Yard Work . . .

We have begun to do things outside. Judie has been weeding the flower beds and around the trees. Not necessary to weed around the trees, does look good though.

The water well is back on and the leaks fixed. Had a pretty bad one at the faucet across the yard from the well. When we had the well drilled I had an extension on the line to connect the sprinklers over to the south side of the back yard. That way we could use well water instead of city water in the back yard. I had intentions of adding a faucet up front but never got around to it.

We have found the glue we used for the additional sprinklers out back was no good, it gives up the ghost to easily. So come spring, I have to find the leaks and repair them, usually replacing the bad joints. I have become a master at installing slip joints, this takes the load of the glue joins and allows expansion and contraction. It is the contraction that is causing the glue joints to fail.

The last failure was a the faucet, the vertical iron pipe was attached to a post and held in place by the concrete that held the post in place. So during our cold winter, the joint backed off. I had to dig a hole along the pipe finally finding the leak up next to the post. Using a steel rod and hammer, I chipped off the retaining concrete around the pipe and freed it up. Used a hack saw and cut the pipe, took the iron pipe off and took the joint inside and washed off the dirt.

I cleaned up the connecting PVC pipe and joint, used some acetone to clean it, a little 600 grit emery paper to get rid of the bumps and old glue. Then coated it up with new glue and stuck together again. The reassembled the whole thing with a slip joint (no more pressure on the glue joint). Done.

One thing I learned in California with the first house we had that had an irrigation system - every spring one had to tune up the system. An irrigation system is a constant work in progress. I am now used to it, just wait for the outside temperature to get to pleasant enough levels to do the work.

Happy Easter all!