The Story, The Whole Story, and Other Things, Too.

Peggie found the three-compartment food service sink on CraigsList. Only $150, which is a very good price. This was on a Sunday. Being the busy bees that we are, we couldn't get downtown to see it until Tuesday evening. Downtown streets are torn up for the construction of a trolley line. We found an empty meter only a block from the location. While we waited, Peggie got a text that the seller couldn't find the key to the storage place. We waited. He showed up and we went around to the alley. The door had a combination lock, not a key lock. He had a key to the front door, so we went around to the side with the construction and he let us into the kind of place you'd never go in if you were in a slasher movie. Dark, crowded with detritus from bars, restaurants, apartments, junk yards, whatever. It was being used as a practice hall by this guy's rock band. Sure enough, there was a keyboard, guitars, amps, drums. Way in the back, was the sink. It was in good physical condition, but you could tell by its (long-term lack of) cleanliness that you were happy not to have eaten in the bar from which it had come. No way we could carry it back through the maze and around the block to our parking spot. Enter the smart phone. He texted someone and got the combination to the alley lock. So I brought the truck into the alley, we loaded up, tied down, and headed out.
When we got it home, unloaded it and carried it into the back yard, we discovered problem #1. One of the legs was missing a piece I have since come to know is called a bullet foot. It slips into (and, apparently, out of) the hollow legs so height adjustments can be made to deal with the inevitable uneven floor.
Plan A involved taking an inventory of needs to clean the sink, and hook it up to water and drainage. So I made a list and made Trip#1.  Lowe's for water line and drain pipe, Restaurant Supply for bullet feet and sink stoppers. I got everything on the list, except bullet feet. I was given the name of a local manufacturer of stainless restaurant equipment. They are out near D-M AFB, so that is a trip (#2) for tomorrow.
The clean up went well. I searched on-line, Casey, and found some instructional videos on cleaning stainless steel. Vinegar, lime juice, and baking soda were about equally recommended. I went with baking soda and it worked just fine. Except for the going blind part. Oddly, all of the videos were done indoors!
While hooking up the water supply, I realized I had waaayyy over engineered the project. So I scrapped Plan A, and since I had to make Trip # 2 anyway, I returned several pieces of plumbing and exchanged them for a simpler solution, namely a Y fitting for the existing faucet. We have used these successfully in RV parks, so why not?  Because....
... we have anti-siphon attachments on our outdoor faucets, and they leak when held under the pressure of a closed valve downstream. So, I had to remove that. Bad news. Twenty five years ago, when the contractor installed this device, he crossed the threads. So now I have to replace the faucet.  I know I should just take the faucet with me, but that would mean leaving Peggie without water while I am gone.
But wait, there are multiple sizes and types at the store. So this time I left the water off and took it with me.
Faucets are too expensive at Ace, but I remember seeing them for less at Lowe's.
So it is lunch time on Friday now and I think I have everything I need. After lunch I will make the "final" hookups.
Or so I thought. Here is what happens. Every time you get a connection to stop leaking, it puts pressure on the next connection. So, here I make the "last" connection solid and discover that the on/off handle leaks. Just a little bit. But, you know.
So, to recap: the swivel faucet had obviously been leaking for a long time based on the calcium build-up around it. The new washer there was in Plan A. When put under pressure, the valve on the wall spigot leaked. That was around Trip # 4. The connection from the garden hose to the sink hose leaked. That was part of Trip # 2. The faucet handle required Trip # 7.
Altogether I visited Restaurant Supply, Lowe's, [#1] AIS (for bullet feet),[#2] Lowe's,[#3] Lowe's, [#4]Ace,[#5] Lowe's,[#6] Ace.[#7] This is about 80 miles and another $50 over the original price, plus all those "priceless" hours of labor. I tried to time the work to coincide with shade after that debacle scrubbing in the blinding sunlight. I was interrupted by a crew who came to trim the big mesquite, a side chore to reset the timing and alignment of the drip system, some books that needed to be read, some TV shows that needed to be watched, and crosswords that needed to be filled in.
I still have to dig the trench and sump hole for the drain, but I have all the pieces of PVC I need.
Famous last words?
So far Dave looks like the winner. Thank you to everybody for playing. There is no prize beyond all the fun.

