The mysteries of life.....
Even in this advanced technological civilization of ours many unanswered mysteries abound. How can we prove that there is a God? Why can't we more accurately predict hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes? Do ghosts really exist? Is time travel possible?
But perhaps no mystery is more intriguing than the plumbing and electricity in an older home. A home such as ours. Not old really since it is about as old as I am...I meant to say "gracefully aged". The mystery of plumbing and electrical malfunctions reminds us that we are mere mortals and is why plumbers and electricians are some of the wealthiest people I know. They would have been the Shamans and Medicine Men in Native American tribes....the respected elders who "knew" the secrets of life...or plumbing.
Another of those mystery moments came for us tonight. After a superb, but late, supper Julie was washing a few things in the sink while I attended to important matters in another room. I think I was racing Formula One on the PlayStation2. At some point I heard a scream and the clanking of implements from the kitchen. Upon investigation I found that the sink was stopped up and that Julie had tried to turn on the disposal to clear the drain whereupon she received a significant, but thankfully not fatal, dosage of voltage through her disposal-turning-on finger.
Thinking that probably since she was jolted so quickly that the disposal didn't have time to do it's duty in clearing the sink, I used a towel to again run the In-Sink-a-Rator© hoping to solve the clog problem. No dice. We had a major clog sitution on our hands, peeving me greatly as we had just paid one of the aforementioned rich plumbers to clean the line out. Doubly peeved because this line also drains the dishwasher and so now it was fast filling up with soapy scum water too.
While pondering my options I remembered...."AHA"....that we have a drain cleanout valve for this area of the house outside. I also quickly remembered another axiom of home repair. "The easier the apparent solution.....the harder it is to find the right tool". Most guys have been here. This is a simple screw valve with a hexagonal nut type head. But a nut that would in the Army be called a GP Large version [General Purpose-Large]. To make matters even more difficult the GP Large nut is located in a little tunnel in the side of the house surrounded by the cedar shake shingles that coat our Mission Style estate.
Not to be detered, I went through all five of my tool boxes. Yes, I said five....complete ones too. I've had one forever, then my brother apparently forgot and gave me versions of the same high quality 300 pc. German tool set for two Christmases running and recently my Dad cleaned out his garage and gave me two more sets. I looked in his first, as he had some GP Large tools. To shorten the story, let me say that I went from tool box to valve and back many times in about 45 minutes, even finding a ancient tool in my Dad's box that I think was made for this exact purpose. It had a GP Large hex head and a stem with a hole in it for inserting a turning device. Great, except that it wouldn't fit into the tunnel housing the valve. And so do you think that I gave up after this close call? You betcha' I did.
So as Julie was putting Jack to bed, I went to the kitchen to clean up what I could and to plot my strategy for tomorrow. That being either to construct a tool for the valve or more likely just take the drain line under the sink apart and run a "snake" thru it. And here, as I ruminated over my options, is where the mystery of plumbing rears it's head, for the standing water in both sinks and the dishwasher was simply gone. Vanished....poof! An hour+ of consternation solved by doing nothing.
I know that there are logical explanations for this event, though I'm not sure logic is the correct discipline to describe man's relationship to plumbing and electricity. This is my point. It's more aptly described in the realms of the occult or the mystical. And so here is my final and most important axiom regarding plumbing and electricity. "Those things that you think that if simply left alone will get better....won't. Those things that you spend hours busting your knuckles on....will".
Even in this advanced technological civilization of ours many unanswered mysteries abound. How can we prove that there is a God? Why can't we more accurately predict hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes? Do ghosts really exist? Is time travel possible?
But perhaps no mystery is more intriguing than the plumbing and electricity in an older home. A home such as ours. Not old really since it is about as old as I am...I meant to say "gracefully aged". The mystery of plumbing and electrical malfunctions reminds us that we are mere mortals and is why plumbers and electricians are some of the wealthiest people I know. They would have been the Shamans and Medicine Men in Native American tribes....the respected elders who "knew" the secrets of life...or plumbing.
Another of those mystery moments came for us tonight. After a superb, but late, supper Julie was washing a few things in the sink while I attended to important matters in another room. I think I was racing Formula One on the PlayStation2. At some point I heard a scream and the clanking of implements from the kitchen. Upon investigation I found that the sink was stopped up and that Julie had tried to turn on the disposal to clear the drain whereupon she received a significant, but thankfully not fatal, dosage of voltage through her disposal-turning-on finger.
Thinking that probably since she was jolted so quickly that the disposal didn't have time to do it's duty in clearing the sink, I used a towel to again run the In-Sink-a-Rator© hoping to solve the clog problem. No dice. We had a major clog sitution on our hands, peeving me greatly as we had just paid one of the aforementioned rich plumbers to clean the line out. Doubly peeved because this line also drains the dishwasher and so now it was fast filling up with soapy scum water too.
While pondering my options I remembered...."AHA"....that we have a drain cleanout valve for this area of the house outside. I also quickly remembered another axiom of home repair. "The easier the apparent solution.....the harder it is to find the right tool". Most guys have been here. This is a simple screw valve with a hexagonal nut type head. But a nut that would in the Army be called a GP Large version [General Purpose-Large]. To make matters even more difficult the GP Large nut is located in a little tunnel in the side of the house surrounded by the cedar shake shingles that coat our Mission Style estate.
Not to be detered, I went through all five of my tool boxes. Yes, I said five....complete ones too. I've had one forever, then my brother apparently forgot and gave me versions of the same high quality 300 pc. German tool set for two Christmases running and recently my Dad cleaned out his garage and gave me two more sets. I looked in his first, as he had some GP Large tools. To shorten the story, let me say that I went from tool box to valve and back many times in about 45 minutes, even finding a ancient tool in my Dad's box that I think was made for this exact purpose. It had a GP Large hex head and a stem with a hole in it for inserting a turning device. Great, except that it wouldn't fit into the tunnel housing the valve. And so do you think that I gave up after this close call? You betcha' I did.
So as Julie was putting Jack to bed, I went to the kitchen to clean up what I could and to plot my strategy for tomorrow. That being either to construct a tool for the valve or more likely just take the drain line under the sink apart and run a "snake" thru it. And here, as I ruminated over my options, is where the mystery of plumbing rears it's head, for the standing water in both sinks and the dishwasher was simply gone. Vanished....poof! An hour+ of consternation solved by doing nothing.
I know that there are logical explanations for this event, though I'm not sure logic is the correct discipline to describe man's relationship to plumbing and electricity. This is my point. It's more aptly described in the realms of the occult or the mystical. And so here is my final and most important axiom regarding plumbing and electricity. "Those things that you think that if simply left alone will get better....won't. Those things that you spend hours busting your knuckles on....will".
