Winey Weekend

It’s been a busy Monday to wind up a busy weekend.

We went to Prosser this weekend to get our grapes for this year’s wine making experience. The barn above is located in Sunnyside, just down the road from Prosser. Every year we go, we are afraid this barn will have been torn down. So, we are always happy when it appears at our exit. It does not appear to be used for anything other than a haven for a herd of pigeonses.

We picked up 100 pounds of Tempranillo for us and 100 pounds of Syrah for Susan’s friend, Ellen.

We did a whole bunch of wine tasting at a variety of wineries down in the Yakima Valley and then, on our way home yesterday, we stopped at Eclectic Vineyards and collected our grapes. 

We got home last night and felt pretty beat up. I don't enjoy long drives like I used to. It was early to bed for me.

Today we crushed the grapes. We have two buckets of mashed grape skins sitting out in the carriage house. It only took us about half an hour to crush both hundred pounds of grapes and then about 45 minutes to clean up.

After that, I got the hose out and cleaned the truck bed, getting all the dirt out of the back of the truck. I wanted to dry out the bed a little bit, so I went on a drive. I went to the gas station to clean my smashed bug riddled windshield. I stopped for a nice little mocha and then I went to the General Store to buy a new faucet for the back of the house. 

I would now say that job is complete. We have a new ball valve for the water shut off. We have a shiny new Pex water line and now we have a nice half turn faucet at the end of the line. And for the first time since we have lived here, we have decent water pressure at that faucet.

I feel pretty stupid that I waited this long to fix that problem.

The only problem I see is there is a small water drip coming from the back of the faucet. It's a little out of focus but you can see it there. I'll give it a couple of days to see what happens after my threading glue sets.

The bottom of the pipe had corroded away right at the threading so that may be where the leak is coming from. With the season winding down and my ability to completely shut off that water line, I'm not going to worry too hard over this issue. Still, I hate wasting the water.

 

Backyard Faucet Water Line Replacement

Shaun got here mid afternoon and we got to work on the water line for the faucet at the back of the house. Since we moved in, it has never been a very strong running faucet. I have a soaker hose hooked up to it to water the tomato plants and it seems to do okay with that job. But if I ever wanted to use it for washing the car, it would be useless.

Pictured above is the valve we are replacing. It is located in the ceiling near the clothes dryer. In this picture, we have removed the valve spicket and are preparing to cut the pipe. Shaun decided that the best thing to do is move the new valve into the closet where the water meter is. From there we will bypass the old pipe, using Pex to run the line back over to the location of the old valve.

This is a picture of the new ball valve and Shaun included a faucet there to be used as a blowout valve to clear the line of water. I'm going to purchase a cap to add to the nozzle, to ensure I don't have to worry about leakage.

Shaun cut out a short section of pipe in that area and I was surprised by the amount of sediment that had built up in it. It was only about three feet long and I could not see through it. No wonder that back faucet runs so slowly.

Shaun will be back on Wednesday to run the Pex line and finish this up.

In other water news, my shower turned cold this morning. The hot water appears to be running in the shower now so I'm thinking this is an anomaly. But I will be keeping a wary eye on this situation.

Water Valves and Electrical Work

We have an outdoor outlet in the side yard that has been inactive since we moved in. I finally got fed up with it and decided to get it rewired and working. I found a circuit box in the basement that it was wired to. I tried to follow the line all the way to the electrical box but that wasn't going to happen.

So, I wired a little jumper from the box to another box, the circuit of which is tied to the microwave oven. And voila, it works. I kind of half assed it from there, not having an outdoor cover that was solid and secure, and the outlet should have a GFI on it.

Today, I full assed it and put together a proper receptacle.

I bought a new box which would work with a cover I had. I pulled out the old outlet and wired in a new GFI outlet. 

It really took some doing to get the cover on and secure. I ended up wrapping a strip of duct tape around the outside seam to make it really watertight. 

So, I'm pretty pleased with my progress with that little job.

Over the weekend, I had Shaun here to fix a couple of water pipe issues we had. You may recall that Shaun is my handyman guy I call for little fixes around the house. He built the deck in front of the Carriage House this past summer. 

The first project was to eliminate this giant array of hoses and valves from when this house had a functioning sprinkler system. It was toast when we moved in 22 years ago and I'm not sure how long it was toasted prior to that. I have actually dug up roots that had grown next to a sprinkler line and squeezed it off like it was strangling it.

For that reason and because there are so many roots out in that yard, I have chosen to not invest in a sprinkler system and just water by hand. As nice as a sprinkler system would be, I see how my neighbor Lou struggles with his every year. Having the wave sprinkler and moving it around, it works for me.

So, we removed the sprinkler array and made just a little more room in that tight little closet where the main water shut off valve is.

There was an old valve in there associated with the sprinkler system that, when you turned it, it leaked profusely. It probably cracked during a cold winter. It wasn't an issue as long as the valve was closed off. Now, it is not an issue because it is gone.

The other major valve repair I had Shaun do was to replace the outside faucet shut off valve with a shiny new half turn ball cock valve. I have been unable to completely shut down the two outside faucets at the front of the house when freezing weather arrived. Now, that will not be a problem and any further concerns about my lines freezing are unwarranted.

I'm hoping Shaun will be back today to fix the shut off valve for the faucet at the back of the house. Then I will be completely able to control my faucet world during the cold winter months.

It is all about control!

Prep for Dump Run

We've been doing a lot of work around the house trying to get more organized. This has all been brought on by the extra space created by the new boiler, which is working great so far.

So, we've been down in the basement doing some reorganizing and out in the Carriage House doing the same. I've finally gotten serious about getting rid of stuff. I've thrown out a bunch a cartoons I did that where years old and lots of bags of Dad's old stuff. I've been a little careful about what we throw out. There was this box that was full of old crap from Dad that all ended up in the trash. However, there was a really cool little curio box that I thought we should hang on to.

Susan got out the polish and cleaned the thing up. Then she went on line and found one just like it for sale for $3,200.00. We're going to check it out and I'm not holding my breath for anything right now. But, that's a cool little find.

In the meantime, the back of the truck is loaded up and I'm ready to go to the dump tomorrow. I hope I weeded out all the little hidden treasures.