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Borrego Springs, CA

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Too bad I’m not anemic

When I got up this morning, the first thing I noticed was that I had a huge rusty stain in my toilet bowl.  Since it wasn’t there when I went to bed, it really woke me up.  What’s up with that?  There are two water hookups at each of the volunteer sites here at Tamarac.  One is for soft water for the rig, and the other is hard water for outdoor use.  It seemed like someone had switched my hose over during the middle of the night.

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                 Scarlet tanager.  Tonight’s pics are from a drive on the refuge a couple of nights ago.

I drink a lot of ice water during the day, and my first mugful tasted just awful.  I know the water here is high in iron, but the soft water spigot has never been a problem before.  If a person were anemic, they might be cured by just drinking this water (if they could stand the taste),  Smile with tongue out

IMG_7214                                                                       Blackpoll warbler.

There wasn’t much I could do about it since I had to work all day in the Visitors Center, but I did turn off my ice maker before I left.  As soon as I got to work, I reported the problem.  That didn’t do a whole lot of good since it is a weekend.  The only brown shirt around was the young administrative person who knows less than I do about the water softener system.  I thought perhaps they had run out of softener salt or something.

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                                                                   Golden-winged warbler.

She said she’d try to look into it, but it’s not only a weekend, but the Memorial Day Weekend.  You know what that means.  It turned out there was salt in the softener machine, so it was suggested that I let the water run out of the spigot when I got back to the rig for several hours to see if that would help.  Nothing further can be done until after the holiday.  I was also told to use the residence building to get water or take showers and such until next week.

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                                                                       Cape May warbler.

Normally, I would just operate off of my fresh water tank for a couple of days, but I’ve got a little problem with that.  When I arrived here, that tank was half full.  Certainly enough for three days.  However, I also noticed water dripping under the rig the second night I was here.  It seems I have a leak of some sort in the tank, and it is totally empty now.  Sad smile

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                                                 Proud goose parents and their seven goslings.

John and Bridget Hatch (FD5, retired) arrived to volunteer here for the summer yesterday, so I went over to ask them how their water was when I got home from work.  Seems their water was just fine, but they have an onboard reverse osmosis system.  John and I went outside to check their water source, and it tasted just as awful as mine.  That was at least a little reassuring to me. 

John suggested I tap into his water system until the issue can be resolved after the holiday.  So, we’ve got about 100’ of hoses connecting our two sites, and I’ve got drinkable water again tonight.  Thanks, John! 

The refuge vehicle I drive also crapped out on me just as I was pulling into my driveway for the night.  It was just one of those days today.

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                                                                       Sh?t happens, I guess…

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

25 comments:

  1. well Judy yesterday you had a diamond day, today you got the carbon. nice that John was able to hook you
    up with drinkable water....besides coffee that's all drink so I would really miss not having good water to drink.

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  2. Hope your water problem gets resolved quickly. Good neighbours are worth their weight in gold (or water)!

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  3. Well at least it sounds like you at least got all three of the bad things out of the way quickly. Hope you have a good rest of the weekend:) With any luck your water tank will only be leaking from a gasket.

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  4. Maybe cosmic pay-back from your golden day?

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  5. All your bird photos, except the Geese, would be Life birds for me. Lucky you in that you get to see all these beautiful birds. Sorry about and glad that you have a work-around until you can get your water supply in tip/top working order! Enjoy your weekend!

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  6. Double check that your fresh water tank drain is closed tight. Possibly it loosened up during your travels? Also check the drain valve near the water pump (the one you'd use to suck RV antifreeze into your fresh water system to winterize) and make sure it's closed tight.

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  7. Sounds like a great temporary solution to your problem. Diamond neighbors for sure. How dies one get such great pictures of such tiny birds on a "drive"? I can't even find them on a hike.

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  8. I second what Paul suggests. I hit that valve shut off just slightly while packing underneath stuff in our suncruiser and created a "leak".

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  9. That ws very thoughtful of John. Mr. Murphy at it again...if it is going to break it will happen over a holiday. Hope today is much better for you.

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  10. Better to be leaking water than gas or diesel but like other's have said it's probably just a valve that needs tightening. I've never heard of softening salt before - interesting!

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  11. How'd you ever get that hummingbird picture. I can't even get one of them feeding here. By the time I get the camera focused, off they go. Oh course if the camera is inside and not readily available they take their own good time.

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  12. We also have a water leak. What a pain in the patooie. I think that is the hummingbirds opinion any way.

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  13. Looks like warbler time at your Refuge... wish I could hang out with you for a few hours.... I never have been good at IDing them.

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  14. yep. . .the hummingbird shot pretty much covers your day. . .good one. . .LOL!

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  15. Incredible photos as usual, how do you do it?

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  16. Yes, it does! (Ain't that tanager purty?) Good luck!

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  17. I'd be frantic if I had to drink the water coming out of my tap, so I use a Brita. I changed the filter last night and the water is great again. I wish I could afford a whole house water softener, but there are many more priorities ahead of that.

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  18. Glad you got a good neighbor there and can tap into his water supply. Sounds like us, if anything bad happens, it's usually a weekend. Hope the water leak is just a leaky gasket.

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  19. Now THAT's a hummer photo I've never gotten! Good one. :)

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  20. Great shots. I'm glad you have a temporary water solution and hope it all gets figured out soon. I finally figured out that I have to be in internet explorer rather than firefox to comment on blogger blogs. If I can figure out how to clear my cookies in firefox it might work again too. Someday. Today I'll be out weeding instead. Have a great Monday!

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  21. These kind of problems are sooo annoying. Still a temp fix is better than none. The warbler pics are fantastic and several would be "lifers" for me. As to the Scarlet Tanager I had only seen three in my whole life till last week. Then five showed up next door in Forestville State Park. What a thrill that was....:)

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  22. What a great match on your story and photo...started my Moanday off with a chuckle!

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  23. I have been on the lookout for a Scarlet Tanager over here but so far no luck. Sounds like the softner system kicked the bucket. A little iron won't hurt you...I have seen it some places where the rust settles in the glass. I hope you have a better week now that all the bad stuff is behind you..warmed up real nice didn't it? :)

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  24. FD 5 and Bridget are 2 diamonds. Hope you know, you do have a MacGyver within shouting distance with John there...hope that water leak it just a leaky valve, but 1/2 tank is a lot of water to slowly leak out in a short length of time! We had Hummers ...now we don't . They must have gotten a long hard look at my Campfire Attire!

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  25. John and Bridget our friends of ours, we met long ago at a rally. we happen to own the brand of rig. hope you enjoy their company

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