On this episode of Fix It Radio, John Rush and Larry Unger walk through a practical spring checklist for Colorado homeowners. The conversation covers when to turn on sprinklers, how to check and troubleshoot a backflow valve, whether it’s too early to fertilize or aerate, and what to do about weeds popping up in rock beds, driveways, and lawns.
The show also branches into pruning, outdoor cleanup, lawn equipment prep, and the realities of getting your yard ready when warm weather shows up early. Along the way, listeners call in with smart safety reminders about burning weeds, handling chemical products
SPEAKER 04 :
Walter? Upstairs! Are you alright?
SPEAKER 10 :
In the floor behind the chair.
SPEAKER 04 :
This is America.
SPEAKER 02 :
Does everybody know what time it is? Fix It Radio.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it’s that time, Fix It Radio, KLZ 560. Thank you all for joining us this morning. I appreciate it greatly. I am your host, John Rush. Of course, Larry Unger with me today as well. Good morning, Larry. Not a bad morning outside at all.
SPEAKER 11 :
No, it’s not. It’s nice, warm, a little bit breezy this afternoon, but so far not that bad.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, we may get into talking a little bit about that this afternoon because it may be a little bit breezier. Xcel Energy was sending out notices on potential power shutdowns, and you may still be affected by that depending upon where you are. We may get into that. We’ll see. On the same token, we’re here to talk about whatever it is you want to talk about. Charlie Grimes, of course, our engineer. 303-477-5600 is our number to call into the studio. 303-477-5600. And don’t forget the text line. 307-200-8222. 307-200-8222. Now, I was going to talk about… And I will. I’ve got an article talking about cleaning products, something we haven’t talked much about actually over the years. I figured that’d be a good topic to get into, especially after we talked the last couple of weeks about cleaning out different things and organizing and not just spring cleaning, but in some cases really handling your affairs. In other words, getting things ready for those folks that may come behind you and or you may be taking care of the affairs of parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles or whatever, you know, family members and even sometimes friends. So we talked about that over the last couple of weeks, had lots of great comments. I will not, or that will not be the last time we talk about that. The more we continue to learn about that. In fact, a little a little hint even on the daily program might actually have a sponsor joining us in the not too distant future that has the ability to help with the house sides of things in getting it not only decluttered but handled as far as the sale and the upgrade and so on and then we might also have somebody else willing to join us to do the decluttering itself so more to come on that we’ll let you guys know how that goes here in the not too distant future every time we talk about that i get tons of response it’s a big hot topic because there’s just it we just live in a day and age now to where you know we’re all inheriting different things I said we all but a good part of a generation is inheriting things from those ahead of them and then of course those of us that have stuff which some of us have far too much stuff I’m one of those and I was I hate to say this but I woke up the middle night last night Thinking, okay, it’s the weekend. What organizational things, you know, am I going to get done? And what, you know, the problem is you have to have a plan. And we talked about this over the past couple of weeks. You have to have a plan on how to do that. And so I woke up last night thinking, okay, what am I going to try to tackle, you know, this weekend? And in my mind, sometimes I have to really sit down and write things out because it can get daunting if you don’t do it.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, it can.
SPEAKER 03 :
And it really can. so everything i’ve ever read says just one step at a time yes and that’s one step at a time and then on top of that kind of having a master plan you know for example i’ll give you a little bit of a of a tidbit in my own life so my dad had you know several toolboxes and things along those lines in fact my dad ended up acquiring through the tool dealers that i was buying tools from at the time over my career I actually own, and most technicians can’t say this, but I own all of the toolboxes, minus ones. I did an upgrade on my own on the last toolbox that I own. But minus one toolbox, I own all the toolboxes I had through my career because when I traded those in, my dad bought them from the tool dealer. So I actually own to this day, all of the toolboxes that I had, you know, minus maybe the very first small, you know, chest box I would have had, you know, starting out, you know, that is Larry. And then but but after that, all of the rolling, you know, cabinets and so on, rolling toolboxes, roller bearings and all that, you know, I have all of the toolboxes that I actually had through my career, which doesn’t happen very often.
SPEAKER 11 :
And how many boxes is that?
SPEAKER 03 :
Three.
SPEAKER 11 :
Three.
SPEAKER 03 :
Three. And I don’t need three.
SPEAKER 11 :
And they’re not small boxes, are they?
