Posted By FarmerJ on March 9, 2010

…of Projects Beget Projects.  It all started Sunday evening, while I was making Beef Stew, and Darling Husbie was watching the Nascar race.  Both seemingly pleasant activities for a quiet night at home, right?  Wrong.  Things went from bad to worse before they got better ~ two evenings later.

Now, I know potato peels can cause problems for a garbage disposal ~ I know this from personal experience…more than once.  So, I fed it just a few peels at a time.  By the second bite, the disposal’s tone had changed a little.  Uh-oh.  That’s the tone of a clogged disposal.

I made mention of my issue to Darling Husbie, having no expectations whatsoever that he would attempt to fix it before the race was over.  Not a big deal ~ the stew was simmering on the stove, and I could still use the other side of the sink to finish cleaning up the dishes and whatnot.

So, the end of the race came ~ I hope Carl Edwards gets suspended, by the way ~ and Darling Husbie began assessing the level of damage I’d managed to do like only I can.  It was well within the capability of my Mister Fix-It.  He disconnected the pipes underneath the sink and cleared my clog.  The pipes were reconnected, water was ran through the disposal, the water drained, and there were no leaks.  Done.  That was pretty easy.

I set about putting things back into the cupboard underneath the sink.  While I was doing that, I’d begun running water on the other side ~ the big sink side ~ in preparation of a good scouring.  “Lovie?  We’ve got a big leak.”  Just as I finished placing the last item away, I noticed a big puddle of water under there.

Just as the chapter for Murphy’s Law regarding plumbing was written, fixing one problem creates another.  Projects beget projects.  It never fails.  The little bit of disturbance with the pipe fittings had loosened the seal around the drain in the big sink.  It was too late to get any seal goop to fix the problem, so it would have to wait ’til tomorrow.

Monday evening quickly came, and with it, my Mister Fix-It holding a new shiny polished brass drain and a new special tool to get the old drain out.  The only good part about all these projects is all the cool tools someone needs to get in order to complete them.

Well, as it turned out, the special tool was a bit too much for the cheap drain originally in the sink.  Undeterred and motivated with a little pang of frustration, Mister Fix-It called in the assistance of a pair of needle nose pliers and his own brute strength to get the old drain out.  I don’t know exactly how close I was to just getting an entire new sink, but I think it was pretty close.

At the end of the night, the old drain now resided in the trash, and there was a gaping hole in my sink.

Darling Husbie had inquired while purchasing the new drain if any additional goo was required.  He was assured the kit he had contained everything he needed.  Because he’s such a smart man, Husbie read the installation instructions before just proceeding to install the new shiny drain.  Care to guess what step one was?  [Hint: It had to do with goo.]

Once again, it was too late and just not worth running into town for goo.  It could wait another night.  Besides, I still could use the little miniature sink on the side with the garbage disposal.  The garbage disposal ~ isn’t that what started all of this?  Oh, at least the Beef Stew turned out pretty good.

So tonight, my wonderful Mister Fix-It arrives home from work with a tub of specialized goo in hand.  Within five minutes, I had a fully functional, super shiny new drain and stopper basket in place.  And, by the time we were finished eating dinner, the goo had set and I could run water.  No leaks!

There is one minor problem, though ~ the nice new drain makes the one around the garbage disposal look…old.  Tee-hee!

…until the next episode!  ♥

Categories: OSB Palace Projects
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