Monday, April 03, 2006

Back to the basics

I didn't post anything Friday because I was in a class half the day, and had a day's worth of work waiting for me when I got back.

Today I am tired, sore and grouchy.

Usually when I feel this way it is because I have done something like party too hard, but a WHOLE HOUR OF MY SLEEP WAS BRUTALLY TAKEN FROM ME.

Well, maybe not quite that dramatic, but it is gone and never will be recovered.

besides I am sore from my Sunday chore, pulling the toad. No, that is not what you may think. It's nothing like choking the chicken or spanking the monkey, or pounding the meat.

It means removing the toilet. I pride myself in being able to handle any chore that comes up around the house. I have rewired most of the house, replumbed the kitchen, completely rebuilt the upstairs bathroom, built a deck. The thing I hate doing the most is plumbing, and the lowest of the low is anything to do with sewer. I remember the time my ex said "Did you know that when you flush the toilet, water comes up in the back yard?" I still shudder.

The downstairs toilet is continually getting clogged. It is a modern low profile low volume device, so I suspected that it was the toilet design rather than a clogged line, but I have put off checking for better than ten years. That is a pretty accurate indicator about how much I dislike working on toilets.

But I finally got around to it, mainly because Mrs A. put it on the honeydo list. Since it had been in place since long before I owned the house, everything was rusted in place. Rather than being just able to disassemble things, I had to cut it apart with an abrasive wheel. And naturally there was no room to get at things, so I got to contort my body into all sorts of unreasonable positions. This did not go over well with my right arm, seeing as I had surgery on it in October, and while it is 90%, it is definitely not 100%. And that other 10% is always what I need when doing something while draped over the toilet trying to grind the head off of a bolt or something.

What should have taken about 30 minutes, instead took about four hours of cursing, swearing and sweating.

In the end, there was nothing wrong that I could fix. The problem was the design of the toilet itself. At least if I go to replace the toilet, it will be a piece of cake to get it out.

On more thing off of the to-do list.

Next big thing: design and build a new deck off of the living room. I might have to enlist help for this one.

5 comments:

Daphnewood said...

Oh my gosh, you are a He-Man! You should have spanked the monkey instead of pulling the toad because it is more fun. However, you probably would have needed the extra 10% of your arm for that too. You just can't win in these situations. I think it is awesome that you can do so much around the house. Plumbing is certainly a handy skill to have even you really hate it. Plumbers are expensive!

Al said...

The only two things I have ever hired done, was have my roof replaced (Because it was blown off in a wind storm and insurance was picking up the bill) and have the heat pump worked on (because I know nothing about heat pumps). So if anyone needs their drains snaked............

Stacy The Peanut Queen said...

Jobs around the house NEVER EVER are finished in the time you estimate.

The PK had some work to do at his moms the other day, so I went with him..."Oh it'll only take about 1/2 an hour."

Three hours later, it's done. I HATE that.

Al said...

My mom used to say double whatever time estimate you get, and if beer is involved, double it again.

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