The Plumber Cometh, NEW TIP FOR YOU

 

I can hear you wondering what Dawn and a bottle and two glasses has to do with the plumber we called on Sunday at 3 pm.  

I was Angry, that I had to wait for 2 nights, a total of 30 hours without a potty, for the plumber we have supported for YEARS come. 

Bonnie, Shari, Me my 1st cousins

I called my cousin Bonnie, to ask if we have a plumber in our many cousins because I needed one.

She said we do not! She also said the one she uses, would probably not be able to come until Tuesday.

She said, I can give you a tip that helped me when this happened to us...

Pour 1 cup of Dawn, in the commode (toilet/loo) pour a gallon of Almost to boiling and let it soak, it will trickle down and disappear allowing you to flush.

I did it to both and it worked. we still needed the plumber because none of the sinks/shower were draining. Good news is it cleared both commodes and we and we did get a few flushes as needed.

Which meant the drama of the bucket in the outhouse (garage) was only used once by ME>

The glasses are here because I went into cleaning frenzy Because the Plummer Is coming. Or Not! Bob says, he's just a PLUMBER, his job is dealing with S*** and he will not give a S****

I kept cleaning. While rinsing the glass, I saw the droplets, I could not help myself. Now, I need to tell you why I have two small glasses, plastic not glass. See the tall bottle of water? Each morning, I fill it, and all day I pour it into the glass, and by 5 pm the water is Gone, and I know I am hydrated. Old people fall down if they get Dehydrated. 

I can't help it, when I type what I thought would be short post it just keeps going and going. This means I have to share what Bonnie said that helped put my Drama in perspective...

We had not chatted for a while, and I asked how things were going.  The short story is.

Bonnie had to have open chest surgery to remove a goiter that did not grow in her throat but down into her chest to wrap around her organs. They had to do the same surgery as heart but removing goiter from her organs. then she got the flu which messed with the wires and staples in her chest because of coughing so hard. She said she could top that because her daughter with 5 children, went in hospital twice with kidney stones, and a few hours before I called Bonnie, she was prepped and ready with surgeon to blast a stuck stone to pieces and the man who brings the blaster machine, did not how up and they had to re-schedule and start over.   Bonnie text me 15 minutes later and said the man that did not show up was found dead in his home......

SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT PERSPECTIVE? Make the Plumber Drama look ALMOST minor.

PS: if you are still reading, did you know a goiter can grow down into our organs? I did not. Just Google search Substernal Goiter ... OMW! now i have to watch my thyroid gland for swelling. 

The Plumber Cometh- Don't Panic

 

The Plumber Drama started 3 days ago with me in the shower, and hearing BLOOP! BLOOP! from the toilet.

Fast Forward to Day after Plumber Repairs of the dramatic Shut Down of all SINKS AND POTTIE,that drain into the sewer!

I said to Bob, "It's been 72 hours since I had a shower"

Bob's reply "so take one now"

I say, "I am afraid to use the shower, I might hear the BLOOPING again, what if it's not fixed?

Bob says, "If the shower did not run over after yesterday, it's FIXED"

"OH, I forgot," I exclaim.

REWIND to yesterday, the Plumber left with all drains, draining. 50 minutes later, I entered Bob's Bathroom and HEAR WATER RUNNING IN THE WALL. I race to my bathroom and its LOUDER!

I realize I am barefoot on a wet floor.

I PANIC! I realize the shower curtain is open, the hose sprayer, is spraying against the back wall, and I assume it's been aimed there by the plumber, probably letting it run to see if the drain backed up, leaving the shower curtain open so he can see it. I turn it off and go through the living room to get the mop, walking in front of you know whos' TV set, and he says What are you doing?

I tell him the story. 

I forgive the plumber because I FORGOT TO TAKE A SHOWER THAT DAY. I also forgot that if the water ran for an hour yesterday, and did not plug up, it would be OK today.

I also forgot to make the auto coffee for this morning. The plumber looked to be 50ish, and I thought of calling to tell him, just wait until your 80.

If you are thinking I enjoyed my shower, you are Wrong! The entire time, I shampooed my hair, I held my breath, waiting to hear the BLOOPING warning me of coming disaster.

( to justify all this panic, in the past most plumbing problems started with water running in wall)

DONE AND CLEAN!

NO BLOOP! NO DRAMA! NO STOPPED UP DRAINS!

The Plumber Cometh or NOT part 2

 

The Plumbing Repair Watch Party started at 8:40 left  at 10:05.

In the first hour they went on the roof and rotor-rooted the vent pipe, which fixed the bathroom sinks and both commodes. The Kitchen had another vent, and he worked on that for 50 minutes. the pipe was closed up, he could not get the large rooter wire down, had to use the small. He said its draining, but sometimes it will stop. 

