Dec 27 - the onslaught begins !

Jeffrey, Sara, Emma and Zoe arrived about 8pm.  For them that was a pretty good trip -- 13.5 hours.  They have to stop more with two small children.  We brought their car down the driveway; hope that we don't regret that !

Sandy and I headed into Sudbury, leaving around 8:30 a.m.  We went to Home Depot to pick up some plumbing so that I can connect the water softener, then Walmart for sheets for the pack-n-play that Zoe sleeps in, then the Independent Store at the Four Corners (you have to know Sudbury for this conversation), then the Bulk Barn then Smith's -- the latter two at the aforementioned Four Corners.

Sandy was shopping for veggies and some odds and ends.  At the Bulk Barn she needed an ingredient for the bread that she makes and I found my powdered chicken soup base, sundried tomatoes (need to try theirs), and Semolina flour to make pasta.  We're finally going to try out the pasta making equipment that Sandy got for Christmas last year !

At the Depot, I needed some T's, elbows and barbs to connect the water softener.  This is the same unit that I had in Florida at the Saxon house, so I'm well familiar with it.  I'd installed it at Stef's on Ambleside and they had brought it with them when they moved to Barrie and I bought it off them because that house already had a water softener. 

Anyway ... getting some help from an employee at Home Depot, I got all my fittings and then asked about braided pipe.  I needed 32'.  Well, that looked to be very expensive, at $4.50+ per foot, so he got down a roll of black poly pipe that I brought home.  It wasn't cheap either and it's difficult to work with in a small space since it's so stiff.  I called Steve at Home Hardware in Loring and he quoted me $2.59 or some such number for the 1" braided hose.  Guess what I'm going to do with the Home Depot pipe ?  Yup, it's going back.  I'll pickup the braided hose in town today.

Before supper I did the bulk of my connections, valves and bypass, with the water off and drained.  That's all attached to the wall in that increasingly crowded little room.  Today I only have to run the two pipes around the perimeter to the softener.

You might wonder why I want a softener ... well, it's for the hot water.  I'm getting increasingly less (increasingly less ?  isn't that backwards ?) flow from the tankless heater.  Scale is building up and I need to soften the water.  I did run vinegar through it at the end of the summer and that helped immensely.  I'll have to do that a couple of more times to dissolve the scale and soft water will also do the same thing plus stop it from building up again.  There's no need to soften the cold water here, it's only about 4 ppm.  

Anyhoo ... I'm ready to complete that job and can do so without turning the water off again.  That was my goal, do this before the gang arrives. 

That was pretty much the story of the day.  We had sausages, leftover quinoa and beans for dinner.  Wayne says that I always write what we had for dinner, but that's not true.  I do miss some days.  He hasn't blogged for a long time ... I'll have to get on his case !

Today ... some fun with the little ones and that plumbing.  David probably won't arrive until about the same time that Jeffrey arrived last night.  He finishes work at 4pm then goes home and packs the car and hits the road.  Sandy will do some prep for tomorrow's planned Christmas Dinner.  If I remember, I'll pick up some more minnows in town.  I'm down to a half-dozen.

It's warmer out today.  The thermometer says 33F and the internet says 30F.  It's supposed to drop down again tonight close to 0F and basically stay that cold or colder the rest of the week.

Our current plan is to leave here early Monday Jan 6 a.m., get to a hair appointment for Sandy downtown Toronto (noon) then get to the passport office in Hamilton before they close at 4pm.  From there we'll drive for a couple of hours, likely to Erie PA and then, I'm guessing, Orangeburg SC or somewhere south of that by Tuesday night and by Wednesday Jan 8 afternoon, be back in NSB.  That's the plan.  We (or I) always have to have a plan.

Onward ...