ClearWater Plumbers - January/February 2021

ClearWater Plumbers - January/February 2021

ClearWater Plumbers

January/February 2021

Where Did You Grow Up? Deep Thoughts of an HOA President

more likely to stay with us forever.

The neighborhood I grew up in is where I still live, and I am currently concluding my final term of being the three-year HOA president for Lake Country Estates, on Eagle Mountain Lake in NW Fort Worth. In December, I received a Christmas card from my second-grade teacher and neighbor, Mrs. Schnell. She suggested I write about what people like about living in our neighborhood. I thought that was a great idea. While compiling my thoughts, I concluded that I have a different perspective because I grew up where I currently live:

That isn’t to say you won’t hear a new song you love in later life — it just might not elicit the same strong response because you aren’t such a sponge anymore. I’d say this is equally true of where we grow up. Those young years shape who we are. DO YOU SHARE ANY OF THESE MEMORIES FROM THE ‘70S AND ‘80S? BMX bikes were independence and freedom. Jumping jumps, skidding, and leaving long black marks… Tragic wipeouts (in my mind). Riding in the back of pickup trucks like dogs was normal. Now dogs don’t even ride in the back of trucks. School bus drivers could smoke cigarettes while driving the bus, and airplanes had ashtrays. It is a totally different mindset. I am pretty tolerant of everyone, but I would not want to be on a plane with 50% smokers. That might drive me to smoking or jumping. Or heck, maybe both while drinking a beer. Bullying just happened. Teenagers in T-top cars threw cans of half-drunk beer at us shirtless elementary boys pedaling our bikes in broad daylight. It was like a cat and mouse game — Tom and Jerry stuff. I didn’t like it, but looking back, I think it was kind of a life lesson in hate/respect/strategy/fear, like the neighborhood tomcats aging up. Ultimately, the fear was an adrenalin rush for us young boys, and the machismo was an adrenaline rush for the older kids. Luckily, their motors were huge and their cars were loud, and they liked to peel out and leave smoking rubber on the asphalt. So, we usually knew they were coming and could go on the sneaky offense instead of being on the defense all the time. We knew all the shortcuts, unlocked gates, and ways to escape the roads they drove. It kind of makes me feel like I should jump a fence and run! THEY ARE COMING!

Lake Country 0–20 years old Mainly Fort Worth 20–33 years old Lake Country 33–45 years old

The DFW area population has more than doubled in size since 1975, when I was born. My parents were both from Upstate New York. (I understand why they said Upstate New York to Texans in the 1970s and ‘80s. That’s like Canadians who don’t want to be accused of being Americans. If you have ever been to Europe for a length of time, you probably know what I’m talking about.) Back to it … I realized my perspective of the neighborhood I live in now is based off my childhood memories. Then, I read something random about music that tied it together in my mind. WHY ARE WE SO DEEPLY CONNECTED TO WHERE WE GREW UP? There are studies on humans and music tastes. The summary is that people mostly quit listening to or really experimenting with new music at age 30. As for why this happens, research has shown how our favorite songs stimulate our pleasure responses in the brain, releasing dopamine, serotonin, and other happy chemicals. The more we like a song, the more of these chemicals flow through our body. This happens for everyone, but during our younger years, our brains are going through a lot of changes. We’re also incredibly hormonal and sensitive, so if we hear a song we really love, it’s

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Of course, getting into a new relationship can be a little stressful! Cortisol, the stress hormone, initially rises when you fall in love. However, it quickly drops in a long-term, stable relationship. Those low cortisol levels sustained for a long period of time contribute to many health benefits. But how does it improve your immune system? That’s a bit of a mystery to researchers. So far, women in love have shown changes in their gene regulation of immune cells compared to women not in love. Some theorize that this is in order to prepare for pregnancy. Unfortunately, we still don’t have conclusive research on whether men in love better fight flu and other viruses, too. High blood pressure is known as the “silent killer” since it has no symptoms, but it will steadily degrade your health over time, significantly increasing your risk of chronic conditions like heart disease. And while love is certainly not the only way to lower blood pressure, it’s comforting to know our loved ones can boost our health for a longer, happier life.

It doesn’t take a scientist to tell us that a healthy, loving relationship can lessen our stress — but did you know it also boosts our immune system’s response and could help us live longer? Multiple studies have shown that couples in happy, loving marriages tend to have lower blood pressure. Marriage itself isn’t the key to a healthier life — the love is, researchers find. How do researchers define a loving relationship? To put it simply, it depends on the couples’ own opinion. Married couples with a high quality (aka loving) relationship showed significantly lower ambulatory systolic blood pressure than singles. However, happily married couples and singles had lower blood pressure than people in low quality marriages. Which means, at least in terms of your health, it’s much better to be single than unhappily married. How does it help your blood pressure exactly? Well, when positive events occur, the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin interact with your dopamine reward system. Vasopressin in particular helps control blood pressure.

