Leaving The Lake And Major Life Changes

This month I will be leaving the lake that I have lived on since I was ten.  We bought a small farm 30 minutes east of here in Randolph Township.  I am both so excited and so sad at the same time.  

Great Picture....Perfect Imagery

 The picture above says so much.  This is the lake in the late summer with a beautiful rainbow that shows the hope that I feel for the future and the end of a wonderful experience.

Living on the lake has been so wonderful.  I've seen wonderful beautiful things over the years.  I've seen beautiful sunrises and sunsets like the sunrise below.

 Our house faces north east so we couldn't see the sunset, but we could see how is shown on the opposite side.

In the spring I saw nature getting ready for new life.

 

The summers were beautiful, full of green!!

The lake was even beautiful in the winter.

I loved exploring the lake every summer, it was always changing.

I'll miss seeing the beautiful Great Blue Herron that live on the lake.

I've made so many huge life changes the last few months. I quit my job at my family's business.  I had been there for almost 30 years.  I disconnected myself from my parents and finally started to grow up! I'm moving from the home that I kind of built 20 years ago (more on that later), and I'm leaving the lake that I love.

All of these endings are also beginnings! Beginnings that I am so excited about!  I can't wait to be on my very own farm and I can't wait to see what God has in store for me as my journey continues!

 

When A Chicken Isn't A Chicken!

This is Henrietta.  Henrietta is a Rhode Island Red "chicken".  Henrietta does not realize that she is a chicken!  I'm not sure what she thinks she is.  Sometimes I think she thinks she's a dog...

...sometimes I think she thinks she's a cat...

sorry can't find any good ones with her acting like a cat...

...sometimes she thinks she's a kid....

She's helping them make a periodic table!!

 

 

 I'm not sure anymore!!  Sometimes she even still acts like a chicken....

She laid this on her brother's bed this morning!

Lol...

She loves her family though!!  No matter what she thinks she is!!

 

How Not To Panic When You Have No Hot Water!

I didn't even notice at first!  I got up as usual...4:30 am, got the coffee, woke up my husband, packed the lunches, made my husband's breakfast.  Everything was going great, I was on schedule!  Ten till seven and it's time for my bonus baby's bath.  I cleaned the tub real fast, rinsed, and started the water.  Waiting for the hot water to get up to the third floor, waiting, waiting, nope just luke warm water.  I tried the sink, actually both sinks, nope just warm.  NO HOT WATER!!! Not good!  

I went down to tell my husband.  He was leaving for work but told me what to look for.  I was supposed to check to see if the pilot light was on.  Okay...never did this before, I didn't even know where to look!  He looked at the hot water heater and said look at the bottom toward the back.  Okay!  

I saw nothing!  

He said, "pilot light is out!", 

I said "WONDERFUL!"

Then he said "it could be the thermocouple."

I said "WONDERFUL!" 

I said, "can I fix that?"  He said "probably".  Okay!  I can do this!  

He showed me where the directions were on the hot water heater to relight the pilot.

He left for work!  

I got a flash light and a magnifying glass ( I knew I wouldn't be able to see it). The very first thing I saw was the top that said,

FOR YOUR SAFETY READ BEFORE LIGHTING

Warning:  If you do not follow these directions exactly, a fire or explosion may result causing property damage, personal injury or loss of life.

Now, I was a little scared!  But I did not panic.  I took a deep breath an read on.

I did exactly what it said to do.  I got right down on the floor and smelled for gas.  Nope, no gas smell.  Yay!  

Next step.

I read the lighting instructions.  I read them three times!  I did not want to have a explosion this morning!

So, I followed the first step which is to turn the little knob to the off position.

I did that.  OFF!  

Now you have to let it sit for 5 minutes.  Okay.  Got It.

While I was waiting I started thinking about the whole thermocouple question.  I knew what a thermocouple does, and I knew that I might have to replace it, so I did what I always do when I need to know how to do something I've never done...I googled it!  Right away I found a video.  I watched the video.  Okay...now I knew exactly how to tell if I was going to have to replace the thermocouple and how to do it!  

Yay!  

Okay, five minutes were up.

I read the directions again.  

I took off the little doors.  That in it's self was not fun. Bad design! 

I studied the diagram on the instructions. 

I studied the inside of the burner area.

I determined which was the pilot and which was the thermocouple.

While I was studying the burner area I remembered the video talking about getting any debris off of the burner.  Debris could clog the burner and cause it to not function well.  Wow was there a ton of debris!  I scooped it all off and put it on the floor beside the tank.

It was time!

I held my breath.

I moved the knob from the off position to the pilot position. 

I lit the pilot light!!!  

Yay!

Now the real test....will it stay lit?  If it doesn't stay lit, I will have to replace the thermocouple.  

It stayed lit!!!!  Yay!

I turned the temperature knob to hot, and the burner came on!!

Yay!!

Then, I realized I couldn't put the stupid little doors back on with the burner on so I had to turn it down again.  I think I used a bad word.

So, I turned it down and messed around with the little doors for at least five minutes!  Finally I said too bad and left them kind of on and kind of off!

Oh well!

The pilot is lit and we have hot water again!!

I didn't panic, and I fixed it myself!

Yay!  ( I love that word!)