SPEAKER 03 :
No, they’re not small boxes. And that’s where it’s like, okay, now what do I do moving forward? How am I going to organize these? The one thing about toolboxes, this is for a lot of you listening as well. They’re they’re super expensive to buy new and unfortunately used. They’re really not worth a lot of money. In other words, you don’t get a lot of money out of them trying to sell them on the used market because folks can go out that really aren’t in the professional end of things and buy, you know, the Husky series boxes or they go to Harbor Freight or Home Depot and buy Milwaukee or whatever. They can buy them fairly inexpensively, meaning you’re really expensive. You know, Mack Cornwell snap on boxes just aren’t worth what they are when you buy them brand new. Now, granted, you’ve worked out of them, you’ve made money and so on. they’re just not worth the kind of money they were when they were brand new so for me i’m thinking okay what other things can you use a toolbox for for storage besides tools and so i’m looking at you know can i do different dividers and things even for nuts and bolts and fasteners and wire nuts and so on where you normally have those things and all sorts of other different cabinets and such is there a way for me to keep these toolboxes start cleaning the actual tools that are in them out and then start using them for that sort of storage because, again, I’m not going to get enough money out of the toolboxes to hardly justify selling them. So could I utilize those for other things? Anyways, I know I wake up in the middle of the night and think about weird things, but that’s just what we men do at times. But I’ll muddle through that and figure it out. Before we continue on, though, it is getting to that stage weather-wise. In fact, next Saturday when we’re on, it’s liable to be an 80-degree day. So now it’s going to be about a 70-degree day today, going to be a little bit cooler and rainy potentially tomorrow. But what I will tell you is if you want to, it’s not going to be cold enough this point forward. I don’t care what news organization out there you’re listening to, talking to, Denver Water, you name it. If you want to turn your sprinklers on, You can. You just reverse the process we talked about last fall, and to turn them on is really pretty simplistic. I’ll walk you through that this morning, but it’s really easy. It’s time, if you want to, to go ahead and turn it on. Now, do you need to be watering every day? No. In fact, depending upon where you’re located. You may have very strict water restrictions because we haven’t had enough moisture this year. That could change, of course. Like I said, we’ve got some rain and such coming in tomorrow. We had snow last weekend. We may have more snow through March. We have no idea what the rest of the month is going to bring. But I can almost predict, unless we get some really big, heavy storms here in the next several weeks and or get a lot of rain in April, it’s going to be a tough summer as far as watering and all of that goes. So on top of that, what we’re talking about. The other thing you need to be doing right now is I would be aerating and fertilizing. It is that time. And on top of that, the weed control. Weed control is big. I’ll be out probably later today. I know it’s going to rain tomorrow. I may wait and do this next weekend. But I’ve got weeds. I think most people do. They’re growing up everywhere. We’ve had warm enough weather where literally there are weeds growing up through the rocks and different things and so on. And no, folks, I am not immune from having weeds like anybody else is. They grow just like they do for everybody. at times it is a daunting task to keep them down. Now, some of you have all sorts of different ways of handling weed. I am still a guy, and I know some people may not like this, but I’m still a Roundup guy. If it’s not in the grass, you use a different type of weed killer if it’s in the grass. Uh, there’s a, you know, we’d be gone and other products that use in the grass, but if it’s in the rock beds, driveways, things like that, where you want to just get rid of those weeds altogether, use roundup and off you go. Now, the other device I have, which also works fairly well, and it’s kind of fun to use. I have a little torch also that you just drag around. you know, a five pound or 20, sorry, about 20 pound bottle of propane. And I used to put that on a little wagon and you drag that around and get your, get your little fire burner, weed burner out. And you can just burn the weeds too, if you want to. Now the difference there is you got to be careful if you’ve got any fabric or anything like that, because you’ll, hurt the fabric but in places where you just want to burn the weeds out you can do that as well so that works that works extremely well also um again just your choice as to how you want to handle weed control but i will tell you right now that in my case and i don’t know what it’s like for everybody else they are prop you know they are they are they are popping up is what i should say everywhere larry
SPEAKER 11 :
I’ve already weeded last week.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so you’re a step ahead of me. Anyways, aeration, fertilization, and you can use the weed control and fertilization depending upon the size of yard and how much money you want to spend and so on. There’s all sorts of ways to do that. You can use the Scotts brand that’s got the weed control in it, which this time of year works very well. Again, that one really comes down to you, what you enjoy doing and so on. My wife also mentioned yesterday pruning. For some of you that are listening that haven’t done that yet, yep, you can do all of your pruning right now. There’s some trees and shrubs that are starting. I have some that actually have leaves on them now, believe it or not. Yes. Some that have started to leaf out and so on, but there’s a lot of them that have not. And yes, you can still do some pruning along those lines. So make sure that if you need to spend some time today getting that done, you can. And bottom line, just some outside general stuff until, you know, for me, I won’t work in the wind.
SPEAKER 11 :
I don’t like the wind either.
SPEAKER 03 :
I will go outside and work. In fact, I’ll work when it’s a little bit cooler. But if the wind is blowing, I’m a lightweight. I hate the wind. I’ve grown up here, lived here my whole life. And there’s one weather thing, one weather situation we have here in Colorado that I just do not like. And a slight breeze is not a problem. But this heavy wind that we get at times, I just will not go. I’ll stay inside, work indoors, do some things that way. Yep. i will not go out in it it is just to me one of the most miserable things you can work in is the wind itself so yeah we can talk about some car stuff on drive radio a little bit later that we’ll get into but no as far as some of the things that you can do around the outside of the house the spring cleaning i guess you could say on the outside picking up leaves and trash and i’ve got some blown sticks and different things and some of that you know you maybe wait a day or two on because this wind we’ve got coming in tonight might stir some things up so you may want to wait on that just a little bit but as far as the The pruning and the fertilization, the wind is not going to bother you. Aerating, fertilizing, anything along those lines. We did not have a heavy enough winter to even push the frost line down very deep. And I’m guessing by now most of that’s probably already gone. You can test that pretty easily depending upon your yard, where it faces and so on. North sides, of course, are going to be more prone to have a little bit more frost line than some of the other areas in your yard. But in my case, I’ve got grass that’s starting to really turn green now, getting blotchy, and it won’t be but another two or three weeks that I have pretty much total green grass. So it’s getting to that point where the moisture that we’ve had is already starting to green some things up. So just a little tidbit to give you a reminder of what time of the year it is. And the daylight hours being later now than they have been. Some of the stuff you can even do during the week. In the evenings, we’re light now until, gosh, almost 730 now, Larry. So it’s been a huge change. Of course, the time change was last weekend, so a huge change along those lines. So if any of you have any other suggestions or things you want to add to that, lines are open 303- 877-477-5600. I am going to come back and talk about some cleaning products. This is something where some of you may want to add in some of your own concoctions. Maybe that’s the best way to say that. And we’ll talk about that here in just a minute, myself and Larry. This is Fix It Radio. Don’t forget the website, fixitradio.com. We’ll be right back. KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 02 :
Even in the age of AI, looking for the right insurance can be a huge hassle. Paul Leuenberger has you covered without the hassle. He works with the best in the business. Hartford, Travelers, Safeco, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Allstate, AIG, Chubb, Pure, Berkeley, Grundy, Hagerty, and more. He’s local, independent, and licensed in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. and he’s expanding into more states soon. Paul’s mission is simple, to find the right coverage at the best value and to treat every client like family. So whether you’re shopping for home, auto, or something more unique, don’t shop online. Call Paul at 303-662-0789 today. That’s 303-662-0789. Paul Leuenberger, insurance made easy.
