Refrigerant

Blew off our third sub-freezing morning in a row by attending part of our January HOA meeting at the "now closed" Terlingua Ranch Lodge. The "powers that be" out here like to refer to it as the resort. Let me tell you....I've stayed at resorts before - this is barely a hunt camp. Anyway....didn't learn anything new and lost half a day.

Spent the afternoon twiddlin' with the SHWH. Had to drain an additional 10 gallons out of the system in order to update the plumbing - mounted the intake valve closer to the tank and adding a section of clear hose as a sight gauge for the fill level. This way I can accurately cypher how much water I use per shower. In regard to questions I have received about the grey water from the shower - it's just going into the ground for now....will be doing some plantings by the shower to take advantage of the water a bit later on this year. Had 10 longhorns in the yard all afternoon to keep me company and cheer me on.

Almost quit early to hang out with my visitors but got a second wind late in the day and challenged myself to build before sunset, the insulated door for the exposed plumbing on the west side of the tank enclosure. Finished it just as the sun was beginning to go down behind Agua Fria mountain. Since today was yet another day of plumbing and longhorns....for some variety - here is my winter time refrigerator outside on my front porch. It is powered only by the cold evening temperatures that chill the refrigerant (beer) that lines the walls. I open the lid in the early morning to collect the cold and shut it during the warmer daytime hours. The trick is not to drink the refrigerant too fast or I will loose the chill factor that 50 beers provide. It's a constant battle.