Measure Once, Cut Twice

We love rainy days in San Diego, probably because we have so few of them, so we were thrilled when we heard that rain was predicted for today.

Then we realized that all those projects we've been putting off all summer needed to be done before the rain started.  So we kicked it into gear yesterday and spent most of the day on those projects.

I trimmed the neighbor's shrubbery that hangs over our driveway and cleaned up the pile of leaves and twigs that have built up along the driveway wall.  We hold off on doing this project until after we're sure that the various bird species have stopped nesting; we've seen some Mockingbirds in the neighbor's Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo), but we don't think they're nesting, we think they're after the berries, and they're welcome to them.  Those berries are messy and if you step on one, you can track the mess all over the house before you realize it.  Ugh.

Cindy tackled a more difficult project:  correcting the PVC pipework that runs from the house gutters to the first of our Bushman water tanks.  The tank was designed to have a cover on the top that could be opened to allow you to clean out the debris screen.  That cover never fitted properly, couldn't be opened and warped to the point where it had to be replaced.  After talking to the Bushman company, Cindy realized that the guys who had installed the tank had mis-measured the 4 inch pipe that led to it and cut it about two inches too short.  Since they had already glued the pipe into both the connector to the gutters and to the 90 degree elbow, they had then tried to "make it work" by cutting a bigger hole in the cover and trying to rearrange the screw holes to get it lined up with the pipe.

Unfortunately, it didn't work.  So Cindy had to cut the pipe and fiddle with re-engineering a new connector that would make it work.  She got it done, now we can open the cover and so far it's working.

Lesson to be learned:  Measure TWICE, cut once, AND THEN DRY FIT IT before you glue it all together.