an absolutely perfect day ....

my old house served notice on me this day that though i may have quelled some of the conflict, it has not yet yielded to my home repair campaign, as i woke to a water valve leaking copiously under the bathroom sink, serving the cold water faucet.

it threatened to geyser, and no amount of twisting the poor mineral encrusted fixtures promised any relief: i think it a fair guess that nothing has been done to the bathroom sink fixtures in 50 years or so.

so after a wonderful brunch, one pancake, two slices of bacon and an egg over hard (tara asked me over the bar at the restaurant about 6 times if i was sure i didn't want "over easy," to her merriment), and having everyone at the restaurant read a very good comic about a homeless person asking an "occupier" about using his house while he "occupied," i went back to the bathroom, and started a six hour battle to get the faucets and water valves removed from the sink.

the various joints were so corroded and mineral encrusted that about 15 minutes of work took hours, the use of a hacksaw, and many trips to the hardware store for this and for that, and ended only this evening when i capped the galvanized steel stubs from the wall with brass caps, ... , and that after i had to double layer the washers at the bottom of the caps, and placed two wine bottle corks into the ends of the valves directing the water to the faucet.

the faucet had to be hacksawed off of the top of the sink, because the various bolts and things holding it on were corroded fast.

its fun going to the hardware store and getting stuff to fight the good fight, and bitching about home repair.  i finished off a dr. pepper i have been nursing 3 days since purchase, and had an ice cream to boot.

i have three towels drying in the bathtub, and another sodden towel over a puddle on the basement floor where the water came through the bathroom floor: kind of impressive, turning the quarter turn valve at the main house inlet, running up stairs only to see water squirting everywhere.

how do they cap a runaway oil well?

and, then, the perfect ending to a perfect day.

i watched 4 hours straight of "the big bang theory," (o.k., in the interest of accuracy about 1.5 hours of "big bang" and about 2.5 hours of commercials.)

this show is so funny.  it has captivated me since i began watching it about 2 months ago.  i really cannot tell you who my favorite character is, they are all so very funny, in their various neuroses, and all of them gifted physical comedic actors as well.  wonderful timing, wonderful stage craft, and they all give the other person a lot of room when that person is being particularly "on."

i haven't been able to watch that much of a show since "star trek:"  my older brother and i once watched a midnight marathon on new years until 6.00 a.m.  i suppose that suggests an affinity for "the big bang theory."  laughing.

this is the first time the computer has been on this day, at 11.33 p.m.

no email, no blogging, no checking this blog to see if i got my usual pittance of a readership, and i didn't worry about "occupy this" or "occupy that" all day long, and if barack obama were struck by a meteorite i suppose i will be content to wait until tomorrow to read about it.

oh, yeah, this old fellow came tottering into the ace hardware store, after dark, looking for a ride to the homeless shelter for he and his little motorized cart, as he didn't want to be late for check in.  or, to miss dinner, for that matter.  i had seen him at the bus stop, sitting there for about two hours as i was back and forth for parts, supplies and advice, and i knew he was cold, and probably on the up and up.

he did not ask for money, only a ride.

so, a clerk and i tossed his electric cart in the back of my s-10 blazer, and we putted over to walla walla to the shelter.  he told me he was looking for an apartment to live in, in milton freewater, and that it would cost $210 out of his monthly $750 social security "retirement" check, and that the shelter was giving him a week to stay with no charge, but that if he could not find a place to live they would charge him.  when we got there, i back the s-10 to the curb, and he and i went around to where people were waiting in the cold to be admitted into the cafeteria, and i asked for volunteers to help with the cart.  a guy and a girl came with me, and the girl answered my concerns about whether she could help, by saying, hell, i was raised on a farm in montana.  hey, no problemo, the cart came out, we unfolded it, and john and i shook hands as he went for dinner.

a good day.

my little house is on the very modest side of grand, and i am not exactly rolling in the dough.  but, having your own sink to bitch about and work on, and your own bed, and water and heat is not so bad, when you get right down to it.  john is 72, he's got no teeth, he rides the scooter because he has some sort of neurological thing that causes him to fall, he's alone and he lives on $750 a month social security after working most his life as a night janitor in hospitals and the like.

yes, he is "right down to it."  in ways only a western european or north american could understand: last june he had laser surgery on his eyes, and he was quite happy to have his sight back.  oh, he has concerns, and he has anxieties, but, he's still taking his "at bats," and still swinging for the fences.  he says he and his girl friend are saving up for a better place to live.

and, yes, i had a very satisfying day.

john jay @ 11.15.2011

p.s.  tomorrow, the installation of the bathroom sink faucet.  it should go better.  if i can find the proper valve seats for the valves, i'll leave the old ones on the stubs, and just replace stuff from there.  i am deathly afraid that if i try to take them from the stubs, the whole assembly including stub will turn on the pipe fixture inside the wall, and then i will have some real work on my hands.  i do not want that to happen.

we'll see.  it is, what it is.

Comments

[GM Roper]

Sometimes brother John, fluff can be a really good thing. This brings back memories of my own struggle replacing faucets in four sinks. A good chuckle was had by all.

[מעקות אלומיניום]

I have shower blow drying in the shower, and another sodden bath towel over a mess on the underground room ground where the water came through the bathroom floor.

[גדרות אלומיניום]

I had seen him at the bus quit seated there for about two time as I was again and forth for areas resources and guidance and I realized he was freezing and probably on the up and up.