Jess' pencil drawing

My daughter Jessica has been working a long time on this pencil drawing. The photo does not really do the drawing justice but it will have to do as it is too large to scan.

old softener & filter

always a battle to change the filter

new improved setup

Time to start blogging again and no better time than to document a whole day spent installing a brand new water softener and filter in the garage. My initial plan was to get up early and to finish everything in a couple of hours way before lunch time. That was a little bit too optimistic to say the least.

I never intended to be a plumber on Saturday, but all week long our water has been tasting worse with each passing day. When I shaved each morning, the hot water in the bathroom sink was very yellow and taking a shower was a smelly affair. I ever received complaints that white clothes were turning yellow, so yesterday I decided to take action.

Friday night I removed all of the salt from the old water softener and turned on the bypass valve so it was not being used at all. I then took photos to show the plumbers at the local Home Depot what I needed to replace and to get an idea of the total cost involved.

Saturday morning I returned to Home Depot at 7am ready for action and my list of what I needed. On arriving I got my first indication that my day would not be smooth. There was no plumber at the store and no expected arrival time of one. I found great help so tried to remember what the plumber told me the night before. Five trips and 28 driving miles later I had everything I needed - thankfully Home Depot is close by!

One of my goals was to make changing the water filter easier while replacement the broken water softener. Also pipes coming out of the moulding seemed like a poor idea so that needed some redesign. I did not want to get too radical so I bought the newest models of the same equipment so the installation would good smoothly. I would probably be still working on it if I didn't make that wise choice.

Today in looking at my handy work, it just does not look like a job that would take 10 hours, but clearly I am not a plumber and just an amateur. I really don't want it to be a hobby either but if I have to do it I will.

Jess' Painting of her best friend

Jess' Ocean Painting

Jess' Ocean Painting that she just finished today:

more drawings by Jess

These are the latest set of drawings by my daughter from her 9th grade Art class.

Salt Lake City

I had a business trip to Salt Lake City and since I will probably never return there I explored around the city in my extra time. It was surprised at the snow capped mountains visible around the city in the month of May. I took my life in my hands and ventured around Mormon Temple square. Kind of odd to see tons of 20 year old girls proselytizing every one who signed up for a personal "free" tour. Also odd to see tons of people getting married. I stopped to ask a camera man, who also tried to convert me, about why so many women were dressed in wedding gowns. He said one wedding every 15 minutes starting in the month of May. I must say that the Mormons do build impressive buildings. You must be a Mormon to go into the Salt Lake Temple but all other buildings were open to the public. The last few photos I took from the airplane as I had a great view of the mountains surrounding Salt Lake City from the air as it was the only day without any clouds.

San Francisco trip

It has been a while since I posted anything to my blog. At the end of April we all went out to see my son graduate from Ex'pression College with a B.Sc. in Audio Engineering. These are the best photos we took of the trip:

http://50yearadventure.com/SanFrancisco/

These are my favorite family shots: