Almost at the eleventh hour… A water heater installation story

The Water Heater Install. I live full time in a 26-foot travel trailer with a recently-diagnosed leaky hot water heater. To replace it, I ordered a tankless water heater and planned to DIY the installation. Of course, all the YouTube videos and blog posts said the it was a cinch. No problemo, they said. Just do this and that and you’ll be up and running, they said. What they DIDN’T say is that it’s tuff.

Just One Win. I’d worked on it for two afternoons and the entire third day. On the fourth day, my dad (who had been out of town) got up to speed and was ready to help. For the better part of the morning and afternoon, we were able to figure out what wasn’t working and around 6pm we called it quits for the day. By all intents and purposes, I was cooked. The one win I wanted for the day– even something small– wasn’t happening. Another cold night (having to shut off the propane heat) with no water. My dad and I would get back to it the next morning.

The Eleventh Hour. Dictionary.com defines the eleventh hour as “the last possible moment for doing something.” This is where I was mentally. Ready to give up, reset, send the unit back and get something different, something easier. Let the clock strike midnight or just give me a crow bar so I can bash something. It’s 6pm. My dad and I went indoors and my brother-in-law was nearby so I gave him a quick recap. He put his shoes on and said he wanted to take a look. This was at 7pm. Three hours later–we’ll call it the tenth hour– a breakthrough. Not only did I have running water again, THE HOT WATER WAS WORKING!

Huge. By trial and error, my bro-in-law and I got power to the unit, propane gas hooked up to it, and everything was running as if it was all no problemo, just do this and that and you’ll be up and running. 😵‍💫 It’s hard to appreciate having running water, having hot water, until you’ve had neither for 3 or 4 days. As I write today’s post, I’m as grateful as can be. I know some of you out there have tons of experience with appliances and whatnot and are probably thinking that I need to calm down. Alls I did was get a water heater working. But let me have this moment of joy! It’s a huge win at a time when I was a kitten’s whisker away from giving up completely.

-Out of the Wilderness

How did I end up here?

Remember yesterday when I was excited about my new tankless water heater? Most of that joy has trickled out and now I’m left with 17 new tasks. The good news is that the original problem has ben solved– My water heater was leaking and now there’s no water in the camper…

At all.

Like, I have no water. When I was hoping for a dry camper, this isn’t exactly what I had in mind. I can’t get any water out of any faucet because the dadgum RV control panel in the camper has no power to it. It’s been this way for 3 days and I’m on day 5 of not having hot water. Fun times, right? You know those situations where you whisper to yourself, wow I’m glad it’s not me… I guess I whispered that one too many times because now I’m in a situation most people wouldn’t want to be in and it’s double tuff because I don’t know how to make everything right. Well, short of spending more money by hiring an expert to come out and get the new water heater working. Costs are adding up and so are the frustrations but hopefully I’ll make progress today so I can go to bed with at least one win for the day.

Fish or cut bait. Another option lurking in the back of my mind is to cut bait… Admit what I’m doing isn’t working, abandon the plan, start over, and go in a different direction. I’m not there quite yet but with every failed attempt, I’m one piece of dry, old squid closer.

-Out of the Wilderness

I was going to write an amazing post today…

…but you know when you start those projects that lead to another project and then another project and you can’t finish the original project because to do that, you need to do the other projects first? That’s the story of my life right now with a new tankless water heater in my travel trailer. Don’t get me wrong, I’m heating up with excitement to have hot water again— or just water at all– but I keep running into road blocks and now I’m about to go on my 2nd trip to Ace Hardware. Pray for me, I would love for this to be my last trip to Ace today. Darn it, I was going to write a post that would’ve changed your life.

-Out of the Wilderness

Is this Super Bowl commercial anti-American?

There’s a commercial airing during the Super Bowl and you might not immediately recognize the brand it’s advertising. But the message is still the same. Check out the new “He Gets Us” ad.

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s in the Declaration of Independence– you know, the document Ben Gates stole in National Treasure. But the right to the “pursuit of happiness” is a little distorted when we’re not looking at it through the lens of a Biblical faith. When I worked in television, I experienced the same thing a lot of people do in their work. We’re supposed to want promotions and promotions and promotions. I was working as an Associate Producer and I loved it. Naturally, the next step was Producer. I was supposed to want that role. Except that I didn’t. I was content in my role supporting the Producer and taking care of tasks within my job responsibilities. I almost felt guilty about NOT wanting to move up.

The commercial paints a really great picture of life in America. We’re told that we should always want more. Never be content. Always go for more pleasure, more stuff, more promotions. Stepping outside on a clear winter night is a good reminder to take a breath. Look up… as does the woman at the end of the ad. The ad encourages us to recalibrate our mindset. Let go of the idea that we need, want, deserve all the gold the world has. Only Jesus can satisfy what we truly long for… and as soon as I can get that through my thick skull, I’ll let you know. 😉

-Out of the Wilderness

An Introduction to My New Printify Shop

We’re barely into February and this has already been a creative year for me. I’ve completed a few projects for my “day job” as a video editor, debuted a few new hat designs alongside my sister with our joint Etsy project Wild Hat Designs, and most recently I opened up a pop-up shop in Printify. The difference in the two stores I’m part of is this: For our Etsy shop, the products have already been manufactured and it’s strictly for hats. We box them up and mail them when orders come in. The Printify store, on the other hand, is “on-demand” orders so the designs and product mock-ups are out there for anyone to check out. Once an order is placed, the product is created and shipped out. Printify also offers lots of products beyond headwear so it’s been fun to think about designing with other things in mind, not only hats.

I’m very proud to introduce my new Printify store where you’ll find hats (I’m a little obsessed with hat design artwork, can you tell?) and mugs and sweatshirts and socks and tote bags and more. It’s an outlet for my thoughts and ideas to come to life. So far I have products related to Mahjong, football, Olympics, and Saved by the Bell, to name a few.

click here to go to this Zack Attack item

I’ll be adding to this store regularly, although not as often as I write which is every day at 1pm central. Check back tomorrow for another post and in the meantime, stop by the Etsy shop and Printify store to snoop around. I think you’ll like some things you find there!

-Out of the Wilderness