Yes! We have major progress!
But first, the cuteness.
I did my evening rounds after giving the outside cats their evening feeding. As I was coming back to the hose, I saw this adorable face watching me.
We can most definitely consider Kohl well socialized now – and boy, does she ever want to get into the house! It’s a good thing we have the old kitchen as a buffer zone. She and several others often manage to dash inside while I’m struggling with the doors and a bowl full of warm kibble for them.
The Cat Lady was asking me if we could be able to catch any females for spaying this fall. Among the kittens, we should be able to easily catch at least two – Kohl and Magda – and possibly a third. There’s also one adult female we should be able to catch, but the clinic that we’ve been going to has special pricing for spaying cats under 6 months old now. Kohl may be too old for that now, though. She is from the very first litter of the year.
Meanwhile…
I’m happy to say, the parts and pieces of plumbing for the tup that needed to be replaced, have been replaced. We were able to attach the fixtures, turn on the water and test it out.
While my daughter was working on the other side of the wall, I stayed on the tub side to turn things on and off whenever she told me to. I took advantage of the wait in between to scrub and clean as much as I could, then scrape off any remaining old caulk that I could find. In the process I discovered that I could scrape off much of the rust and scale that had accumulated under the hot water tap when it leaked during use. CLR wasn’t getting it all for a reason!
After the first test, we found that the cold water was leaking at the tub, while the hot water was leaking at a Pex to copper join in the basement. My daughter spent the next while tightening and taping everything, while getting me to turn the taps and shower on, as needed.
It looks like we finally have everything tight and leak free!
My daughter is just amazing. She was working in some really tight spaces. Especially in the basement, which had the added issue of cobwebs to deal with, even though she did sweep away most of them, first.
My daughter does not do well with spiders, so her doing that is really, really something.
Once the testing was done, the water was shut off again, and the fixtures removed again.
The next step will be to add mold and mildew resistant sealant around the tub edge, in the corners, and anywhere else that looks like it needs it. I will be bringing some wood lath over from the garage to place in strategic areas where the paneling was cut out, so the tub surround will have something to adhere to in that area. Only if it’s thin enough, though. It might be too thick. We shall see.
If we do add the wood, the cut out area will get another coat of the mold and mildew resistant primer.
Then, once everything has had a chance to dry and cure, we will finally be able to install the tub surround.
Last of all, we put back the arm bars.
In between all that, we need to pick up a couple of heat elements for the hot water tank. Hopefully, that will be enough to get us hot water again. I would hate to have to buy another tank, considering how much the price has increased since we got the last warranty replacement in 2020.
I’m not sure when we’d be able to do this, though. I got a call from my mother tomorrow, telling me “her fridge is empty “my fridge is empty!”
She isn’t actually out of food; that’s just her way of telling me she needs a shopping trip.
Still, she was wanting me to come over today! I told her I was going to be helping with the plumbing today, so it’s arranged for tomorrow. She has her Meals on Wheels coming in tomorrow, so I don’t need to leave as early to pick up a lunch for us. She still needs to get to the bank; she wasn’t up to it last time. I was hoping my sister would have been able to come over with her smaller car to help her, but she and her husband are out of province right now. So my mother will have to clamber into our truck again!
I’m not sure how long I will be gone tomorrow, but I still hope to get at least a little bit more garden clean up done. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit cooler than today was, but it’s then supposed to warm up for a few days – there’s even a high of 21C/70F in the forecast! – so I hope to get more done on those days and, if all goes to plan, start direct sowing seed for next year’s garden.
We shall see!
Meanwhile, I’m going to start heating up water so I can actually bathe. The tub now is clean enough to use instead of the sink!
Man, we have had to heat water to bathe way to many times since moving out there! 😄😄
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 