It's been a busy week around here, but we're slowly getting some things done outside in the yard and garden. Our problem has been that the schedule keeps getting thrown out of whack by miscellaneous breakdowns. The nice thing about the breakdowns is that they are all solvable. Eventually.
Our first was the discovery that the kitchen faucet was leaking underneath the sink. Luckily for us we have a Moen faucet with a lifetime warranty. All I had to do was take a photo of my faucet and email it Moen. They are mailing a replacement cartridge and O-rings with instructions about how to fix it.
The second breakdown was one of the sockets in our chandelier over the dining room table shorted out. We've had the chandelier since 1978. Jon's Aunt Naomi gave it to us as a gift for whenever we managed to build our new home, which turned out to be two years later. Again, luckily for me, I am married to one of those "guy-guys", who can repair just about anything. One advantage for Retired Mountain Man is that his dad was an electrician and Jon spent quite a bit of time working with his dad when he was growing up.
In a short amount of time Jon had diagnosed the situation and removed the burnt out socket. We have ordered the replacement online.
The third problem is a bit more serious. We have a Clayton wood furnace and something called the High Limit Control for the blower, quit working correctly. It no longer shuts the blower off when the temperature in the firebox cools down. The blower runs constantly and does not shut off until the fire is out.
This one has been the most difficult because the wood furnace was installed in 1994 and so far I have not been able to find a replacement part. I do have a company in Columbia Falls, MT searching for the part. A real plus was that a repairman, Jacob, from Highmark Heating and Cooling in Sandpoint did stop by to help us out. If we can find the part, he is willing to replace it for us even though they do not service wood furnaces. Thank you Jacob!
Moving on to our daily morning entertainment the past few days. We have had a creature eating all of the sunflower seeds out of our feeder all last week. Jon decided to put a camera on the feeder to figure out who the thief was. Every morning we checked the videos.
We now have a new birder feeder and it looks like it may be raccoon proof and possibly squirrel proof, but that remains to be seen.
The plum tree is in full bloom and the cherry and apple trees aren't far behind. We did manage to get the deer fencing up so they don't eat all of our blueberries which are also getting ready to bloom.
I am growing a few plants from seeds and have moved them from the basement where they are underneath my grow lights, to the front porch. They are in the process of getting hardened off and adjusting to bright sunlight and cooler temperatures at night.
My squash plants include some from seeds mailed to me from my sister Kathy in Montana. Her daughter, Haley, is an avid gardener, along with son Derek and his wife Lisa. Thanks to them I now have seeds for Dixon cantaloupe and several other varieties of squash.
I have my usual assortment of tomatoes and peppers and they should all be ready to plant in the ground by June 1. I've learned over the years not to get too excited by warm May temperatures. There's always the dreaded "cold freeze" nights that pop up.
I have three dahlias that I have planted in pots because I discovered several tubers that we missed planting last year. They were still in the perlite in their styrofoam container. The poor things had sprouted and had been trying to grow for about 8 months. I just had to plant a few of them to give them a chance.
Our family news is that son David had the honor of taking part in the Hooding Ceremony for his first doctoral student, who is Kris Short. Kris is from Wisconsin. His parents are dairy farmers there on the same farm that his great-grandparents staked when they immigrated from Germany.
During the ceremony David places the doctoral hood over the head of the graduate, Kris, signifying his success in completing the program. It's a lot of study and hard work. Congratulations to Kris!
David's doctorate is from the University of Idaho and I think it was 2003? Not sure I remember the year, but Jon and I both remember the events that day. Graduations are days for celebration. He's now at the University of Montana, which is a special place for us, since Jon is a graduate from there.
In June we will be celebrating grand-daughter Rylee's graduation from high school in Kalispell. We are looking forward to that.
Happy Sunday.
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