Jim the Plumber

I slept like a rock until about 530am. After that I woke three or four times before getting up for good near 730am. Mindy didn’t budge as I slipped out of the room and headed downstairs. I glanced out back then started some coffee. I felt almost normal for the first time since last Monday. Wahoo! The sky was mostly clear as the sun made it’s initial ascent in the east dappling the family room with sunlight.

While the coffee brewed, I played on the internet, first checking the final score of the Buckeye basketball game. We lost 64-62 after leading for most of the game. Too bad! I downloaded recent photos and then did a bimonthly back-up to DVD of important files (email, docs, and pictures). I had been doing it monthly but the last two times have each been bimonthly. The coffee was ready when I finished.

Enjoyed coffee and internet for about 90 minutes before deciding it time to do my run. However, I took Mindy some coffee first. She asked that I go ahead and take Eiknarf downstairs since she’d been clamoring to get out of bed for the last several minutes. I went ahead and took her on a walk ahead of doing a run. I headed out for a run around 930am. It was only about 45 degrees but also sunny. That made big difference, but I still wore hand covers.

I expected to find Mindy sitting at her PC by the time I got back but that wasn’t the case. She was still upstairs. It wasn’t too long, however before she was up and about. It was just after 10am. She started working on her grocery list while I started some bacon and homemade pancakes. I was craving both. I doctored up the pancake batter with a liberal amount of vanilla and an extra pinch or two of sugar.

Made an entire pound of extra-thick cut bacon. When Mindy asked what I wanted for dinner I was quick to answer, steak or Chilean sea bass. Both sounded delicious. When asked what I planned to do during the day, offered that I really wanted to fix that drippy water valve leading to the irrigation system once and for all. However, doing so would require another set of hands, and namely my dad, who’s done his fair share of plumbing work in the past. Mindy suggested I call and ask and then invite him for dinner. As soon as breakfast was done I called.

Dad and I chatted for a while. I wasn’t sure I heard right, but my dad bought himself an iPad complete with a wireless data package from Verizon. In a million years I never would’ve dreamed that my dad would buy himself one. I could only laugh. Dad declined dinner but was more than willing to come lend a hand while I replaced the leaky water valve. He knew the issue. I showed him a couple weeks ago. Said he’d be over shortly.

While awaiting dad’s arrival, I cleaned up the kitchen while Mindy took a shower. I reminded her that once I started the plumbing the water would be off until it was done. I'm guessing it near noon when dad arrived. By then, I had all the necessary tools and materials in place.

Dad and I chatted for about 20 minutes before getting started. In the basement we looked over the work and decided on a game plan. The tough thing about working with any existing plumbing job is getting the water completely out of the pipes to allow for easy solder adhesion, not to mention doing any solder joint removal, which we had to do. We had I cut the old valve out at the 'T' off the main to the house, but we still had to heat the 'T' to pull out the stubby piece. That took some doing and almost caused big problems. However, perseverance and effort eventually paid dividends.

I refrained from building soldering the new valve on the new pieces ahead of time because I wasn't sure where we might find ourselves in a pinch. We went about it methodically until the last step, which was reheating that existing 'T' and inserting the new valve. Because it was lined with old solder the new stuff wouldn't slide right in until we heated it up, and even then it took some work. I was afraid it wasn't going to go, but it did. And while getting that together was a huge hurdle, we still had to turn everything back on and check for leaks. Slowly, we turned the water pressure on and watched. No immediate leaks.

After about five minutes a drip showed up at the brass union attached to the deduct meter. But the union tightens with a wrench and it's little wonder it dripped given how much we jostled it. I gave it an extra snug, but decided to leave my wrenches there in case I needed to tighten it more later. I cleaned up and put my tools away. Felt good to have the valve replacement done.

Soon, the kids were home from their weekend with Jimaken. They both headed off to play with their friends in a hurry. Dad left shortly thereafter. A few minutes later Mindy was home from the grocery and after helping her carry everything in, I headed out to mow the lawn. I mowed front and back with the push and tractor. I'm hoping to start using Nick next cut. I still need to send him an email.

Lindsey stopped over with the boys while I was mowing the lawn. I figured it an unplanned visit. She ended up leaving the boys at our place and heading back home for some rest. According to Mindy, the boys pleaded to stay and play and then have dinner with us. Mindy agreed.

After finishing the lawn, I checked the water meters again. Still a slow drip where we drained the plumbing at the meter. This time I decided to use some thread compound just like what was on there when we backed it off to drain it earlier. That took about 5 minutes tops. While I was screwing around with the plumbing, Mindy was busy making dinner. She grilled Chilean sea bass, steamed asparagus, and boiled corn on the cob. She grilled a few hot dogs too since the boys and Bella would have no part of the sea bass. It's really expensive so wasting it wasn't an option.

Dinner was ready around 6pm. The sea bass hit the spot and the sides were good too. Mindy picked up some jalapeno cheese bread from Giant Eagle bakery to go along with dinner. It was just OK. Both of the boys asked for bananas after dinner even though Mindy bought a boston creme cake topped with strawberries for dessert. As soon as clean-up was complete she served up the delectable treat.

Rocky showed up earlier covered head to toe with bites. Said he got them at his cousins while overnighting there Saturday. This is the second time in a month or so that has happened. We planned to address it with Lindsey when she arrived around 7pm to pick them up. We're worried that the bites are from bed bugs and want no part of that joy in our lives. In the nicest way possible, Mindy tried telling Lindsey that she shouldn't be taking her kids over there regardless of the circumstances. Instead of listening she gave a number of reasons why until I abruptly interrupted. Plain and simple, don't take the kids over there and then bring then to our house ever again - period. She wasn't pleased, but that wasn't my concern.

With Lindsey and the boys gone, Mindy readied a birthday gift for neighbor Evan (turning 8) and we walked down to the O'Connell's to deliver it. We stayed at their place for no more than 10 minutes. Mike ripped up their family room carpet. Putting down hardwood soon. Seems to be a strong trend. I like hardwood, but not through the whole house. Not to mention it comes with expensive headaches.

Now approaching 730pm we headed towards home though stopping at Kenny's deck to briefly chat while he grilled their dinner. Was having ex-Michelle and her new husband over for dinner. I joked with Michelle about having her ex grilling her a steak.

Settling in back at home I did a little reading and then tuned the TV to the Frozen Planet. The rest of the night was a blur. We headed to bed relatively early - before 10pm.