TV From Cedar Mountain

Yesterday, we were not able to get any regular TV channels from Direct TV.  We asked Jim Masner, our neighbor to see what he could to get some reception.  When we returned from the temple, Jim said that he would be over to hook the TV.

We figured it out.  We would drill a hole through the floor back and a little right of entertainment center.  We then went drilled a hole in the closet in the toy room.  The hole was by the air intake pipe dfor the fireplace.  We put a cable through the holes.  We checked the crawl space and they were placed perfectly.  The cable by the entertainment center would be connected to the TV.  The other end of the cable would be connected the antenna on the roof.  To get it to the antenna on the roof we had to make a hole through the ceiling of the closet in the toy room.  I made the hole and we pushed the cable up through the hole.  Jim in the attic could not find the cable.

I made other holes and pushed all of the cable through that hole.  I made one more hole slanted about 45 degrees through the corner.  I made the hole larger and pushed a long shaft through the hole.  We were looking in the wrong place.  I crawled the blower fan and under the insulation I fount the shaft. I pulled the cable, but it was not long enough.  I attached another cable to it with a coupler.  Finally we got all hooked up.  The TV was working. 

What a Day

Robert picked up some onions in Payson Friday.  I planted them this morning.  I stretched a sting so I would make some a straight line.  I prepared the soil by removing the top soil and smoothed out an area about twelve inched wide.  I used a small stick you can see at the left.  I used it as a dibble.   I made holes four to five inches apart in rows four to five inches apart.   I would stick the onion plant and then pinch the soil together.  I planted six onion verities.

The last bunch was planted in Robert's garden.  I didn't have any rows.  I tried to have six in each row and about six inches apart.  You can't see the rows, but you can see the onions.

 The rain gutter has been running over all winter.  I got the ladder and was able to remove a lot of leaves.  It was plugged in the elbow. I got the garden hose.  I climbed the ladder.  Carol turned the water on and I washed all of the leaves out. 

I turned on the TV and it would turn on.  I called Dan and he told me to plug the cord into a different outlet.  Pushed the on button, and it didn't start.  We went to Fillmore to shop.  Carol dropped me off at Stuart Electric.  It did work for Dan.  I left it there.  Will pick it up tomorrow.

The last couple of weeks ago our TV signal would fade in and out.  This morning it was working okay.  A storm front came by, sprinkle, we could not get any reception.  I climbed on the roof and tried to adjust the dish some.  It worked worse.  We could get the BYU-TV channel, but that is all.

I asked Jim, our neighbor, to give us some help.  We climbed partway into the attic, and finally determined that we would haft bring a cable from the antenna at the top of the roof.  We will do that another day,


Direct TV faded in the sprinkle

Working Around the Yard

We have several hose bibs that leak.  They need to be replaced to save on the cost of water.  We drove to Fillmore.  I picked some up at Ropers.  The one east of the house was leaking the most.  I had a difficult time removing it. My short pipe wrench would not turn it off.  The bigger one didn't work either.  I used the big hammer method. I put the wrench to the hose bib and hit the end with the hammer.  I hit it harder and harder.  finally it started to turn just the littlest amount.

Below is the pipes that are connected to the well.  I had to buy a new union. I glued the short nipple to the union and the other end to the ell.  At the bottom is a female adapter that I attached to the pressure tank.  I taped it Teflon tape and tightened with a pipe ranch to where I could tighten it no more.  I then undone the union and glued the rest of the parts together.  I turned the pump on.  There was another leak.  It was the gate valve.

The phot below from left to right shows a nipple, then the gate valve, another nipple, and then the union.  The size of all was 1 1/4 inches.  The union was the hardest to remove.  It was difficult to tell which way to turn the union.  The small pipe wrench wouldn't work.  I used a 14 inch wrench.  I ended up turning is clock wise.  I put the wrench on and pounded the end with a heavy hammer.  It didn't move.  I pounded harder and harder.  It finally turned a little.  Eventually I got it off.  Using the same method I removed a gate valve leaving the left nipple in place.  There is a heavy duty vice in the garage which held the gate valve firmly and with a hammer and wrench, I took it all apart.  A tripe to the hardware store for a gate valve and back.  I put it all together using Teflon tape.  The next morning I was able to get water to the garden.

