Mom called while I was in Sac with Jen and Lauren Friday. Her water heater was not working. I recommended contacting PG&E under the impression that the pilot went out, and said I would check back in the next day. Saturday morning she called saying they did come on Friday and indicated it was leaking and would need to be replaced. She needed my immediate help turning off the water and draining it. It ended up being quite a learning experience. The water valve was stuck and difficult to reach, but I managed to loosen it with some tools and WD-40. Then came the need to drain it, which included pulling an aged buried unused hose from the dirt in the back yard, cleaning out dirt to enable it to attach to the heater's drain spout, and opening it up. It gurgled and drained slowly, then stopped. She thought it had not drained fully and was proven right when I started to remove the hose only to have more water coming out. That's when I remembered they function with pressure, and there is an air-release value on top to allow air to enter as water escapes. Once opened, more water flowed, yet still slower than expected. The end of the hose had been attached to another hose that had been cut off. Upon closer inspection and removal of the cut-off extension, I found a blocking washer with a pinhole opening that I assume was once on a drip hose. With that removed, water finally flowed freely. After measuring the space and looking online for fit options, it quickly became clear that I was reaching beyond my skill set. The odds were high that this would likely prove to be an unnecessarily recursive effort wherein exchanging the replacement due to the wrong width, height, or outlet locations would cost more time and delay than simply letting the expert do it. So we did just that. Pulled in Eagle Plumbing for not just the installation but the whole project. Whew! On Saturday afternoon, we went to one of the women's volleyball games we got tickets for earlier this year. The seats were terrific and we both enjoyed the games. This morning Tommy and I had coffee in downtown LG and talked about the year ahead - school, studying for the MCAT, research and balance. I dove deep into a big task for Jikoji: moving off of Mailchimpand doing an aggressive purge and re-option for newsletters through Squarespace. There's more to do. There is always more to do.
Insights: I am still painting myself into corners by the impulse to want to "fix things "that are not broken. My mom's home phone change remains a recurring scenario of short-sighted best-intention moves. Letting go of the "DIY" mindset with the water heater is a good step.
🛏️ 7:33 AM ⚖️190.2(+1.4/-7.1) 👣 4,286(1.9mi)🏃♂️4min ❤️59 (57-105)
