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Lowes from the Stick Trail
Wednesday, May 29 2024
I had a rare job interview scheduled for 2:30 this afternoon, though I also had to go into town at some point to get a different frost-proof faucet so we'd have a way to water our garden next time the woodshed rain barrel is empty (though it was replenished by heavy rains on Monday). So late this morning I loaded up the dogs and drove out to Home Depot and got a different frost-proof faucet along with finer wire mesh (for making more mouse-proof window screens for the basement of the Adirondack cabin) and a tiny circular Dremel blade (for doing fine work cutting out features in electronic control panels). I also made a run to the nearby Hannaford, this time to get things Gretchen said she needed: decaf black tea, cereal, and soy milk, though I also got three kinds of pasta and a twelve pack of Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA (which is what I used to get all the time before I learned about hazy IPAs; later when I drank one I realized my tastes have changed a lot and I can now barely stand it). As I was driving around, I had the old living room area rug rolled up and tied to the roof rack, hoping the road breeze and sun would help dry it out and burn off the smell of dog piss. It looked a little like I might be transporting a murder victim.
The job interview went well, though I have my doubts I'll actually take the job if offered. It would be for a general IT position, requiring me to do a lot of dreary software installation. I'd have to work on-site, and, alarming, it would be for a military contractor (meaning I would have to humiliate myself by submitting to drug tests, because it's always the 1980s in the military-industrial complex).
I took the dogs for their afternoon walk at around 3:00pm, walking the entire Chamomile Headwaters Trail to the Stick Trail and back. There are a lot of gypsy moth (aka "spongy moth) caterpillars devouring the vegetation in the forest, though this year that is coinciding with a boom in various species of inch worm caterpillars. After the walk, I put five or more (in a wide range of sizes) that had been inching across my body out onto the laboratory deck. I also removed four or five large (though not-engorged) ticks. I'd brought my good camera along, and for the first time ever, I trained its telephoto lens on the mysterious white shapes off in the distance to the northwest from one of the Stick Trail's overlooks (41.9242N, 74.1027W). Later when I looked at the pictures, I saw the distinct awning of the Kingston Lowes (41.972724N, 73.982891W), which is over seven miles from where I took the picture. Also of note: the place I took the photo from is about 680 feet above sea level, while the Lowes is about 300 feet above sea level.
Then I tried to install the new frost-free outdoor faucet, but when I removed the old one, I saw that it was considerably longer than expected, reaching a full twelve inches. I'd only bought a ten inch replacement, which would mean that even when the valve was turned off, there would be liquid water in a wall void with an unknown amount of insulation. I couldn't risk that, so the installation had to stop. Unfortunately, I'd had to turn off the house's water and drain the pipes before removing the old faucet. So I had to do my next chore without running water. That chore was making dinner, which today would be spaghetti. Fortunately, I had a big five gallon bottle of water set aside for power outages that I could draw from for all my water needs.
After Gretchen came home and we had dinner, I drove out to Lowe's to get a frost free faucet (as Home Depot didn't seem to have the length and kind I wanted). While there, I looked back to the southwest for the ridge where I snapped the picture earlier today and I thought I could tell which one it was.
The new frost-free faucet behaved strangely; I couldn't blow through it even when it was wide open. So I tested it with an air compressor to confirm it would work when 40psi of water was pressing against it in the correct direction. Once I'd made sure of this, I did the installation, though I was worried as I worked that the low-pressure seal it manifested even when open would make it impossible to solder the pipes it was attached to (since escaping water vapor and other gases from the soldering process can leave tiny escape holes in the soldered joint if that's the only place for them to go). Evidently, though, the pipes were drained enough for those gases to escape some other way, perhaps out through taps I'd opened in two different bathrooms.
Wild, perhaps native, irises in the swamp at the bottom of the Chamomile Headwaters Trail. Click to enlarge.
Neville leaving the Farm Road and approaching his favorite wallowing spot in the swamp at the bottom of the Chamomile Headwaters Trail. Click to enlarge.
A view through a telephoto lens of the Lowes 7.1 miles away from the Stick Trail. Click to enlarge.
Tornado damage along the Stick Trail. Click to enlarge.
Lots of places for critters to live in this snag along the Stick Trail. Click to enlarge.
The old frost-free faucet. Note the bulge where ice gradually stretched the brass (probably across multiple winters) until it finally split and catastrophically leaked. Click to enlarge.
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