Baby Tanks and Turtles

A long understood fact in our family is that plumbing and Rick are many times at odds with one another, so we both were happy and slightly amazed that the water heater hook-up went smoothly yesterday.  Rick finished all of the connections, his soldering was exceptional (OK, a little untidy, but nothing leaked), and at the end of the day, we had hot, running water in the house again.

The maze of copper tubes to reach the water line in Gladys...
but no leaks!

Naturally, we were too smug about the whole process because later in the day we discovered that the overflow valve on the new water heater had released some water into the new pan under the heater.  Expletive!  Rick dug out the directions again and read that sometimes, in some neighborhoods, a water heater expansion tank is necessary. Ar-r-gh! Gladys peed on herself with the old water heater, and now the new one was mimicking her actions!

I questioned why the old system did not have an expansion tank while the new one seemed to need one.  We further wondered why we needed one in Gladys when Steve did not need one in his house which is only about a mile away.  Sigh.  OK, back to Home Depot for the millionth time since we came down two weeks ago. We talked to an employee, a retired plumber, about the situation.  He said, "Do you live in a neighborhood that has reclaimed water?"

"Yes, we do."

"OK, that's your answer. If your neighborhood uses reclaimed water, you have a check-valve on your water system, so you'll need an expansion tank.  I'll bet your brother lives in a neighborhood that doesn't have reclaimed water."

"You're right," Rick said.  "His neighborhood doesn't."  With that said, we ended up spending another $90.00 for an expansion tank, more copper fittings, and a strap to connect the little baby tank to a beam, and that is all because we live in a neighborhood where some folks use reclaimed water to water their lawns.  Please note: we are not signed up for that system, and we do not have a sprinkler system, yet we have to put up with the check valve and pay the price for more plumbing.

When we were out on one of our numerous trips to Lowe's and Home Depot, we almost were hit by some crazy driver who decided to make a U-turn without looking for on-coming traffic.  If Rick had not hit the shoulder of the road, we could have ended up being a Florida statistic for 2013.  Worse than that, when we went onto the shoulder, we were headed straight toward a group of people who were waiting for the bus. Thankfully we were in the Camry.  If we had been in the truck with the double wheels in the back, we would have taken out both part of the U-turn maniac and an innocent pedestrian or two. While Dunedin is a wonderful place to live, we also must tolerate the traffic that goes along with the most populated county in the state.

The new baby expansion tank hanging out
with the big mama water heater. 

Today started with the installation of the expansion tank, which actually went quite well. The attached picture shows our non-leaking, fully-functioning, wonderful new water heater complete with an expansion tank to relieve the pressure of the expanding hot water.

Rick promised me that he would quit working after he had the tank installed.  He lied.  Of course he could not waste such a nice day without finding something more he could do.  I swear, the man has forgotten how to relax.  So we put some chicken in the crock-pot, packed a picnic lunch, and ventured out for yet another trip to Lowe's and Home Depot.  (Did I mention that the sight of either store leaves me slightly nauseated by now?)

After the obligatory shopping, we decided to eat lunch in a nearby park.  Traffic was very heavy, and since we were trying to locate a small park on a busy street, we drove right past it before we knew it was even on that block.  Plan Two:  where was the next public park?  I looked at the map, and we discovered a huge county park somewhat on our way to our next destination.

Do the alligators get a sign that says, "Do
not feed on or molest the humans"?

We drove up Keene Street and came to Eagle Lake County Park.  What a delightful place!  The park has three small lakes, at least four picnic shelters, restroom facilities, and a wonderful winding walking/ bike trail.  We had lunch at a clean bench under a shaded pavilion, and then took a short walk onto one of the piers.  The sign in the picture certainly is not something one sees at a park in Wisconsin, but we did not see anything worth feeding either!

Mama turtle just lazily floating in the lake.

What we did see was a group of turtles (what do turtles come in--flocks? herds? packs?) who were frolicking in the water below the pier.  Someone had thrown out some chunks of bread, and the curious turtles come up to investigate.  They were fun to watch because they were leisurely paddling along, coming up to float in the sun, nibbling occasionally on whatever looked tasty to them.  One was larger than the others, so we think this could have been a mama and her half-grown babies.

One of the babies.

The turtles were a relaxing diversion in the middle of a hectic day, and the park is one that we definitely will visit again.

Winter in Florida continues to amaze and surprise us.  We enjoy the warm weather, the wildlife is fascinating, and while Gladys still needs lots of love and attention (to say nothing of money), we are having fun spending time with her.