All about the leak

 Well, it's Wednesday.  Plans today include shopping for groceries, cleaning the front aquarium, doing laundry, and cleaning up the kitchen after yesterday's plumbing debacle.  Wait, I'm wondering if debacle is quite the right word.  Catastrophe might be better.  No, that's way too strong.  It wasn't a catastrophe, or even a debacle, more like an upper level inconvenience.

Firstly, I bailed on the concert in Philly.  The plumbers didn't leave until 5ish and we needed to be on the road by 4ish.  It's a good thing I have pictures, otherwise people might be thinking I was fabricating an excuse because I'd changed my mind.  Believe me, I'd have rather been in Philly.

Everything started fine.  The was a drip coming through my kitchen ceiling when I used the bathroom sink and the plumbers agreed there was probably a problem with the drain.  So they started making holes in the kitchen ceiling.  The first one they made was about 1 foot square, and it was like a mini-waterfall in my kitchen.  There was a large pool of water sitting up on top of the drywall.  I took this pic around 12:30.  There was a problem.  They couldn't find out where the water was coming from.

Around 2 PM, they had ascertained that the problem was where the PVC piping used in the bathroom renovation joined the copper piping, which was over against the wall.  So, they cut out the copper and replaced the entire thing with PVC.  And the hole was now this big.  And they did discover mold.

I learned something important, yesterday.  A long time ago lead piping was used because it was fairly inexpensive and very malleable, however, lead is not good for humans.  The switch was made to copper, which at that time was still inexpensive and it too was a soft metal and malleable.  However, copper piping is not that durable over time.  Water pressure can lead to metal fatigue and slowly the pipe will begin to crack, and that leads to leaks.

When the plumbers finally left around 5ish, I was left with an $1150 expense and several holes in my kitchen ceiling. This is the largest.

On the bright side, this will make it so much easier for the electrician to run the wiring up the the new laundry room.  Also, I understand that while the plumbing expense is not covered by my homeowners insurance, the drywall contractors expense should be, less deductible, of course.

And, speaking of leaks, it's been how many months since someone associated with the Supreme Court leaked the information that Roe was going to be overturned and no culprit has been named.  I'm betting it was Ginni, the treasonous, and they know how even worse that would make Thomas look.

Oh, and I saw that Vlad, the dumbshit, has just declared martial law in those 4 areas he illegally annexed.  I suspect that there is a lot of unrest we're not hearing about happening in those areas.  He truly is proving to be a most incompetent dictator.

Needing Special Forces

 Thursday.  Fixed workday.  The temps are barely supposed to hit 70 (F).  The skies are overcast and there is a 25% chance of rain.  

I was supposed to go see Downton Abbey last evening but cancelled.  I was not in the mood to sit through 2 hours of costume drama silliness.  Instead, I ate ice cream (lots of ice cream) and played Elden Ring.   For those interested, the little white Speedo is gone; I'm now wearing brightly colored clothing.

Mike (the plumber) came back yesterday morning are replaced the old, cracked cast iron piping with brand, new PVC.  It took him about 3 hours.  He was not talkative.  I spent most of the time outside with the dogs, who were very excited someone was working in the basement.  Now and then, I'd take them in.  They were very good: laid on the floor waiting to hear his feet climbing the stairs.  He seemed fine with them.

I'm not a big one for having strangers in the house and even though he'd been here on Tuesday to do an assessment, I was pleased when his work was complete, and he finally packed up his gear and headed out to his truck.  For those interested, here's a picture of what $1700 of new PVC piping looks like:

And of course, the country is still reeling from the Tragedy in Texas. For those who missed it, Beto O'Rourke challenged Governor Abbott of Texas in a press conference.  Beto challenged him, saying he was doing nothing.  Republicans were not happy.

Abbott is scheduled to speak at an NRA convention in Dallas on Friday.  When asked about his scheduled appearance last evening, Abbott refused to answer.

Mitt Romney is under fire for his standardized 'those families are in our prayers,' comment.  People began noting that over the years he has received approximately $13 million in donations from the NRA.

The security at Robb Elementary was top notch, and the shooter still managed to gain entrance.  There was at least one-armed officer he managed to get past.  The shooter shot and injured 17 other people, including police officers because he was using an AR-15, something they were not prepared for, and it took a special force team to actually stop him.  Think about that.  A special force team.  This was an 18 year old who just recently purchased 2 AR-15s.  Needing a special force, armed border patrol team to take him out says a lot about the problems of letting 18 year old kids buy automatic rifles.