He said ,I gave you a hole the size of my thumb. be mindful of what goes down the sink, nothing down the sink but water and it will last, I said maybe we can baby it until we die, we are 80 and 88 . He said yes, you should be able to baby it that long.

The good news is I have been babying it for a year, because those pipes were put in back in 1972.

In Florida, we have root problems, everything grows year round. in 36 years in this house we have had to have rotor-rooter used on roots, about 7 times.

We have no idea what this cost because they just leave and the office bills us. Takes about a week to get a bill or longer. I usually wait a few days and drive there, its only 10 minute drive, and pay with my card...

Beau has asked to say something....

I was Pawfect! I laid on the floor and watched them run in and out the front door and down the hall about 87 times, and in the kitchen another 87 times. You can see  proof in the first photo. I also say with Daddy and tried to figure out why there was a huge truck in the driveway through our window on the world 

to be continued in Part 3

The Plumber Cometh: Or NOT

 

Sunday,3:00 PM........

Sandra takes a shower.....

It's Cold, she lets the hot water run a long time......

As she adds conditioner, she hears a bubbling burbling noise.......

The sound is coming from the commode, leaning out dripping water on the floor, she sees the water in the commode is blooping......

She quickly rinses, steps out and wraps a towel around herself, goes down the hall to tell Bob.... 

Bob has his hand on the flush handle to his commode....... 

We Need a Plumber, she yells as he flushes and says Why............. The answer to his question is answered as the water rises higher and higher.......

He grabs the plunger and plunges madly..........I go check mine and it almost runs over, dirt comes up in the shower......

I call our plumber that has always for years come when called.....

Night Operator says, I am sending your message to the on-call guy, he will call you when he can come.

Reminder to you. Chaos Comes on Week Ends...... they do that because they are closed on weekends. 

7:30 pm Sunday Night.... no call, no show, no plumber in sight. Bob says I am going to bed. I get up call the service and she says, thanks for calling, they will call you first thing in the morning....

I call, the girl on the phone states the girl who does the schedule is running late, it will be an hour before she can call back, but there are no openings, we are booked solid, no room for fit in, my voice starts to break,  I say we are using a PAIL with a BAG, we are 80 and 88, we can't get down and up, we need our commodes... she says she will call you when she gets in.

She calls! she can fit us in between 8:30 and 9:30 Tuesday morning.............

meanwhile we are left with this...... in the garage. Yes, I close the door to use it.... Stop trying to imagine it.... You Can't...... to be continue tomorrow AFTER the Plumber Comes: or NOT

On the light side: Bob went to the YMCA to swim. While using the above Make Do Potty, I realized I was in the semi dark and no one could see me, UNLESS Bob was having a bad day swimming and came home early, used the remote and the truck lights lit up the garage, it was 5:30 AM

November Chaos

 

SPECTRUM CABLE GUY STORY IS ON FOURPAWSETC TODAY, BEAU IS THE BEARER OF THE NEWS. the rest of the story will be continued soon....

Oy Veh! 420.00 Dollar Week End

 

Before you read the oh so important info here, see if you can guess what this is a photo of.

Can you guess what the red is in the stopper?

The red in the stopper is the cover on my iPhone.

Did you guess the trap in the bottom of Bob's Bathroom sink? that is what it is. The bill came and is bad but not as bad as it could have been.   He replaced all the pipes you see here and a new stopper in the sink. Two Hundred Sixty One Dollars and 79 Cents.

The shocker was the bill came on Saturday, Saturday AM I shopped at Walmart and when I got home, this is the email that was waiting to tell me how much I spent at Walmart.  I knew what I spent because when I tapped pay now, I nearly fell over at the amount.

The two most expensive items were Dog food 30.00 and 4 light bulbs for the ceiling fan 15.00.

you do the math, with eggs at 4.96, I don't buy the 8-dollar eggs.

10 for 2 pounds ground beef, Small peanut butter for me, 5 dollars.

The thing is, I had most of what we will eat for the week, this was just. 

weekly stuff, milk, eggs, cheese, bread, peppermint tea, Bob wanted an apple pie, $7 dollars.

Its cheaper to buy from the bakery than to bake one. 

Apples were 8 to 10 dollars per bag, A bag had 7 apples. OY VEY!

We may have to go back to an outhouse in the back yard and no hot water in the house just to eat.

Everything I bought was FOOD, you know edible. Except the dog food/bulb.

Sunday, I spent 40 dollars on 1/2 tank of gas/fuel.

total spent on Sat/Sunday was 420 dollars... OY VEY!!!!!!

Total spent at Annual Eye Exam, Monday, 523.00. Seems my eyes changed drastically. I knew they had because I can't see the TV no matter how close or far, if I don't have on my glasses.

ooooooooooooooooooooyyyyyyy evvvvvvvvhhhhhhhhhhh

How long will I be able to pay for internet to receive alerts from the bank telling me how much came out of my account????

