December 15 - 20, 2025 - Ice Maker - Main Shut-off Valve - Caroling - Basement Door - Shop - Tree Cleanup - Church Tours - Dinner

My Blog Reflection

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.

B. B. King

December 15, 2025:

The icemaker in our $1,600.00 Samsung refrigerator quit working after about a year. It freezes up due to a very poor design. We purchased a portable icemaker about five years ago which we used with the RV in Florida. 

The icemaking tray is plastic. It cracked on one side and on the end where it attached to the motor. I "JB Welded" it, which held for about a year and cracked again. Last year, when the tray broke a second time, I purchased a new tray, which cost about one-fourth of what a whole new icemaker would cost. Did I mention I hate plastic? (I also hate throwing things away if I think I can fix them.)

This summer I put the ice maker to work here at the house by placing it on a table in the garage where it was handy to retrieve ice. It worked great until recently. The unit started indicating that the ice bin was full when it was empty. When the "ice" light comes on the unit quits making ice. 

I looked online at the company's troubleshooting section of the manual. It indicated that there was an "electronic eye" that, when blocked with ice, would stop the machine from making any more ice. I looked everywhere on the machine and could not find an electronic eye. Interestingly, when I brought the unit into the house to work on it, and then set it up to make ice, the "ice" light did not come on and it made ice as it should. I moved the unit back into the garage. It started making ice. Yippee! I came back an hour later and the "ice" light was once again lit and there was no ice. I emailed the company for guidance, noting that I could find no "electronic eye" to clean.

In the meantime, Alexa arrived at the house and I discussed the "ice" issue with her. She said that the icemaker they had at her work would not make ice if it was too cold. She thought the icemaker being in the garage might be the problem. 

The ice bucket slides down over a protruding metal peg. Here is a picture. The peg is on the right. The "ice" light was lit up as if the ice bin was full and you can see it is empty.

Alexa put her fingers on the metal peg and held them there for about fifteen seconds. The "ice" light went out and the machine proceeded to make another tray of ice. The peg was the mechanism that tripped the machine, not an electronic eye as the manual indicated. When ice piled around the peg it would get cold and shut off the machine. Apparently it is too cold in the garage for the icemaker to work. I never would have guessed that without Alexa's insight.

In the meantime I heard back from the company and they verified that the metal peg did indeed trigger that the ice was full, thus stopping the machine. I can't believe that their own "troubleshooting section" makes no mention of this. They advised cleaning the metal peg. If this didn't resolve the issue the machine needs a new motherboard.  I'm not spending that amount of money. The machine once again worked for a while in the house but then the "ice" light came back on and it quit making ice. I put my fingers over the metal peg and the machine started up again. I put a piece of tape over the metal peg to see if that works. If it does not I will just not add a lot of water. It should then run out of water and quit making ice before the bin is full. If this does not work the unit is going to the recycle center.

December 16, 2025:

The plumber called at 7:30 a.m. He was ready to replace the main water shut-off valve at Alexa's house. He noted that the water line coming into the house is galvanized pipe, original to the house. The water pipes throughout the house are galvanized as well. He said these will all need to be replaced at some point. While this may be true my thought was that it has worked for about 80 years and there is decent water pressure so why worry about it? 

He shut the water off at the water meter in the front yard and proceeded to replace the valve. Here is a picture of the old valve after he cut it off from the inside pipe and was unscrewing it from the water line coming into the house. 

A picture of the main water line incoming into the house ready for a new ball valve to be installed. The inside pipe needed to be modified to be reattached.

Naturally the old pipe and the new valve did not align. He added a 3/4 inch section of copper tubing to make for a better connection point for any future replacement of the galvanized water lines inside the house. Here are pictures of the installation. The ball valve is a much better type of shutoff valve. A half of a turn and the water is off rather than twisting and twisting until the gate valve is closed. 

It took him about an hour and he was on his way. This should be the last "upgrade" involving the water system for a while.

