Plumbing Update

If you ever need to buy faucets and other plumbing items, buy Kohler, they are expensive, but keep reading. After DD and I saturated the valve with PB Blaster this morning, banged on it, both tried to free it, and gave up before we broke it beyond even the trickle and shower capability, we drove to Ferguson with a piece of the handle for color. Telling Sara, the showroom consulant that we needed to buy a new faucet set and why, she looked them up. First they make our faucet still but not in that color anymore, but it is $360+ and a 6 to 8 week wait to receive it. They do make one that would work in the area at the corner of the tub in the correct brushed bronze color, but it started at $800+ just for the faucet, not the handles and also a wait to get it, but she told us that Kohler had a lifetime warranty and to call them, providing us with the model name, number, and color.

I spent 10 minutes on hold listening to various Kohler ads, instructions on using their website after going through all the robot instructions on how to get where I needed to be, but was greeted by a pleasant young woman who promptly ordered a new cold water body and valve cartridge to be shipped directly to our house FREE to us under their warranty. We will still have to hire a plumber, but not to come out and tell us we needed a new unit or to break the one we have so we had to order a new one and wait for it’s arrival. We can still use the trickle and cold water from the shower to cool off the tub water until that can be done. It did give me an opportunity to clean up under and around the handles.

We will wait for the new unit, thankful for two reputable companies and the wisdom to have purchased quality in the first place when we built our house.

Independent and Self Sufficient

My Dad taught me those traits and over the years, I have strived to DIY whenever possible. I have replaced toilets, sinks, and a garbage disposal. Installed deadbolts and ceiling fans. Replaced valve stems in dozens of faucets, but today I have met my match.

The cold water faucet to our tub (it is a double faucet variety) has slowed to a trickle, it isn’t leaking, just doesn’t let water pass. The shower on a separate valve does fine as does the hot water. It probably needs a new valve stem, but it is a 14-15 year old Kohler. It is a non standard size for a tub faucet. Getting the handle off was easy enough, but the valve stem is set down in a threaded ring that still extends high enough after the cover is removed to prevent getting a wrench or channel locks on it. So off to Lowes to buy a tub faucet socket set.

The smallest one in the set is too large, I needed a 5/8″ one and they don’t have those in the plumbing aisle. I called Ferguson where all the plumbing came from for help and Adam was the epitomy of patience and attempted help, having me text him pictures while he researched. That very lengthy call ended with a phone number to Kohler, but before trying that, we returned the tools to Lowes and I had the idea that a 5/8″ spark plug wrench would work. Well it fits in the space.

But even with a longer handle to try to turn it, I can’t budge it. I sprayed it with WD40 to try to loosen it up and still no go. I am afraid of breaking something.

Dad may have taught me to be independent and self sufficient, but he failed to tell me that as I age, the frustration level at not being able to do something would build exponentially. I guess we will have to call in a plumber, which seems excessive for a valve stem, but I don’t want to break it and have a major repair and whole new faucet set to buy.

Olio

Olio: a miscellaneous collection of things

I finally gave up on trying to contain the mature hens. Ms. Houdini and Ms. Apprentice could get out no matter what I did to prevent it and the small area in front of the Palace was getting dug up to a hazardous state for my old bones. I took the plastic fence “gate” and put it on two step in posts across the front porch opening. The shorter pieces of plastic fence that had been protecting flower gardens but had to be removed to put the scaffolding up are being used to block the holes under that same porch to prevent the hens from going underneath. Those two hens will probably hide their eggs, but the production from the hens fell sharply when I stopped them from free ranging.

Yesterday, the wild birds had no feeders up. Today we went to Lowes to replace the Niger seed feeder and the suet feeder and instead I found a large tube feeder that was divided similar to the one that was destroyed by the bear, so again the three favored feeds are hanging from the double shepherd’s crook pole and they will be brought in every night. The Finches, Titmice, and Woodpeckers have already found them and started visiting again. The Chickadees which I favor, quit coming to the feeder in spring and summer and will rejoin the other small birds in the late fall and winter.

A couple of days ago, I finished my May spindle challenge spinning and plied the yarn on my wheel, gave it a wash and hung to dry. It is a pretty 4 ounce skein of turquoise Falklands dyed wool, about 485 yards. I haven’t measured it’s WPI since it’s bath, but it was about 18 prior.

I haven’t decided whether to knit it or sell it as yarn. Falklands is a nice spin and very soft.

Last week, I purchased a destashed Jenkins spindle that was in Sweden and figured it would take at least 3 weeks to arrive here. According to tracking, it has already been processed in Chicago, so I may see it by the middle or end of this week. It is a size that I don’t currently have and a weight that is within my preference.

This is a photo that the seller sent. It is Birdseye Maple, a very pretty spindle. It is only 9 grams, so it will be my lightest, though not my smallest spindle.

One of hubby and my walks is a section of an old paved over railgrade through part of Blacksburg and into Christiansburg. Since I moved here, it has been expanded from the original 7 miles to more than double that. There are two sections that we often walk, in both cases going out and returning on the same trail. The one at the origin point takes you to right across from the University stadium and last night we left the trail, took the sidewalk up a known road and picked the trail back up at the bridge that crosses that road. In doing it, we saw another trail that appeared to go along the edge of Stadium Woods, so once back to the car, we drove back toward the facilities buildings near the stadium to see if we could find it’s origin. In doing so, we discovered three streets with a cross street paralleling the one we had been on that we didn’t even know were back there and the trail and decided that the trail that we had seen from the stadium must be the origin. Today, we again walked out the section of the railgrade to the stadium and took the paved trail we had seen the night before. It wasn’t the same one. The one today took us on the other side of Stadium Woods parallel to the one we had found last night in our exploration, but it eventually brought us out near the same termination point and we walked back through the neighborhood to our car. I had hubby drive back to were we had seen it last night near the facilities building and let me out while he drove around back to the stadium parking and I walked it toward the stadium to see where it originated. I beat him to the parking lot as it seems that where he let me out was less than 1/10th of a mile from the origin and I walked out to the lot to wait for him. It looks like it will be a nice walk to do on another day. It will give us some variety, making an out and back walk into a shady loop.