December 31, 2007
I have had a lot on my mind, and frankly just have not felt like writing about it. However, I just finished something that has been nagging on my mind for a while. It may not look like much, but it is one of the more involved plumbing constructions I have done.

The shower and the hand wand piping was nothing, but getting over to the body sprays was tricky. I was worried about the pressure drop along the way, and still have concerns that it will not be sufficient to have the shower and the sprays on at the same time. I thought I would finish it last night, but I had one joint in the pressure balancing configuration for the body sprays that did not go together right. It was the last joint I had to do, of course, and everything was too tight to make it work. I had to rip it apart this morning to get it all to fit correctly. There are fifty solder joints in all that had to be made after I had the valve rough in completed. None of them leak. Not too bad, actually, for an electrical engineer!

By the way, none of those scorch marks are mine. They were there from old plumbing. Now that I think about it, that one on the left for the shower wand might have been me. I can’t remember for sure. Also, I ended the soldering with just over two inches of solder wire left.

My only concern now is that I may have misjudged the thickness of the wall when it is all done. I remember the shower wand fitting really tightly in the hall bathroom, and I didn’t want to come up short. I guess we will see in another freakin’ year when the whole thing is done…

Plumber's butt tools have been put away...
Ozarkyn • 12:01 PM • leave a commenttrackback
December 10, 2007
Last week a good friend and co-worker came out to work review board files and schematics on a project we were troubleshooting. Annie knows him, and in his 'onery fashion almost got her in trouble playing with her during a meeting one time several years ago. Annie woke up and threw up that morning, so she didn't go to school. As she wrapped herself in her blanket and watched TV, she would ask when Uncle Joe was going to arrive. She also asked if she could play chess with Uncle Joe, and I said I thought that was a good possibility.

I made her a cup of hot chocolate, started a fire in the chimenea, and as the sun was setting, she and Uncle Joe were playing chess. Joe was enjoying it thoroughly, and sent me this picture today...

We had great fun. Joe was worried that Annie would be upset because she lost, but the next day she wanted to play again. That’s my girl. She typically gets angry if she thinks I am letting her win.

Game on...
Ozarkyn • 05:21 PM • leave a commenttrackback