While I’m laboring away just to get the garage finished, a bathroom in the studio, and some solar power to the house, I find it helps my spirit if I occasionally focus on a “luxury” project. The bidet seat was one such. Setting up the big refrigerator after we got our boat anchors precious household goods from the mainland wasn’t a luxury — it’s such a big help for managing the food budget that it was time well spent. But…
We have the luxury of municipal water here. That, in and of itself, is a story. Our neighbors all rely on catchment. (We’ll put in catchment someday as well; we appreciate the utility water, but it isn’t 100% reliable this far from any population centers.) But the water doesn’t taste great, and I miss having a good supply of ice. So I decided to take a few hours away from actually useful projects and connect the refrigerator's icemaker and filtering system to the water supply.
The skillet is just for testing; it’s completely dry and I don’t anticipate any leaks, but my first attempt wasn’t so lucky. As I’ve said, none of the plumbing in the house is as old as the house itself (110 years), but there were some surprises and it took some doing to get all the right brass parts and fit them properly to the existing stuff. Oh, and the angle stop is still missing its handle as the spline shaft has been too mangled from being turned with pliers to accept a new one. So I’ll replace the whole stop the next time I can afford to have the house water turned off for a while.
For now, though: cold, filtered water. And ice. In the tropics. Life is good.
—2p