Brake Pad says what!

 The brake pads on the van were making a lovely grinding sound, so I ordered up some new ones.  I decided not to replace the rotors since we are planning to purchase a new van sometime in the not too distant future.

I always have to re-remember how to do it and watch a video but it went pretty well.  Nick helped out on the second one.  Van seems to still stop and the grinding is gone, so success!

It is pretty amazing how much of the pads we used, probably should have gotten to it earlier, but the grinding has only been going on for a week or so.  Not sure why 1 pad still had more wear left on it.

Cabin Weekend

 We came back from the cabin last night, we put all the lifts and boats in and I was able to finish up the bathroom project.  Hinges on cabinets are hard...  Especially when retrofitting.  We used Discovery+ instead of the dish while we were up there.  We just need to figure out how to get the local channels and Jo could cancel her dish network.

Hot Day, Put up the Pool!

I put the pool up on Saturday (by myself! no mean task).  Then we filled the pool Saturday and Sunday.  It actually filled up pretty fast in my opinion.  We probably just let it fill longer than in the past (we like to give the well pump breaks).  Then today we went out and picked up the sand and muriatic acid.

It is just starting to take on that brown color, tomorrow morning it will look really disgusting.  But in a week or so it will hopefully be crystal clear.  Chemistry it amazing!

Nicks Birthday Computer

 All Nick wanted for his birthday was a new computer.  Since the newest computer in our house is from 2013 I think it is probably time.  He is doing some amazing things on there and it would help him out to have a little more power.

Luckily Jen cousin was around to lend a hand, since I haven't built a computer in a long time.  Still pretty much the same, but reassuring to have more eyes on the process.

Everything went well and Nick is happy with the new blazing performance.  No GPU's to be had at this time, so we had to go with integrated graphics for now.  But still a massive upgrade!

A Water Softener for the house

 We have been in our house for 12 years now.  We really like our water, but we get a build up of calcium around the faucets and on the showers.  We also occasionally get some iron in our water, and when you open up the pipes it is very evident that some iron settles in there.  So we thought we would give a softener a try and see what happens.

The installation when pretty smooth, just followed the directions.  I also had to replumb the kitchen sink, since that line came from the left side of where the softener was going.  You can see the new 1/2 line going up right after the softened water comes out.

We also installed the shut off valve on the left there so I had to cut into that line as well since I wanted the shutoff to be upstream of the outside faucets.

The drains from the softener I wanted to keep out of the way, so I join them with the 3/4 inch pvc and run them to the drain (it is the same material as from the furnace).

We have had it running for about a week now and we are pretty pleased with it.  The phone app seems to work pretty well, though it is pretty spartan.  I wish you could see more history on it.  Dishes seem easier to clean and the taste isn't too bad, but we are going to get a RO system which my wife has wanted for a long time.

Mulch for the back garden

Thursday and Friday we spent tilling and putting down mulch in the back garden area.  It really cleaned it up!  It looks so nice now.

It took 2 loads in the trailer (1 yard) for $47 a load.  We were able to get it from the place just up the road, which was the first time we have used them.  They were very helpful.

 

Cabin Bathroom Remodel ++

 On Sunday we finished most of the remove work.  The floor is done (except for some final caulking), the sink is in (except for the water lines, since the ones I had were too short), the toilet is working, still need to finish the cabinet door, and the electric heat is back up (after a little tingle, I really wish all electricity came through the switch first).

We reused the medicine cabinet, but I did something pretty cool.  I opened up the wall and recessed it.  This will give us a little more head space above the sink.  We all took the opportunity to sign the back of the wall of course.

Fortunately, the drywall behind there is covered in paneling as some of the nails pulled through when I cut out the stud.  Overall I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  We are excited to get back up and finish off the few final remaining parts of it and get to work on the next project!