![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Household Surgery and a Bit of BT
Aug. 16th, 2009 06:00 pmThis past week, Honey had mentioned that the toilet in the master bath was starting to run constantly. I'd bought a new toilet and we were pondering which bathroom would be the lucky one, and now we knew.
Saturday AM I began the transplant, by removing the diseased organ and prepping the recipient. This boiled down to the extraction of the tank (easily) and then the base (not so easy). The closet bolts were old, and of course the first one came out like a rotten -- well, bolt. The other side, however, being the side that was difficult to access (who puts these things so close to the bathtub in the first place??) naturally had to be difficult. Eventually, after trying several hacksaws, I managed to pry it out using a cold chisel and careful hammering. Ugh.
Once removed, the base was extracted from the room, leaving us with the hole in the floor. This was covered, as apparently Sewer Gases can emanate. The flange was cleaned of old putty and old wax, and the household retired for the night.
This morning, while they were at church, I cleaned it a little more, found the correct locations for the new bolts, applied the wax ring to the base, and swept up again. After Honey changed out of church clothes, we carried the base in, turned it over, aligned it with the bolts, and lowered it into place. The rest of the job was just a matter of applying sealant, sawing off the bolts, capping them, putting the tank on, and reconnecting the water supply. There was a little excitement in this phase, because I'd left the "new" supply line on from my previous tank repair, only to discover that it was now too short to reach the new tank. Not to worry! I had another, longer line, just in case. I put it in place and turned on the water supply.
The sudden spray of water indicated that my new line did need the new cone washer, after all. Water off, line disconnected, washer dropped into nut, reattached, and water back on: no spray. Tank filled up, nothing leaked anywhere. Flushing commenced smoothly, and I offered Honey her chance to baptize the unit.
It's narrower than the old unit, but sits higher, which makes it easier for our old bones to maneuver. Comfy, too.
Best of all, it's high-efficiency, so our water bills should drop even more. Two down, one more to go.
Then there was BT.
She's been slowing down and leaving fud behind, but it's also time for her next dose of Depo-Medrol. This afternoon, I picked some fresh catnip and went down to give her the injection. Perhaps she's learned to identify the syringe, because she was very suspicious of me, and rolled in the catnip only after I walked away. I tried to fool her by cleaning up and carrying my tools into the shop, but she wasn't having any of it. I gave up, ran off to work to review the health report, and came back. At dinner, or Feeding Time, she was hungry and followed me to the other room, but when she started away from her bowl, this time, I grabbed her. At first I had her back --along the thoracolumbar region-- with one hand, so I had to attempt scruffing a squirming cat who was rapidly getting mad, but I did. Her injection done, I let go and she just shook it off -- no hissing, clawing, or scurrying.
ETA: Ouchy-bleedy..It is perfect for this occasion.
Saturday AM I began the transplant, by removing the diseased organ and prepping the recipient. This boiled down to the extraction of the tank (easily) and then the base (not so easy). The closet bolts were old, and of course the first one came out like a rotten -- well, bolt. The other side, however, being the side that was difficult to access (who puts these things so close to the bathtub in the first place??) naturally had to be difficult. Eventually, after trying several hacksaws, I managed to pry it out using a cold chisel and careful hammering. Ugh.
Once removed, the base was extracted from the room, leaving us with the hole in the floor. This was covered, as apparently Sewer Gases can emanate. The flange was cleaned of old putty and old wax, and the household retired for the night.
This morning, while they were at church, I cleaned it a little more, found the correct locations for the new bolts, applied the wax ring to the base, and swept up again. After Honey changed out of church clothes, we carried the base in, turned it over, aligned it with the bolts, and lowered it into place. The rest of the job was just a matter of applying sealant, sawing off the bolts, capping them, putting the tank on, and reconnecting the water supply. There was a little excitement in this phase, because I'd left the "new" supply line on from my previous tank repair, only to discover that it was now too short to reach the new tank. Not to worry! I had another, longer line, just in case. I put it in place and turned on the water supply.
The sudden spray of water indicated that my new line did need the new cone washer, after all. Water off, line disconnected, washer dropped into nut, reattached, and water back on: no spray. Tank filled up, nothing leaked anywhere. Flushing commenced smoothly, and I offered Honey her chance to baptize the unit.
It's narrower than the old unit, but sits higher, which makes it easier for our old bones to maneuver. Comfy, too.
Best of all, it's high-efficiency, so our water bills should drop even more. Two down, one more to go.
Then there was BT.
She's been slowing down and leaving fud behind, but it's also time for her next dose of Depo-Medrol. This afternoon, I picked some fresh catnip and went down to give her the injection. Perhaps she's learned to identify the syringe, because she was very suspicious of me, and rolled in the catnip only after I walked away. I tried to fool her by cleaning up and carrying my tools into the shop, but she wasn't having any of it. I gave up, ran off to work to review the health report, and came back. At dinner, or Feeding Time, she was hungry and followed me to the other room, but when she started away from her bowl, this time, I grabbed her. At first I had her back --along the thoracolumbar region-- with one hand, so I had to attempt scruffing a squirming cat who was rapidly getting mad, but I did. Her injection done, I let go and she just shook it off -- no hissing, clawing, or scurrying.
ETA: Ouchy-bleedy..It is perfect for this occasion.