In the evening we joined the Rotary Club in caroling at the Perry County Nursing Home. We aren't great singers but we are enthusiastic and we didn't get booed.

December 17, 2025:

We started working on Alexa's basement door again. We installed a handle to pull it open since we eliminated the old lock which no longer worked.  The door drags on the floor as you open it. To help that I'm going to see about getting a grinder and grinding the hump in the concrete down. We picked up a sheet of 1/2 inch foam to glue on the outside of the door. It ended up being too cold for the glue so we waited on that.

Alexa started hanging tools on the pegboard in her shop and put tools away in the old dresser. We need to cut shims for the legs of the workbench because the floor is not level.
 

December 18, 2025:

It warmed up a lot so we took the chain saw and got to work on the downed tree in the backyard. Alexa and I literally pushed this tree down several months ago. At that time we also cut away from the fence a gigantic rose bush at least six feet wide. The rose bush pile was laying in the yard and needed to be dealt with as well. We weren't going to try and cut it up and push the thorny branches into leaf bags for street-side pick up. It needed to be burned in place.

I got the chainsaw running, showed Alexa how to use it, and let her do all of the work. She has a fire ring so she saved the larger pieces of wood for evening fires when the weather is nice. She stacked the larger pieces of wood next to the neighbor's garage, the smaller stuff we burned along with the rose bush. 

Before we were totally finished cutting up the tree the oiler on my chain saw became blocked and we had to quit with only about two more cuts left. Here is a picture of everything all cleaned up. A BIG improvement.

I will have to get online to learn how to fix the chain saw oiler blockage so we can finish the job.

Christmas Country Church Tour:

In Perry County every Christmas season they have a Christmas Country Church Tour. People come from all over to tour the Christmas decorations at the participating country churches in Perry, Bollinger, and Ste. Genevieve Counties . We have never gone on the tour because we have spent this time of the year in Florida since this tour started. This evening we got a late start but we did tour four churches in the Northern end of the area.

The first was "Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception" on Kaskaskia, Island. It was founded in 1675 by the French who controlled the area at the time. Kaskaskia Island is part of Illinois but now lies on the Missouri side of the river due to the river channel having been recut by the New Madrid Earthquake in 1811.  Being on a river island the church has flooded multiple times over the years with the worst being in 1993 when the levee broke. They have totally rebuilt it and it is beautiful. I had never been in this church before.

The back altar and tabernacle are hand-carved wood dating back to 1675. Hard to imagine.

Crossing over the river slough back into Missouri is the town of St. Mary where you will find "Immaculate Conception" Catholic Church. It is a large church for the area and was built high up on the hill so the river would never reach it. I had never been in this church before although having driven by it hundreds of times.  

It is a tradition in the Catholic Church that if the Holy Family display is set up before Christmas baby Jesus is not laid in the manger until Christmas Day. I have seen a lot of empty mangers over the years but I had never seen this church's take on that. They wrapped a glass block with ribbon and placed it place over a light in the manger, as if a present was coming on Christmas Day. Kinda cool.

While at the church a friend of ours, Bill Hart, went up into the choir loft and, with the accompaniment of an organist, sang a number of Christmas hymns. Very nice. We were lucky to be there at that time.

From St. Mary we drove to Brewer, Missouri, to see the decorations at "Christ the Savior" Catholic Church. Just by luck, as we entered we found a quartet, accompanied by a pianist, singing Christmas songs. It was delightful. We stayed for several songs and traveled on.

Our next stop was "Our Lady of Victory" Catholic Church in Sereno, Missouri. This is my home parish. I was President of the Parish Council when this church was built in 1993. The decorations were not that impressive so I didn't take any pictures.