SPEAKER 05 :
What if you could get over 110 lab biomarkers tested, just like Dr. Mark Hyman advertises, but for a fraction of the cost, and with a doctor who actually explains the results? At Castle Rock Regenerative Health, Dr. Scott Faulkner has recreated this powerful biomarker test panel at a substantial savings. We have a special price for both men and women. Just $689. That’s a savings of over $2,500 over the standard price. And here’s the difference. With Hyman, you get numbers on a page. With Castle Rock Regenerative Health, you get Dr. Faulkner and his team walking you through every result, showing what’s off and creating a personalized plan to fix it. What’s even better, you don’t even have to be a concierge patient to get this pricing. This is open to everyone. Think about it. Most people’s deductible is higher than this special price. And your regular doctor, if he could get approved by your insurance, would never order this many tests, let alone know what to do with them. Call 303-663-6990 today or visit castlerockregenerativehealth.com. Take control of your health at Castle Rock Regenerative Health.
SPEAKER 06 :
Looking to buy or sell a classic car? Need a reliable valuation you can trust? Look no further than BP Appraisals, LLC. With over 20 years of experience in the appraisal industry, we provide fast, accurate, and professional appraisal services that you can count on. Did you know that an appraisal can also entail the forecasting of monetary earning power? An appraisal is a document with a valuation conclusion. It is not a pre-purchase inspection, a mechanical evaluation, or a recommendation to buy or sell your vehicle. It’s the actual value at that moment in time, which many need for things like estate planning, insurance, or investing. At BP Appraisals, we value your property like it’s our own. Make informed decisions with confidence. Don’t settle for less. Choose the experts at BP Appraisals LLC, where precision meets professionalism. Visit us today at bpappraisalsllc.com and schedule your appraisals in just minutes. BP Appraisals, LLC. We know what your property is worth. That’s bpappraisalsllc.com or call 720-295-0108.
SPEAKER 02 :
Are you tired of dealing with hard water, stains or just poor water quality in your home? Do you worry about forever chemicals that have been found in nearly all municipal water supplies? These toxic chemicals, which can linger in the environment and the human body for extended periods, have been linked to various health risks. Municipal water also has chlorine and lead and can have other bacteria. These contaminants can also impact your health. A water filter from WaterPros can provide clean, safe drinking water right from your tap. At WaterPros, we believe everyone deserves clean, refreshing water right from the tap. Whether it’s whole home water systems, reverse osmosis, or water softeners, Water Pros has you covered with customized, high-quality solutions tailored to your needs. Best of all, installation is quick, seamless, and done by our expert technicians. Plus, you’ll love our affordable pricing and industry-leading warranties. So why wait? Join thousands of satisfied homeowners and experience the Water Pros difference today. Visit waterpros.net or call Paul the Waterman at 303-862-5554 for a free consultation. Water Pros. Quality water. Better life.
SPEAKER 03 :
And we’re back. Fix It Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for tuning in. Myself, Larry Unger. Okay, Mark from Wiggins is next. Go ahead, Mark.
SPEAKER 10 :
Hey, good morning, John. Good morning, Mark. Good morning. It is a good morning. And, you know, like you, I like to work outside. But this wind stinks, man. It does. If you could just put a big old wall up and stop that, that’d be great. Just kidding. Oh, man, I’d love that. One thing that I wanted to mention is you had said something about weeds and getting rid of them using propane and fire. And I’ve done that in the past myself. But if people are going to do that, please, please, for the love of God, get your hose out. Good idea. Stretch it past where you’re going to go. because just a couple months ago, my dumb, dumb neighbor decided to do that, caught his fence on fire, almost caught our fence on fire, and it could have burned all our houses. Oh, my word.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s just crazy.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, so years ago, I took it upon myself to get a fire pump, a pump that can pump like 300 gallons a minute, and I carry about 1,000 gallons of water in my backyard because I’m paranoid about dumb, dumb neighbors doing dumb, dumb stuff And I have about 250 feet of hose, so I can fight fire for about 10 to 15 minutes, which is about how long it takes for our volunteer fire department to get here. So, please, if anybody’s going to do that, use some common sense. I realize not everybody played chess when they were a kid, but I did. I still do, and I still don’t win every game. My point is just be safety-minded when you’re doing one thing with another, specifically with fire.
SPEAKER 03 :
Common sense plays a role in all of this, too, folks. Yeah, you don’t want to do this around wood structures. You don’t want to be close to the house. I mean, I’m talking, Mark, for me, this is things that I do out in the driveway with the asphalt or the concrete or the rock beds where there’s nothing nearby. I mean, yeah, use common sense. You don’t want to be around any kind of a wooden structure doing that at all, Mark.
SPEAKER 10 :
Absolutely, yeah. We’ve got gravel, and I’ve done that in the gravel, and I find that it’s more of a pain in the butt to use the fire than to use the spray. And I’ve tried Roundup, I’ve tried the cheaper stuff, I’ve tried brine. um you know making the homemade you know whether that’s uh what salt yeah um the concoction people talk about yeah yeah it kind of works for certain things but the other things kind of laugh at it but um so each each to their own but but fire really consumes everything and you know so the people that were doing this uh were doing in a rock area and then they move to an area next to where their wooden fence is, which backs up to a grass field.
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s another one you’ve got to be careful of. Don’t do that either.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, no, no. It’s not good. But as far as the cleanup goes, oh, man. Okay, so I thought years ago, like I’m talking like six, seven years ago, listening to the show, I started doing the whole let’s get everything out of here and cleaned up and gone thing. I’ve been doing this mindset of let’s get it gone, moved, donated, sold, or whatever for, I thought, a good long while. And now we’re getting ready to sell our house, and we’re starting to move other stuff. And I’m like, for heaven’s sakes, I thought we were ready. We had a lot taken care of, but we don’t. And it’s real eye-opening when you really start going through every box, every cavity. every corner, you know, and cleaning it out. And cleaning is important, but I just want to, again, put a cautionary tale out there. Don’t just hand your kids Lysol cans and have them spray fun. You know, that’s some chemical that does not need to be in their face. And my son the other day was like, hey, Dad, where’s this spray? I want to get going with this. And my wife didn’t think twice about it. Oh, yeah, you can clean over here. And I’m like, whoa, whoa, whoa. You know, he’s a child. He doesn’t understand that this is poison in a can. Yeah, good point. It shouldn’t be aerosolized next to his face.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. No, you’re right, Mark. And that’s where I mean, excuse me, teaching kids what to do, how to help, how to do things, all that. I’m all for absolutely. But, yeah, when it comes to to cleaning and the different products and so on, it can even be when you’re having them help you with the car and so on. Yeah. Be careful of the sorts of things that, you know, you’re giving them to make sure that they’re not exposed to things they shouldn’t be at the end of the day. And that includes the Roundup and the Weed Killer as well.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, those are things you don’t spray when the wind is blowing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, even the Roundup and such. Not only can it get on you, it can get on areas of your ornamental shrubs and grass and so on where you don’t want it killing things. So, yeah, we only want to do those things when there’s no wind.
