Got pipes?

... and pipe-cutters, plumber's glue, and all sorts of pipe connections. The worktable in the garage looks as if there's a plumber living here. And indeed there is. I have taken back my words about my husband needing to call a "real" plumber.

The frozen and cracked pipes and water-filter box coming into the house has been replaced. And the pipe configuration that my husband set up there looks more professionally done than what had been installed there by the previous owner (who was not a "real" plumber either).

Instead of having two small water filters that have to be replaced every month, there is a now a large water filter that will last for three months. Rather than a series of zig-zag pipes going into the house, there are just a couple of straight-lined pipes letting the water flow from the well-pump to the house. My husband had help from the neighbor up the hill, but it was my husband's design that they installed.

I am so glad I wasn't out there helping. I know my limitations, and I know when to back off and just let my husband do what he wants to do. My husband said that J (the neighbor) was helpful without being intrusive. Well, he wouldn't have been saying those words about me, had I been the helper out there. I tend to get two steps ahead and say things that aren't necessary at the time. (Such as "Well, why are you doing it that way when it was done the other way before?"... Which would make my husband answer with "Who says the way it was done before was the right way?")

As I said... I know my limitations..... and it was best that I just stay out of the way while the plumbing work was going on out there. When all was said and done, and piped and glued, and the water was running.... I ooohed and aaahed over it all-- and I meant it, because the end result out there looks way better than it did before.

The cottage and the barn still need to be done.... the connecting pipes cracked there as well, but that's a job for the weekend. The house was most important, and that's done. Not only did my husband do all of that exterior plumbing, but he installed pegboard over the worktable in the garage and the tools that were laying all over the table are now hung up neatly in soldier-rows.

Maybe that's what happens when Texas freezes over.