Two steps forward, and one step back....

8:18 am - Tuesday - December 3rd - TWW - 37° F, humidity 34%, wind 11 mph out of the east.....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 64° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE took this picture of a bull elk munching juniper berries just outside the Desert View General Store at the Grand Canyon....

I was very happy to report in yesterday's missive that after transferring around 1,400 gallons of water into the upper 2,500 gallon water tank, we were able to turn on the new water pump and get 50 PSI of water pressure.  Everyone was very happy, to say the least, however, around 8 pm Charles came a knocking on our door to let us know the plumbing in the pump house had sprung a leak, and there was no longer any water pressure...doh!  Two steps forward, and one step back....very frustrating!

Well, thank goodness the leak was easy to find (not underground, or under the house).  A PVC coupling near the output of the pump had sprung a leak, and it is just a matter of removing a section of PVC pipe, and repairing the leak, but that will not get done until Thursday when Matt, the handyman, returns.

On the other hand, TLE and I converted that big pile of rocks we left near the fire pit area into a walking path, a sort of shortcut to the sunset fire deck.....

Before....

.....after

....with the aid of a hoe, and a hula hoe TLE and I cleared the path of bushes, and other undergrowth, then lined the pathway with the aforementioned rocks....we think it turned out quite well.  I think we spent about 90 minutes creating that path.  

By the way, we now have another piece of rolling stock....a Cushman lifted, gas powered golf cart with a dump bed.  Charles and Phyllis bought it several months ago off Facebook Marketplace, but it had engine issues, so it has been in and out of the mechanic's shop several times.  Ultimately, the engine had to be replaced...OUCH!  It now works as it should, and is a nice addition to the property....

.....Charles and Phyllis were only here overnight, and wanted to get a second load of water to completely fill the two 2,500 gallon water tanks, so we hauled the water trailer over to the water station sometime late morning to take on another 1,800 gallons.....

We had to wait about 30 minutes for our turn.....there is usually no line

....I'm not sure if I mentioned yesterday, but the water station is now coin operated.  One quarter turns the pump on for 1 minute.  It takes about 5 quarters to fill each tank, and in the end it only costs us $7.50 to pump 1,800 gallons now.  Before the coin operated system was installed we paid $9 for 1,800 gallons, so it is now even cheaper than it was before....lol!  It takes around 5 minutes, obviously, to fill each tank.

After returning to TWW we transferred around 900 gallons of water into the upper/lower tanks to completely fill them, so we've got 3 full IBC water totes left.  Soon after finishing the water transfer Charles and Phyllis were on their way back to Phoenix.  They'll return on Wednesday in advance of the arrival of Yavapai Bottle Gas Thursday afternoon to certify their large propane tank, as well as the house appliances before turning on the gas.  

Around 4:45 pm TLE and I headed out to the sunset fire deck to watch another sunset, which turned out to be very interesting....

.....sunset is around 5:20 pm now, and this one continued on for around 40 minutes before we called it an evening and headed back to the warm confines of the Newell interior for the evening.

Thanks for stopping by!