SPEAKER 10 :
Especially if you’re one of those guys that likes to wear shorts like me. Put some pants on.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and really, realistically, Mark, if you’re doing that even on a non-windy day, you should really have pants on and full shoes and even a long-sleeved shirt and so on because there’s always going to be some blowback. And we know that that’s very disruptive to our systems, causes cancer, all sorts of things. And so, yeah, we should be very careful in how – you’re handling that and so on. And, you know, eye protection is big. And, yeah, follow the safety precautions that are on the packaging itself to tell you how to use it. Yes, you should be doing that. I mean, rarely do people do that, Mark, but you should be.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah. I have one other question, comment. So you mentioned sprinklers.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yes.
SPEAKER 10 :
And I’m probably the only person, maybe the only person in this entire neighborhood that’s been running a sprinkler for the last two, three weeks.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 10 :
And my lawn is green. Well, mostly green. And everybody else’s looks brown and dead. But I had an issue with the backflow. It’s been leaking since last year. And I think I remember you hearing something about a kit. So I ordered a repair kit for the brand and name. I took the old stuff out. I cleaned where the little O-ring is supposed to go. I put everything back together again. And it leaked the same way. I got frustrated. took it back apart again. I thought, okay, I obviously didn’t seal something. I cleaned it again the same way, put it all back together the same way, and it leaked a second time. Now I’m getting really frustrated with the kit. Like, did I buy the wrong kit? So I thought, you know what, let’s just… Walk away, calm down, come back when we’re calm and mentally ready to attack this little frustration. So I thought, you know what? I know that you’re not really supposed to use petroleum jelly for O-rings and things like that. They say you’re supposed to use something like that.
SPEAKER 03 :
You’re fine. You’re fine on what you’re doing there. That would not hurt a thing at all.
SPEAKER 10 :
You’d be fine. But anyway, so I took a Q-tip. and a whole jar of this petroleum jelly, and I just jammed it in where the O-ring was supposed to go, and the little plastic ring, I can’t remember what it’s called, underneath the bonnet. So I got all that back together again and turned everything on, and it sealed up fine. But the one thing that I noticed that was the difference was as I was cranking the bottle, what’s that thing called, the bonnet, the threaded top piece, was that as I was turning it, it felt like it broke loose. You know when you’re torquing a bolt or screwing down a bolt and it snaps and you’re like, oh man, I just ruined it. It kind of made that feel. And I thought, oh great, I just ruined the body or the base or the bonnet. And so I thought, you know what, my heart’s pounding. I’m a little frustrated now. Let’s keep screwing it down and it kept screwing and it went all the way to tight again and I thought for myself you know I’ve worked on a whole lot of things over the last 40 years with threads on it never have I really had something feel like it bought it out but that didn’t seal and then go again so I was wondering if maybe there could have been some uh like microscopic uh rust in the threads that locked in so it felt like a lot of torque was being pushed but it was being pushed upon the uh corrosion possibly did you put the new plastic piece into or just put oil rings on the old plastic piece I put the new plastic piece in, too.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so you did put a new plastic piece in. Yeah, it could be. It could be that there was just some things in the threads and so on, and then it finally locked in. A lot of times what I’ll do is take a wire brush and go through on the inside, the inside of the Febco portion, the brass portion, clean those. right those threads out you know best you can either with some steel wool or a you know a wire brush or whatever to get all that cleaned out and then and petroleum jelly is fine you don’t have any issues doing that i mean i’ve used petroleum jelly wheel bearing grease you’re not you know we’re not drinking the water coming out of the backflow valve so it’s a non-issue and it’s not going to bother anything at all just a teeny bit works just to get things lubricated up and then off you go
SPEAKER 10 :
And I did use a wire brush on the body, but now that you said that, I did not use the wire on the bonnet threads. So maybe that was it. Could be. Maybe that’s what it is. Could be. But anyway, I got it fixed up. It’s all running. I got my sprinkler blasting, you know, today because it’s dry. And, of course, I’ll have to drain it again tonight. And my neighbor, it was funny, my neighbor came out and he’s like, so why the heck can you run yours? I have mine blown out every winter. And I’m like, Man, I haven’t blown mine out in six years. You know, ever since listening to John Rush on the radio, every time I mentioned John Rush, everybody looked at me and said, who, what? And I said, mine is gravity-drained, and all I have to do is open two valves. So I don’t have to blow it out every single time. All I have to do is shut one valve, go and open two valves, and I’m done. And maybe if I really feel spicy, I’ll go and take the little, what are those called, the little drain cap caps that are on the back flow preventer and drain that whole deal. And, you know, then there’s nothing left except what’s residual in the lines, which I thought, you know, it only has to resist 10% of expansion. I think it’s 9%. But it’s very little once it gets down to that point. So if anybody’s thinking about building a system, make it so you just drain it with a valve, you know, or they even make automatic valves. And it’s so much easier than having to hire somebody to blow it out every year or twice a year. That’s kind of waste, I think.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, no, I think you’re spot on and everything you’re talking about works great. And your advice on the backflow side, they’re not that hard to fix. If some of you listening go to turn things on today and you see there’s, hey, I’ve got a small leak or it’s not sealing up quite right. You know, the vacuum breaker just isn’t working properly. Mark, to your point, they’re fixable. I mean, it’s not that big of a deal to buy the internal components. Most of… The back flows on more modern houses. You can get some of the old stuff that you may have a hard time finding parts for. But on the newer stuff, Mark, most of the parts are available at all your big box stores or your plumbing supply stores, whatever you happen to find. Or you can even order online. So bottom line, finding parts to fix what you have is not that difficult.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, and I think whoever put mine in put it in backwards, and so I couldn’t tell what the part number was because it was up against the wall. And there was a number on the side, which I tried to use Google, I tried to use ChatGPT, and it was like, I don’t know what that number is. And so I went, and I was like, okay, well, I see a brand name, and it started giving me, well, maybe look for this type of number, and then it clicked in my head. Oh, maybe it’s on the back side. So if you can’t see the number on the front side, just look on the back side.