Monday, Nov 21

An early start this morning as the gamblin gals wanted to be on the road by 8AM.  I wanted to get an early start anyway, so it never made any difference to me.  They went to Casino Arizona today as they were unhappy with the payouts at the Fort and have never been to this one.  It is related to the Talking Stick, but is the only one of the two that has bingo.  They thought the slots were tight, I don't think that meant drunk and as they were not too happy, I assume it meant they were not paying very well.  We had only been there in the evening and it sounds like the daytime format was different and while that is to be expected, it seems it was not positive.  There were no winners today and no talk about how close they were, so it may be a one-time visit. 
  I spent a bit of time planning my hot water tank installation and made a trip to Best to get the parts I needed.  I had intended to install the water connections on the side, but the tank had a top mount inlet and outlet, so had to change my thinking a bit.  I also picked up some shark bite connectors and it was fortunate I did as I had a problem that one of them solved.  After I installed it and turned the water on I had a leak with one of the pex connections in the old pipe.  This is an older trailer and the plumbing lines are the old grey pipe which is no longer used.  Whenever possible I try to convert it to the newer pex.  As luck would have it, the connection was at the back of the tank, so I had to drain it and take it out again. That was an argh moment.  Getting the old tank out was a bit of a challenge.  It wouldn't fit through the door on the place it resides, so I had to take the frame and door off the trailer.  The old tank was really heavy even when empty and I can only assume the insulation was saturated as it dripped constantly.  In fact I needed a hand putting it in the trash bin it was so heavy.  The little bit of water remaining in it was very rust colored, so I am certain is was very close to a major disaster type leak, so it was a bit of luck when we discovered it.  This is not the kind of thing I plan on for my winter retreat or the kind of souvenir I was hoping for in Arizona, but it is what it is.
  After all was done I had a nice hot shower.  That was the bonus in it all.
  I went down for happy hour with the guys and the gals showed up about half way through.  We had a bit of good news there as the Bingers had pulled in and it's always good to see them.  They have been going through some health stuff with their family, something we share in common.
  Let the fun begin - well as soon as I fix the flat tire on my bike.
  It rained a bit last night and the news reports on traffic this morning were all concerned with it making the roads slippery for the early morning commute.  These people should come to GP, we'd show them slippery.  There were lots of accidents as a result and it wasn't even that much rain.  It also rained a bit in the middle of the morning and I heard there was hail in Scottsdale.  The other big thing in the weather is that it is turning cold.  Lots of people were in long jeans today, as the temperature plunged to the low 70's [22 - 24C].  Again we could show them plunging temps in GP, LOL.  It will start to get cooler as we get into December and as it gets closer to the freezing point [at night] they will start to get excited about it.
  Well that's all folks.