I Think It Was A First For Me

Yesterday was a grayish day with some brief sights of sunshine .  And, then in the afternoon we had a TORNADO WATCH for our county here in California .  Wow, what a surprise !  And,  about an hour later fierce wind and thunderous heavy rains came pouring down .  It looked like about 4 inches of water was rapidly flowing across my patio caused by the volume of water and the pushing winds !  It was so very noisy but thankfully it didn't last very long and the remainder of the day and evening was continuous rain . 

This photo is from the news forecast prior to the arrival of the heavy windy rains in my area .  The photo is taken across the acres of dormant vineyards. Fortunately, the threat of a tornado passed.  Today the skies are bright and the sun is trying to break through the bright white skies .

Now, a new subject .  Since fall of 2018 I have been formulating some time schedules for MAJOR home maintenance projects .  With the winter storms it has been a little difficult .  Long story short . This morning at 8 AM a roofing company arrived to replace the roof of my house . The roof  is about 30 years old and there is a huge issue of extensive mold, milder and green moss . 

With the unexpected serious storms of yesterday I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen with the roofers schedule .  Well, they (three pickup trucks and a large refuse transport) are here and three men are working diligently to remove the old roof .

I quickly took this photo when they backed into my driveway . I think I see rolls of new tar paper in the white truck .  It is pretty noisy in the house and Ivy is wishing they would go away . I think they will be here for a few days .  And , the weather is supposed to be dry through the week .  Let's HOPE.

Wishing you a GOOD DAY and hoping you are not being impacted by seriously inclement weather .

Mary

It's Working - I Did It!

I was almost ready to "throw in the towel" after spending some more time viewing some more YouTube videos and rechecking the work I had done on the dishwasher .

 I had decided that I was NOT going to venture into the ELECTRICAL components .

And then I thought I would take another look at the drainage hoses underneath the dishwasher .  Since I had just finished running a rinse and cancel cycle with no change in results I decided to reach under and feel the different drains at the connection spots to check on the temperature on each side of the connectors .  Much to my surprise the first connection that I checked had a hot feeling on one side of the clamp and the other side was cold !!  I released the drain clamp and used the WET vac to suction each drain tube and I dislodged a blockage on the side closest to the pump .  The junction of the two ends has a smaller circumference on the drain closest to the out drain that transports the dirty water to the garbage disposal and out of the house..

 DID YOU HEAR ME SHOUTING WITH GLEE?

 This is the connection that was causing all of the trouble !  It is such a relief to have it fixed .

I thought it is a good time to show you this sweet picture of my Great-granddaughter helping her mama with the dishes when she was almost two .  Oh, how I miss spending time with her !!

Look what I did. Yes, I baked a Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting .  I sometimes make a three layer cake with six inch pans.  While working at cleaning out kitchen drawers in an effort to minimize I came across cake decorating tools like the one I used to make the designs on this cake . So easy and fun .  If you were here I would love to share a cup of tea and some fresh prepared cake !!!

Oh, by the way, I had to watch the oven temperature closely and adjust it so it did not jump too hot .  Very annoying .  I am not sure what I am going to do about it .  I really don't get the least bit excited about working with electricity . I am at the point of " pay for repair or pay for replace".

We are experiencing the beginning of wide spread heavy rainstorms and snow at closeby elevations .

I hope you are having a Good and Safe week.

Mary

Busy As A Buzzing Bee

The new year has brought me a vitalized attitude with all kinds of ideas . But, before I start with that I want to comment on "to blog or not to blog".  As many of you may have noticed many bloggers have made the decision to no longer blog .  I have been on the fence about that idea for quite some time now .  Come June, it will be 10 years since I embarked on this challenging, stimulating, wondrous, educational, loving and very enjoyable adventure.  For now,  I will continue blogging, but on a less frequent schedule so that I can get more accomplished in my home and not feel pressured if I have lapses in blogging.

Now, what are all these guys doing?

It looks like they are ganging up on me.  If it isn't one of them it is another that is shouting for attention !   Very recently, the dishwasher (ten years old and not one minute of trouble) has decided it wants to leave water in the bottom when it is turned off.  Not good !  I like everything to smell good and that certainly would change that.  Many of you know that I don't shy away from challenges of household maintenance, mostly because my budget would not expand to cover the expenses.  However my forays into the world of repair have resulted in many successes.  And, I guess it is "now in my blood" and I like the feeling of success !   So, lets give it "A Go".

When I start to disassemble something I always fear I will have leftover parts. Sometimes I chart as I go - but not always.This is the bottom where the water accumulates and the filter is in the bottom.

Almost no debri or mess!  See the white X marks.

And the next level down is clean also.  This is the first time I have used my Shop WET vac.  Wow, it worked great.

OK, that wasn't the problem.  So let's look for blockage in the under sink hoses/plumbing and garbage disposal.

Lots of gunk but no blockage. Cleaned all connections and reassembled.  Everything at this end is fine and draining very well.  The next step is to pull the dishwasher out from the wall and check the flow switch and pump!  I have to think more about that.  Call appliance repair ? ? ?

A little cooking going on - even though the oven temperature fluctuation is giving me fits !  The stove is also ten years old and the fluctuation has been an issue for quite awhile. In the past my repair of the heating element and temperature sensor arm have been successful .  This may be the circuit board ! ! 

I'm not kidding "those guys" are ganging up on me !!

   Country Style BBQ Pork Ribs turned out GREAT.  Oh so tender.

 And, I have been making a lot of salads lately including Three Bean Salads which are good for me and I like the variety that I can create with ingredients that I add.

 Time to sign off with a little photo of my sleepy "lovebug" !

Mary

A New Year

And I am going to do my best to make it a great year .  Sending all of you Best Wishes for a Happy New Year filled with Many Blessings.

Mary