September 28, 2018
I was recently helping my son frame out a slab to receive concrete. We were laying pex tubing which would eventually become radiant floor heat. My son let me know that we needed to fill it with water to assure no leaks. At the site there was no water. I looked at the large area of the future slab, at my son, at the pex tubing then back at the slab. No problem, I think. We can take the tote on the tractor forks to the spring in the lower field and fill it with water, haul it back up and then fill the pex tubing. The problem was that the IBC tote was full of slime, the green-decayed-leaf-organic-matter type of slime. I did not think, in a new foundation, with new pex tubing , that it would be good to have slimy water. “Don’t worry mom,” he says, “It’s a closed system.” No, I thought, slime is not good.
Then I remembered this Craig’s list guy in Orleans who sells food grade IBC tote’s. I suggest this option to my family. “That’s ridiculous,” says my husband. “We will fill one of those with water from the spring that tested positive with a high coliform e coli count! We buy a food grade IBC, not any good for drinking water… just to fill pex?! Nope.”
The three of us sat down and pondered. Cleaning the green-decayed-leaf-organic-matter slimed tote would involve letting the water run out. You can’t scrub them, there is an opening the diameter of a soup bowl. Trying to clean the thing would be like cleaning out a beer bottle that had molasses encrusted on the bottom, and the only tool you have is a mop.
Then my son asks, “How much water do we actually need? ” We look at the pex tubing, 1500 feet, ¾ of an inch diameter. So volume is simply area times height– pi radius squared times 1500. First time we calculated the area we forgot the radius was half the diameter. Then we forgot that the inches needed to be converted to feet and the whole thing needs to be converted to gallons. There we were, sitting on a log, scratching our heads, googling conversions and formulas, a thunderstorm was rolling and we finally figured out the volume — 8,000 cubic inches which is 34 gallons. Perfect! We do not need to use the IBC tote, we could use the clean 55 gallon drum that was collecting water from the outhouse roof!
This all got me thinking about fractions and how to embrace math and fractional reasoning!! How about a pledge. Everyone needs to take the “I love fractions and AM GOOD at math” pledge. Everyone needs to agree that this year, they will NEVER say anything bad about math. Ever. Go ahead, say it, say it aloud as you read this! There are just so many real life applications for math, and we can all be good at it and must role model this for our young learners!
New Phone System
Burke, Lyndon, Miller’s Run, Newark, Sutton, KESD Central Office (We are planning upgrades for Concord & Lunenburg in the near future. Grants have been written. We are awaiting a response.)
Our new phone system allows us to have voicemail messages sent to our e-mail. This feature will be activated. If you prefer not to receive e-mails notifying you of your voice mails, please direct these e-mails directly to your “trash” folder.
Meet Erica Welton!
Our New Accounts Payable/Payroll Clerk
Please welcome Erica Welton who has joined the Kingdom East Business Office this week as our new Accounts Payable / Payroll Clerk! Erica will be processing Accounts Payable along with Enid Ellis and processing Payroll along with Marcia Therrien.
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