Random Scenery

Combine a resource technician, an iPhone, and some beautiful sunrises in the canyon, and you get some mediocre photographs:

From scenery

From scenery

From scenery

Watershed School

Yesterday I was treated to a visit from the high school students of the Watershed School. I'm trying to rope some of them into revamping our recycling project.

From watershed

They've been studying water in the west this semester, and have spent a significant amount of time learning about water law. As part of their studies they've worked with Denver Water. I chaperoned them to the Denver Water diversion dam, and spent some time talking about how this State Park views our water resources.

How to Winterize Your Sprinklers, Febco Style

Tools/parts needed:

• Air compressor (bigger is better)
• 1/4" npt fitting to connect your air compressor to the Febco valve
• Wrenches for fittings
• Teflon tape (optional)
• Knowledge of how your sprinkler system works

This assumes that you don't have a fancy blow-out valve located downstream from your Febco. If you've got one, for heaven's sake, close the valves on the Febco and use it.

Step One:

Turn off the water supply before (upstream of) the Febco valve.

Step Two:

Remove the plastic cover from the upper petcock valve on the Febco. Thread in the 1/4" ntp X air compressor fitting.

There are four ball valves that have to be set: Two with handles, two with a screwdriver. Going counter-clockwise in the picture below (the same direction the water flows), set:

• The upstream handle valve perpendicular to the pipe (closed)
• The upstream petcock valve straight up and down (closed)
• The downstream petcock valve straight up and down (closed)
• The downstream handle valve parallel to the pipe (open)

From blowout

Step Three:
Fire up your compressor. You'll want to regulate the pressure to about 70 psi. More than that may damage the Febco valve, less than that won't activate the breaker in the valve. You'll know if you have too little pressure because the Febco makes a delightful farting noise. If the pressure is just right, there will be a brief (10 seconds or so) hissing noise and then the valve will quiet down as pressure is directed into the outbound pipe.

Leave the downstream petcock valve closed - we'll use that to control whether we're forcing air into the system or not. Connect the compressor hose.

From blowout

Step Four:
It's your choice. If you've got a big enough compressor (and I can almost guarantee you don't), just leave the compressor hooked up, turn the downstream petcock valve open, then walk around and turn each zone on and off.

If you've got a small compressor, you'll have to do a bunch more walking. Turn on one zone, walk back to the Febco, open the downstream petcock valve until the compressor's tank pressure is below 70psi, then close the petcock valve. Repeat until you stop blowing air and water out of the sprinkler heads (or whatever you're draining)

From blowout

It's kinda fun.

Step Five:
When you're all done, it's good to leave all four valves kinda half-open. I don't particularly know why - but at the least, it serves as a good reminder that the valve has been winterized.

From blowout

The Fence

The fence is progressing nicely. Had a crew of 6 working this weekend:

From volunteer

From volunteer

A Welding Project

A really fascinating part of computer science is the "boot loader". "Boot", in that context, has become a ubiquitous word. Hard to believe that it comes from such folksy, humble origins as picking oneself up by one's bootstraps.

The little I know of welding so far makes me think of bootstrapping. We bought a welding screen, so as not to blind coworkers or passersby. Rather than just hang it in a doorway or something, I welded a frame for it:

From welding

With the screen in place:

From welding

I did have to buy some stock steel at the hardware store, but was able to make the feet out of old steel shelving parts, and made the pegs for the curtain out of finishing nails.

My welds are still UGLY. Hoo-eee. But they're less ugly than they were. Now that using the welder isn't as nerve-wracking, it's becoming more fun.

A Clean, Well-Lighted Place

Before, after:

From bathrooms

After:

From bathrooms

This has been on my list of things to do for months now. Ahhhh.

Happy Tree

Before:

From supremacy

Sad tree, exposed roots.

After:

From supremacy

Happy tree, roots covered.