Our last stop for the evening was "St. Mary of the Barrens" Catholic Church in Perryville. This church is part of the "National Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal". On these grounds the Vincentian priests maintained a seminary for over a hundred years. It closed down in 1985. The church is quite ornately painted, well-maintained, and beautiful. Again, as luck would have it, a large choir was singing Christmas hymns as we entered. We sat down and enjoyed several songs before we toured the church. I didn't think to take any pictures.

December 19, 2025:

It was still too cold to glue the foam board on the door at Alexa's house. Maybe tomorrow when it is supposed to be warmer. 

The church tours continue today from 1:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. Around 2:30 p.m. we headed out. Our first stop was at "St. Maurus" Catholic Church in Biehle, Missouri. I have been to this parish a number of times over the years to enjoy their breakfast fundraisers, but I had never been in the church. The sanctuary was quite impressive with the original marble Communion Rail still in place.

Next we headed to St. Joseph Catholic Church in Apple Creek. It is a much larger parish and a much larger church. The church's stained glass windows on either side of the altar are most impressive. We couldn't imagine what it would cost to replace those even if you could.

From Apple Creek we headed to East Perry County to view the Lutheran churches there and to see the 41 Christmas Trees decorated in their Heritage Museum.

Here is a picture as we entered the Heritage Museum with Christmas Trees displayed on each side as you walked through. Each tree was decorated in a different theme denoting various aspects of Perry County heritage. It was quite impressive.

Gerard Fiehler, one of the docents we have known for a long time, showed us a player piano they had just acquired for the museum along with 100 music rolls. He pumped away and it played like new. Here is a short video of his effort.

From East Perry County we headed to Zion Lutheran Church in Crosstown. It is a small church but very unique for its timber construction. It had been damaged badly in a tornado that came through the area about fifteen years ago but they have restored it to all of its former grandeur.

I thought the copper crosses behind the altar were quite unique and a great focal point. This was my favorite of the churches we visited.

From Crosstown we headed to "Hill of Peace" Lutheran church in Friedenberg, Missouri. Our good friends, John and Carlene Rauh, are very active in maintaining this church because John's grandfather was on the board when it was built in 1885. There are no longer regular services there but the Lutheran Church in St. Louis contributes to its upkeep due to its historical significance to the Lutheran Churches in the area. 

I have helped with various projects at this church over the years and this year I helped others cut down a cedar Christmas Tree and get it into the church.  As you can see from the picture it is quite a large tree. It filled the entire corner to the altar and reached almost to the ceiling above the balcony. It didn't look that big in the field. LOL

An earlier project I had been involved in was reframing the picture of "The Last Supper" that hangs behind the altar. The original picture is quite valuable so after it was duplicated it was stored away for preservation. I made a frame for the new picture and John and I hung it place of the original. The original picture can be seen hanging in the church in pictures from the 1920s.

I will now digress in describing another project at this church.

A more recent project I helped with was rehanging the church chandelier.  One day, while poking around in a closet under the steps up to the balcony, someone found pieces of decorative iron laying in a pile in the back. Upon pulling everything out, looking it over, and talking with former parishioners, it was determined that these were the parts to the original oil chandelier that hung in the church many years ago. All of the globes and chimneys were long gone but all of the metal pieces were there. 

A gentleman named, Don Fassold, got wind of this find and offered to pay to have the chandelier totally restored, electrified, and rehung in the church. He contacted a firm in St. Louis that specialized in such work. The work was estimated to cost $17,000.00. He said he would pay for it entirely and the project began once the pieces being delivered to the company.

In the meantime volunteers crawled up into the attic and found an old metal mechanism up there which had been used to lower the chandelier when the globes needed to be filled with oil and to light the chandelier for services. 

A church volunteer, Mike Schamburg, has a lot of mechanical knowledge. He took measurements and at home welded up a new metal frame which could be bolted to the rafters. To this frame a come-a-long hoist would be attached for raising the chandelier to the ceiling. 

