Labor of Love, Well Maybe . . . .

Judie complained yesterday that the shower in our bathroom was "dripping."  Like I was to immediately cause the shower not to leak.  That is her logic sometimes, not irritating just expecting me to make it stop - now.  Of course I can not do that.

I turned to the computer and asked a question, "How do I fix a leak in shower valve?"  And I got about four or five answers.  Of course it depends on the brand, but I knew what that was as I had replaced the shower head a couple of years ago.  It is a Delta shower control valve.  I was surprised to learn it had a life time warranty.  But of course, we did not have the original purchase receipt so that free replacement stuff went out of the window.

I went to Lowe's and found a replacement.  There were a couple of models but I chose the one with the lowest series model number figuring it was the oldest design.  I was right.

The job is not hard to do but it is wise to listen to the fellow on the computer give his expert advice.  I learned for instance to be sure an use plumbers grease, a product I had never heard of before.  Luckily I heard him say it was silicone based grease.  And I found a little container of such silicone grease on the shelf in the plumbing department.  Expensive grease, I am guessing about an ounce of the stuff cost over three dollars.

The control unit was not cheap either.  If I got the Delta brand valve, it was $39 plus change, but the substitute brand, Danco, was ten bucks cheaper.  We now have a Danco control valve.  It does exactly the same job, looks the same, etc. for ten dollars less.

It seems technology has changed a bit since the original Delta control valve was installed.  It mixes the hot and cold water and positioning of the valve handle controls the water temperature.  However the new control unit, one can change the mix manually on the control valve to sway the water temperature.  I learned that watching the video.  And sure enough the new control did indeed have such an capability to make that kind of change.

At first I left it set as it was and found the water all the way on the hot side was rather cool.  It was not at all like the mixture of the leaking valve.  So I had to disassemble again and make the adjustment toward warmer water bias.  Now it runs like the old control valve, all the way counter clockwise is full hot and all the way clockwise is full cold.  There is a balance sorta in the middle.  Works for me!

Unlike faucets on the sinks, there is no accessible turn off valves down below somewhere.  So to do the job I had to turn off the water outside coming into the house.  That takes a special tool but our two "Old Handymen" were next door working on our neighbors bathroom.  I had seen them use the tool.  And they showed up about 9:00 AM to work and I walked over there and asked to borrow the tool.  "Sure, they said," and pulled lt out of the back of there old jalopy."  I was now in business to get the job done.

It all worked just as the video said except, the old valve did not come out as easy as theirs did.  But I got it out.  And sure enough, when I turned on the water again, no leaks. 

Wonder of wonders, Chip had done his magic once again.  I am sure the two old handymen could have done it, or a big time professional plumber but at a tremendous cost.  I would have expected a plumber charging a couple of hundred dollars to do the job and the two old handymen probably a hundred bucks plus parts.  I did it for plus parts or about $34 which included my 10% discount from Lowes.

Iris' Again . . .

The weather broke for warmer times so I took it upon myself to weed around a couple of Iris patches we have.  I did other Iris patches last year and these two patches got the treatment this year.  Both were literally over run by the St. Augustine grass and need to be weeded.

I had my eye on the first patch for awhile now, the remnants of St. Augustine grass had totally over run the patch.  I was a ball of dried grass and of course old Iris stems.  New Iris shots had popped up in the last week so I new I had to do something about it. 

I dug in sitting on an old chair pad and starting pulling out the grass.  I am here to tell you St. Augustine can be tough as nails.  At least my finger nails were packed with dirt when I finished.  Some of the basic backbone of the St. Augustine runners were an inch under the soil and tough to pull out.  But I got it all out in a hour or two.  Filled a bucket full of grass and some old oak leaves and Iris stems.  All of that went into the compost pile out back.

Yesterday I attacked another patch of the Iris.  This was a bigger patch, longer in length and took longer to weed.  But this time I used a couple of tools, one being a pair of pruning shears and the other a screw driver like device.  I cut around the edge and used the pry bar to get under the runners and pull up.  This sped up the process and was easier on the finger nails but they got plenty of dirt under them anyway.

After I finish each patch I grabbed a hand full of 13-13-13 fertilize and scattered it about the patch.  The Iris seem to like that fertilizer.  I bought a sack of it long years ago and have steadily used it here and there in the yard.  The gardening experts say I do not need that combination, just spread some Nitrogen fertilizer around.  I have some of that too but I am trying to get rid of the other stuff first.

