Happy Labor Day!

This weekend we came up and celebrated Labor Day in the most American way we know how – with hard work.  Americans are known for working way too hard and it’s true; and we’re guilty as charged.  This weekend we brought up another smaller load of plants which included a Jamaican cherry tree, a couple nice gardenias, and some knockout roses.  There’s only one tree remaining but I think it’s still a few weeks out.

Depot run

Sunday morning we got up and made a Home Depot run to pick up some irrigation supplies.  Since we now had nearly all of the new plants up here, it’s time to move them into their new locations and get some irrigation set up to make sure they survive.   After picking up the supplies, I got started by hooking up our old well pump from our house to the well head.  I got it plumbed up and then ran the wiring to it.  Nothing.  I messed with it for a few and the motor was seized up on this one also.  Bummer.  I’m now 0 for 2.  The back up plan for now is to hook the irrigation to the city water supply.

Starting the irrigation

Next up was running the irrigation plumbing.  We distributed all of the parts and pieces around the house in a production type setup.  I showed Oceana how to use Teflon tape to wrap around the threads on certain pieces and she did that for all of the sprinkler heads.  We plumbed our way around the house setting sprinkler heads where we thought they’d go.  We picked up various types of sprinklers – some spray 90 degrees, some spray 180 degrees, and some have an adjustable spray pattern which we used for the outside corners. 

Hooking up the valve

With the sprinklers and piping in place, it was time to get water to the system.  We bought a single valve irrigation controller/valve combo and tied it into the city water line right next to the shop.  To do this we had to undo some of the galvanized pipe where the newish PVC piping met the old galvanized pipe.  The 1” galvanized pipe was nearly rusted shut.  It was a great reminder of why we’re replacing all of the water lines throughout the house.  For the time being, we ran a bunch of ¾” pipe from the irrigation control valve to the connection point at the northwest corner of the house. 

We’ve got sprinklers

Time to test the system.  We turned the controller on and sure enough, the system filled with water and the sprinklers started spraying a fine mist.  I had to adjust a handful of the sprinkler heads but other than that, the system worked great.  We distributed the plants in their positions around the house so that they could get a proper soaking. 

Avocado trees

At some point Bud stopped by and said they had 2 Avocado trees that could be ours if we wanted to dig them up today.  We were game so we headed over and dug them up.  After we finished with the sprinkler system, we ran out and grabbed some garden soil.  We came back and dug holes and mixed the garden soil in with the sand as we replanted the trees.  They’re looking real wilty but I’m optimistic that with regular watering they’ll make it.  I hope.  Mark was kind enough to bring us over two plates of chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner.  Fantastic as always.  Thanks Mark!

New water line

Monday’s plan was to run a new proper water line and to start getting the plants and the irrigation system into the ground.  Well, things don’t always go as planned.  We made another morning Depot run and picked up supplies for the day.  As I mentioned earlier, we’re going to replace all of the water lines throughout the house.  We also need water to supply the irrigation system.  We decided to kill two birds with one stone and to run a new 1” water line from the corner of the carport over to the middle of the north side of the house.  Why there?  It was the simplest way without having to get overly creative to get the line to the side of the house. 

Digging the trench

Oceana started digging up the trench for the new water line as I started adding a shut off valve near the meter.  I saw Tom do that with Tommy’s line and it was a great idea given how much of a pain it is to access the meter.  After adding the shut off valve, I plumbed in a pair of spigots onto the front carport pole.  These are before the pressure reducing valve so they have the full city water pressure.  It’s good to have some of those on a house.  After that, I joined Oceana in digging in the trench for the new water line.  I think it was somewhere around 70’ of trench that we ended up digging. 

Oceana the plumber

We laid in the pipe and started gluing up the fittings.  Oceana wanted to learn so I showed her how to apply the primer and then glue the fittings together.  I showed her what needed to be done and then I went and took a nap.  Kidding, kidding….  She did great gluing up the fittings and I got the sprinkler control valve prepped to move.  We glued in the sprinkler valve and then made the drive to turn on the water at the meter.  The water turned on and no fittings blew apart.  Great.  But why are the sprinklers on?

Uh oh

After less than 24 hours, the sprinkler controller managed to fail.  The solenoid inside stopped working – you used to be able to hear an audible mechanical noise when the solenoid engaged or disengaged.  Not anymore.  I had thought about adding a shut off valve between the main water line and the sprinkler system but I failed to do so.  This would allow me to replace the control valve without having to shut down the water to the house.  Guess I’ll add one now.  I go up to shut off the new valve near the meter and see water leaking from 2 places on the original plumbing.  So I dug it up and the hair roots were thick around these fittings.  I think the hair roots actually stopped one of the spots from leaking badly because as soon as I removed the roots, it started spraying. 

Home Depot, again.

Since I don’t have all the parts to make the threaded connections, it’s back to Home Depot.  While we were there, we picked up a new irrigation controller and valve. No, not the same one.  We got back and replaced all of the leaking parts.  While doing the repairs at the meter (literally working inside of the meter box from our side of the fence), I created just enough space that if I laid partly upside down on my left side I could work my hand through the opening just enough to get a wrench on the meter.  Winning!  I got the water turned back on and no leaks.  Great.  The way it should be.  We tested the irrigation controller and it functioned as expected. 

Almost done

Last up was filling in most of the trench that we dug for the new water line.  We left some of it exposed where we’ll have to tie into it later but that was good enough for now.  It turned out to be a much longer/later day than expected but we had to make it happen so the plants won’t die.  Next weekend we can look at burying the plants and the sprinkler lines.  Happy Labor Day everyone and thanks for following along.

Odds and ends

  Thanks to Bud and Dianne for the avocados and the bananas.  Oceana already made some guac with the avocados.  During all of the irrigation work, we managed to get curtains hung on the sliding doors in the bedroom and got blinds installed on the 3 windows.  As I was installing the first set of blinds, I told Oceana that you have to be careful with the cheap hardware they send with the blinds.  And then I twisted the head off of one of the screws.  So I got some real screws and finished the job.  We also uncovered a bunch of subterranean termites (the bad kind) under some lumber that was laying on the dirt out back.  Time to get some termite treatment in the works. Tom (and Gerald) successfully got Tommy’s water line fixed this week. Tom fixed the one leak at the meter only to find out there’s more leaks downstream somewhere. He narrowed it down to the oak tree in Tommy’s yard and was able to fix the leaks and get it back up and running again. Good work!