Shit goes downhill, and money is green. This is the plumbers only necessary knowledge, according to the sages...
I very seldom disagree with the sages, but I have to on this one. There is an art to plumbing, just as there is an art to being a con man. I don't know if it's contrived by the plumbing engineers or the plumber's union, but it is definitely there. And I don't have even a little bit of it.
What brings up such a subject? you might well ask. Well, whilst I was gone, there was a problem with the kitchen sink... seems that Lisa had put a bunch of stuff down the garbage disposal. And it stopped up. Matt came over and worked on it without success, making a tremendous mess in the basement. Then Karen called a plumber in. It took him a couple of hours to clear the pipes, and he recommended replacing the whole system. To the tune of about $500.00.
Then there's the drain for the bathroom sink. It's getting very slow again. And it's a real bitch to clear, too. Two right-angles before the snake can even get close to where the problem is.
And when that's all done.... well, this house was built in about 1953. At that time, someone had a great idea. Instead of using iron pipe, they would soak paper in oil and call it pipe! Real cheap to make, I think they called it orangeberg pipe, or something like that. Great sewer pipe. Cheap. My sewer is 140 feet long and twelve foot deep at the house, eighteen at the line. There is a great big maple tree with roots all through that cheap-ass orangeberg pipe. It will cost somewhere in the vicinity of $3,000 to replace it. And... I will have to remove my deck before they can get to it.
Sometimes I just wanna cry.
There is, you probably noticed, no in the middle of the night today. Thass 'cause I was too damned busy, and the fact that someone removed my easily-accessible computer. It's just gone. So I do have other resources, but they're a little out-of-the-way and I can't hear the phone when I'm on them. So... well... anyway, thass why.
I do love my work, I discovered. A different kind of excitement than catching bass, though. And it takes up a lot of time that I could be using for other things... like plumbing... or catching bass...
Goodnight.
The stool in the upstairs bathroom has a bad ball valve. So it leaks water down the drain, and refills about every five minutes. This should be a simple problem... but I know it isn't. Tyler and I just went through this down at Mom's. I will wind up having to replace everything in the fucking stool. And, when I get that done, it needs to be re-seated, 'cause it leaks in the basement. I had to replace the floor in there three years ago, I don't want to do that again.
Shit goes downhill, money is green.