Did you know that the gas pressure at your house and at your neighbor’s house might vary substantially? All About Gas Pressure

Your home/business gas pressure is typically measured in water column: 1 pound (psi) equals 27.74 inches water column.

Most older homes have about a .25-pound pressure entering, which is 5–7 inches water column on natural gas.

On newer piping systems, we can pipe them in at a .25 pound, 2 pound, and 5 pound. The beauty of this is that if the pressure is available at the street, we can reduce the pipe size, which, a lot of times, will save quite a bit of money.

To work on natural gas, you need to be licensed with the Texas State Board of Plumbing Examiners.

The consumption of an appliance is rated in BTUs. A 5-pound line can give you way more BTUs than a .25-pound line.

To work on LP gas, you need to be registered with the Texas railroad commission.

To know if your meter is elevated pressure or low pressure, you can tell by looking at the meter. For instance, this meter at a warehouse in Plano has a red face, which indicates it is a 2-pound or a 5-pound line.

P.S. If any of your neighbors have natural gas, there is a good chance Atmos or Texas gas service may provide you with a service line and meter at no cost to you. The gas companies want to see if you have a permit and inspection with the city.

A gas meter with a white face typically indicates it’s a .25-pound pressure.

Liquefied petroleum (LP) gas has different pressures and different rules. We are licensed and insured to work on both systems, and we train on gas procedures frequently as a company.

P.P.S. I love gas. It’s an awesome upgrade for fire places, water heating, furnaces, stoves, pool heaters, infrared heater, barbecues, fire pits …

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Tips & Tricks

Inspired by JustATaste.com

INGREDIENTS •

• • • • •

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp olive oil, divided 1 tbsp garlic, minced

1/2 tsp pepper

• •

2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup onions, diced small

3 medium zucchini Parmesan cheese, for garnish

• •

1 lb ground turkey 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes 2 tbsp tomato paste

•

When I’m prepping food, I put down two pieces of saran wrap/cling wrap/ plastic wrap (whatever you call it). Then, for clean up, I can just pick up the edges and fold them up until I have a nice little ball of waste that doesn’t go in the disposal. The counter does not need to be cleaned, and it is really inexpensive.

DIRECTIONS 1. In a large sauté pan over medium-low heat, warm 2 tbsp olive oil. 2. Add garlic and onions and stir constantly until garlic is golden and onions are translucent. 3. Increase heat to medium and add ground turkey, break apart, and cook thoroughly. 4. Add crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, salt, pepper, and sugar. Reduce heat to low. Stir occasionally. 5. Using a spiralizer, mandolin, or vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini into noodles. 6. In another large sauté pan over medium-low heat, add remaining olive oil and zucchini noodles, tossing constantly for 2 minutes until slightly wilted. 7. Plate the zucchini noodles, top with the turkey Bolognese, and garnish with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

Personally, I like the Kirkland brand from Costco. It has a nice slide on it that makes a clean cut, and it grabs well so it stays sealed.

My mom is the queen of plastic wrap, and I believe I’m probably one of the top five-percenters in the country when it comes to using plastic wrap!

Sudoku!

Quarterly Raffle

Remember ... every quarter, we draw a name for a $500 cash prize! Every time you refer ClearWater, your name goes in the pot. Keep on referring! May the odds be in your favor.

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6954 Boat Club Rd. Fort Worth, TX 76179 817-296-0670

ClearWater Plumbers

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Deep Thoughts of an HOA President

High Quality Relationships Lower Blood Pressure

All About Gas Pressure

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Tips and Tricks

Zucchini Noodles With Turkey Bolognese

... continued from Cover

Where Did You Grow Up?

FM radio was it. SPEAKING OF LOUD. We had no internet and no fragmented media channels like today. It was FM radio, baby … In DFW, those teenagers were rocking out to popular stations like Q102 and “ The Zoo.”

45 YEARS LATER … I walk our mutt dogs (and you can tell them I called them mutts) early in the morning. I naturally gravitate to a route that takes me past the house I grew up in for 20 years. Then, I head down the same street that my brothers and I traveled every day during our most impressionable years. I am a focused, forward-thinking guy. However, every day during my 30-minute walk, I do have some kind of subconscious reminiscent feeling, like I am still the same 7-year-old boy … walking the same streets with my brothers and pals of the past. Long story short, I love living in Lake County because I had great family and friends growing up here. That made me a happy kid. Now, when I walk the dogs in the morning or am just struck with the right place and time, it is like hearing my favorite song out of the blue. Makes me a 45-year-old happy kid.

Living in Lake Country for me was like being the Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn of the 1970s and ‘80s. Can’t forget moms! Like an old country song … I have to say something about mamas. There was a network of moms in the neighborhood. They were the network of eyes watching over the streets and in the greenbelts. Kids were not in their homes as much as nowadays. Our neighborhood moms had a network and paper telephone directories connected through corded telephones to track the kids. “Have you seen Gregory? “Oh, I saw him two hours ago with T.J. heading down …”

What are your favorite memories? Good vibes,

- Jeff

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