I am not handy. Despite the fact I teach 10-12 graders Stage Crew (set building, basic fix its and "that does not look how I described it, fix it now"), I call my dad, brother, cousin, neighbor or the Lord almighty when things break in our house.
Our house in Riverton is over 10 years old- which means everything is starting to break at once.
Monday was the disposal. I went to grab a garbage bag out from under the sink and noticed they were wet. I tried to pinpoint the leak and realized that water was running down the electric cord. This did not seem correct.
Jackie came in, took everything out from under the sink while I tried to tighten the screws that held the power cord. Luckily, I was not called home to heaven with a huge electrical shock, but since I had no idea what to do (and Jackie was weeping on the couch) I called my dad.
His advice? When water is leaking down the power cord, time for a new disposal. I asked if this was something I could do or is it best for a professional...he paused and said, "well, disposals can be tricky..." I took that for a yes, I could do it and off I went to Home Depot.
I chose the disposal that was in the middle of the range. I did not need one that could accommodate an entire chicken- bones and all. I also like the fact that the side of the box said it could be installed in 5 easy steps..
I got home and was ready to work. Until I realized I did not have a large enough plumbers wrench to take off the pipe that was keeping the disposal on.
Since my sister and her husband recently moved in down the street, I called them and my sister said Ben would check. Moments later, Ben was off on his roller blades wrench in hand.
2 hours later (with one trip for plumbers putty at Walgrens), thanks to Ben our rollerblading brother-in-law, the new disposal was in. Also- did you know that power cords are not included with disposals? So were learned basic wiring to remove the old one and install it in the new one.
The box the disposal came in neglected to say that the 5 easy steps were subdivided into 20 more complex steps.
So far we are leak free (although we haven't tried the whole chicken down it yet- it seems to be handling gravy and Jackie's tears quite well).
5 comments:
I never thought I'd see the day...I particularly like the tidbits of Jackie crying on the couch (sorry, Jackie!) and the roller blading plumber bro-in-law. Good work, Mr. Fix-It.
Your next blog needs to be about fixing the toilet. That's a tale worth sharing.
I especially like, "Ben our rollerblading brother-in-law" :)
Congrats on being so handy!
We need to have Ben's dad stay at your house next time he comes to visit. Anytime he visits he goes around the house fixing things--it's so great.
It's true that I cry - and I'm not one bit embarassed. So no apologies Amy. However, Clin's stories are a stretch. There were 30 steps, I actually didn't cry - but I was pretty stressed and commatose on the couch. And I hand it to Clin for not giving up, but I would not utilize the terms Mr. Fix-it just yet. Let's just say that Ben was more like a superhero on rollerblades and deserves a lot of credit for our ability to even go to sleep that night. Love you Clin:)
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