Day 4 On The Pump

I'm getting tired of this. We thought we had it fixed on Sunday night. Guess again. Monday morning there was no water. There was also no one around to help so I pulled the pump by myself. It's a real bitch to haul this big pig out of it's sleeve alone but I got it done. I was thinking the motor was damaged so I wanted to have the manufacture's rep bench test it.

Everything tested excellent so next step was to reinstall it and have a pump tech come out to check out the electronics. The controller was flashing that there was an air lock. I thought this impossible as it is a submersible pump. As I was about to button it up I got a return call from Ryan Naka , the designer of our system. I told him the problem and he asked if I had bled the air from the cooling chamber that the pump sat inside of. I said "What Do You Mean"?  So here I am after bleeding the air out . Pumps reconnected and everything seems great. 

Tuesday morning the water is coming out really slow from the tap. Then it quits. All I could think was how much I hate this water system. The up side is I have no more sellers remorse. I'll miss my neighbour's Art and Inga but beyond that . Nothing.

I figure that my connections between the pump and wires to the controller are faulty. I phoned my son-in-law Brad for some advise. He's an electrician . Luckily he isn't up north until next week working. Even more lucky was that he knows what I'm like with anything electric and said he would come over to see what was going on .

It Was A Lousy Day

Billy decided we should make today the day we flush our water lines. I should know better than to do this on a  Friday , Saturday or Sunday by now just because if something goes wrong it will be happening on the weekend where there is no help. Murphy's Law. Here is the culprit.

Once open we could start the cleanse. First we pumped out the 1900 gallons of water from the holding tanks.

We have a well that supplies 6 homes on lakeshore from a well that is located on an easement about 300 yards down the lake. It is a beautiful spot.

Someone built a nice sitting area here over 20 years ago which is still used by the neighbours .

This is our well. Hidden from sight bus still easy access if you know where to look.

Back up at the holding tanks we managed to get Tom (our young neighbour) to climb into the tanks to clean them out while I worked the pump for him as he scrubbed them down.

Success. Tank # 1 done.

Tank # 2 was a bigger job. It is a very tight fit to get down there. I have been doing it for years but last year I said we needed someone else to go into the tank. I don't think I could fit thru that small space anymore . Time to move over for the young and trim guys.

 Once the heavy dose of chlorine ran thru the lines we got quite a sludge discharge.

This is why we flush the lines every year. Gross.

Tom did a great job in cleaning the tanks out. It took him hours.

As he was climbing/squeezing  out of the tank I said "Sorry". He looked up and saw the camera. Nice reaction. He's a good guy.

So the down side of the day is that Billy turned on the residential pump when there was no water in the holding tanks and burnt the pump out. I think a new pump is about $ 1500. Tomorrow is Sunday. I will likely spend the day taking that pump out of the tank and there likely isn't a replacement in Kelowna. I will get to spend Monday chasing around town all day trying to find the replacement so hopefully we will have one here sometime Tuesday. Then I will get to spend the day reinstalling it. I'm a little pissed right now. Like I have nothing better to do with my time. I'd go for a shower and head to bed now if I had water.

Daisy's My little Buddy

So I was down in Okanagan Falls Friday to tune 3 pianos. I barely made it home before I needed a 10 minute nap. As soon as I hit the couch I was asleep but was woken up by Daisy burrowing in for a nap of her own. Ruth thought it was worth a picture. I slept for 10-15 minutes with her jammed in between the couch and my head.

I woke up just as out dinner company arrived. I love those naps.

This Is What You Can Do On 5 Hours Of Sleep Every Night

I've been doing posts every so often on my friend Gus and his overly ambitious yard work. So he and his wife Bev bought this great house on Wallace hill 2 years ago that had a yard which needed some work. Their first job was to turn it into  a beautiful park and now his attention has gone to the entrance .

He has used over 10 thousand pounds of stone (I'm sure he will correct me on this) to build this wall that I have been watching him labour at for the last 4 months. I have been calling myself the building inspector and checking in on his progress every week or so.

 This entrance is beautiful. He has done a great job. He is one of the hardest workers I know.

End result is a beautiful entrance.

Nice job Gus. I can't wait to see the gates you build. Make them musical. 

This Is How Grizzlies Eat

Ruth and I had a great day today. I had to drive to Kamloops to pick up a 2x8 sheet of Teak veneer that was needed for a table base I am building. Just as I was walking out the door Ruth asked if i would like some company. YES. It is a long but beautiful ride. 

So she found a wildlife park just before Kamloops that has Grizzlies. 

These two are four year old brother and sister.

Just before feeding time. I thought it was funny that he washed his paws as the handler was about to bring him his lunch. I know humans who could take a lesson here.

These are big bears but will still double over the next 4 years to mature size.

The handler locked them in a separate pen while she took a bucket of fish and veggies into their fenced acreage and distributed berries and fish under rocks and logs for them to find and eat.

All this was play fighting while waiting for lunch. The handles says they work really hard to make sure they don't get into real fights. Unequal amounts of food will start a terrible battle. She said it is really ugly to see. I can't imagine.

I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of this.

The female is quite a bit smaller.

