The Chronicles of Commander Clay

Nancy Reading wrote:Hi Clay!
If you have time to check out the wofati greenhouse in the winter that would be interesting to me. I'm not really sure if it is up and running properly yet though?

Hi Nancy!!
Getting up to Allerton is definitely on my personal list - hoping that’s sooner rather than later. I’ll be sure to stop in the greenhouse.
If I understood Paul correctly, it is up and running and there are even some plants jamming along in there.
It sounds like it was warm in there last week when he stopped by

Anne Miller wrote:Welcome to Wheaton Labs and Base Camp. Have you gotten to tour the Labs yet?

What a wonderful opportunity...

Thanks Anne!!
I was very fortunate to spend about a month here last year - over three different trips.
I was given a full tour by former boot Brian, last May as a SEPPer.
I stayed at Allerton Abbey 5 or so nights.
Then at the 2024 PTJ I spent a ton of time up at the lab - largely at the root cellar wrangling logs with J R, but also at cooper building Stephen’s Poo with a View, and enjoying the Sauna.

But all that to say, not yet this trip. My rig is only two wheel drive and I didn’t want to risk it. On the list! Definitely wanna sauna in the snow…

Timothy Norton wrote:Clay! I love seeing the posts man. Good to see you at Wheaton Labs, I hope that you get some BBs done. :)

I hope you really enjoy your time there.

Thanks Tim!!
One done, one with pictures ready to post, another in progress, and one more on the horizon.
Glad to be able to accomplish multiple things at once!

Deane Adams wrote:Clay, I hope you enjoy your time at the lab.  Like Nancy said, I too would like to see pics of anything you harvest from the greenhouse.  Almost the end of Jan and in MT, that would really show proof of design.

Hard not to enjoy when I’m here, Deane!
Not sure if there’s anything actually harvestable, but will advise.

Today was a mixed bag.
On the one hand, it was a gorgeous day remarked upon by all.
On the other, plumbing problems thwarted several of our goals.

Despite cleaning up nicely, the hot water faucet in the kitchen still had some faults. It squirted water out a pressure relief hole upstream from the aerator after the faucet was off.
After hearing this problem was solved in the past with a thorough disassembly and cleaning, we figured it was worth a shot.
We got started and immediately after taking it out of the housing, saw the water heater itself was devastatingly calcified.
We took it apart and began the task of removing the build up.

This took Alex and I a couple of hours this morning and along the way, we noticed a leak coming from the sink drain itself.

We partially disassembled and cleaned the drain, only to realize the crusties were preventing more than causing the leak.
When we reassembled the drain the leak was worse.

Needing a break, after lunch we took the next few hours to buck some logs which had fell on a tent pad. These will become fire wood in short order, after we cut them to length and split them a bit.

While brisk, it was comfortable and a refreshing change of pace. Alex’s dog Potato even got to join us for a bit!

After those were bucked to a manageable length and dragged to Volcano Road, we used Roy The Truck to haul the logs back to the library, then headed back to the Fisher Price house for round two with the kitchen sink.

We took the white plastic pipe off again, tried some Teflon tape, but realized the lower drain threads (to which the plastic drainpipe attaches) themselves had been marred.
I tried rotating the threads, which seems to have stopped that leak… but all the jostling appears to have now loosened the P-trap… and caused another.

To add insult to injury, when reassembling and testing the hot water heater, we found that also leaked - the gasket had failed to create a proper seal.
This seems to be a custom gasket and rather than continuing to fuss with a rusting, older “instant” hot water heater - the decision to replace it was made.
It now lies in the Repair Café, ready for someone with more time and strength than me.

The P-trap has a bowl under it, catching any potential drips and will be our first agenda item tomorrow.

Now I’m sitting on the couch, enjoying running the rocket again.

Hey Clay thanks for taking the time to keep us updated.  I really enjoy the pics that you have posted, well except the one of the stop sign poking out of the snow bank, I still haven't warmed up from that one.

I have one tiny, small thingy to ask of you, please keep in mind I'm old and have some heart issues and try to stay calm and keep my pressure low, if you could find your way to pleaseeeeeee stop using the word "hot" when talking about the heater problems.  Pleaseeeeeeeee for the love of little sour green apples, it's a water heater, period !!!

I know that it's kinda silly, but it is one of the things that will send me around the bend every time I hear it.  I rank that wording up there with "tool abuse" !

I hope you know that I mean this in a fun way.  And I hope you get a laugh from this.

Peace

This was maybe the best life-of-a-boot description I've ever read. I'd love more along these lines -- from you Clay, and anyone else who has the energy after you're gone!

Deane, if I had better grammar and more accurate language then you’d miss out on cringeworthy gems like “logs which had fell” … and I think it’s those things which really make my writing special ;)

Christopher Weeks wrote:This was maybe the best life-of-a-boot description I've ever read. I'd love more along these lines -- from you Clay, and anyone else who has the energy after you're gone!

Wow, Christopher, thank you!
I love being here and I enjoy sharing - glad you’re having fun with me!

If you haven’t seen it, check out Alex’s BEL Thread
Though, Deane, please cut him some slack ;)

OK Clay and Alex I will overlook both of you for "hot" thingy.  I'm sending all my sympathy to you both, as I have no talent or skill with threaded fittings !!!

All my best to you both.

Peace

PS  I'm on kitchen duty today slicing, dicing and repacking my haul from the grocery store yesterday.  I'll check back later.