A Plumber's Apprentice

Photo snipped from FB page of our new Plumber

You may have read Big Boy's story of his new Best Friend the Plumber Guy HERE on FourpawsEtc.

I will state here, he is the best Plumber we have ever used, and there have been 6 in 30 years... This story is not about him, that was told on Fourpawsetc.

This is MY story... I am now officially unofficially  a Plumbers Apprentice.

Mike works alone. I stood and watched every move he made under the kitchen sink. No, it is not that I did not trust him, I might have been TALKING... He loved to talk to... YAY!

The thingy that is a snake, growled and growled and growled and it would NOT break through. Sink would not drain. I say, I am sure it is ROOTS, it was 9 years ago.

He stands up and says Can you show me the vent on the roof? I say sure, I watched the other plumber 9 years ago, I even know which one it is. (Bob is watching TV)


HA HA! little did he know. this is a list of all I did for him in the 2 hours it took to break through the clog.
Pointed out 3 vents on roof
Followed him out to front, watched him back his van under the garage overhang, watched as he took a 100 pound grinder twister thing up on van roof, watched as he lifted it on to roof and stood up on van roof and stepped on to our roof (can you believe he works without a ladder)

Twice I handed him a flashlight.. SEE? told you I helped.

I quickly ran through the  house and into back yard to watch him run it down through the vent.
He assigned me the job of going in the house and filling both sides of the sink to the top, and watch it and let him know when it broke loose and emptied. (do you think my yada yada was on his nerves?)

I watched and waited, it sounded like there was an earthquake in and under the house. IT Did NOT Work. I ran outside and said to the man on the roof in bright sun that was 93 degrees in the shade with heat index of 111, it is not draining.

As the sweat ran off in rivulets, He said I KNOW! it is touching something that will not move... this went on for about 40 minutes, I ran in and out.

I told him once again it is roots. he said I think it is a collapsed pipe, it is harder than roots.
I offered water which he took after I sat in on the bumper of his van and he climbed down to get it.

I am smart but how to get a glass of water up on a roof was beyond me.

He climbs back up, and more earthquake sounds. I hear a WORD! he doesn't know I have the hearing of a dog. I go out and he says the snake is stuck, I can't get it out, and this is a brand new machine. I heard the panic in his voice that I was feeling.

I return inside, we listen to the grinding, he is yanking on it trying to get it out. I prayed over and over for the Lord to loosen that snake as I sat going over the list of what we would do if the hundred pound THING could not break lose.

He told me after it was over that he was thinking the same thoughts. that he never had one get stuck.

Suddenly IT BROKE LOOSE and it was ROOTS lots of roots.. the machine was FREED... the sink drained. I said I told you it was roots, just like last time.  This was not my first rodeo job as plumber assistant. I DID Not say that but thought it.

I came in to change into something cooler because working as an apprentice was really hot out there.
As I changed clothes I heard him shout my name. I panicked, thought he had fallen or had a heat stroke and I ran through the living room saying to TV man, did you hear him shout? HA ON THAT

I went out and he said YOU HEARD ME?  I thought I was going to have to climb down. He needed the hose, I handed it up and WATCHED as he poured root killer that we already had, down the vent and flushed with water. something called copper sulphate that the other plumber told us to use but Bob never did.

He climbed down and I found him sitting on his bumper with head in hands and looking like heat stroke. I said come in the AC and sit down and drink more water, he said I have gator aid and came in and sat at the breakfast bar.
WHOO boy! Bob came over and we had a Real Good Time because he and Bob are from the same place, within 50 miles or each other.
HE COULD NEVER HAVE DONE THE JOB WITHOUT ME... Right?  He did not pay me when I paid him but he did give a 20 dollar discount for Cash... and it was half what we paid the other plumber... he is a keeper... I put FIVE STARS by his name in our address book...
JUST SO YOU KNOW! HAVE PLUMBERS LICENSE WILL TRAVEL.....

MadSnapper Saturday TALE part 2

THIS POST continued from Prior Post HERE.

If you have never smelled boiling vinegar mixed with Kerosene, you have not missed a thing. The man who complained bitterly of the smell of vinegar, had come in from the garage, sat down at the breakfast bar, spread a rag, and had the carburetor from the weed Wacker in PIECES, spread all over the rag.

He brought a lamp, set it up right in front of the SINK and ME the MADsnapper, close enough for me to lean forward and touch him.

All this WHILE I was slicing fruit and placing in a container. Instead of leaning forward to smack him upside the head, I grabbed my cell phone and said KIMCHEE, which makes it take a photo.

He said WHAT ARE YOU DOING?   Really???   What are YOU DOING? is the question.

PS will keep you posted on how the fruit taste this week... I keep the fruit for fruit kabob snacks.