Did a bit of grass cutting.  The weedy side of the yard next to the vacant lot was a bit high.  The remainder of the yard did not at this need a trim.  But I had to go get gas and I put in some treatment to make it last longer and fueled up the lawn tractor.  It fired right up and I went about doing the side yard.  Actually most of  the grass cut is really in the vacant lot territory but makes our yard look better, so I cut it.

Next I need to spread some manure compost or just manure in the front flower beds.  The house builder scrapped off all the top soil when he built the house and everything on the South side needs a soil boost.  So I spread some out every spring, some day I will have good soil there but not now.  The North side of the yard has no problems like that as that top soil remains.

Early Spring so some early work done.

A Time To Reflect . . .

Today is a time to reflect, it is my 77th birthday.  I am getting old.  But that is not the issue.  Passing of time is the issue of the moment.

I never thought I would get this old.  I just did not consider that factor at all.  But I am and now I have to consider it all the time.  Did prepare, not really.  I just lived this long although I do have health issues.  Heart disease is prevalent in my family, my brother died years ago due to heart attacks.  Today's medicine probably would have prevented that altogether but modernization of Cardiology had yet to arrive in his day.  He did live well.  I have minor heart issues.

My mother probably died of heart failure.  Her sisters died of it.  My grandfather literally dropped dead on the street.  His physician simply said his heart was worn out.  He died in 1942 on a side walk in New Roads on his way to the local movie.  He loved moving pictures.  He was in his late sixties.

My father, on the other hand, died of cancer.  He had survived three previous cancers, but the fourth one got him.  He died of breast cancer as did his mother before him.  He was in his mid eighties when he past on having lived a full life so to speak.

I have no cancer and I believe that is because I spent my adult life away from Louisiana.  I do not know if it is bad water, bad air or some kind of combination of the two.  I certainly lived in bad air in California smog.  Air pollution was horrible out there. But so far no cancer.

I quit smoking on January 1, 1980.  I had made a deal with myself to quit and stay quit of tobacco smoke by my 40th birthday.  Now that is 37 years ago plus a few months.  I took a year to break all the habits surrounding smoking tobacco.  They are all gone now.  No regrets, don't miss it at all but I am not bothered by other smokers at all.  So I am not a rabid anti smoker kind of person.

Agent Orange exposure in Viet Nam led to my current health issues.  I am Type II Diabetic because of the exposure.  The chemical of detriment is Dioxin, it gets into your liver and stays there.  It took almost 40 years for it to catch up to me and it has play havoc with other parts of the body.  That is what diabetes does to you.  I get nice compensation from the Department of Veteran Affairs for my afflictions but would rather not collect and be healthy.  Not gonna happen.

I have slowed down.  I have lost weight. I am more moderate in alcohol consumption.  I adhere to the old adage of "all things in moderation" now days.  And I view everyday as a new day in my life to enjoy.  So a positive attitude helps me through the day.  Yes, I do have some small aches and pains but you learn to live with that.

So upon reflection I have been a lucky person. I had a great career in the USAF, I enjoyed working most of the time in Aerospace Industry as a System Safety Engineer.  I have the right personality for all of this after life and enjoy it.  So thank you, Lord, for all that you have done for me and my family.

Squirrels . . .

We are in a neighborhood of oak trees.  For the most part they are Post Oaks, followed by some Live Oaks, the Barkleys and finally Shumar Oaks.  The are a few scattered Burr Oaks.  This means a healthy population of squirrels.  Alas but one type of squirrels is around, Fox Squirrels,

A Fox squirrel has a tan belly and is probably the most common squirrel in the US today.  There are many other varieties but it seems to be the hardiest one and thus gradually taken over the entire region.  The primary food of squirrels is acorns but they can be picky about it.

My little squirrel, Skinny Tail, lives across the street and visits the Shumars in my front yard daily.  The Shumar makes an acorn about the size of the end of your thumb.  The Post Oak makes a small acorn about the size of the end of your pinky finger and thus is not so desirable as the Shumar acorn.  The Shumars are red oaks, that is the internal wood has a red hue to it.  And they grow a bit faster than most oak trees.  They get to be moderate in size and ours are about a foot in diameter now.  Skinny Tail has staked out our Shumars as his.