I fixed an other tap that had a hose bib attracted to each end of a tee. The ball valve froze  and has a crack in it.  It works okay of it is all the way on or all the way off.  Put partly own it sprays through the break.

We have a lilac tree next to the garage.  Every winter some of the branches die.  Some are mostly dead with one live branch at the end.  I have a saws all that head a  metal cutting blade.  I removed it and after some difficulty put in another blade for cutting wood.  With a ladder and an extension card I was able to remove a few branches.

 Lisa gave us some dahlia tuber last week. We planted them this afternoon.  There are drip lines in this garden.  I dug a hole under every other emitter until we had them all planted.  We put a sprinkler on the north end and after thirty minutes I moved to the south end for another thirty minutes.  It should be looking pretty in about six weeks. 

A couple of lilac bushes are struggling.  We pruned several of them.  I used the chainsaw to cut some of the larger branches.  It is pretty sick looking.  We hope that it will branch out some.

More Spraying

I filled the spray tank two times and sprayed the tall grass between the shade house and our neighbor's yard.  The grass is quite tall.  It would have been much easier if I had done that two weeks ago.

Yesterday, I borrowed  a neighbor's four wheeler and ten gallon tank. I bought a twenty gallon tank years ago and pushed it on my two wheeled cart with a battery.  It was hard to push and didn't work to well.  I dusted it off this morning.  I think that I can build a platform for it on the deck of my lawn mower.  There is a light switch on my mower, but there is no light. I can turn the pump on by using the light switch.   I can drive it around and spray to the front and either side.

Carol raked up all the old desert 4 O'clock plants. While I was spraying weeds in the south-east corner of our yard, Carol was raking last year's Desert 4 O'clock.  She had four big piles.  I put the first one on a blue sheet.  I gathered the four corners together, picked it up, and threw it over my shoulder.

I sprayed one more tank after lunch.  The wind started to blow.  I wanted to spray the weeds on the berm north of the greenhouses,  Some of the plants are growing close to gather and I wouldn't want to spray the plants.

I found some petunia seed mix.  I should have planted them a month ago,  but they should be ready to transplant into the garden by the end of May.  

The lawn hasn't been mowed for over two weeks, so I did it this afternoon.  I lowered the mower one half inch.  The lawn looks pretty good.

At the end of the day I went home teaching.


Comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Payson Temple again

Yesterday I changed the furnace filter.  The furnace is in the five foot crawl space under the house.  I went back and forth from the garage to the furnace etc.  Wearing a hat I bumped my head on one of the floor joists.  It started to bleed.  I didn't notice it until later in the day.  The blood had clotted,  It did not wash off this morning.   I got the towel bloody when I dried my hair with a towel. 

We left home for the Payson Temple a half hour sooner than last week.  We were there plenty early and waited in the chapel for thirty minutes.  Plenty of time to contemplate.  After the sessions we stopped at Sam's Club and then ate at the Chuck-O-Rama in Orem.  We then went directly home.

Payson Temple

The Manti temple is closed for cleaning.  We usually go Tuesday morning.  This morning at 8:30 we drove to the Payson temple.  Got there in time to make the 10 o'clock session.  It was a good session.  When the session was over we saw several friends from Delta and Nephi.  We had a short visit.

We left Payson and went directly to Eagle Mountain.  We had a nice visit with Eric and April.  Carol held Quenton and I had Payton and Hanna on my lap.  They were quite comfortable and so was I. After we left, Lisa called and we met her, Alex, and Emi had the Puppy Barn in American Fork.  Lisa had some bird feed to give us.  Lisa gave us a bird feed which we filled and hung it in a tree in the back yard.

On the way home we ate lunch at the In and Out.  We stopped at the Red Barn for ice cream and made it home at six.  I watered in house two and three.  I shut the doors and after dark I turned the water on to prevent and pipes from freezing.

All and all it has been a good day.

Mowing the Lawn

Moved the pallets

moved the white poly

Carol raked leaves and I took them out to the garden.

Watched Basket Ball game