Water Projects

The yard lost water pressure back in July. I thought it was because the springbox splitter up the hill had been turned a bit too far to the cattle trough, but we were heading back to SLC so that was fine. Turns out, that wasn’t it.

Last fall we fixed both spring lines to the house/yard/corral, putting in 50′ of new pex line for each spring after pulling out old pin-holed metal line that had rusted out in the marsh below the house spring. We fit the pex to good metal line where the ground was dry. I discovered that 30 feet beyond the new pex was a pinhole section in the drainage near the road.

Last year’s pex line ends up here somewhere…

While I drove to Great Falls for new pex line, Dave and Ike dug out along the metal pipe looking for a solid section- we all hoped the line was still good as it headed under the county road. It was!

Always bring a section of pipe to the store. I told the hose guy I needed a 3/4 inch interior diameter(ID). He pulled it down and I said it looked small, and maybe it was a 3/4 outside diameter- he gave a little lecture on how all measurements are ID. Everything looked small, the pipe, the connectors- he assured me it was just an issue of a different manufacturer (Sharkbite v Pex). I told him it was another 80 mile drive if he was wrong- On the highway out of town I skidded into a turnaround, knowing I should have ignored the hose guy. Yarg! We’ll make it work…?

We made it work. All buried, and the helpers/bobcat went home. E and I 4-wheeered up to the springbox and I pulled off the filter I’d installed last year. At the connection to the underground tube a wad of tiny roots had formed a blockage. This was the final fix for full pressure. I headed back down and opened up the full pipe valve (added to let mice pass) and I let the entire sprinbox empty (lots of once thirsty dead mice had sunk to the bottom, as the world has dried up)- down at the yard a macabre splash-zone formed as I headed back up to refit things at the top and pick up E.

The old concrete at the kitchen needs some help. A clear old slab underlays the shattering top slab.

The top slab was poured with an inserted steel rain gutter (packed solid with dirt and long forgotten) that makes a 90 degree elbow to where another run of steel gutter (missing- a weed garden for as long as I can remember) would direct water down the hill in the back yard.

I need more concrete, and a long run of drainpipe. The record high pressure dome is baking the West and bad smoke arrives along with the heat. This can wait; I have a planned project inside where it’s cool and the d.i.y. electrostatic filter-fan keeps the air clear.

The kitchen table is filling up with tools again…the Feller must be onto another little improvement.

It took awhile to suss out the issue even with the power of Lasers. The tub is level end to end, but not side to side.

Once Nora explained things I got on to creating a first layer of tiles at level. This layer is then set and left to cure overnight, so the remaining tile can build upward.

The tiles are set, and will cure out. Next comes grout.

When I frame in the window I’ll resolve the missing top rail bits.

The yard baked for six weeks since our July trip. It was much too dry to mow when we arrived. I’ve been watering the entire yard since we restored the line, through the terrible heat & wind & 8% humidity. Now mowed short for winter.

The front yard was crispy. It recovered as best it could. The terrible megadrought late-season weeks-long high-pressure-dome is done, the smoke cleared out, it even rained a bit this afternoon, and will drop into the 30’s tonight. Fire danger is off the charts. The afternoon rain was hard enough to put up the mower for tomorrow.
In SLC it has been over 100 degrees for 10 days, hitting 107 yesterday (it was 90 here)- same record high temp there as our drive home in July. This sets a new record number of consecutive days over 100 for Salt Lake. Since records began in SLC, there have been 3 September days to reach 100. The megadrought is crushing it!

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