Saturday, February 27, 2010

A Dim Light At The End Of A very Long, Dark Tunnel

Today was supposed to de dedicated to finishing the grouting of the countertops and backsplashes...supposed is the key word here. Instead I visited ACE Hardware in Suisun City for the 4th time yesterday...yes...4 times! AND...got the final (I thought) 1/2 inch compression pipe fittings for the installation of the dishwasher next to the big sink. I got as far as moving the dishwasher back out from the cabinet and attempting to install the pipe fitting it needed to hook up the intake water. Sure...not a fit this attempt 3/8th's inch compression was NOT the RIGHT one. So back to ACE and got a 1/2" pipe thread fitting and sure enough...wrong again! Then Bob of Bob and Marsha fame came by to see how we were progressing (me..NOT!) and he pronounced the fitting on the dishwasher as a 3/8ths pipe thread. So back to ACE once again (!) and exchanged the error pieces (hose was wrong too!) for the correct (according to Bob...and he was RIGHT!) So I took everything to the house and began the installation in earnest. After installing the CORRECT fitting and the CORRECT connecting hose I plumbed in the new coppy 1/2" T fitting and the old valve that I saved from the 15 yr old installation from this same kitchen. The dishwasher was pushed back into it's cabinet space and fastened to the countertop. Of course doing this unceremoniously removed by force the 4 face tiles in the 24" wide cabinet due to interferance with the top of the dishwasher. Shit! I'll put them back when I've determined this whole install is not leaking or failing in some other way. 'Til then it is IN without the tiles in place.

I was done at 311 for the day. Then I went next door to Audrey's house and repaired the fallen down clothing rod in her closet. Then home to watch "Street Thief" on Netflix online. Riveting!

Then we ate dinner...I made a Beef stew with carrots, camerlized mushrooms, veal stock, red wine, roasted potatoes. Delicious if I do say so myself. Then we were off to Dinitri's Lounge for the Sunday night Blues jam sessions that start at 6. What a show! Terrific bunch of musicians and a friendly, lively crowd all anxious to dance, dance, dance. It was great fun as always and made we want more! Dimitri's does a great job! Here's three videos to show you what I mean! You may need quicktime from Apple to play these, get it, it's free! http://www.apple.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVDUKkF4yLg

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Workin' In A Coal Mine...





Under 311 Morgan Street is a "crawl space", a 3 foot tall access to the underpinnings, the floor joists (all heart redwood), main beams (all heart redwood), the water pipes, drain lines, electrical wiring, and last but not least (in this case) the natural (city) gas line(s) and spider webs galore. My interest at this segment of the reconstruction of 311 is the water and gas lines to the new sinks and the cooktop (hob). Yesterday I attacked the water lines and by the end of the day had both the hot and cold lines in place to the new vegie sink on Hawaii (the island in the kitchen) as well as the drain lines to both. It was a real joy to finish this part of the project as I HATE (read: Abhor!) plumbing. I'm famously bad at it and would rather jump in a septic tank than undertake ANY plumbing task. I can create leaks where none were before by the simple act of LOOKING at a joint in the copper lines!
It's supernatural! I'm equally bad at each of the requisite tasks in plumbing too...designing the plumbing route, choosing the right pipes, corners, valves, etc.
Awful, I'm simply awful at it. I LOVE soldering and have taught it to hundreds of my previous students but that was wires and electronic components...these are PIPES and they have a strange ability to resist my finest soldering efforts. Anyway a miracle has occured...I made a total of 14 joints and as far as I can tell...I have NO LEAKS! A-fukin-mazing! AND though I am finished with the drain lines too..they leaked like a bamboo hut when I tested them late in the day. Today I went to work on the weaping drains and seemingly have abated the deluge for now. We shall see.
I hate plumbing.

Today's activities were those of grouting the Big Island...("Hawaii" as we call it), though there is no volcano, there COULD be a geyser! That finished we grouted the backsplash and the counter of the new Bread Center alongside the oven wall. It went well but at the end we were done with work for the day, too much for Kelly and I had a trip to the grocery store on my mind. So be it, we called it quits at 2:30 and came back to The Swamphouse. I tore off the grocery list I'd made up and headed off to purchase the vittles for the next few days and Kelly trundled off to take a nap.