Plumbing Grrrrrrrrrrrrr. I was under the house today after the foundation guys left. They had to move the pipe that I'd carefully put in place on Saturday, when it was nice and dry out and there was no mud under my house. This is the fifth or sixth time I've had to move it all. I swear I'd work for hours while the house lifters were away, and then come back the next day and discover they had to cut it all down to do their work. Finally on Friday, yes, Good Friday I got our plumbing connected back up to the city sewer. I was really thankful for Carson Benner at Cellar Ridge for coming over late Friday and helping get everything connected.Today, was the worst. It turns out that our house is built on gumbo. Do you know what gumbo is (besides a really tasty southern food?)? It's all clay soil. When it gets wet it gets slipperyand it builds up on your shoes. With every step you take you get a bit taller. You can see the steps that the foundation guys laid out today in the picture above. When your shoes are covered with an inch and a half of gumbo that ramp is as slippery as goose fat. I decided to use the ramp in the back of the house, and still ended up flat on my backside. I knew it was slippery, and I tried to hold on, but I still ended up falling. This mud is all over everything. It's on all of my shoes, it's covering our sidewalk and driveway. You can't get into our house without attracting a slathering of mud to your being. "Remember you are mud . . . "
I hate plumbing even when it's nice and dry out. Why? Well, it's the ninth or tenth trip to the hardware store because you've forgotten some little adaptor that you need to finish the job. You get back like I did on Friday with half an hour before you have to be at the church to practice the music for the Good Friday worship, and you put the plug into the wrong opening of the "y". No time to go back to the store and buy another. So you make it work. You use ALL of the extra fittings that you purchased the last time you were at the hardware store so you would absolutely not have to go back. But you do get it together, and it works, and . . . you can stay in your own house again! Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful staying with our friends Garry and Irma, but we only have one car, and it's tough not to be right downtown.
Here's a picture of my shoes. They will be going out with the morning trash. I've got to get over to Wilco and buy some muck boots. I hope they come in wide sizes because I've got really fat feet. Why, you may be asking, do I do plumbing when I hate it so much? Because I'm cheap. I had the plumber come over and reattach two gas lines and get two water lines reconnected and it cost me $800. That's real money. I almost always end up having to do my plumbing projects twice, either because they just don't work, or because I've put the pipes in the wrong place for the house lifter, or the foundation guy, but even buying the pipes twice and doing the work myself it's a LOT cheaper (I think, I haven't actually added up the receipts yet.) My brother, Dave, claims to like plumbing, but just can't seem to be available when I need it done. He's a Lutheran pastor too, and apparently he was busy last week. Geez. What's up with that? Helping me do plumbing would have been a really appropriate Good Friday activity. It would have reminded him of the sacrifices our Lord made for us, and helped him to appreciate all that, but no, he had to prepare some sermon or other. You know instead of just preparing a talk about suffering, he could have really BEEN suffering with me under my house in the mud and the muck.
It will be nice to go back under my house when all that foundation work is done. That's the next time I'm doing it. The plumbing can go hang itself. Still, it is nice to have our plumbing working again and be back in our house. Now if only the heat would come on. The only problem is the heater is gas fired, and that means . . . I have to call the plumber again grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.