Clarification on the rules

Greg and Peggie have convinced me to make the following revision/clarification. So, Plan A was to visit two stores in one trip. That equals one trip, because it was the original Plan. But, since I couldn't get one item at those two stores, Plan B has to equal trip two. So, Greg's suggestion about sales receipts would seem to apply. For instance, I already have to go to the place where they build sinks like this one to get the adjustable feet for the legs.
What else might come up?

The Gift

Peggie has been doing a lot of fabric dying. Our patio looks like a redneck laundromat. We have a galvanized wash tub on a loose cinderblock stand with a garden hose going to it. The used water drains through a hole in the bottom of the tub, down through the blocks and into the yard, where it makes.....mud. We have a clothesline strung on the patio. (For you youngsters, that is a small rope used in the olden days from which wet clothes were hung to dry in the sun. Think of it as a solar powered dryer with no moving parts.)
Peggie has been lusting after a "professional" setup with a multi-tub sink, plumbing, and drainage, under a shade cover. For her birthday last year, I said I would do the installation when she found the sink(s) she wanted.
She found one. On Craigslist. A three-tub stainless steel restaurant sink with drainboards on both ends. (For  you youngsters, a drainboard is a sloped surface near a sink where dishes are washed and rinsed and dried by hand.  !!!!!)
So, now that we have air conditioning that makes it comfortable to stay indoors, I am cleaning up this grungy sink salvaged from a boarded-up dive bar downtown. Did you ever try to scrub stainless steel in the full sun? Well, don't. Just stare right at the sun for five minutes if you want to go blind.
And, guess what? The plumbing set-up requires a trip to a restaurant supply store AND the home improvement super store.
Before the next post here, the betting windows will be open. How many trips to the store will I really need? Pick a number higher than one and less than a hundred, place your bets in the comments section. Winners will be announced when the job is complete. Good luck to all of us.

Nothing is black and white--it's all about negotiation!

Sigh--it's so tough to be in business and try and try and try to provide service. Look at it from the business owner's point of view--he's sent technician after technician out to fix these problems and now we don't think we should have to pay $700 to replace the line set. It's almost a boo-hoo!

We agreed to pay the cost of materials of the new line set. He had to absorb the labor cost and the cost of the refrigerant. He doesn't get to make a profit on labor or refrigerant. We don't get to make a profit on anything.

MAYBE we will have a unit that operates effectively.

Sigh...

Remember the name, Temperature-Control, Incorporated. It's not the only company in town.

And the owner just got an award for providing great customer service!! Are you kidding me??

Temperature-Control, Incorporated "We're Better By A Big Degree"


A few years ago we had the "pleasure" of replacing the heat pump in our house. The old one worked faithfully for 20 years but finally gave up the ghost. And, doncha know, the new ones are so much better--more efficient, to say the least.

We had our new unit installed in August, 2007. Lots of $$$ but that's okay; we needed a NEW, EFFICIENT unit.

