splatts 3Speak Podcast

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/fhtgwkmbvp
Rumor has it, that you should drain your water heater and flush it once a year or every other year. This gets rid of all the sediment that settles in the bottom of the water heater. Too much sediment can cause premature failure of the water heater and they aren’t very cheap to replace.

I’ve been thinking about draining mine for a a few years but I’ve just never done it. The whole, “I will do it later” thing really gets me sometimes.

With my garage basically gutted to make room for my Son’s Subaru project, I decided to finally do it.

*Turn off Cold water supply

*Set thermostat to “Pilot” (natural gas water heater)

*open a faucet in the house

*open the pressure relief valve

*connect a hose and open valve to drain

It took about 1/2 hour to drain and I didn’t find much sediment. So I closed the hose valve, the faucet, and the pressure relief valve and filled the tank up. Then I drained it again. Doing this stirred up all the sediment on the bottom of the tank. That was frikken nasty!! I did this 2 more times before the water I drained out didn’t have any visual sediment in the jug. Granted there may have been some but I couldn’t see it with my naked eye.

I had the hose in the gutter at the street and I was amazed at how much sediment was piling up around the hose. I was blown away at how much sediment was sitting in the bottom of my hot water heater. NASTY!!!

So yeah, a friendly reminder to drain that bad boy once in a while.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/escbvoydnd
I took this video the morning on the 4th of July and I am now just getting around to posting it…

The year before last I chopped my Marion blackberry bush down to nothing. Last year was just a growing season for it and this year… well that’s a different story. This thing is so absolutely loaded down with berries it’s insane!! I probably should have added wires between my posts and made a trellis for them but that didn’t happen. I will make sure to do it for next year that’s for sure.

I’ve had this apricot tree since it was a sapling about 6 inches tall. I found it under a giant apricot tree at a customers house about 8 years ago. Since then it’s lived it’s life in a half wine barrel. Last year it tried to produce some apricots but they just fell off. So early in the spring I planted it in the yard. I guess that made the tree happy enough to produce a good amount of fruit. It probably has close to 50 apricots on it and it’s only 6 feet tall. Those poor little branches can barely hold the weight. LOL.

There isn’t much in the Splatts garden but hopefully next year we will get our butts in gear and grow some more fruits and veggies.

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/zocxttvxow
The Splatts Family recently got our adrenaline fix by hopping on a few rollercoasters at California’s Great America Amusement park located in Santa Clara, CA. We had an absolute blast!!

Since they don’t allow cellphones on the rides I couldn’t get a first person point or view video. I wonder if they would have let me if I brought the GoPro?? Well too late for that now. So I got a little videos from outside.

Basically in the middle of the park is a rollercoaster called the RailBlazer. This was the most popular among the Splatts Family. One person per car made this ride feel so much faster than the others. When the ride would take you on turns through the tunnels you couldn’t help but duck your head to the side thinking you were going to hit. There wasn’t a boring part to this ride. Just as you came out of a turn, you were heading for another drop, spiral, or loop.

I’m working on a post about the whole trip to California’s Great America but decided to put together a little video about our favorite ride.

Thanks for watching!!

music: B Big

Alvin Risk & Team Ezy

Apple’s IMovie

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/goyismrmvr
While we are down in San Jose, CA for my son’s Dr appointment, we might as well hit up the beach for a quick afternoon trip. There were only a handful of people there which may be due to it being really windy. Shortly after we arrived everyone left…

People put in a lot of work building wijd blocking structures out of drift wood. They had little benches to sit on and relax and listen to the waves.

We found a cool tunnel in the rocks to hide from the wind and eat a little snack.

The higher than normal winds brought some surfers and kite surfers to the beach. Those kite surfers were really fun to watch but DANG!!! that’s gotta be cold!!!

After a couple hours of wondering around getting sand blasted, we had enough. The wind got really annoying. Despite the wind, this was a pretty cool beach spot that we would surely come to again.

Hope you enjoy the video

music ~ Illuminations by Michael Lockwood

Apple IMovie

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/duwbjlswft
I was opening the big double gate on the side of the house so I could dump some rock to spread around the pool. Then I noticed all these things on the end of the gate… WTH are those???!!!

I quickly ran and grabbed Mama-Splatts and we sat there and watched as these baby Praying Mantis kept crawling out of the egg nest or whatever you call it. They were fighting each other trying to get out.

I’ve seen thousands of these Praying Mantis eggs sack deleos but I have never encountered this!!

ENJOY!!

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/dplxvkugbl
Little Elmer holds his own pretty good against the long-legged spaz Tony. These two pups are too frikken funny to watch wrestle and chase each other around.

Elmer has a pretty good striking technique. Get in and get out. Stay away from Tony’s long legs. Half the time Tony ties himself in a knot trying to get Elmer.

Just a daily occurrence at the Splatts house…

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/skqsikjcap
I swear you leave something out for 20 minutes and these little turds will attack!! Nevermind all the bones and toys laying around… let’s chew on the cord for the vacuum. LOL

Who Looks guilty, Tony (left) Elmer (Right)?

I’m thinking Tony has a good poker face but Elmer looks a little suspicious…

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/uiyuimwgfd
I was finishing up changing all the old induction lights to LEDs in the shop yard, when I caught some lightning off in the distance. I better hurry up and get out of the air before that lightning gets any closer.

These little storm clouds had been moving in and out throughout the day. it would be bright and sunny, then rain for a minute or two. Looking towards the Blue Mountains, the weather looks pretty nice. That big black cloud coming in from the South/West doesn’t look like it’s gonna bring too pleasant.

I hope you enjoyed a quick view of the Walla Walla valley from a Lineman’s perspective.

music is from iMovie - M’Crib by Mark Hadley

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/wwhskdbirl
I meant to post a full tutorial on how to change this water pump out but ya…. I get going on a project and often times forget to eat. I get in the zone, you know what I mean?

Well this little short video should give you an idea as to why a mechanic shop wanted to charge $2,500 to change this water pump. it seems a little excessive to me since it only took me 5 hours to do it and it’s the first time I have ever worked on a water pump for a Volkswagen. Plus I’m doing it in my driveway.

One important thing to remember is to set the engine timing before removing the timing belt. Yes, the water pump is back behind all the timing components… brilliant!!!

Happy Wrenchin’

https://3speak.tv/watch?v=splatts/xexbkidkfe
Up in the Air with my Boy, Cheezit getting this new wire pulled in and dead ended. This is the last stretch along the highway that was in desperate need of a wire upgrade and new poles. The old wire is a #4 copper, which is slightly smaller than a pencil. The new wire we are installing is 397 ACSR (Aluminum Conductor Steel Reinforced) which is about the size of a Man’s thumb.

On one end we have a 4-drum rope puller and the other end is the new wire reels. We connect the old wire to the ropes and use an old wire reel to wind up the old wire and pull in the ropes. Then we connect the ropes to the new wire and pull in that nice shiny aluminum wire.

Prior to any pulling of ropes or wire we have to go to all the poles in the middle and put the old wire in rollers. Strap the rollers to the crossarms, untie the wire from the insulator, and place the wire in the roller then the pulling begins.

Sometimes we pull in the new wire with the old but this old copper wire couldn’t be trusted to hold together. Especially when pulling in the much heavier new conductor.

I hope you enjoyed the view

~ music is from IMovie - Game Day by Pyrmds ~