Monday, October 13, 2008

Sometimes the demons escape their cage...

I hope I'm forgiven for needing a bit of help getting that one back in (referring to my last post). I've never talked about all of that with anyone; my family seems to have all dealt with it or blacked it out; my wife keeps telling me I just need to quit thinking about it...somehow it's not like a light switch that can just be flipped off...

Friday while Dottie was off we changed the water pipe out of the hot water tank. I had rebuilt the "header" line in the basement 20 years ago, and then as we lost pressure again I had changed the line into it a few months ago, but still to get a warm shower there was so little pressure that it would barely keep the diverter button in to make the shower work.

When we got the 1/2" galvanized line out, we carried it outside and even pointing it at the sun there was not even a pinhole of light through it. I replaced it with 3/4" CPVC and for the first time in about 5 years, not only do we have hot water to the shower, but the sinks and washing machine as well! The shower you actually have to turn down because you can't stand the pressure of it on full!

Right after we had that hooked back up and had bled the lines out, Dottie was in the basement and I was headed up the steps when there was a loud "pop" and she started yelling something. Having a hunch, I ran to the "furnace room" and found one joint had unglued itself and hot water was spraying everywhere. I threw a towel over the pipe and reached past it to turn off the shutoff on the inlet...then had to take the bag out of my shop-vac and start vacuuming up water again, pulling up some of my mats again...I'm really getting tired of floods!

Anyway, when I tried to find my glue for the plastic pipe it was missing, so I ended up making another trip to Lowe's to buy new. Where there used to be only one, there are 3 kinds of it now, so after reading the labels to figure out what I needed I didn't read all the cautionary things...like the one that said "for hot water use allow two hours dry time"...

The last time I tried to get hot water to the washing machine I twisted off the stem of one of the valves Dad had put in 49 years ago when he moved the washer down into his newly finished basement. Yesterday I shut things down again and replaced both inlet valves, as well as cleaning the screens in the machine itself. I also tried to change a "hydrant" on the other side of the basement that had a drip that didnt' want to stop; even though I had bought my valve in advance, it turned out that I needed one more piece to attach it; I've been in Lowe's almost every day this week...

Now, as I finish my morning coffee, I'm going out to clean out the gutters as they are full of fall leaves and it's supposed to rain for the next 3 days.

I have "jury duty" starting tomorrow, so not knowing how that's going to go, I may not be around much for the rest of the week.

I'm truly hoping I don't run into a bunch of these people while I "do my duty"!



And yet when John Lewis says that the current tone of things reminds him of the days of George Wallace McCain's campaign demands apologies...

May the week be kind to each of you!

alan

10 comments:

Kranki said...

Wow! That video...WOW! I don't care who you vote for, only that your choice be INFORMED!

Jennifer said...

You know, generally speaking, I support the 2nd Amendment. But when I see numbhead dumbfucks like this, I really don't want any of them to have access to weapons.

Good work on the plumbing. I also learned the hard way that mixing metals doesn't work too well.

jl said...

the thing with just trying to ignore something by flipping it off like a light switch off, is that it will switch itself on when it decides to...
i think that the demons need to be let out of their cage so they can leave u in peace.....
thinking of u.
j.

Unknown said...

Demons like those don't go away; talking about them - to a professional - is the only way of putting them into some sort of context. No one else has the training, or impartiality, to ask the "right" questions, and the difficult ones, too.

I'm about to embark on a plumbing nightmare. Er, I mean "adventure". Because of various "fixes" over the years (by the previous owner), and some incredibly dim decisions by the plumber when he installed the pipes, I have to renew pretty much every (supply-side) pipe in the house. Oy, what a job that's going to be!

Carolyn Ann

Doris said...

Ah the skeletons and cupboards..... and people expecting us to just forget about it. Sharing is a god thing - it is important; it is horrific and frightening and you are justified for feeling the pain and injustice and unfairness of it all.

Good show on the plumbing front, if somewhat frustrating!

robin andrea said...

Ah yes, plumbing adventures. Roger used to say that water was the bane of his existence. But once all the seals are set, hot water and good pressure make all the efforts worth it.

I didn't watch the video.

Green tea said...

OMG.. I wish John McCain would see this video
I think I'll post it on Mudflats.

Meanwhile Alan I have finally convinced My Hubba to call a plumber form now on.
Even though he was a Pipe fitter 1st Class in the navy.. LOL

Green tea said...

PS I am going to post this Video on my blog later this weekend..

Nikki said...

OMG! These people are so ignorant it frightens me! :O

Shauna said...

Wow, just think I served 14 years in the Navy to protect Americans who hate Americans. What happen with the human race, we hate each other because of one simple man who will stand in an oval office and take orders from every direction other than his own.

I fought for freedom, freedom from hate, killing of children, terrorist, discrimination but to see this I have to ask why?

Over one man taking office, Democrat or Republican who gives a crap as long as you do the job and you do as you promise. Which I have learned they never do as they say anyhow!

Don't hate one another, disagree but don't hate.