Fixing the Water Heater and Planting Potatoes

     This is a very busy time of year for me thanks to our ownership of a beekeeping supply store, an extremely seasonal business. One consequence of that is the fact that I drafted several blog posts,  intending to to finish them a day or so later.  I just noticed that my drafts are now several weeks old. In spite of the fact that they now seem a bit stale, I decided I should go ahead and post them.

     On Monday (now two weeks ago) I spent a good portion of my day off messing with our water heater.  It left us in the lurch Saturday evening, leaving us with no hot water for baths or showers on Sunday morning.  The urgency of the problem was heightened by the arrival of my son, daughter-in-law and four little grandchildren on Friday evening.  I invested in a multimeter and was prepared to replace one of the heating elements.  As it turned out, the problem was simply an internal breaker.  The water heater just needed someone to push the red reset button. I could have done that in fifteen minutes on Sunday morning if I had realized the problem was that simple.

     Sadly, I wasn't wise enough to just do that simple task and call it good. I felt obligated to try to flush the water tank and check the elements.  If I had stuck with my usual aversion to preventive maintenance it would have been a fifteen minute job.  Every time I involve myself with anything vaguely related to plumbing it seems to turn into a serious can of worms. Four hours later and after a significant amount of water on the floor, the gift of hot water was returned to us. The upper heating element looked just fine in case anyone is interested and there is now a little less calcium deposited in the bottom of the water tank.

    I had originally intended to use my day off to spend some time with my grandkids and make some progress on my vegetable garden.  I had to settle for a partial on both counts.  I did get to hang out some with grandkids. Little Nora still likes me in spite of the fact that I failed to replenish the bin of ear corn for the corn sheller.  It was one of the first things she went to when they got here and insisted on feeding the corn cobs back through the sheller again and again.  When she tired of that she played in the bin of shelled corn as if it were a sandbox. My son James helped me with the water tank and a few other chores.  I did manage to get my potatoes planted.  I hope to get my peas planted in the next few days and start a few things indoors.

    On another happy note I finished my last beekeeping class tonight. I don't have another bee class scheduled until November.  While I enjoy teaching the classes, I am really ready for a break by the time the last class is done.