You know, I started to ignore one of the items on my to-do list today. I throw "make a blog entry" on the list every day now, just to see if I can get to it. Here's the first thing that happened to me today: When I went into the kitchen, I could hear water running from the laundry. I didn't do it, and I knew Linda hadn't been in there yet. Water leak. So I pulled all of the junk out, the spare hamper, the spare garbage can, the real garbage can, and the cat box. Unhooked the washer, stuck a mirror and a flashlight into the connection box and saw a spray from a pipe. I was up to make coffee so I could leave for physical therapy, first day. The only lucky break about this was that I was going right beside Lowe's, so I could pick up something to fix it. Got home, spent some time fixing the water, got it turned on, mopped the mess, put everything back. Whew. What a start. So I've stayed busy all day, worked on the trim in the kitchen, cleaning, laundry, all in all being productive. Watched 24. Came back here to write, got lazy. I headed for bed about 11:30. Got into the kitchen, and guess what I heard. Yep. So in the last half hour, I have repeated the exact same steps I did this morning, except without the trip to Lowe's. Now I'm sitting here hot and sweaty, aching legs from squatting behind the dryer, lower back feeling really stressed, and wide awake.

Here are the answers to some of the things you may have thought about if you read any of that. No, I also didn't make the return trip to therapy tonight, either. The original leak appeared to have been caused by a rat chewing on the pipe. Yes, I said it, rat. While I was working on that one, I found another spot that appeared to be chewed, and replaced that, too. However, I did not see one for the latest leak until after I fixed it just now. That means that I either missed it this morning, or something climbed up the pipe and chewed it. I replaced it with CPVC, so it'll take a while to chew through it. How'd I fix it? If you ever have to do what I did, go to the plumbing department and get these push-on connectors for plumbing. If the guy who invented those makes a billion dollars off it, that won't be too much. I've been repairing this polybutylene pipe in this house for years with Qwest fittings. They're great, but they're bulky. (Yes, I know all about the lawsuits over polybutylene, but Linda didn't when she bought the house, and it's too late now.) You have to be able to work with two adjustable wrenches at once to tighten the fitting. You have to attach them to each end of what you're repairing with this huge plastic nut, and connect each to a coupling. If you put them in properly, they'll work great. If not, you'll be right back with a couple of huge wrenches to try it again. When you're talking about working in a crawl space, with water pouring from over your head and soaking wet fiberglass insulation falling down on you, the prospect of doing anything twice becomes unpleasant. It usually induces great streams of profanity. With these new things, you cut the pipe, push it into one end of the coupling until it clicks, and go have a beer. It'll hold through anything. Water pressure holds it in place. And get this, if you have to do something like replace another, slightly longer piece of leaky washer supply pipe, you can take them apart and use them again. That's why the second time only took a half-hour, that and the fact that I knew exactly where all my tools were and didn't have to round them up like this morning. You also have to remember that I have no main water supply cut-off in this house, either. I have to trek to the roadside, open the meter, and shut off the water. Guess what? It started raining about two hours ago. Really, it did.

I don't know if I'm being punished for doing something against nature or something tonight, or if it's just because I forgot to blog. Well, let's hope this fixes it. I feel that the blogging gods will let me slide on publishing after midnight. Man, I need the break.