The handler gave a very interesting and informative talk on grizzlies. There was a crowd of 35 people who dispursed within about 10 minutes except Ruth and myself. She talked to us for close to one hour about these bears and their habitant. It was very interesting.

I got a couple of nice shots thru the mesh of their compound.

Glad to be on the outside.

Then we headed over to see the Raccoons get fed. The bucket that this handler is holding is full of their food.

Ruth asked to see what they ate. There is a collection of carrots , apples , hamburger and 1 day old chicks from a nearby chicken farm. Ruth was grossed out when she looked in the bucket. I thanked the handler cuz he likely just saved me $10. from having to buy her lunch. She lost her appetite.

I don't like raccoons. Disgusting  and Disease  carrying over sized rodents.

 This was a very fun day. On the way home we stopped in to see Andrew Middleton at the  Classic boat Co. to see how my new table top is looking. He is refinishing a new table I had built for ''In Tune." 

He's doing a great job so far.

Andrew And Josie's 9th Anniversary

Ruth and I were involved in these two hooking up together. Josie has a massage therapy business that Ruth went to for the first time nine years ago . Josie was telling Ruth what type of a man she would like to meet and Ruth knew just the man. Andrew restores classic boats for a living and was single with 3 beautiful daughters. I chased Andrew down while he was launching a boat at the Hotel Eldorado nine years ago with Josie's phone number. The rest is history. Here they are driving into the same dock to pick us up that I gave him the phone number on that fateful Sunday.

Andrew is the importer for Chris Craft into western Canada. Here we are enjoying a new 25 foot launch.

This was my highlight of the ride. Cuddling with Josie while andrew drove the boat.

Such a handsome captain.  Chris Craft is a wonderful company. Their boats are first class.

We just drifted out on the lake for about an hour. It was a nice way to spend time . 

Josie wanted to see what it was like in the head. She couldn't believe there was a toilet crammed into this corner . She was right. I know I wouldn't be able to even cram myself in there.

This moron didn't drive the trailer far enough into the lake and so tried driving the boat under full power  up onto the bunks. The problem here was that there was a line up of boats behind him waiting to pull out and he created a huge current that pushed everyone around so badly that it was hard to hold onto our boats and not have them crash into the docks.

We all headed back to our place for a relaxing dinner. Here the girls hung out while I got the BBQ going.

Poor little Daisy wasn't too happy when Andrew moved his chair and it pinches some of Daisy hair . All I heard was a yelp.

I don't know where this came from but it must have hurt . 

I wonder what she is thinking as she is looking up at andrew?

A Great Family Weekend

So Sharon , Chris and the boys drove out from Vancouver Island to spend the weekend with us. Our nephew Paul and his wife also drove out from Vancouver for the weekend. It was a fun time. The two cousins (Paul and Sharon) spent some time by the pool talking.

Such a cute couple of kids. They are around their 40's now but when I saw them sitting there talking I was seeing them thru my eyes about 30 years ago sitting in our living room  above our piano store sharing their adventures growing up in Winnipeg. I would love to know what they were saying back then. I do remember overhearing Sharon & Carrie tell their cousins Paul & Jon that they wouldn't last a day in our family. Haha. I guess I was a bit of  task master , but it certainly hasn't seemed to hurt either girl in the long run. I think Ruth and I did a pretty good job raising them. No matter what anyone says.

Unfortunately Carrie had to work today. It didn't seem right she miss the weekend with us especially after being at sea with the Coast Guard for the last two weeks but at least we had Brad , Jack and Ellie for a couple of days. Ellie didn't care how cold the pool was , she was going in.

Ellie also spent time in the garden. She found lots of treats to gnaw on.

Ruth made a huge batch of spring rolls that I fried up in the wok on the side burner of our BBQ. This keeps the smell outside. Sharon then cut them in half as I pulled them out of the wok. Very delicious.

She is a good helper

Saturday afternoon was great. We all sat around on the deck eating different treats & indulging in fancy drinks.

 Some kids tried the pool but it was only 78 and too cold to really enjoy.

Ruth did up a batch of home made chocolate ice cream and the little kids all pigged out . It was delicious.

Isaac and Sharon both had a hot tub before  settling in on the couch exploring my moms jewelry box.

Jack and Elliot played some sort of a game in the corner of the kitchen.

Brad and Chris went thru the treasures Chris found in some school ground with his metal detector.

Paul and Sharron were laid out by the pool in the sun. It was a nice afternoon.

I finally got the windex out and made the kids clean the windows that they were putting their fingers all over the night before. They knew I didn't want them to be touching them because someone has to do the clean up and I warned them that it would be them. They did a good job.

Dinner took a few minutes to organize but it finally happened and it was very nice to eat together.

Sunday morning the Burdge boy's don't look awake as they get ready to chow down before the ride back to the Island.

Jack found a perch to settle onto while he finished a show he had started the night before.

We came out to the pool deck to get some family pictures before everyone left. Unfortunately we couldn't get them done before Sharon left. She was on her trip home about 20 minutes before Carrie and her family arrived this morning. Carrie and Ruth helping line up my camera on the tripod.

We got one decent group shot using the timer.

Here is a nice shot of the kids with my malfunctioning timer. See my hand…..