Dec 1 - digging & biking

... in that order. Yes, I started laying pipe for the sprinkler and decided to complete the job before going out on the bike. That shortened my bike ride to 50 miles because once started I wanted to complete the job.

It was fairly straightforward, other than the impact of the no-see-ums that started getting busier late morning as it warmed up. My legs and arms looked like I had measles when I got out of the shower later in the day. I'm itchy as hell right now.

The digging was easy ... and tunneling under the sidewalk was also a breeze using the "tool" that I purchased. This tool was simply two pieces of PVC -- a connector for a hose at one end and a narrow conical piece for the other end. Using PCV cement you simply glue these to a piece of pipe and then with water running slowly into the pipe, push it under the sidewalk. Afterwards you cut the pieces off the pipe and keep going.

The cutting and gluing is also easy. Right now the pipe is lying in open trenches with the valves all connected and then pipes coming out of the ground level with hose connectors at the end. These might be replaced later with permanent connections but for now I'm hooking into Sandy's existing drip hoses. This morning I'll make the electrical connections which is also pretty easy, mounting the controller box in the garage and then attaching the wire at the two valves.

The only mistake that I made yesterday involved the wire. I should have attached the wire to the pipe as I pushed it under the sidewalk the first time. After the puddle of water dried I tried pulling the pipe back under the sidewalk -- no go -- a lip was catching on the underside of the sidewalk. I then added another piece of pipe to the first, attaching the wire after the pipe butt splice and tried to push it under the sidewalk -- no go, the butt splice was catching under the sidewalk. Sigh ... I cut the end off, pulled it back, glued the piece on again, attached the wire to the pipe (with tape), ran water through the pipe again and pushed it back under the sidewalk. With water running the lumpy spots on the pipe (splices and wire) would push through but once dry, the sand wouldn't flow enough to accommodate bumpy spots.

After I get it all electrically connected and have it pressurized for a few hours without leaks I'll fill the trench. The trench is small for the most part -- 3" wide and six inches deep right against the sidewalk. I don't have to worry about freezing and being up against the sidewalk somewhat protects it from random digging. The 3/4" white PVC rigid pipe is pretty strong and would stand up to most casual digging. I'll lay the wire under the pipe so that it is protected by the pipe.

Changing topics -- the wind was mostly from the west yesterday, starting off at WNW, going to W, going to WSW at a gear-grinding 25 mph. I got my exercise on the way out, riding west to Deland -- only the third time that I've done this -- and cruised on the way back.

I've been copying Dad's videos but we haven't watched any the last two days. I did, however, watch another movie on hulu.com last night and actually stayed up until 10:30 -- Air Force One with Harrison Ford. I'd seen parts of it before but never the entire movie. It was pretty hokey, something like Indiana Jones but at least the IJ movies are meant to be fantasies. Perhaps it should have been called Air Farce One and some humor added ?

Sandy busied herself yesterday sorting out dental claims and exploring the Cigna website. It looks like I've already exceeded my maximum for the year so I'll probably move my December 18th appointment to a date in January right after we're back from skiing at Whistler.

In family news -- Stef is all moved into her new house and seems to be quite happy with it. Jeffrey, meanwhile, is working on buying a house and getting out of their rental. David is going crazy with window cleaning work out in Edmonton (yes, in December) and has a lot to do in the next couple of weeks before he and Kim head to Cancun.

That's about it ... it's going to be cool today, high 61F, some showers in the forecast, but the sun is out now. It looks like the rest of our time here, until the end of next week, will be highs just over 70F and lows around 50F. I'll get out for another few rides and we'll also try to squeeze in a boat ride, perhaps two.