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep, great point. Mark, great tips as always. I appreciate it, man. Good show. You bet. Appreciate you very much. Thank you. And yeah, again, for those of you turning sprinklers on and I guess I should walk through this is really not that difficult. You don’t need to have anybody out to actually do this. So, you know, first things first, we went through the shutdown process last fall. So given that you some of you may have even shut things down yourself, the way to do this is to first things first. Go to your backflow valve and open all of your valves. So open your valves. In other words, you want to turn them to where the ball valves or the handles, the T part of the handle, is in line with the pipe. That means the valve is open. Not 90 degrees the other way, but flowing. Make it look like it’s flowing with the pipe. So in some cases, that’ll be up and down or side to side. It just depends on your configuration. Don’t forget the little screwdriver, the little ball valves that are coming out of the top. of the backflow valve those were also open now those need to go the other directions those don’t flow with the pipe those are closed so those do go the 90 degrees opposite so most of those you’re going to go up and down you know top to bottom they won’t be east west they’re going to be north south Typically, it depends on how it’s mounted, but in most cases, they’re going to be going up and down. So you want to make sure you turn those closed and anything else that may be open. Make sure everything else is closed when it comes to the backflow valve. Then you go into the crawl space, the house, the basement, wherever you have your turn on and off for your sprinkler system. You want to make sure that if there’s a relief valve there that you’ve closed that, of course, otherwise you have a main leak. But once you’ve got everything closed off in the pipes, turn it on. And if you hear water running, you have a problem. Exactly. Because you shouldn’t have any. You’ll hear maybe water running for just a minute as it fills the backflow valve and the pipes and so on. But after that, in fact, you might even hear a little rumbling where the backflow valve is doing its job and the plunger comes up and everything seals and you should be good to go. So if you do that, you don’t hear any water running, walk back outside. Make sure everything looks good. You don’t have any drips, leaks, anything along those lines. And at that point, you can run through your zones, make any adjustments to heads that you need to. Things get out of whack over the winter months. It’s always going to have to need some adjustments as you get things fired up in the springtime like now. But that’s how you turn things back on. Really not that difficult. Now, again, if you turn things on and you hear water running, you got to go figure out where the water is coming out. Is it coming out of the backflow? Did something break? Did something not get completely drained? Do you have a crack someplace? and like mark had is the backflow valve itself not sealing in some cases what you have to do there uh here’s a here’s a rule of thumb if it’s not sealing and there’s a little bit of water trickling out take a you know the wooden end of the of your hammer or something along those lines and just tap on the side of the backflow sometimes it just needs to be kind of set in there a little bit sometimes just a little nudge a little tap on the side will get things to seal up you also can at that point turn the backflow valve off at the backflow so you know where the pipe is coming out of the house you’ve already got the water on you can now shut the water off coming into the backflow and sometimes shutting the water off letting it sort of leak down a little bit turning it back on will again put that plunger back up and have it seal up and that’s one thing you can try before you actually take anything apart if you do all of that and you’ve still got things leaking then at again at the backflow uh the pipe coming in turn that ball valve off let the backflow you know drain down some And then as Mark was talking about, pull the bonnet off and look inside and find out what’s going on. And sometimes just through, sometimes just they freeze. Sometimes it’s just through the course of time. It’s just a plastic little, we call it like a little umbrella that’s on the inside. I don’t know exactly what you call the inner piece, but sometimes that can get a little crack in it and it can leak through the crack. And again, sometimes it just happens through the course of time. It’s nothing that you did wrong or Not that there was any water left or anything. They just, it’s plastic. They go bad over the course of time. And it’s kind of a clearish, yellowish kind of a plastic. And it’s fairly brittle, so be careful. But if that is cracked or you’ve got some leaks coming out, you can just take all that apart. Take the part itself down to your big box store. Most likely they’re going to have that available. Plumbing supply stores will have that also. So will irrigation supply stores. There’s plenty of those around town as well. And a little tip on that. If you go to the irrigation supply stores, it’ll be cheaper than your big box stores. It always is. Now, sometimes you need an account at the irrigation store, so make sure you call first to find out if they sell retail or is it all commercial. Some of them only sell commercial. But if they sell retail, you can typically take what you have in and buy there and have substantial savings over what you would going to the big box stores. By the way, that’s true with any kind of sprinkler heads or fittings or clocks or anything like that. You’ll typically always be able to buy those for a little less money at the commercial supply houses versus going to your big box stores and, frankly, typically buy a little better product there than you’ll buy at your big box stores. Nothing against the big box stores, but they’ve got a whole different line, price point line, than what you’re going to find at your commercial supply houses. Sort of like the parts world, when you’re working on your car, it’s not a whole lot different. There are variations of quality of things, including the parts that are in your irrigation system. But Once you’ve got things turned on, the best way to test your system is go to the clock. Most of them have a test mode whereby you can say, I want each zone to run three minutes, five minutes, 10 minutes, whatever. That’s how you go through, make all of your adjustments. Better to do that when it’s a little bit warmer out because that’s where you do want your shorts and flip-flops on because you are going to get wet sometimes. So that’s where it’s nice to have on flip-flops and shorts because you’re going to get a little wet. And at the end of the day, you run around and get all of your heads adjusted correctly. Make sure they’re spraying like they need to. You’re going to do that a few times during the year anyway, so you might as well figure out what tools you need to… Make all that happen, but get all of your stuff done. Get all dialed in. Get your system fired up, and off you go. Now, you need to make sure you’ve got your system able to run. I should have said this earlier. We’re talking about fertilization and aeration. You know, if we don’t get enough moisture, you really do need to get that fertilizer, you know, watered in, although we do have rain coming. potentially tomorrow. So today would be a good day. You know, typically you want to mow first and then fertilize. Although if you mowed last fall and things haven’t grown much, you could put fertilizer down right now and not have to worry about mowing and you’d be just fine in time for tomorrow’s moisture that’s coming in. But you really want some moisture on that shortly after fertilizing, which we’ve got good moisture coming in. All right, we’ll talk about some cleaning products here in a moment. Thanks, Mark, for all the tips that you gave us just a moment ago. I’ll check the text line in a moment, which is 307-200-8222. And don’t forget, you can call in as well, 303-477-5600. This is Fix It Radio, KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 09 :
Colorado winters are beautiful. Until your roof starts struggling under the weight of snow and ice, cold temperatures can make old shingles more brittle and ice dams can lead to leaks and expensive water damage. Before that happens, call Roof Savers of Colorado. Our bio-friendly RoofMax treatment restores flexibility to aging shingles and extends your roof’s life for a fraction of replacement cost. giving your roof the strength it needs to stand up to Colorado snow and ice and freeze-thaw cycles. And if your roof does not qualify for treatment, no worries. We’re a full-service roofing company with 23 years of replacement experience, plus siding and gutters, too. Call 303-710-6916 or visit RoofSaversCO.com for your free winter roof assessment. Roof Savers of Colorado, keeping your roof strong, safe, and snow ready.
