The Dark Ages!
The Enemy:
It was a dark and stormy weekend. Except when it was hot and muggy or cold and windy. Lightning knocked out our internet connection early Saturday morning, and it wasn't restored until yesterday afternoon. Without the internet to distract me I embarked on a frenzy of home improvement, culminating in a cracked feed pipe to the main shower upstairs. In case you wonder why I never followed Dad's path into the skilled trades.
How hard can it be to fix a leaky faucet, after all? I have replaced every sink faucet in the house at least once, so how hard can a shower be? They work they same, right?
So I assemble my tools and disassemble the single-handle faucet. Now to just unscrew the cap and seat the new springs and washers and put it back together. Hmm, the cap isn't coming. A little WD 40, a good pull on the wrench, and...the pipe bends, but the cap sticks.
Hmm. OK. Better stop, this looks like we need a real plumber Lets put the thing together and cut our losses. Back downstairs to turn the water on then, and back upstairs to make sure it looks ok -- and sure enough, it's not. Race downstairs to turn the water off, back upstairs to see that the pipe cracked and theire is water all over the inside of the walls....
So the plumber comes this morning. Next we repaint the kitchen ceiling (new water stains). That's the joy of home ownership... always something fun to do!
Still, I really have no reason to complain. It was a good Memorial Day weekend, with the sad duty of visiting Grandpa Otten's grave relieved by barbecues and many high-school graduation parties, with Vickie busy making notes for next year. And even my home destruction skills are fortunately not up to par with Mother Natures, so we have a lot to be thankful for.
It was a dark and stormy weekend. Except when it was hot and muggy or cold and windy. Lightning knocked out our internet connection early Saturday morning, and it wasn't restored until yesterday afternoon. Without the internet to distract me I embarked on a frenzy of home improvement, culminating in a cracked feed pipe to the main shower upstairs. In case you wonder why I never followed Dad's path into the skilled trades.
How hard can it be to fix a leaky faucet, after all? I have replaced every sink faucet in the house at least once, so how hard can a shower be? They work they same, right?
So I assemble my tools and disassemble the single-handle faucet. Now to just unscrew the cap and seat the new springs and washers and put it back together. Hmm, the cap isn't coming. A little WD 40, a good pull on the wrench, and...the pipe bends, but the cap sticks.
Hmm. OK. Better stop, this looks like we need a real plumber Lets put the thing together and cut our losses. Back downstairs to turn the water on then, and back upstairs to make sure it looks ok -- and sure enough, it's not. Race downstairs to turn the water off, back upstairs to see that the pipe cracked and theire is water all over the inside of the walls....
So the plumber comes this morning. Next we repaint the kitchen ceiling (new water stains). That's the joy of home ownership... always something fun to do!
Still, I really have no reason to complain. It was a good Memorial Day weekend, with the sad duty of visiting Grandpa Otten's grave relieved by barbecues and many high-school graduation parties, with Vickie busy making notes for next year. And even my home destruction skills are fortunately not up to par with Mother Natures, so we have a lot to be thankful for.
posted by Joe at 5:40 AM
3 Comments:
I hope you don't have to be around when the real plumber comes in, looks at your handiwork and starts sucking his teeth and shaking his head. I hate when they do that.
Peggy, that's the real advantage of working outside of the home. Still, I had to explain what I had done to him over the phone to make sure he knew what to fix. I think I heard his eyes roll...
Back away from the tool box very slowly...
I cringe everytime John repairs something. It always works out fine- it is just a conditioned response.
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