Plumb wet!

June 23, 2007 (5:14pm)
75º F, Sunshine, SSW wind, 4 mpg.

Good afternoon,

We are back in Kewaunee after a very short stay at Guds Nordtre. We are having some special doings for our choir director tomorrow, as it will be his last "official" Sunday at Grace. I am going to try and convince Helen to lead the Bible study on Tuesday, so we can return up nort’ afer only a short stay here. There is much to do there and we really would like to get at the plans we had when we bought the place almost a month and a half ago.

A rather uneventful trip today and we really made good time, until we got to Green Bay. Then it was a stop for a very late lunch at The Old Country Buffet and some shopping for the next trip up nort’. The idea is to pick things up before we fill the truck with a load from here. It also means a more direct and faster trip on the return. We skirt by Green Bay and save a bunch of time, even though I really don’t like to drive on the super slab. We do get a really nice view of the Green Bay harbor and surrounding area by going up and over the high rise bridge over the Fox River. Would be nice if there were a turnout at the top to take pictures from. They frown on stopping or walking on the bridge. It is about a mile long including the approaches.

The Hobbit Hus is plumb done wet! Finally got the last of the piping plumbed last night. Now Margriet can wash dishes with cold hot water as well as take a shower with the same cold hot water. Everything works and no leaks found. The shower has a new personal showerhead on too. The new kitchen faucet also works without any by-passing of water from one side to the other. All, well almost all, of the piping is nice and straight, square, and red. That is much more pleasant to look at then the old, every which-a-way PVC with purple streaks, not to mention all of the leaks and breaks. The drain in the shower is now solid and doesn’t leak. I do need to put on the grate which needs a bit of remodeling to make it fit right. Another item is the pressure relief valve on the hot water heater needs to be replaced as it also leaks. The last item is replacing the toilet, but this will be postponed for a bit.

The next major project is to finish putting in the LP gas line from the bulk tank to the Hobbit Hus. That project took a back seat to the water problems for a time. We will finally be able to take a hot shower instead of spit baths! I also have to finish the shutoff valve for the old water supply and then re-bury the shutoff and access to it. While it is not a hard project, it will be one that takes a bit of physical work and some time. At least I will be working in sand rather than clay. Do have to be a bit careful as the power supply for the Hobbit Hus in buried in the same trench. The power will be off for much of the work.

Most mornings, before Margriet gets up in the morning, I work on taking apart the "shelves" in the shop built by Leo, the former owner. The angle grinder is sure getting a workout. One box of grinding wheels must have gotten wet at some point, really soaked. One of them wore out extremely fast and finally came apart like cornflakes. Not too happy about that. I now have a 5' ladder made from ½"x1¼" bar stock and small channel. It is heavy as sin, but will last of ever. It was used as support for on side of a stack of bins welded to it. I have 6 - 16"x32" bins about 4" deep with pretty substantial handles at each end. They appear to be originally hung on a rack with a finger at each end. They are in pretty good shape, so will reused them as drawers in the storage part of the shop - I think. There are also 5-6 more in the lean-to, also in good shape, but bolted in place. Will add them to the others.

We took Margriet’s computer up this trip. Thought it could hooked to the wireless very easily. I think it can be, but I just don’t know the combination. It will eventually get connected. We sure have gotten spoiled by the DSL though. I get very impatient here, waiting for the dial-up to catch up. There is so much added value to this machine and system with DSL. Too bad they still have barb-wire for phone lines here. I still can’t get over needing to go up nort’ in the big woods to get vastly improved service that isn’t available here. Here the response is that there are not enough people per square mile to make it pay. They certainly have fewer folks there than here, and it must be profitable or it would not be there.

The cookies were a hit with the folks a the realty office. Everyone was pleased to see us, but I’m not sure if it was because we were bringing cookies! They had asked if we would have our picture taken for an article in the local paper about our moving into the neighborhood. Tried to tell them they just needed to get our picture from the "Most Wanted" at the post office. They didn’t buy it. We did have a good chat with them and generally had a good time. They are a bunch.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><