September, 2007--PROBLEM service call--new motor had to be installed.
December, 2007--PROBLEM service call--no refrigerant in unit so no heat; need to order a new reversing valve.
December, 2007--PROBLEM service call--reversing valve installed.
December, 2007--PROBLEM service call--buzzing noise and no air flow when started up; can't re-create the problem.
December, 2007--PROBLEM service call--unit won't shut down, contactor points spot welded together.
May, 2008--Regular Spring service call--PROBLEM found--low side pressure but can't find leak.
May, 2008--technician returns--cannot find leak--injects new type of dye
May, 2008--technician returns--cannot find leak (hmm...why did it have low side pressure--don't know).
June, 2008--technician returns--PROBLEM electronic air filter is zapping--no leak
June, 2008--PROBLEM service call--black & white T-stat wires reversed in air handler--no detection of leak but has to add refrigerant.
December, 2008--Regular Fall service call--unit is working fine.
February, 2009--PROBLEM service call--electronic air filter post is rusted off--filter has to be replaced.
April--October 2009--We're in Alaska and not needing air conditioning!
October, 2009--PROBLEM service call--located leak inside evap. coil--ordered new coil.
October, 2009--technician returns--PROBLEM--couldn't pump down system and compressor would not run, traced problem to compressor--end connector burned off. Installs new end connector and installs new coil.
April, 2010--Regular Spring service call--unit is working fine.
April--October 2010--We're in Alaska and not needing air conditioning!
October, 2010--PROBLEM service call--low on refrigerant--adds refrigerant. We pay for refrigerant and dye--ridiculous!
April, 2011--Regular Spring service call--PROBLEM--low on refrigerant--adds refrigerant--no charge to us.
April--October 2011--We're in Alaska and not needing air conditioning!
October, 2011--PROBLEM service call--low on refrigerant--adds refrigerant--no charge to us.
April, 2012--PROBLEM so moved up Regular Spring service a week--low on refrigerant--adds refrigerant. Maybe the set lines are leaking. That will cost $700 to replace. Are you kidding me??????????
April, 2012--PROBLEM--cap off compressor, air handler and set lines, add gauges to determine if there is a leak
April, 2012--PROBLEM--there is a leak in the set line
April, 2012--PROBLEM--set line is scheduled to be replaced on Monday! I do not plan to pay for it.

I would think a Customer Service Award Winner owner would be bending over backwards to make things right. We can't get him to call us. We finally tracked him down and spoke with him. He agreed to check the set line.

Customer Service--are you kidding me?? We're such idiots!

Miss Adventure, 2012

The year is in its infancy, so we can't actually award the crown yet, but I have to nominate Peggie for Miss Adventure 2012.

Most evenings we go for a walk into a mostly undeveloped desert area near our house. We always see cottontails, quail, doves, and dogs. Sometimes we see something more rare, like tonight. There was a stick in the road. As we got closer, it turned into a snake. When Peggie was one step away it turned into a rattlesnake. I couldn't get a coherent warning out, just "Watch out." or some such. Peggie had time to do a dance step, but not before one foot came within a shoe length of the head. The snake, a western diamondback did not move. So we picked it up to see if it was alive. NO NO NO!!!

I used my walking stick to nudge it. It was only a little over a foot long and as big as a finger. Only a button for a rattle. It moved its head a couple of inches and extended its forked tongue a few times. We gave it a more reasonable berth and continued. Maybe it will be there again tomorrow. We will watch more closely for sticks from now on.

Adventures of the third kind.

How many kinds of adventures are there. I mean categories.

Like, the title of this blog referred to our intent to spend a summer working in Skagway. This category of adventure means setting out to do something different or unusual to see what experiences you can have. It is intended to be fun.

On the way to Skagway, we had an "adventure" of the second kind. That is, descending the 13.5 miles of 9% grade, pulling a trailer, while the brakes on the truck make that baaaad sound all the way. So you could define this category as potentially death defying, but-turned-out-okay. And definitely not anticipated, and definitely not fun.

Then there is the adventure that happens unexpectedly while engaged in a routine activity. It isn't death defying, dangerous, or necessarily interesting or fun. It is just unexpected. Many of us have this kind of adventure at the auto repair shop. You need an oil change, and end up with new brakes. This is the kind I had today.

The check engine light began coming on again after we had a new gas tank installed due to a recall stemming from the regurgitation of fuel when the pump automatically shuts off. The code translated to "gascap." But tightening the gascap did not cause the light to go out. It turned out to be a faulty "rollover valve." You see, the Wrangler has a valve on the filler tube that will prevent the rapid emptying of the fuel tank in case of a rollover. Fire prevention, doncha know.

However, the filler tube is integrated into the tank itself. All one piece. So I needed a new tank. Again. So the adventure here is the extra three hours I got to spend in the waiting room watching Sandra Lee, Rachel Ray, Paula Dean, The Barefoot Contessa, and numerous others share recipes and cooking tips. I had a book, but I finished it in only three hours. I read the newspaper, did the Jumble, Cryptogram, and Crossword, and started on the Sudoku. Had a conversation with a former Southern Pacific engineer about trains because I was wearing a hat with a train on it. Shared accounts of weekend activities with a new-car salesman taking a smoke break.

So there went another day.

How did yours go?