After several months the chandelier was refurbished and electrified. When it was scheduled to be delivered to Friedenberg John Rauh gathered up the help needed for unloading it and installing it. By the time the chandelier work was completed and all new globes, chimneys, bulbs, and wiring purchased, the cost escalated to $22,000.00. Don had no problem paying the additional amount.

On the day of delivery there were about ten volunteers on hand to get the chandelier from the truck and in place in the church so that it could be hoisted up to the ceiling. When the driver opened the rolling door on the back of the truck, our hearts sank. It was obvious that the wooden cradle the company had built to hold the chandelier upright for the trip, had not been strong enough. Part of the chandelier had been broken. The driver immediately returned with it to St. Louis while Don called the company. The company assured Don that they could have it fixed in a couple of days and sent back to Friedenberg in time for the church's upcoming celebration. 

Amazingly, they had it repaired in two days and mounted in a much more robust cradle in the truck. John once again gathered all the help. Upon its second arrival everything was found to be intact. We then had the nerve-racking task of getting it off the truck, while still in its cradle, up the steps, through the church doors, and down the aisle until it sat in a place to be connected to the cable to pull it up to the ceiling. 

While it rested in the cradle on the floor in the church we commenced to putting all of the globes, chimneys, and bulbs in place. If I remember right there were twenty-one of each. We were almost finished when we found that three chimneys would not fit into the globes. This was the case even though all of the globes and all of the chimneys were the same part numbers. 

The openings in three globes were too small by about an 1/8 of an inch to allow the chimneys to slide into place. There is no such thing as forcing glass against glass to make it fit. We studied what to do. Danny Kiefer, one of the church board members, said he could take them home and see if he could slowly grind the top opening in each globe, using his Dremel tool, until the chimneys fit. While he was gone we all sat and waited not knowing if the project as going to get completed this date or not.

Earlier in the morning a storm had come through Perry County. When Danny got home he found that he had no electric. Luckily his Dremel tool was battery powered, the battery was charged, and he had a good battery light available to work by. He was able to carefully grind away until each chimney would slide into a globe.

When he brought the globes and chimneys back we quickly installed them, checked that all of the bulbs were lighting, and hooked the chandelier to the cable. It was then carefully raised so we could unbolt the cradle leaving the chandelier hanging in the air by about a foot.  

Up in the attic Mike slowly cranked on the come-a-long as we all watched the chandelier methodically move above us. Once the chandelier chain was in position against the ceiling, Mike locked the hoist in place in the attic using its lock and further bolting the cable it so it could not slip. The refurbished chandelier weighed about 750 lbs and no one wanted it to slip in any way.  Mike then connected the electric. With the flip of a switch in the back of church, it was lighted and everyone rejoiced and sighed with relief. It is wonderful to have this beautiful piece of history once again hanging in the church.

As we left "Hill of Peace" our Christmas Country Church Tour was over for this year. We only saw about fifteen of the forty churches which participated but we enjoyed every minute of it. If we are in Perryville next Christmas we will pick out fifteen or more different churches to visit. Our thanks to all who made this happen. It is a wonderful event.

December 20, 2025:

In the morning the weather was warmer so Alexa and I went to her house, cut the foam board to fit the basement door, and glued it in place. We glued a couple of strips around the outside cellar door to help cut down the draft from there as well.  

On a different note, the flap on the aluminum dryer vent on the house is stuck open and not in good shape. As a result a four inch hole of cold air blows into the basement. Last week Alexa ordered a new aluminum vent from Ace Hardware. They had plastic ones in stock but no aluminum ones. She was told the vent would be in on Thursday but when we got there on Saturday it had not arrived yet. She was told to expect it next Tuesday. Hopefully it will arrive early next week so we can get it installed before we fly to Lake Tahoe on Friday.

Earlier in the week Carlene and John had invited us out for a drink and dinner. We headed out there about 4:00 p.m. We had a nice time visiting, enjoyed a great meal Carlene prepared, peach pie and ice cream for dessert, and then great conversation with friends. A lovely evening.