An unplanned Sunday job.

Location, Home, CA

Yesterday I bought 3 bags of “Amend” for garden soil to use when I planted the new hedge. I really needed it as the ground is mostly clay. I mixed the “Amend” with some leaf compost I had made last fall. The planting itself was not a hard job after the holes were dug and I soon had all the plants in the ground.

Bed before planting.



Bed after planting.


I covered the bed with a few inches of compost which I had made last summer from the junipers I had removed from this same bed. Later I will add several more inches of shredded material from the county yard where all of our green matter goes each week. That should keep the weeds down.

What the hedge should look like in a few years.


Clyda woke me at just before 7 AM this morning with the news that the water heater was leaking and running out the garage door. I shut off both the cold water line in and the hot line out and turned off the gas. Everything under the heater and between it and the door was wet.

After church, Craig helped me remove all the connected plumbing and by using a small block and tackle we set the unit on the floor. A lot better than brute lifting I can tell you.

Removing the old water heater.


I went to the “orange big box” store and bought a new unit, a plastic drain pan to set the unit in, and a fiberglass blanket to wrap it in after we get it all installed. A half hours work and the unit was ready to fire up. We needed to modify the emergency drain line as the new unit had a side drain instead of on top.

The new unit in place.


This was not how I planned to spend my Sunday but with Craig’s help, it was an easy job. The old unit only lasted 4 years. Craig had installed it on January 5th, 2005. This one has a 6 year warranty. Maybe it will last that long but I doubt it.