Today was expected to be a warm on, though the forecast kept changing when it came to what our high was supposed to be. In the end, it was a glorious 3C/37F! It’s past 6:30pm as I start this, and we are still at 1C/34F It is so awesome!
Things had warmed up pretty constantly overnight, so while I was doing my morning rounds, I was able to check on the frozen ejector. My brother had brought over one of his tarps to cover it, but until this morning, I hadn’t seen just how long it was! It took a while to get it off, and I made sure to lay it out on the snow, so that I could fold it in half (black side out) for later.
After very carefully removing the elbow and cap, the first thing I saw was that the venturi pipe – the discharge pipe – inside the 4″ stand pipe was loose and could move around. My brother and I left a length of copper pipe nearby, supported by a fence post and a tree, so it couldn’t freeze in the snow, that I used to see how far down the ice was. I was able to get the copper pipe its entire length in, and never hit ice! It was the same inside the venturi pipe. I was extra careful while doing this, as the last thing I needed to do was drop the thing! It’s a few feet shorter than the height of the stand pipe, so if that hadn’t, I would not have been able to get it out again.
As for the venturi pipe, while I could wiggle it around, it was still solid at the bottom. That could have just been the venturi valve properly seated at the bottom, but I wasn’t about to force it out to find out.
This is very encouraging, though, and a very pleasant surprise. I was expecting it to still be frozen a few feet down. We might be able to hook things up to the pump again soon!
For now, I left it as it as it was and covered it back up again, tying the tarp around itself so the wind won’t blow it off. I didn’t add more of the liquid ice melter. I updated my brother about it and he did ask me to add a bit more, but I will do that tomorrow, as we were out most of today.
That was my first surprise – just how well that stuff worked!
My second surprise happened when I went to check on the truck and do a scan.
We have not been able to do much about clearing and organizing the garage since moving here. Among the things we will need to deal with are various long items stored in the rafters.
The yard cats like to go up into the rafters and use them to move around. There are shelves they climb to get up there, so I sometimes find things they’ve knocked down in the process.
This morning, I found a bundle of scrap molding and whatnot, on the ground beside the truck, along with a board. These had been in the rafters.
The first thing I did was check the truck for damage, but it seems it was missed completely!
After cleaning things up, I did the OBDII scan on the truck to make sure it was still just the sensor setting off the check engine light, then fired up the compressor to top up the tires. I was checking the tire pressures still when my daughter caught up to me, so she started topping up the tires that were a bit low.
I was telling her about finding the bundle that had been in the rafters next to the truck, when I realized.
We were being watched!
One of the more feral kitties was up there, on another bundle – one that did not look like it could be knocked down, thankfully! – watching us very closely. Thankfully, this is not one that panics and dashes awake, leaving a wake of destruction behind. We have others that do, and I worry that they will hurt themselves in the process! Not to mention, break things.
So that was another surprise.
Once we were done prepping the truck, my daughter and I headed out. Our first stop was the post office, where I knew we had some parcels waiting to be picked up. Two of them were not a surprise; my husband got me a new pair of boots, as the right foot on the ones I have now finally started splitting. It’s always my right foot that wrecks my shoes, first! He also picked up a siphon with a rather unique design, This is something we could use to drain some of the water in the ejector – both the stand pipe and the venturi pipe – if needed. Based on what I saw this morning, the level is going down, which means it might be draining slowly from below, but it’s hard to say for sure.
There was one large but very light box among the parcels that I wasn’t expecting – at least not so soon! The replacement hose for our washer came in. They expedited the parcel, even though I only paid for regular mail! That was really awesome of them!
There was another package that was a total surprise, though.
A whole bunch of cat collars! They have breakaway collars and are reflective. We will be able to get all sorts of cats collared up as they are fixed! Right now, Syndol is the only one that still has his collar, and his winter fur is so fluffy, you can’t even see it, even though it’s bright red. I have a bunch of collars ready to put on them. Only one of them is reflective, though, so I will likely use these, instead
I didn’t order these, by the way. There was nothing on the package to say who sent them to us. There were a couple of possibilities, and I can now send a great big thankyou to M for being so very thoughtful in sending these! M, you are awesome!
It’s so nice to have good surprises for a change, instead of all the “what is breaking down now??” surprises!
Meanwhile, my daughter and I ended up changing our plans and heading to the city today, and I ended up doing a smaller stock up trip. By the time we got back from the city, it was starting to get dark, so it was a much longer day than expected, too!
That, however, will be my next post…
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 