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Borrego Springs, CA

Sunday, December 29, 2013

A mystery solved

Yesterday and today, I worked the hunter check station on the refuge.  The staff member, Kay, that runs the station has to get there before four in the morning to check the hunters in.  That’s way too early for me, and I also prefer not to drive in the dark, so I leave the rig around 8:00 to drive the 15 miles over there.  My main job is to help with the identification of the birds and to assist with the gizzard removal documentation for mottled ducks.  That means I’m most needed when the hunters are done, and coming off the refuge.

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I was a little late getting there this morning. Disappointed smile  Sunday seems to be a popular day for cattle drives along FM 1985, so the best thing to do is just pull over and wait for it to pass.  At least they were coming toward me this time.  I seem to usually get stuck behind these drives which means I can only chug along about 3 mph, and get to experience the joy (?) of fresh cow pies gushing under the tires.

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It wasn’t long before I was engulfed by the moaning and groaning and plopping herd.  This was the view out the front windshield.  Fortunately it was a smaller herd so I was soon on my way once again.

It was a simply gorgeous day weather wise today, with bright blue skies, no wind, and surprisingly no mosquitoes.  However, that usually means a slow hunting day, and that’s how it turned out.  With the bright sun, I did get to take some different kind of photos today.  I centered on taking pics of the beautiful feathers of some of the birds taken.  The hunters are generally proud of their accomplishments and are more than willing to give me time for photos and show off their birds.

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On the home front, yesterday the refuge’s assistant manager/game warden followed me back to the rig after the hunting was over for the day to see if he could help solve the problem of the low water pressure our rigs were experiencing.  After detaching the hose and pressure regulator, we were able to determine that there was plenty of water blasting out of the underground connection.

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So, I decided to replace the pressure regulator with a new one.  After checking the faucets inside the rig, it didn’t make any difference…it was still just a trickle out of the faucets.  We tried the same thing with Bob and Terry’s rig with the same results.  If Bob took the pressure regulator off of his hose, the water flow was good, but not so in my rig.

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The staff member left, and Bob and I just had to scratch our heads.  We both decided it was safer to leave the pressure regulators on, because no one wants to blow out the plastic water pipes in the rig should full pressure somehow resume.  With a shrug of his shoulders, Bob returned to his rig, but this mystery just plagued my mind.

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After dark, as I was playing a computer game, and staring at the kitchen faucet, a light bulb finally lit in my brain.  I grabbed a pair of pliers and unscrewed the sprayer.  Sure enough, it was clogged with sand-like granules.  I then did the same thing with the bathroom faucet, and it was even worse.  I then tried each faucet, and it was like Niagara Falls!  Open-mouthed smile

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I called Bob and told him what I found, but his faucet thingies were clean.  I think the fact that both of us had problems on the same day just threw my thinking off.  At any rate, all is well now and it’s another lesson learned.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

21 comments:

  1. Those feathers are just lovely! Too bad the guys that harvested those birds won't even think about their beauty. Oh well... but I am glad to hear your water pressure problem is solved.

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  2. I'm impressed with your mechanical skill at solving the water pressure problem. You'll be overhauling engines and transmissions in no time!

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  3. I am very impressed! Our hot water is a trickle, cold has good pressure....any ideas?

    The duck feathers are beautiful.

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  4. Great wing pictures ! ! ! ! Don't you wish you had a macro len for the feathers?
    Have Bob check if his screened hose washer is plugged.

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  5. What beautiful colors in the feathers.

    I was having this same problem in my house. Mostly in the washing machine. I could believe the sandy junk. It would happen all the time. Then we had a really hard freeze and the pipe behind the house blew. As my grandson kept digging the pipe just kept falling apart. The pipe was galvanize and had rotted so sand just kept getting in the water lines in the house. Since all the pipe has been replaces no more trouble.
    You might have picked that sand up at one of the places you parked. Glad it's fixed.

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  6. Glad you found the sediment deposits in your faucets as the only problem! Bet your water pressure is much better now!!

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  7. Since cleaning your screens did not fix your neighbor's problem I will tell you that for a friend of mine the problem was her water filter--it needed changing.

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  8. Just think what an RV tech would have charged to figure that out:)

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  9. Genius! I enjoyed the photos of the feathers very much...they are so beautiful. I am certain the hunters thought so too:)

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  10. Your encounter with the herd could have been worse ... you could have been facing a whole lot of "the end's."

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  11. The feathers are beautiful. And glad you got the water thingy figured out!

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  12. Yep, we have had to clean out our faucets too in the past.

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  13. You thought the cows were slowing you down and they were thinking...What is that nut doing trying to speed us up.

    Glad the mystery is solved. Good job Sherlock!

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  14. good. . .good. . .good. . .glad the water problem was a simple fix. . .eventually!

    I think the hunters probably do enjoy the beauty of the feathers. . .and the beauty of roasted duck. . .yum! Growing up around hunters, I've always found them to be very into nature, and the beauty of nature. . .my brother takes more pics of deer from his deer stand. . .than he does shooting them. . .so we enjoy their beauty. . .and then we enjoy the freshly processed deer sausage. . .all good stuff!

    I certainly love that you enjoy the details, and that you share them with us. . .all so very, very great. . .and I'm with you. . .showing up by 4AM would certainly not be my cup of tea either. . .

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  15. Good find on the water faucets - I think I'll check ours today!

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  16. Your bird feather pictures are GORGEOUS! Isn't it amazing how our minds work on problems and then bingo, up comes the aha moment while we aren't even thinking about it. Well done! I'm looking for suggestions for computer games other than solitaire, would you care to recommend???

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  17. Beautiful feathers...! I had that problem at Uncle Clarence's house and found out I needed to clean those screw on screens..and WALLA! Much improved!!

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  18. Beautiful feathers- glad you got your water issues solved.

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  19. Yup... we added an extra filter (a normal blue household type one) on the incoming line for ANY water coming into our motorhome system... whether we are using the hose or the tank. Filters out all the sandy junk and a lot of other stuff too. Just make sure to open up the housing and dry out the filter between uses like filling your holding tank, because a wet filter in hot summer can get moldy....

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    Karen and Steve
    (Blog) RVing: The USA Is Our Big Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

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  20. Beautiful feather images. I can see this as a cool collage. The cattle drive description is a gem!

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