a child. I have posted some pictures below.

The shed behind the house.


Tim examines the old tractor.


The barn.

I remember being inside the barn as a child when it was well populated with animals, and climbing into the hay loft.


We drove into town for dinner at the Jackson Street BBQ, on the square. Tim had read good reviews of this restaurant on the Internet, so we decided to give it a try. A good decision! The smoke and barbecue smell outside would have pulled me in even without the reviews.


We were met with the sound of Bluegrass music. By pure luck we had gone there on a night when local musicians met to play and sing. There were about a dozen musicians, playing guitars, banjos, and mandolins. I said to Diana as we went in, "This is the real thing!"

They played and sang with no written music. All acoustic. It sounded absolutely professional.



Percussion was provided by a washboard. This was not a joke instrument. This was serious music. The guy standing, in the picture below, is playing a wash tub bass. There is a single string, which is barely visible in the picture. He controls the pitch by pulling back on the top of the stick to change the tension. It sounds pretty much like a real bass. I was amazed.

They played and sang a song that I remembered from my Grandfather's funeral in 1952. In the funeral the song was sung by a quartet with piano accompaniment, but I recognized the tune immediately. I remember just a few of the words. "Cheer up my brother. ... We'll understand (it all by and by.)" But that was enough to find the song on the Internet. I hadn't heard the song since 1952, but there are multiple performances on YouTube. The one I like best is by Johnny Cash .

We stayed there listening to the music until they started to close the restaurant. The waitress took this picture for us.

Aunt Jean

On Tuesday, September 13, my cousin Reba called to let us know that her mother, my Aunt Jean, had passed away. There would be a funeral in Nederland, Texas, where she had lived, and burial at College Mound, Texas. Sherry and I traveled to Texas to attend the graveside service. Aunt Jean was the last surviving child of my paternal grandparents, my father's last surviving sibling.

Reba's husband, Rev. Mark Mark Baliles, conducted the service. Happy stories from personal experience as a member of Aunt Jean's family. Sympathetic, honest, unvarnished recall of the hardship of the final chapter of her life. Wonderful Bible passages about death and resurrection.

The sadness of saying goodbye was tempered by the joy of being with family members that we have rarely seen.

Sherry and I returned to College Mound on Monday and took some pictures, which I have posted below.

A sweet little country church.