SPEAKER 08 :
Need new glasses fast? With Stack Optical’s on-site lab, you’ll get your prescription glasses in just three to four days. No long wait times. Hey, this is Scott Whatley, and I’ve trusted my eye care to Allen Stack and Stack Optical for the last 15 years. Eye exams are only $69, and And that should be a part of your physical checkups each year. For over 50 years, Denver has trusted this family-owned boutique eye care center for premium vision care, custom eyewear, and expert repairs. See the Stack Optical difference today. Call 303-321-1578. That’s 303-321-1578. And tell them Scott sent you. Stack Optical. Since 1968, at Stack Optical, you’ll see the difference.
SPEAKER 07 :
You’re driving down the road and out of nowhere comes a bang. A huge rock just hit your windshield and now you have a star in your windshield. Did you know that chip can be fixed? But who is the best? Who has the best resins that keep developing them to work with the newest windshields? That would be Novus Autoglass. Novus, which is the Latin word for innovate, invented windshield repair in 1972. and it still leads the industry in cutting-edge technology backed by more patents than any other repair and replacement company while other glass repair services offer limited warranties or worse none at all you can trust the original novus pros to stand behind their work with a full refund that you can use towards a windshield replacement for the life of your windshield. Find a Novus location near you by going to any of our websites, ready-radio.com, drive-radio.com, or fixitradio.com. Just click on the Novus link. That’s Novus Auto Glass.
SPEAKER 02 :
Even in the age of AI, looking for the right insurance can be a huge hassle. Paul Leuenberger has you covered without the hassle. He works with the best in the business. Hartford, Travelers, Safeco, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide, Allstate, AIG, Chubb, Pure, Berkeley, Grundy, Hagerty, and more. He’s local, independent, and licensed in Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, and Texas. and he’s expanding into more states soon. Paul’s mission is simple, to find the right coverage at the best value and to treat every client like family. So whether you’re shopping for home, auto, or something more unique, don’t shop online. Call Paul at 303-662-0789 today. That’s 303-662-0789. Paul Leuenberger, insurance made easy.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, we are back. Fix-It Radio, KLZ 560. Thanks for joining us today. Myself, Larry Unger. And don’t forget, Drive Radio from Saturday, 10 to 1. If you listen to any of my other programs and you want to learn about all things cars, then tune in to Drive Radio Saturdays, 10 to 1 as well. And for some of you listening to the replay of this show, don’t forget, we have that show on Saturdays, 10 to 1. Then replays again on Sunday, noon to 3. Don’t forget about Drive Radio, the Extra Mile podcast. as well that is on saturdays from 3 to 4 p.m and uh it’s always a great program and and always enjoy doing that program as well by the way so we’ll have a new topic today uh from three to four all right cleaning things and i’ve got an article this was actually on fox news And there’s a lot of things here, and keep in mind, there’s a lot of, oh, my word, you talk about cleaning aids today that didn’t exist even a decade ago. There is a cleaning item, tool, chemical, you name it, for just about everything now. In fact, Larry, you name it, you can darn near find a cleaning item, chemical or mechanical or whatever, for just about everything now.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yes, you can. You go on eBay, you go anywhere, Amazon.
SPEAKER 03 :
Amazon, eBay, the big box stores. You name it, yep. I mean, you go to the big box stores and there are now entire aisles of nothing but cleaning items. Everything from the chemicals itself, the soaps and so on, to the mechanical scrubbers, to cordless scrubbers, to you name it, it’s out there. And I will tell you right now, some of them work extremely well. And some of them I’ve always wondered, you sell this stuff?
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because it’s worthless. Yes, it is. I mean, literally. And there are still some old-time, you guys know this, some old-time concoctions that work as well as some of the new stuff does. It just depends on what you’re trying to do and clean. You know, good old white vinegar in some cases does just as good a job of cleaning as other things do. So biggest thing on chemicals is know what you’re cleaning and know what that chemical is and whether it’s going to actually work or damage chemicals. things that you may have going on in your home. Jeff, go ahead, sir.
SPEAKER 12 :
Hey, happy winter, guys, at least up here.
SPEAKER 03 :
You got some snow, didn’t you?
SPEAKER 12 :
Eight to 10, maybe 12 inches, I don’t know, something like that. Wow. I had to take the wife out for a medical appointment yesterday, so I managed to get just around the car cleared, or truck. Wow. Got her out, got her back, and we’ll probably spend most of today putting off the driveways and things, so… But you were talking earlier, John, about how you wake up in the middle of the night with things in your mind. And I think you mentioned what I already have learned a long time ago to do, and that’s don’t just lay there with it going through your mind. Get up, make a list of some sort. I found that writing it down… Makes me think, okay, I’m not going to forget about this. Now I can, I can go ahead and go back to it when I wake up and without fail, I get to go right back to sleep. Um, I don’t know what it is, but, um, writing it down lets that happen. So I would just encourage folks to do that. Um, you don’t have to write a book about it either, do you?
