Now the Sink Faucets

In the continuing plumbing adventures, I now tackle the master bathroom sink faucets. Lots of stuff accumulates under the bathroom sink over the years.

During the replacement process

There are lots of places a bathroom sink faucet installation can leak from. I think I found them all during the two installations. The first faucet I installed seemed to go well until I turned the shut-off valves back on. One of the shut-off valves stared to leak. I decided that I should replace all 4 of them since they were old (original cheap equipment). That was messy because I discovered long ago that the house shut-off valve does not completely shut of the water.

Many hours, buckets, and towels later ...we have new faucets.

Before

After...Spot Resistant Brushed Nickel

Blessings of a Broken Neck

We had a man speak today in church who had recently moved from So Cal where he worked as a SW engineer for Northrop Grumman. They moved here to find a more affordable place to raise their family. I didn't get a chance to ask which location but he said in his talk it was in the LA area. Before he and his wife spoke today in church I had always described him to Felicia as the guy with no neck. Today we discovered why he looks that way.

Apparently while he was in college he started having neck pain. No doctors seemed to be able to diagnose why. The pain would come and go but could be severe. He had to take finals in school kneeling down because he couldn't bend his neck to look down at the papers. He was able to get a job at Northrop. He found that chiropractors could relieve his pain and he started going in for adjustments 3 times a week. He would need to arrange for chiropractors if he ever went on business travel. He met his wife and got married at 29. About two years after getting married the pain got worse and he was glad he had a wife to help him through it. At some point he had an MRI which somehow failed to detect a 2.5" tumor on his neck  spinal column. At an adjustment session with the chiropractor the chiropractor broke his neck.

He did not elaborate on the healing process after this but said the pain was very intense and it took a long time to recover. He said that faith in the Lord and prayers helped him get through the ordeal. He was very complimentary of Northrop Grumman and how patient they were during his recovery and he said they were kind enough to continue to pay him during that recovery period. He said he has often wondered why this was happening to him, but he recognized that through it his faith grew and he saw many ways he was blessed to deal with it.

Haley is wanting to take out her endowments soon at the Brigham City Temple. The temple is closed for maintenance in March so it will need to be in April after Felicia and I return from Hawaii.

Felicia said that the landscaping is going in.

Russ and I rode to Cochran this weekend. Here are pictures of the Coke Ovens and the Gila River.

Video of ride to the river

Moening and Groaning about Plumbing

When we returned from the Boston trip Felicia remarked that our shower was dripping. We had the shower head and controls a long time and we wanted to get a newer style so in addition to replacing the valve cartridge, I decided to replace the white shower head and trim pieces. This is how simple plumbing jobs become very complicated.

I went to Home Depot and picked out a new brushed nickel shower head and trim kit. I picked the same brand, Moen, as we previously had, knowing that this should make replacement easier. The new shower head went on easily enough. The old trim and cartridge came off OK, although things were a little sticky because they were in place for 22 years. The new cartridge was went in OK but I learned later that Moen guarantees the cartridges for life and that I could have gotten a new one free if I'd taken the old one into a plumbing supply store. When I tried to install the new handle trim kit, I discovered that nothing about it fit.

Apparently federal regulations were put in place regarding new shower faucet installations that require the new valves to limit the water pressure/volume and temperature. Our house was built in 1995 using Moentrol valve technology (pull to turn on). New ones require Moen's Posiflow valve technology (rotate to turn on). All the new trim kits offering spot-free brushed nickel at Home Depot are Posiflow. Posiflow has a different bolt pattern for the trim, a bigger diameter valve, and the handle turns 270 deg instead of 180 deg with Moentrol. Since the shower head was already in place, I wanted to make my $129 trim kit work without special ordering a Moentrol brushed nickel trim kit for over $230.

New shower head and handle trim

I ended up ordering a bolt hole adapter plate that I had to force to work and I ordered a handle adapter that I had to use my Dremel on to make it fit. I had to get extra foam gasket material to fill the gap between the smaller diameter Moentrol valve body and the larger diameter hole in the Posiflow trim kit. Finally I got it to work as shown in the photo above. I tried so many things that I have enough extra pieces to install 2 more trim kits.

I ordered a $44 commercial Moentrol trim kit from ebay for the tub. This is the kind they use in gym locker rooms. Not as decorative but it is sturdy.

New Tub Trim

Next to replace are the white trimmed bathroom faucets.

Also, after years of parking by Cody's Beef 'n Beans to visit Winterhaven at Christmas, Felicia and I finally went to the restaurant. We enjoyed it.

Listen My Children and You Shall Hear...

This was the week of our Boston trip. Wed Feb 1 was the Excellence in Engineering Technology corporate award night. Felicia and I left on Jan 31. 

It was snowing when we arrived. We had planned to take the water taxi to the hotel because the hotel was directly across the bay from the airport. We road the airport bus all the way to the water front only to find the taxi had stopped running due to low visibility and strong currents. We got back on the bus and the driver took us to the regular taxi drop.

We pulled up to the hotel and the snow was still coming down. Suddenly a doorman was opening the taxi door, the bellhop was loading the luggage on a cart, and the concierge was escorting us to the front desk.

Boston Harbor Hotel (in Summer)

Wharf View of Hotel

We had some seafood at the hotel and then went on walk to find Mike's Pastry.

Mike's Pastry is not nearly as busy in the winter as in the warmer weather. I ordered a cannoli and Felicia ordered a black and white.

When we returned to our room we were surprised by the maid asking to provide turn-down service. This amounted to providing us each a bottle of water and placing slippers by our beds.

Here is the view of Boston's North End from our hotel window.

The tower is the Customs Building. This always served as a good marker for us as we were walking around town. It is very near the Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market area.

Sam Adams statue and Faneuil Hall

We visited the USS Constitution that was in dry dock. They have another year of work to do.

Felicia and The USS Constitution

"Old Ironsides" in Dry Dock

 The Navy runs a museum that is free to the public.

USS Constitution model in the museum

The hull was made of 22 inch thick Georgian Live Oak. Enemy cannon balls would bounce off.

This model shows the copper sheets that are placed on the hull to keep the worms from eating the wood.

I tried out the crew hammock

The Old North Church as would have been seen by Paul Revere across the Charles River

Bunker Hill Memorial

We walked from the USS Constitution up to the memorial on Bunker Hill.

Statue of William Prescott, commander

"Do not fire until you see the whites of their eyes!"

On our way to the Tea Party

The Eleanor is one of the ships with the offending tea

Instructions for how to react if something is said we like or dislike

Sam Adams stirs us to action

Go to it. Just don't damage my ship.

A bail of tea

Overboard it goes

Felicia takes the wheel

Our transportation during the day was the Old Town Trolley.

That evening was the award ceremony. We had assigned tables and I ended up sitting next to the president of Raytheon Missile Systems. He was very pleasant and friendly.

The next day we went to visit Paul Revere's house and the Old North Church.

Outside the silversmith's house

 Paul Revere had 16 children, 8 by his first wife who died giving birth to number 8, then 8 by his second wife, Rachel. The house had 3 bedrooms.

Paul Revere statue and the Old North Church in the background.

"The regulars are coming out!"

Objective was to rally militia and warn Adams and Hancock in Concord.

 We next followed the freedom trail back to Little Italy

Then we went to hang out with the Cheers regulars.

 Time for lunch.

Then we had to Make Way for Ducklings at Boston Public Gardens.

It was a long walk back to the hotel from here (the trolley stops at 4PM).

Good times in Boston

Friday morning we took the Water Taxi to the airport.

Leaving the water taxi at the airport

In honor of Superbowl weekend