Monday, July 07, 2008
Shit rolls down hill
That is what my father told me was the sum of his experience as a plumber. Pops was the best plumber in the tri county area when I was growing up and he HATED, nay, LOATHED that job. He was raised as a plumber, my G-pa was a plumber and back then most people did what their father did. Pops wanted to be a cowboy, and he did become one, but while becoming a cowboy he had to endure a shitload of plumbing and plumbing activities.
I now know why he hated it so much.
It takes a special breed of person to fuck with plumbing...and it helps to be smaller then a wall. Here is a little exercise for you, go into your bathroom and look where your toilet sits. 99 times out of 100 it will be up against a wall, with a sink or cabinet next to it. Now see where the water comes into the tank, and that little hose attached to the shut off valve...take your hand and pretend that you're holding a wrench, see how comfortable that is? To be laying over the toilet, trying to reach around to use both hands on the valve so when you unhook it doesn't come off the wall or bend the soft copper supply line.
Yeah lots of room to work with, now imagine you're 6' 2" and pushing 300lbs with arms the size of small trees. It is quickly becoming a clusterfuck. Well I preformed two toilet rebuilds yesterday, and I only had to make 5 trips to the fucking hardware store. Helpful tip. If you have an older shut off valve, and a solid copper pipe attached to it, just do yourself a favor and buy a whole new set up from the beginning. Don't fuck around with parts, to try and make it work better, there is a reason the total replacement parts are that cheap, it is a 1000 times easier to replace the whole valve instead of trying to fix an old one.
Now my hands hurt, my back aches, and I can add one more career onto the list of shit I don't want to do.
Since my work demanded that we were going to be open on the 4th I took Monday off so I can continue my housework and fix some more shit around the house.
YAY me....
Can you smell the sarcasm?
*UPDATE*
I have cleaned the gutters, sealed a window, hung the new ladder on the wall, and took out the trash. All that is left is to pick up and vacuum the pad and we are all done.
And build a website for my cousin who is opening up our 150+ year old homestead as a boutique Whitetail hunting sanctuary. I'll let you know how that goes! Thanks Pete for the hosting help!