SPEAKER 03 :
No, you know, you can just write some quick little bullet points. I’ve done that before, Jeff, where you just get up or, uh, you know, depending on how you want to do it. Sometimes you can put, you know, just grab your phone and go to the notes section of your phone and, you know, type a few things in really quick and then you’re done and handled and go back to sleep and enjoy the night.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. It works for things like we’ve been going through some medical issues with my wife. I won’t go into, but, uh, I’ll wake up in the middle of the night worrying about this, that, and the other thing, and just writing it down, putting those shots down there. You know, what are you worried about? What do you think you need to do?
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 12 :
You know, get it out of your mind and onto paper, because then it’s at least mentally you resolved it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Great way of saying it. No, you’re exactly right. Great way to do it.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, and I’ve… Regarding chemicals and such, particularly glyphosate, I’ve been doing research on glyphosate and some of the so-called alternatives, paraquat and diquat and other things that are out there. And, you know, glyphosate is not without its risks, but when you compare it to alternatives and what else is out there and what it’s done for farming, it is really a miracle way to deal with crop, with planting, with farming. I think it’s going to be – it’s not hysteria because, like I said, there are some concerns about it. But I think those concerns are very overwrought, and I think time will come and show that. So I guess my whole thing is I like to be serious about chemicals. I just don’t like to be paranoid.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, I agree with you on that. Yeah, I’m the same way, Jeff. It’s like, okay, yep, it’s a chemical. I know its uses. I know what it can be damaging with. I know how it can be used in a good way as well, and I am by no means against them. I mean, I know some folks, Jeff, that, oh, my word, everything they do has to have some sort of an organic concoction that they piece together at the end of the day, and I am not that guy. If there’s somebody that’s already gone through that,
SPEAKER 12 :
that brain damage and you know for example roundup if i can go grab roundup and put it in a in a sprayer and go out and do what i need to do yes i’m going to do that because no offense jeff i don’t have time for all the other concoction nonsense no and i’ve tried them over the last couple of years ever since monsanto had to get rid of glyphosate in its residential products and they are absolutely worthless in my mind i uh just this spring uh preparing for uh for the summer i Or glyphosate and 2,4-D, just the raw stuff. And I’m finally going to be able to get the weeds out that I’ve managed to survive despite extensive spraying over the last couple of years. And I’m going to enjoy having a weed-free place to plant that I don’t have to just constantly watch and monitor. It’s going to be great. Yeah. Yeah, you know, folks want to, one of the ones for weeds is salt and vinegar. You mix salt and vinegar together and spray that on. You realize you’re putting salt into the ground. That’s what the Romans did when they took Carthage so that things wouldn’t grow for years.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right, right.
SPEAKER 12 :
So if you ever want to grow something, don’t put salt in the ground. It’s going to last a lot longer than glyphosate does.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, and that’s one thing I’ve not tried. And, of course, with what I do for living in our other business, I have plenty of salt. So I have thought at times, Jeff, about… literally just taking, you know, raw, you know, rock salt, if you would. And again, we put it down on parking lots and roads and so on. So I buy it by the train car. So I’ve got plenty of salt. So I have thought about, you know, just taking a five gallon bucket. That’s too much, by the way, too heavy to carry around in a five gallon bucket. But I’ve thought about, you know, getting a five gallon bucket and then reducing that down to a gallon bucket or so. And then just, you know, grabbing a little scoop and going around to the weeds and such and trying. I’ve not done that. mainly because, truthfully, it takes longer to do that than a backpack sprayer with Roundup. But would it last longer is my question, and I don’t know the answer to that.
SPEAKER 12 :
Well, you and I have discussed about how the vegetation along the side of the roads in the northern part of the United States is dying, and it’s not because of climate change.
SPEAKER 03 :
It is not. It is dying because of salt, folks.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yep.
SPEAKER 03 :
You are 100% correct, Jeff. And why environmentalists haven’t figured that out and thrown a major fit, I just don’t think they understand what’s going on. They think it’s something else that happens, but it’s strictly the salt that’s doing that. Because those are plants and vegetation that are not salt-resistant. You get next to the coast, of course, and they’ve got different vegetation, and plants have become salt-resistant, and they can grow next to the ocean or right in the ocean water, even in some cases, Jeff, no problem. But we don’t have that.
SPEAKER 12 :
Right. And glyphosate is a salt. Chemically, it is a salt. It’s just a lot more complex than sodium chloride or table salt. But yeah, you’re absolutely right. They’re not acclimated to salt in their soil, and it…
SPEAKER 03 :
We’re seeing the results, although… Yeah, in fact, you go to some of the resorts and stuff that are near oceans, and I’ve watched these guys take care of, like, crabgrass and different types of weeds and so on, and literally they will take salt because the grass and everything is already salt-resistant. So you don’t kill the grass in these cases because the grass is salt-resistant. But those weeds don’t like the salt, and they’ll literally kill the crabgrass and so on with salt. I’ve watched them do it.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah. So… Enjoy your warmth. We should get into the 60s later in the week, so this isn’t going to last.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we could send some snow our way. We’d still take it. We need the moisture, so I don’t think any of us are going to complain either.
SPEAKER 12 :
Yeah, we went from about 80%, 70% to 80% of snowpack on average to 90% to 110% in two days. Nice, nice. Mother Nature knows what she’s doing.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep, they do.
SPEAKER 12 :
And you’re still in the snowiest month of the year.
