Hot Water and Mustard Greens

It is COLD. The temperature is only about 38 degrees, but when the wind is greater than 30 mph, one's cheeks become burned quite quickly. Snow was predicted, but never materialized here. We were near the center of rotation for the low pressure storm, at the eye, so to speak, and received only a few flakes.

For the past two days, we have declared the house a disaster area. The old water heater was in a closet at the end of the hall, and this closet held all types of cleaners, candles, towels and rags, TP, and lamp oil. We replaced a low boy type heater with a taller heater, so the entire 'closet' had to be revamped with new shelving, etc.. Also as a part of this project we are replumbing the house, replacing a mix of galvanized, PVC and copper with all copper. The PVC lines were of varying diameters, and the whole thing was simply a amateurish mess of mangled lines, so hopefully the new lines and equipment will be more efficient. The EnergyGuide rating for the new water heater shows that it will be more expensive to operate than the old one, but with insulated pipes AND a blanketed water heater, we hope to break even or even save money.

There is so much sediment in the old heater that we could not properly drain it. The drain is apparently clogged with sediment. We finally moved the water filled heater to the deck and it has been drip draining for over 24 hours now. It will probably continue to drip all next week.

In an effort to keep the landfills cleaner, we intend to build a compost turner/bait box from the old lowboy. I'll raise grubs and worms on kitchen compost so that I will always have fishing bait or winter protein for the chickens. The remaining metal from the old lowboy will be turned in for recycling.

Skyguy had to go to Home Deposit today to get another stick of copper water pipe and came home with some beautiful mustard plants. They are in 4" pots and are a foot tall, have delicious-looking purple leaves, and were only 99 cents each! Brassica juncea seeds make brown mustard. I looked at various images online and I think I might have the Osaka Purple variety of mustard like the image above. It is supposed to be 20 degrees tomorrow, so I have to wait to plant them until midweek. I suppose I will plant them on Thursday when I sow some spinach and squash among other things(the squashes will go in pots, the spinach into the ground).

I'm hoping the plumbing job is finished today. Skyguy is working at a feverish pace in a cramped crawlspace under the house in the cold. He wants hot water tonight for a well deserved and relaxing shower. I want hot water tonight to wash all the dishes, which now cover most of the kitchen countertops. A hot shower would be nice, too.