The Live Oaks are evergreen and retain their leaves all year pushing them of in the spring for new leaves to grow.  They are by far the longest lived oak trees and I know of one in Pointe Coupee, the Stoniker Oak, that is said to have been growing when LaSalle came down the Mississippi in 1700.  The have modest acorns and are generally elongated compare to the other acorns.  I am not sure of the squirrel desirability of that acorn.

The Barkley is more localized native oak and tends to not be very big.  They grow about as fast as the Shumar but never reach the same span, height, or girth of a Shumar.  Their unique characteristic is they retain their leaves after they die until next spring when they push them off.  So from a raking point of view they are more desirable for upkeep but always tend to grow at some grotesque angle, neve see to grow straight up and vertical.  I have not seen a Barkley acorn but they are fairly common in the neighborhood, we have one volunteer in the side yard.  The trunk is about five inches and the height is probably about 35 feet or so.

The Burr Oak is the granddaddy of acorn makers.  My neighbor has one he planted and the acorn is astounding in size.  The acorn is as big as a baby's fist balled up.  The squirrels have a hard time with them but because they are so big are the most desirable of acorns to them  Curtiss, my neighbor, says he watched a squirrel tugging one acorn across his yard.  It too the squirrel about 20 minutes to get it across the yard.

Skinny Tail has a girl friend, she comes over to feast too.  But he is very protective of his tree.   I have seen him take acorns across the street and bury them in my neighbor Enright's yard.  He also taunts the Enright's three dogs.  He drives them crazy.

Skinny Tail lives in the Doren's yard which is behind Enright's yard.  So the squirrel knows his territory well.

Skinny Tail will go up a limb to the bitter end and pluck off an acorn.  There are probably several hundred acorns left on the tree, more of them up high.  The lower limbs are bigger and so he attacked those first and now he must go after the others up in the crown of the tree.  That is a bit more risky.  He is slow to do that and scours the grown for any acorns that have fallen.  So how he misses a great deal of them as we have tiny oak trees coming up all over the place.

So we shall be entertained by Skinny Tail antics until the Gold Finches return.  That will be early spring.  I do not know if squirrels cache any acorns but they must as they are around us all the time.  Of course they raid the bird feeders for peanuts, and rival the Blue Jays for this morsels.  And they will eat any and all seeds, so the bird seed is sort of a desert for them.

Ironically, no squirrels have built nests in our yard.  They are in the Doren's or in the Walker's yard which is next to us.  But they are always in our yard eating.  The Doren's shoot an air rifle at them but we only fire off a cap pistol to scare the crows and the squirrels off.

Life in the Oaks goes on all year long.  Deer feed on the leaves on the lower branches, the squirrels on the acorns and of course, the Finches off the thistle seed feeders.  We have also seen the deer eat the acorns too.

Inauguration Approaches . . .

The United States of America Presidential inauguration is approaching.  A change in power, in roles and in attitude of the nation is approaching.  Many will argue it is not but in truth it is so.  We see changes already in how the new President approaches the economy.  Indeed the stock market has racked 1.4 trillion dollar run up and he is yet to be in power.

Trade is showing signs of change already, companies are indeed retaining jobs in the US.  And if he can successfully reduce the income tax on the corporations countless millions, even billions, of dollars will return to the US economy.  And a change in the tax process itself may cause a boom.

Certainly changing and getting rid of the onerous Affordable Care Act will make great changes.   The Supreme Court ruled it a tax, so let us change the tax.  There are countless small taxes embedded in the legislation and that will release more money into the economy.  The present President lied again and again is supporting the Affordable Care Act (ACA or Obamacare).  Demagogues like Senator Bernie Sanders are saying we are condemning people to death.  Well the same people lived pretty good before Obamacare and will do so after it.  We went through Prohibition and now we are suffering through Obamacare.  It too will go away, something better will appear in its place.

Did it have some good rules, yes, of course it did.  But it had a host of ill-advised actions hoping the young and healthy would pay for the sick and indigent.  It is not working and it is sinking into bankruptcy as I write.  It can not carry the load and the radial idea that the healthy would pay for the poor just did not work.  Many are electing to pay the fine and do without coverage as they do not need it.  It stagnated the economy, and in eight years it failed to really recover.  Unemployment was redefined to hide the awful truth, with countless millions of people out of work.

