Remnants of Helene

  I watched with some anticipation as the early models showed the remnants of Hurricane Helene (a Cat 4 storm) come into the lower Ohio Valley. I was looking for rain any way we could get it  Our monthly rainfall three days ago was 0.60" and that against a September normal of 3.20". So we were desperate for rain.

 We got it. And wind, too. Yesterday the peak gust at  the Dayton Airport was 57 mph. Last evening  78,000 customers were without power. 

 Our back porch looked like this early in the day as the storm began:

 And that was just a harbinger of things to come. Pretty soon the rain had picked up and the wind was howling. Our power failed before I even got up and remained off from about 5:30 am to 7:45 am. Throughout the day it would falter and return but never completely failed again.

 Our most major damage was to the northmost catalpa. A branch near the road snapped off. Tom moved it out of the road  when he came home. It looked too big for our chain saw and too heavy for us. What to do?

 Another view of the catalpa.

 Tom collected small branches on the picnic table for us to move to the burn barrel as the weather improved.

 Today our neighbor, Jeff Erisman, stopped by with his grandson, Cooper, and cut the catalpa branch into easily movable pieces.

 What beautiful neighbors we have. We can count on them for anything.

 A bit about the rainfall: yesterday I recorded 0.37" at 7 am and this morning I read 2.13". It's very rare to go over two inches in a 24 hour period. September now stands at 3.10", just a tenth of an inch shy of normal.

 And it's raining ...

Update 09-30-24:

 We got another 0.58" yesterday, still due to  Helene, and that brings the final storm total to 4.45".

 Today I had a dental appointment in Miamisburg and afterwards I visited the Kroger on  Heincke and found most of the refrigerated and frozen cases empty. There was no meat, little dairy and no  frozen  goods. Only the milk cases had product. Here's a sample of what I saw:

 I wonder if that's  an insured loss?

New Water Heater

  For some time our water heater has been slowing leaking on the basement floor. It's never been much but it's enough to keep the floor beneath it wet. Then recently it's been making serious sounds when it heats. I was sure it was full of lime and calcium from our hard water.

 So recently I had a new water softener installed [click here to read about it] in anticipation of replacing the water heater. There was no sense in having a new heater installed and then filling it with hard water and starting the downward spiral all over again.

 In August I called my local plumber and he ordered a new "short" model as the one that was there almost reached the celling. He said it wouldn't be in until about September 20. But he called Tuesday and said it was in and could he come by on Wednesday [09/04] at 8 AM and install it?

 The new one is a 50 gallon Richmond. Here it is in place but not installed.

[For my information, it's a Model 6EM50-D. Click here for more data]

 This one is warranted for six years. So I'm not going to get another third of a century out of this one.

 It was manufactured on 08/21/24 and installed 09/04/24 ... just 14 days later.

 The old one (above) was installed in 1990 so we got a whopping 34 years out of it. Usually they last six to ten years.

 He said it was so heavy he could barely move it. He walked it over behind the furnace and said we'd have to  be find "a few strapping young guys" to get it up the steps.

 Here is the new one fully installed.

 Tom and I found that even placing it on a dolly we could barely budge it. We got it as far as the steps  and let it set.  I sent Bob a note asking if he had any ideas on who could help us? He said he'd come by and see what he could do.

 The three of us where able to move it about as well as just Tom and I. It was like lifting a mountain.

 The house was built in the late 19th century and the steps are fairly rustic. But they're heavy wood and strong. Both doors were open while we worked.

 Bottom line: we took it apart as much as possible: metal jacket off  and foam insulation removed. That might have reduced the weight by thirty pounds (probably less) . Our estimates as to the total weight was "around 500 pounds". Surely that wasn't off too much.

 After we got it outside, we laid the pieces at the end of the brick sidewalk. We took the metal jacket and insulation sleeve out for trash pickup. Surprisingly they took both pieces this morning. I figured they'd take the foam and leave the metal.

 Here's a close-up of the rusty bottom of the tank. It's no wonder it leaked after the amount of use it had.

 And here's a top view: cold water inlet, hot water outlet, electrical supply,  safety valve and grounding screw.

 We'll have to get it to the dump but first it's going to have to be cut in half. Once it's opened I can scoop out the minerals and reduce the weight enough that we can get it into - and out of - the bed of a truck.

 Later [09/13/24]: Brent Stiver, a neighbor, said he thought he could cut the tank in half,  thereby reducing the weight in half and also allowing us to  empty what was inside. He began cutting it with an electric angle grinder. He found the metal to be half inch steel and cutting the entire diameter took about 45 minutes.

 First look inside. The tank was about half full of a calcium slurry. It looked a bit like wet cement.

 The two halves were still incredibly heavy but I was able to stand each one up myself.

 A look inside one half now that it was positioned vertically.

 And the same view down inside the other half.

 Tom and I took  the two halves to the back of the driveway where  I was  able to empty them out with a shovel. It's a wonder there was room for any hot water. In fact we couldn't take two showers or do the dishes after even one shower. Now we have a new tank with quick recovery and we've never run out of hot water.

 Life keeps getting better.

[Update 09/19/24]: Tom suggested we put the two halves of the water heater out by  the road with a  FREE sign on them. Metal,  after all, is a sought commodity. So we wheeled them out last weekend [09/15/24] They sat there all week. No takers. Then late afternoon yesterday [09/18/24] I heard a truck stop. It backed into our driveway and when I looked again the water heater was gone. So we won't have to haul them to the dump ... and pay a dumping fee. This story has a happy ending.