Daily Archives: February 27, 2016

February 27, 2016   Uncategorized

The Cat with No Name . . .

I was up early this morning hoping to get my new washer drain pump configured and installed. Or at least configured. Thanks to Jan’s bright idea about rolling the washer into the bedroom when we travel tomorrow, I don’t have to get it re-installed today.

As I stood there staring at the pile of parts I bought at Home Depot yesterday, I tried to remember what I had worked out in my head, but when I did, I didn’t like it anymore. So I started holding parts together until I came up with a new way to do it, and one that was actually better.

Starting with the old pump input/output manifold,

Pump Input-Output_thumb[2]

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I cut off the input end to use,

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along with the original drain hose.

New Washer Pump Install 1_thumb[2]

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By cutting the hose down, and then inserting the plastic piece into the hose end,

New Washer Pump Install 3_thumb[1]

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it gives me something to clamp down on. Then after soaking it in boiling water, I slipped a ring of heavy vinyl hose over the end to bulk it up,

New Washer Pump Install 4_thumb[1]

so that it would closely fit into the rubber hose coupling shown before.

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This finished up the input part of the pump.

Next I cut off the small end of the I/O manifold and inserted it into the end of the drain hose that exits the washer.

New Washer Pump Install 6_thumb[1]

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This let me use another piece of the black rubber hose to make a new coupling for that also. Then I placed it into the washer to check it out. There will be clamps on the smaller coupling as well.

New Washer Pump Install 7_thumb[1]

Then to check out the placement, I temporarily mounted the pump in place to the angle stock and hooked up all the hoses. At this point I couldn’t go any further because the screws I had to mount the bar stock with weren’t big enough so I planned to pick some more up this afternoon while we’re out to dinner.

New Washer Pump Install 8_thumb[1]

But right now it looks like it will work, but I was out of time.

While I was working on this, Jan was outside bailing out the backset floorboards in the truck. On our trip home last night we both remarked how fresh the newly washed laundry in the backseat smelled.

But as it turns out, it wasn’t the laundry, but the laundry soap, liquid Tide to be exact, that had leaked out onto the floor. So Jan was trying to scrape up as much as she could and funnel it back into the jug. I’m still not sure how we’re going to get it all out of the carpet. But I know when I do, it will be really, really clean.

About 4:15 we left the park, followed by Brett and Frankie O’Neal, all heading into Conroe to have dinner at El Bosque Mexican Restaurant.

Finally I was able to get my Fajitas Fix with an order of their delicious Fajitas Poblanas.

El Bosque Fajita Polbanos 2_thumb[1]

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And it was $4 cheaper than my Fajitas at La Brisa the other day, for a lot more meat.

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And this time we had a big group, the infamous El Bosque Nine shown below.

The El Bosque Nine_thumb[1]

Left to right: Rick and Janice Binns, my empty chair, Brett and Frankie O’Neal, Debi and Ed Hurlburt, and Randy Lazarine.

After our great meal together, Jan and I drove over to the nearby Wal-Mart to pick up some prescriptions, and a couple of other things, including the new bolts I need for the washer repair.

Karma the cat doesn’t know she’s Karma the cat. She has no recognition of any name, Karma, Emma, the name on her second hand tag, Hey You, or anything else. This, even though we use her name every time we talk to her, or feed her.

She does respond when she sees me making coffee, because she knows that creamer is in her immediate future. Or if she hears the “Squuaakk” noise of whipped cream, but that’s about it.

Well, she does understand “NO!”, mostly I guess because when she starts to scratch on our leather captain’s chairs, I yell “NO!” and squirt her with a spray bottle.

Tomorrow we’re heading back to the Colorado River Thousand Trails for another two weeks. Looking forward to it. Of course I’ve still got my on-going washer repair to finish up, but I’m actually looking forward to that too.

Thought for the Day:

No husband was ever shot while doing the dishes!

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