posted
Yesterday I discovered something rather alarming. The pipes in my house were not draining properly. Actually, not at all. It's times like this that one realizes how important it is to get the "used water" (and other fluid or semifluid waste) out of the house as it is to have water coming in in the first place.
I can't afford a plumber, so I called several friends to see if any of them had a plumber's snake.
No dice.
I got some DranoTM and poured it down the drain.
Still no dice.
I went to the local Ace Hardware Store� and bought a pint of "concentrated oil of vitriol" (not the brand name, but the "active ingredient sounds sinister!) I poured it down the drain.
Still no dice.
I called the gun shop (many of my friends who work in construction hang out there) to see if anyone had a plumbers snake. Nope, but they suggested muriatic acid (a much less expensive proposition than "concentrated oil of vitriol").
By this time, it was past 5:00 p.m., and many of the stores were closed. I made the rounds anyhow, hoping to find someplace that was still open. All the hardware stores were closed except for Acutt's. Acutt's is a combination hardware, clothing, feed and tack store you are unlikely to find anywhere in any city. Neat place.
They had muriatic acid, but they also had one last pint of "concentrated oil of vitriol" on sale at $2.00 (the first one cost $9.00). I bought it and brought it home and poured it directly into the main trap (where the main problem was).
"Concentrated oil of vitriol" is furious acid. It boiled and steamed and foamed and generally looked like it must be doing something (if only boring a hole to China through my pipes).
Dice.
Well, almost. You could flush the toilet once, but on the second flush, you'd get "effluvia" (use your imagination) coming up the bathtub drain (all together now, "EEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwww!). After giving it some thought (and looking fearfully at my rapidly thinning wallet) I decided to go to Wal-Mart and get just one more bottle of "professional strength drain opener" (the generic brand this time).
DICE!
Of course, there was a lot of cleanup involved. It takes a while to mop 1/4" of "water" from a bathroom floor. It takes a while longer before you're satisfied everything's actually sanitary again.
I still can't flush the toilet more than 4 times in a row without something backing up, but at least I can fix meals and use the "necessary" without fear. It will carry me through until I can afford to get a professional plumber out here to blast the last remnants of the clog to kingdom come.
So the point of all this rambling is?
You can still find something to be thankful about even when there doesn't seem to be much.
I'm spending thanksgiving in an empty house with the company of two dogs. I'm thankful for the company.
My toilet works. (You never realize just how important that is until it isn't true.)
I have food, even for Thanksgiving. In my refrigerator is a 20 oz. Cornish game hen that cost only $3.00 at the local grocery store (turkey-for-one) and the fixin's for egg rolls.
My car works, and there's enough gas to carry me through till payday.
I have thoughtful relatives who call and let me know they love me.
I'm relatively healthy.
Although it's cold outside (low of 28� F, high of 50� F) my house is warm.
It's the start of the Christmas season and I'm a Christmas junkie. Today I go through all 300 or so of my video tapes to sort out the Christmas movies, several of which I will watch tonight.
My VCR works.
So you see, although I could take the opportunity to gripe and moan about how awful life can be, I'd rather remember how good it still is.
Happy Thanksgiving!
------------------ It is less important that you agree with me than it is for you to to understand what I'm saying.
The turkey-for-one turned out beautifully, despite the fact I'd never incinerated an entire bird before. I coated it with olive oil, added seasoned salt, thyme, paprika, and nutmeg, slid it in an oven bag, added a bit of olive oil mixed with the above ingredients, and popped it in the oven at 350� for an hour and 15 minutes, then cranked the heat to 400� for an additional 10 so it would brown.
Verra nice!
My original plan was to just eat the bird, but I decided to go ahead and make some fixin's to go along with it, so I steamed a potato, made gravy, and heated some green beans. It's the first "complete" meal I've had in a while. I even had pudding for dessert.
A week ago I was in the "Family Size" aisle at Wal-Mart when I noticed a 7-lb (3.18 kg) can of Chocolate pudding for the price of two "snack pack" pudding packs. I bought a pie crust (which I just remembered) and the original plan was to make a "chocolate pie" by spooning in some pudding. Anyhow, I had Chocolate pudding for dessert.
Yum.
Life is good, even when it sucks, but you have to be paying attention to notice.
--Baloo
------------------ It is less important that you agree with me than it is for you to to understand what I'm saying.
posted
Hey Baloo you know the reason the Acid didn't work well is because you should never mix Drano or any other drain cleaner with an Acid, it does bad stuff. My dad uses Caustic Soda (otherwise know as Lye) to unclog drains and that works. I here that former stuff CC spoke of works well too. The quote was (oddly enough it was made today) "It's like having new pipes".
------------------ "Think of all the delightful aspects of the reproductive process: menstruation, pregnancy, labor. And the part we're trying to eliminate is sex?" Cecil Adams the guy who does Straight Dope.
posted
Well, thanksgiving dinner was great, but Thanksgiving Day itself...
Dinner was hosted, as I said in another post last night, by the Fundie side of my family, where I had to endure several hours of blathering about the evils of public schools, evolution, gays, science, "furriners," the UN, and barcodes.
All this was endurable, though.
BUT...
After I got home, about 11 PM local time, I got a phone call from my girlfriend from the hospital. Her sister's car was broadsided as they left from their thanksgiving dinner, and her young nieces are now both in the hospital, one requiring a CAT scan (this was all I could find out before she ran out of change for the phone.)
*shouts upwards*
Somebody's NOT DOING THEIR JOB!!!
*sigh*
------------------ Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson
Printer-friendly view of this topic
