Boring Life Update

Taking a break from fixing the toilet -- the third one in this house, and the one that developed some sort of leak, which we only discovered after the ceiling paint in the room below was peeling off. Turning off the water to that unit solved the ceiling issue, but the whole thing had to be fixed so Sonny Boy could use his bathroom.

Step One: attempt to remove tank from base. Discover that bolt and hex nut are thoroughly rusted on, practically frozen in place. Attempt brute force separation. Nut and bolt heard laughing at my feeble muscles. Apply WD-40, repeat. After several days of repetition, nut and bolt finally give way under the combined onslaught of Honey and me. Second nut and bolt on the other side, having been prepared with WD-40 at the same time, give up without much resistance.

Step Two: remove tank from base. Pry off gluey rubber gaskets and dispose of in trash bag as quickly as possible. Clean all surfaces with household cleaners. Discover that Sonny Boy, a typical male child with unsupervised time in bathrooms, has made a typical male mess in and around the unit. Curse child while cleaning all available surfaces with household cleaner.

Step Three: remove all remaining old plastic components from within and without the tank, using a dremel tool to cut into the plastic hex nut that was supposed to be only "hand-tightened". Laugh bitterly over other peoples' definition of "hand-tightened". Remove elderly plastic after much cutting and cursing.

Step Four: clean remaining surfaces with household cleaner.

Step Five: open repair kit from hardware store. Find general instructions on how to replace items. Struggle to figure out which illustrations pertain to situation at hand. Replace central flapper valve and float valve based on memory (having done this to the other two units in the house already). Find new bolts and nuts to replace ones removed after long struggle. Realize that previous persons incorrectly left off one hex nut and brass washer. Thank all the gods and goddesses that they were that incompetent, or removal would have been completely impossible. Apply new bolt, washer, brass washer, and hex nut. Realize that the tank is chipped next to the hole along the underside of the tank, where it can't be seen. Curse previous idiots while hand-tightening hex nut. Apply caulk to chip and set aside.

Step Five: come downstairs for a break, crack open a "flavored malt beverage" and sit down at computer. Discover that matociquala has linked to a really good post by kaigou, spend twenty minutes perusing posts*. See that onyxhawke has also discovered this person, and smile in happiness. Finish malt beverage and decide to update LJ for once.

*Reading those posts on street kids made me realize that my final year of vet school was very close to living on the street -- I remember very clearly counting pennies to buy food, going hungry because I couldn't afford food today, and devouring some chicken that I'd bought although I'd initially planned to save some for later. I lived on cereal and milk, canned chili, and scrounging food from others. I was hungry pretty much all of the time. It reminds me that my grandmother and her sisters would offer food as soon as you entered the house -- family, friends or strangers -- and wouldn't stop until they'd succeeded in getting something to you. I learned early to be polite, pick one thing out, and say no thanks to the rest -- but I wonder if some of that was also in response to any childhood deprivation. Since they're all gone now, there's no way to know. I know I've had a refrigerator with food in it ever since I finished vet school and left my parents' house for good. I remember a friend in grad school -- who was skinny and hungry on her stingy doctoral stipend -- remarking on my fridge full of food and how she always liked to see it. It's my little quirk, I suppose. I wonder if her fridge is full of food too.

Back to the mines of Moria. At least they're the Clean Mines now. ::glares at son::