SPEAKER 03 :
We are. We are not out of it yet, Jeff. Not even close. nope nope appreciate you man and i know and i had a text message earlier that said hey is it too early to fertilize there are some thoughts out there that the grass needs to be growing before you actually fertilize no um in fact most of the fertilizers it depends on what brand you buy but most of them are time released believe it or not and they don’t even start releasing until they’ve got moisture that actually start to break the fertilizer down And believe me, in most cases, the grass is already starting to grow. Mine is. All we need is a little bit more moisture. And what that fertilizer will do is just give the grass some food. That’s all the fertilizer is. It’s just giving it food, if you would, to help it grow even better than it would otherwise. And I have always, always, always. uh there’s been very few exceptions where i have not fertilized in march we as a company are fertilizing now so no it is not too early to fertilize you’ve got no issues at all you don’t need to wait a couple of weeks and do that the first of april you could easily fertilize now or even next weekend when it’s going to be in the 80s and yes you do need to water now as far as aeration goes yeah the ground needs to be somewhat wet moist i guess you could say you know loose and is the best way to say that to aerate. You don’t want a real hard-packed surface, although most of the commercial aerators have the ability whereby if that dirt is, you know, if you’ve got halfway, you know, can’t be cold soil, can’t be frozen soil, of course, but if it’s, you know, we had decent moisture last weekend. Believe me, the ground is soft enough right now to where you could aerate with no problem whatsoever. It is nice to aerate after you’ve been able to water and so on. But, folks, let me tell you what. As somebody that does this commercially speaking, that doesn’t always happen. You can aerate pretty much any time as long as the soil is not frozen and it’s somewhat soft. You can aerate. It’ll plug out just fine. not a problem. You’re going to see aeration happening, guarantee you, this week. And next, with the temperature being up in the 80s here towards next weekend, it is not too early to aerate and do things along those lines. So if you’ve got time, again, this is according to your schedule. And remember, what we’re talking about today, you may get done today or you may get done next weekend or the weekend after. I’m just saying it’s that time. You can gauge that whenever you want to on your end. But, no, it is not too early to either aerate, turn on sprinklers, And or fertilize it just depends on what you do when it comes to your grass and your home and your upkeep and so on I’m I tend to be a grass farmer that’s what everybody says that I do so I tend to be one of those that gets things going a little sooner than later now I will probably talk about this a little bit on. drive radio today as well. But for those of you that have any kind of mechanical equipment, you know, your lawn equipment, now’s the time to get that out and get that ready to go as well. So, you know, get that lawnmower out, get the blades all sharpened up, get everything all cleaned up. If you didn’t do that last fall when you put things away, get it back out, get some fresh fuel in it. You want to change oil if you didn’t do that last year. Most of you wait typically and do that in the springtime. So yeah, get your lawn equipment out, get things all dialed in. If you use a weed eater, make sure it’s got good string in it. You could really use, especially with it being a little bit windier and colder tomorrow, use tomorrow to get some of those things done whereby you’ve got things dialed in so that when it comes time to fire things up in the next couple of weeks, which next weekend might even be one of those, all that equipment now is up, ready to go. That is something that I probably will do This weekend, I try to even stock an extra oil filter for my mower. Yes, I have a riding mower, so it’s got an oil filter on it. A lot of the small mowers do not, but when you have a riding mower, it’ll have an oil filter. So I try to keep those things in stock, and as I use this one, I’ll order another one for next year. And I’m odd that way. Yes, I know I have my own little inventory of parts and supplies and so on, and it’s just the way I do things.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, it’s better to have it now than need it and have it than need it and not have it.
SPEAKER 03 :
Exactly. So, again, each one of you can do that according to how you’ve done things in the past. Is it time to put the snowblower away? Yep. I’ll tell you that right now because even if we do get snow, it’s going to be the wet, sloppy kind that you’re typically not going to be able to use a snowblower on anyways. I had somebody actually text me last weekend and say, hey, can I use a snowblower in this? I’m like, no, not good luck, but no, it’s slush. You know, trying to snowblow slush is really, really difficult. So, yeah, we are at that stage, frankly, folks. Some of the paddle type things. Snow blowers might work when it’s really wet like the snow we had last weekend, but we’re getting to the point where the rest, you know, we’re getting warm enough now and the pavement’s going to get warm enough that if we even have anything stick to the pavement from this point forward, we’ll be doing good. It’ll take a lot of snow to actually accumulate on. sidewalk pavement and so on whereby you’ll even have to worry about it and it’s not gone in just a few hours so as far as snow blowers and all that go yeah you can start putting those things away start breaking out some of your summer stuff depending upon what you do as far as your transition goes again everybody’s home what you do along those lines everything’s a little bit different for each individual in your house and your setting and what you’ve done in the past also i think you could do right now which would be a good idea is noticing around my house It’s that time of the year where, you know, get your Swiffer out, start kicking the cobwebs off from underneath the eaves and lights and different things along those lines. It’s a time where you could actually do some of that, and that’s something that you can pretty much do any time of the year. I prefer doing that method than trying to hose off or… you know use water or anything along those lines if it gets really bad yes you could get the power washer out and utilize that but i’m one where if you can use your backpack blower or a swiffer or not swiffer but the the big big ball type things that get cobwebs off i can’t remember what the name of that goofy thing is um there’s a name for it and they sell all the big box stores but it works really well they’ve got an extension pole where you can get way up underneath your eaves and such and knock all your cobwebs and just all the little different things that are there. You can kill all that stuff right now and knock all that stuff off. And we’ve talked about this in the past. I won’t cover it today. Maybe I can talk about this next week. But you don’t need the Orcan Man or Terminex or any of those guys. There are products out there where you can mix up your own. You can spray your own home and around your home and eliminate spiders and insects and things like that. I do that three, four times a year. It’s not that hard to do yourself. You do not have to spend money. Sorry for all those commercial guys that are doing that, but you do not have to have them out to do that. It’s a very simple thing to do on your own. It doesn’t take a lot. The mixture is very easy. You can buy it online, Amazon even, and you can spray around the base of your own home, the foundation of your own home, windowsills and things like that, and really eliminate all of those insect spiders and so on. at the same time. But guys, any questions you’ve got, be sure to text us, 307-200-8222. This has been another episode of Fix It Radio. Don’t forget to find us online, fixitradio.com. This is KLZ 560.
SPEAKER 01 :
The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests, and callers. They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates, or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting God and country station.