What Obamacare did not do was break down the barrier of across state line health insurance coverage.  That led to higher and higher premiums with less and less coverage.

As the former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, said, "The trouble with liberals (and liberalism) is that when they run out of other peoples money to pay for it, then it collapses on itself."  That is paraphrase of what she said but it is true.  One can not tax his or her way out of the situation.  The people paying will revolt and that is what has apparently happened with the Democratic Party.  As the bun said in Central Station years ago, "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch."  Huey Long used to say, "A chicken in every pot."  The Democratic Party was unable to continue the liberal bent and will be forced to change, move toward the center instead of to the left.

As we near the end of the Obama Era, the Democratic supporters are increasingly becoming distraught.  Calling for riots, calling for changing Electoral College votes, protesting at Golden Globes and other venues is rude and inappropriate.  It is short sighted.

The American people rejected the Democratic candidate state by state.  Yes, some of the more populous states did support her but she did not get enough electoral votes to win.  Congress has validated the election.  She was a horrible candidate, rigging the Democratic Nomination, lying again and again, doing illogical actions such as a private server allowing herself to be hacked by all kinds of foreign Delete repeated word.  Selling favoritism to line her pockets was criminal.  The American populous did not buy her rhetoric, she lost the race and is still trying to skate on the real issues.

Obama at times realizes he is done yet at others does not.  I would not be surprised to see him drag his feet in leaving the physical White House.  He is done, finished and over with.  Hillary Clinton is also done and finished with.  They will continue to carry on but would be digging an ever deeper hole.  At the moment they have done severe damage to the Democratic Party and it will be a while before it recovers.  Indeed the present leadership has not changed course yet either.

Almost Ready . . .

Almost ready for pre Christmas visit to Flower-Mound.  That is James and Joan's abode.  Collection of some of our family in a pre Christmas soiree.  We will bring some salsas that our house maid prepared.  We will bring the chips.   She is Honduran so we will have a touch of it from that part of the world.  We will also have Ceviche, marinated Red Snapper with lime juice plus onions, Jalapenos, olives and green onions (décor I think).  I will bring boiled shrimp and my dipping sauce, mostly Catsup and Horse Radish but a little of this and that added to it (it is secret ya know).

We will bring some wine for all to partake.  And in the tradition of South Louisiana, we will pass a good time.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Winter Has Arrived . . .

We are starting a wet and cold weekend.  Got up this AM to a gentle and persistent rain and temperatures around mid forties.  No ice, no frost, just misery.  The house is warm enough but without the brightness of sun light, it is just plain crappy.  Supposed to rain on and off all weekend through to and including Monday.

As I look out the window I see more leaves have dropped out front.  The two Shumar Oaks, red oaks, are dispersing their summer leaves and acorns (for the squirrels, ya know).  The trees are not bear yet but they are shedding and you can see a little more daylight through their branches now.  Soon they will be stark trees with just an errant leaf here and there that refuses to fall.

The little oak on the side yard has turned from green to a sort of golden brown.  It dies not shed its leaves but instead pushes them off in the spring.  So I may lose a few leaves but holds on to the bitter end.  Its fellow Post Oak has been showering us with its smallish acorns (the squirrels are not interested in them, to small for their taste).  I vacuumed most of them up yesterday, cut the grass out back (cut the leaves out back is a better description).  The mulching blade takes fairly good care of them but out back where the Post Oaks most reside, the mower had a tough time with the leaves out back.  It would push them up under the mower motor and front wheels.  I found by reversing I could leave a pile of leaves, so moved a great deal of them over near the compost pile.  Later I can rake them into the compost pile.

I will have to venture out again later on a good bright sunny day and vacuum up some more leaves of the drive way and side walks.  I usually end up with eight or ten bags of leaves and the vacuum generally grinds them up as it sucks in the leaves.  I toss the lot into the compost pile.  We will have a nice collection of them and may haps some good soil in the spring.

I see the Narcissus poking up in their flower bed.  Sure sign that winter is here.  Will have to cut back the Clematis vine here shortly, it will return in the Spring.

Stay warm.