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in the form of steam
Wednesday, April 13 2016
Early this morning Gretchen had to participate in some sort of animal rights presentation down at Pace University in Westchester, so it fell to me to walk the dogs. The recent pattern continued: Eleanor stuck with me for the whole walk (which was not a long one) while Ramona and Neville split from me early and more or less found their own way home. Neville was actually the first one home, and Ramona rejoined Eleanor and me at the top of the escarpment above the Stick Trail, where she fruitlessly tried to extricate a critter from a hollow tree. She whimpered at her inability to do more than break away a single dead branch, and I felt bad for her even though the only thing that would've made her happy would've been the killing of a small furry mammal she probably wouldn't even eat.
Down in the basement, I had some trouble getting the fluid to flow through the solar loop to heat the household water. A few days ago I'd switched the hydronic system to summer mode (turning off the boiler and prioritizing the heating of hot water), but heat collection had been pathetic and there was evidence of inefficiency in the form of steam escaping from the air bleed valve at the top of the solar panel. At first I thought there might be a problem with one or more of the piston-actuated Grundfos PowerZone valves (used to control the solar loop), which have a decidedly shorter lifespan than a more typical rotor-actuated Honeywell valve (used to control the boiler zones). But the flow was bad even with the actuators removed (the valves are normally open), so I tried blowing fluid around the loop under pressure, hoping to blast out any air bubbles. But this didn't seem to work either. It seems that in order to get rid of some bubbles I really do have to go up onto the roof and add fluid from the top. Unfortunately, by this point I didn't have much free fluid available to add that way.
Gretchen returned from her morning presentation while I was working in the basement. She said she was coming down with some sort of illness whose first symptom was a sore throat. We decided it was unlikely that the illness was the one I'd had in early March, since she'd surely been exposed to that one multiple times a long time ago. She'd probably picked up her new illness on the airplane from Cancun.
[REDACTED]
Tonight at some point I noticed yet again that Eleanor was the only dog in the house, suggesting Ramona and Neville were out prowling the neighborhood. So I went out with my flashlight, shined it around (I saw Oscar's orange feline eyes near the road, soon to be joined by Celeste's bluer ones) and listened. Way off to the north, I head a canine commotion, and not knowing what else to do, I started jogging up Dug Hill Road. But I hadn't gone far before coming upon the twin pairs of eyeshine from Ramona and Neville, who were nowhere near the distant barking. They were in our uphill neighbors' field near the road, meaning Ramona continues to keep her wordless promise not to lead Neville on prowls on its other side. As I led them back home, though, both dogs went out into the road in contravention of my wishes. (Ramona went all the way to the other side to sniff Oscar, which she seemed to think was within the rules.) Still, I had no reason to yell at either of them.
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