Celebrating Courtney at 27

Happy 27th Courtney! I was up a little after 7am eager to get the party started. I prepped a pot of coffee then completed a full complement of sit-ups and push-ups. Ykraps and I hit the streets a short time later. Lovely morning – lovely walk. Not wanting to waste any time, I quickly enjoyed a cup of coffee before dressing for my run. It must’ve been 8:30am when I dashed out the door. I ran my usual Sunday trail – just three miles out Trabue and down Hague. It was a good run. I was startled to happen upon Mindy as I re-entered the house. She was just stepping over the baby gate at the base of the stairs. I wasn’t expecting that. I suggested we have some coffee out on her patio in the warm sunshine. We sat out there talking for a good 20 minutes. It was almost 10am when we headed back inside. I suggested that she get a shower now if she planned one in the next couple of hours. Dad and I would be turning off the water in order to complete the plumbing job. Best case, it would be off for about an hour. Worst case, who knows. She agreed, and headed up for a shower. While Mindy showered, Dad phoned to say that he was on his way. He also shared a run-in he had just had with step-brother Shawn that could best be summed up as less than cordial. While waiting on dad’s arrival, I decided to do as much prep work as I could. From the garage, I cut and pieced together the CPVC on-off valve and hose bib feed with out gluing anything. Dad arrived just as I was finishing up. We carried our tools and supplies to the basement where I showed dad the work I planned to carryout. The first order of business was turning off the water supply then cutting the ½” copper pipe leading to the existing hose bib, which is fed from the original metered water feed. We would then sweat on a 1/2” copper cap formally sealing off the old feed. Sounds easy. The prep went fine. I was ready to sweat the cap on quickly. I carefully cut the pipe, cleaned it with emery cloth and a pipe cleaner brush, then coated it with flux. We knew there was water hanging around in the end so we created a sucking towel to pull as much away as possible. On the second try the sweating worked. The solder found its way completely around the pipe. A very good sign, but only time and a test would tell. We waited a few minutes before turning the water on. Time to test. I turned the water back and within seconds we knew that our work had failed. The cap was dripping. Dad quickly pointed out how difficult that would make things because now we’d have to try and sweat it off with water in it. Anyone that’s ever sweated copper plumbing knows that that is impossible. The problem was that there was no way for the water to drain away short of the utility sink. We had no choice but to use the pipe cutter to severe the pipe just behind the cap. Lucky for me, I left a little wiggle room with the first cut. But honestly, that was by happenstance. Dad suggested that he do the second attempt not wanting to risk another failure. I conceded. It didn’t take long to finish the second try. I held my breath as we turned the water back on. This time, thankfully, the cap held nicely. The hard part was seemingly behind us. Dad suggested this was the reason why most seasoned plumbers avoid doing any type of home repair jobs such as that one. They’re timely, riddled with issues, while also being low revenue generating as compared to working with all new. Before installing the new CPVC run, we removed the old hose bib spigot. That took just a few minutes. Next, I had to sever the ¾” inch CPVC feeding the irrigation system to add in a tee that would serve as the new hose bib feed. Then, add a separate new CPVC shut off just above that, thus enabling me to turn it on/off without impeding water flow to the hose bib. Simple! Well, to begin, Dad carefully held the wire meter wiring out of the way while I took a hack saw to the existing CPVC run. It doesn’t take long to tear right through the CPVC. Soon we had water spraying all over everything. Oops! We both forgot to turn off the water supply again. Yikes! We laughed it off and moved on. The trickiest part was cutting the CPVC to the proper length while allowing enough slack to slip the existing end into the new tee and shut-off valve. We remedied that by temporarily removing it from the new deduct meter. The CPVC joints need to be cleaned, primed and glued. That might sound difficult but it’s really simple. The primer and glue actually weld the plastic to together via chemical reaction. Once it’s on, it’s on. It’s not coming off. Done correctly, leaks are very rare. We carefully went about adding in the new pieces/parts until we were done. The final end simply threads on the end of the water spigot much like a hose fitting. I wasn’t so sure how well that would hold well but my research says otherwise. I chose not to test the new plumbing for a few hours. The directions say to let the glue cure for at least two hours before full pressure is applied. With an array of on/off valves, I was able to turn on the water supply to the house but keep it out of the new CPVC. Before I forget, another benefit of using CPVC is that unlike copper, you can weld it with water in the pipe. It doesn’t matter. I budgeted two hours. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes. Dad hung around for another 15 minutes before heading out. Said he’d return around 4:30pm. I used the time to whack, edge, and blow the walk and drive. That took no more than 20 minutes. Afterwards, I readied for a quick trip to Home Depot and Target. I asked Mindy if we needed anything while I was out. A first she said no but called me before I even left the house. She asked that I get some sort of cake/ dessert for Courtney’s b-day dinner. I stopped at Home Depot first. There I needed to buy hardware to mount the new support rails to the boat’s interior. I really wanted stainless steel to avoid any corrosion. Unfortunately, their selection of stainless steel hardware wasn’t nearly as complete as that of the zinc, which will eventually corrode. I went with the zinc. I was really happy to find the special t-fittings I needed. I also bought two stainless steel screws to secure the new water spigot I just installed. After Home Depot I cruised next door to Target. There I intended to replace the kids’ kickball that went flat last week. I ended up buying two. One old fashioned patterned rubber kickball, like in elementary school only in blue instead of pale red. The other was a large blue marble looking thing. While there, I checked to see if they had that purple v-neck t-shirt I liked in my size. Last time in (about a month ago) they did not. Today, however, they did. I grabbed one. Next, I headed just down the road to the ATM and then Kroger. I needed some cash and then the cake Mindy requested. I checked out all the cake options and settled on a tray of twelve cup cakes decorated for the 4th of July. I also bought 2 four packs of giant iced cinnamon rolls. They looked incredibly delicious. I thought the adults might like that option over cup cakes. While heading to the check out lane I grabbed Mindy a dozen dazzling reddish-orange roses. I haven’t taken any home in a few weeks. Finally, I was heading home. It was 3:30pm when I called Mindy to check her status. The kids were already there. She & Courtney had already run to the storage facility where Mindy offered Courtney her old book shelf. I greeted everyone at the house but then quickly turned my attention back to the boat. I was determined to get the new treated wood rails prepped, recovered in marine vinyl, and installed. To that end, I worked methodically. The project went almost perfectly with just a couple small snags. While finishing my work, Joey & Shelly dropped off Kaileigh. They stayed for about 30 minutes visiting. They’re good people. We like them much, much to daughter Courtney’s dismay. I needed a shower and headed directly upstairs to take care of business. I returned ten minutes later clean and refreshed. Mindy started the grill but asked that I take over. She was a bit overwhelmed. I went to the deck and put the steaks, chicken, and hot dogs on. Crissy came over and said that Kenny was too ill to join us. Got sick eating at Bob Evans after church. That’ll teach him to go to church. Soon, we had dogs, chicken, and steaks cooked by Jimmy. There were four or five filets and two NY strips. The kids ate out on the deck. Not long after dinner we gathered around a large cinnamon roll to sing Courtney happy birthday. It didn’t dawn on me at the time but this was the first formal birthday celebration that I’ve done for Courtney since her 17th (10 years ago). After blowing out the candles, we gave her gifts. Kaileigh gave her jewelry, and so did our kids. We gifted her a Kohl’s gift card. Crissy had to eat and run. She had to see her step-daughter off to her mother’s. Courtney left a short while later. She said she was really tired. Honestly, she looked down all afternoon. Summer quarter starts Monday. I felt it a good thing for her to go home and get some rest. Everyone else hung out. Eventually, the rest of us gathered out back to play kick ball in Dave and Becky’s backyard. Dad played, too. It was really fun. There were several dysfunctional moments, but still lots of fun. June 28th is nephew Joe’s birthday as well. He stopped over around 7:30-8:00pm. He joined us for the last inning or two or kick ball. He and Mindy had a beer afterwards. As the evening wound down, I got busy watering flowers. They all needed a good hand watering. And to that end, it was time to give my new plumbing a run for its money. To the basement I headed to put it to the test. Slowly, I turned the water pressure on to the new water spigot. No leaks! Wahoo! Landon and I watered flowers for the next 30 minutes out back. It felt liberating to now be hand watering for 30% of the normal cost. I let Landon play with the hose by himself for about ten minutes. Lindsey said Kelly never allows him to do so. Incidentally, Landon loves his paw-paw. Soon Joe-Joe left, and then minutes later so did Dad. We’ll see dad again Wednesday after he fetches Glenn from the airport. Mindy ran Lindsey, Rocky, and Landon home. Kaileigh, Jacob, and Bella stayed home with me. My job was to water the front flowers, but then also give the kids a bath. I proposed a shower in the backyard from the garden hose. Kai and Jacob were game. Bella was not. She opted for the inside variety. Our neighbor Carl came over while I watered the front flowers. We talked for a long time. Eventually his wife beckoned. I moved around back and gave Jacob and Kaileigh a cold, outside shower with the hose. They brought out soap and shampoo and wore their swim suits. Mindy got home soon after their showers were history. I helped carry in what few things were still scattered on the deck. What a day. I was beat. Mindy complained of the same. We tucked the two girls into the guest bed, then Jacob in his own. I made myself a Jack & Coke around 10pm. It served as an excellent night cap. Good night Moon!