Happy Lunaversary

Anne and I celebrate our Lunaversaries.

What exactly is a Lunaversary? Simple really, we were married on June 26th, so the 26th of every month is our Lunaversary. Usually, we give each other little gifts. Today, I upgraded the RAM in her laptop to 2GB. ("All the better to run Vista, my dear", said the wolf dressed like a grandmother.) And she bought me Tony Jones new book, "The New Christians: Dispatches from the Emergent Frontier".

I'm stoked. I've been waiting for this book for a long time, and the excerpts on Tony's blog look really good.

I'll post a longer entry this weekend. I have some things to talk about, but work got in the way.

By the way, for those of you who are wondering. This is our 176th Lunaversary!!!!!

My wife rocks.

Brad

The Flood Has Abated

Okay, Brad, where ya been?

Well, as you’ve been able to extract from my previous two posts, our world at home has been topsy turvy. $3,000 later, our lives have settled again.

When I was growing up, we owned and managed a 27 unit apartment complex across the street from the University of Oregon. My dad and I did most/all of the maintenance. For the most part, I hated it. The apartments were a time sink. When something would break, no matter what I was doing, we had to go and take care of it. I had to cancel dates with my girlfriend (now wife), with zero notice. Often, dad wouldn’t even say, “I’m sorry”, which infuriated me. Well, I was a teenager, everything infuriated me. Once again, when something needed to be done, it needed to be done. What could he be sorry about? I hold very little bitterness toward my dad, because I understand the situation.

I hate toilets. I despise, and abhor their mechanics. Even though I have this deep hatred of Ralph the Porcelain God, I understand how toilets work…..intimately. Dad and I replaced more flappers, towers, tanks, than I think any poor soul should have to do. But, I learned how to do it. I learned a lot about plumbing. I know how washers work, how water pressure actually seals a valve, and how to tell that a valve doesn’t work. (Think of turning the water off under a sink, removing the hot water faucet handle, and having scalding hot water spraying up at the ceiling, removing all the plaster. Dad ended up having to shut off the water at the street.) I have snaked out more drains than I can remember.

Dad and I replaced carpet, not very often, but we did. I learned how to lay down tack strips, stretch carpet, cut to match odd shaped rooms, etc. Which means I also learned about different kinds of carpet padding, and exactly how much water that padding could absorb. Hmmm….water….cat pee….beer…..let me just say “fluids”.

I learned electrical. Switches, outlets, light fixtures, were all common things we replaced. I didn’t mind the electrical work. Electrical is clean. Plumbing is not clean. Plumbing is never clean.

My Junior/Senior year of High-School, dad and I “built” a cabin in Central Oregon. (Silver Lake). We did everything….plumbing, electrical, sheetrock, you name it. It was 70 miles to the nearest hardware store in Bend, so we tried to make as few mistakes as possible. During that time, I spent hours under the house with Grandpa Erion (who died a few months ago) sweating copper pipes. We would lay there on our backs under the house, with six inches between our noses and the floorboards, with a blowtorch on the copper pipes, soldering on t-joints, etc. Hot, sweaty, miserable work. But, I got to be pretty darned good with a blowtorch, flux and tinning solder. I have the experience of busting a hole through a building’s foundation with a sledge-hammer and an old Studebaker tie-rod. (I don’t think that’s a common building activity, but I have that experience.)

So, why the story, Brad?

I know how to do all of these things. If dad hadn’t been right there to show me, and work with me, I wouldn’t. If Grandpa Erion hadn’t been right there with me, I probably wouldn’t know how to sweat pipes as well as I do.

Last week, I did almost all of these things.

I removed carpet. I removed padding. I removed a toilet. I had to turn off the water to the house and drain the lines. I had to auger out a drain. I had to cut off the valve behind the toilet, sweat on a new copper pipe extension (coupled) and put on a new compression valve to fix a leak. I laid down new flooring, laminate. I cut and nailed on new baseboard moulding.. I had to put the toilet back on.

While it was expensive, I can’t imagine how much money I saved. I called a plumber and he said that augering the drain would be a $1,200 job. I bought my own electric 3/8th inch drain auger for $400. Most plumbers charge $55 just to drive out to our place, and then $85 to $98 an hour, with a minimum of an hour of work.

Let me also point out that my father-in-law came up and helped me lay the laminate. I had never put laminate down, but he had. I couldn’t have done it as quickly or with as much quality without him. I’m still learning.

My point in all of this is, I knew what I was doing. I am thankful for my experience. I’m thankful for those who taught me.

I still hate toilets.