We are all practicing separation, reduced contact with others. There are still stores open – those deemed essential. Some workers have also been deemed essential. I’m willing to bet that plumbers would be considered essential. The question for me now is whether I need the plumber so much that the need will override what is now habit – avoiding anyone who is not already in my germ pool? It’s interesting that the longer the stay-at-home is in effect, the harder it might be to actually interact with strangers again. If I were my friend Honour, I’m sure I could read instructions, shut off the water, remove the leaking spigot outside, replace it and not need to have a hose attached to keep the drip. And I’d be able to pull up the tiles around and in the bathtub, regrout, replace the tiles and not have to worry about more damage to my kitchen ceiling. But, alas, I am not that competent and so I wonder – should I call the plumber?
SOME of my home repairs have been successful. I’ve been working for weeks now with the dining room table as my desk. I have papers everywhere and two computers set up. One is my work laptop, with huge attached monitor. The other is my personal computer. I sit in one chair for work and move to the NEXT chair for play. 🙂 It’s an interesting switch because one is a Mac and one is Windows. It can be confusing when I forget which machine I’m on. Anyway, when I switched to the play chair, I realized that it was incredibly loose. The back was not firmly attached. Ditto the chair next to that one. This IS something I can fix. I got out my trusty tool box (thank you, Randi!), flipped over the chairs and began tightening the nuts. I was intrigued by the fact that the chair has one kind of connection in the front of the seat and a differing one on the back. I decided it had to do with fact that the back has the joining piece and the hardware needed to be hidden but accessible. Am I right?
Some of my other attempts at home maintenance have not been as successful as the dining room chairs. I did very well with protecting the plants last week. I bought MORE plants this week (you know very well that I am incapable of not buying lots and lots of herbs and flowers). I was SURE we were not going to have any more frost warnings. More fool me. Frost warnings last night and for tonight. I’d ripped the drop-cloth I’d used the first time so I needed to come up with something else. I did alright with the plants outside along the walk – used a heavy tarp and anchored it sufficiently. On the porch, where the more delicate plants were – that’s where the wind got the better of me. You can see that it blew off the covers. I wonder if it was really the wind. Could it have been an animal looking for food? Anyway, I think the plants are alright. I’ll do a better job anchoring that tonight.
I’m dreading the other repair I need to do. I have to change the light in the range hood of the stove. At least I’ve already done that once before and learned how to do it properly. *grin* YAY for blogging!!! The big issue for that is getting the proper bulb. I’ll probably order it online because I’m not in such need that I have to go to the store. How our lives have changed. I never would have thought twice about driving to the store for one bulb.
Like the plants with the frost warnings, there are items IN the house that need protection. As are so many other folks, my husband is working on a jigsaw puzzle. We set up a 4 foot folding table for the puzzle work. It was going quite well until the cats decided to help him. Cat help consists of walking on the puzzle, napping in the box, jumping from the table to the couch, and batting pieces onto the floor. He devised a way to protect the work in progress. He commandeered a sheet and covered the puzzle. I came down the next morning and found the sheet, and puzzle pieces, on the floor. Obviously the sheet needed more weight. Hence the addition of the afghan. Having noticed the desirability of the open puzzle box as a bed, my husband offered an incentive to leave the sheet and afghan in place. He placed the top and bottom of the box on top of the sheet. This offering has appeased the GC, who has taken to napping in the boxes. BC now ignores it all because things don’t move. WC never cared – she is curled up in her bed on the couch and that’s what she needs to be happy.
Should I call the plumber or turn the water on again from inside the house only when I need to use the hose?
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