Domestic Disturbances

Oh what a day!  The day was just shaping up to be difficult when I talked to my mother on the phone.  I said, with what may have been misplaced optimism, “At least it will make a good blog post!”  We shall see.

The first thing to go wrong was that the coffee maker died.  It had been sputtering along on its proverbial last legs for a while, but these things are always a tragedy when they finally occur.  I made plans to purchase a coffee maker later this morning, but I wanted to go running first, since I did not go yesterday.

And that was when things got interesting.  The toilet overflowed.  Yikes!  I plunged and plunged, hollering for Steven to come up and turn the water off (I can’t get that little handle to turn).  At last I got all the water to go down.  Steven got a mop and with the help of some dirty towels (don’t judge my laundry methods; I have enough problems today), we got the spilled water cleaned up.

This has happened to us before, most memorably on Christmas Day (I wonder if I made a blog postpost about it). What I did then was run out for a bottle of drain unclogger (we needn’t mention brands).  A couple of doses, more plunging, and our holiday was saved.  I had every reason to believe that would be the case today.

First I had a problem finding the right stuff to pour in.  So many of them said do not use on toilets!  What’s that all about?  I finally found one that said to pour a quarter of the bottle in.  Four doses!  I felt I would soon be flush with success (see what I did there?).

It was while I was waiting 15 minutes for the second dose to work its magic that I called my parents.  My father told me a useful trick: take the lid off the tank, then when you see the water is not going down, push the stopper down and the bowl will stop filling.  Genius!

If I had known how many times I was going to use that trick this morning,  I would not have been so sanguine when I hung up the phone.  However, I kept in mind the other thing my father told me:  sometimes you just have to keep plunging.

When I needed a break from plunging, I took a walk down to Collis TrueValue Hardware on Main Street in Herkimer (just  to sneak in a plug for a local business) for more stuff to pour into the toilet.  I tried something different this time.

More pouring, more plunging.  On my forlorn last pour, while I waited the 15 minutes, I asked Google how to snake a toilet.  I feared another trip to Collis was in my future.

I went upstairs, held my breath, and flushed.  And the water did NOT go down!  I plunged.  However, this time it felt different.   It took fewer plunges for the water to go down.  Barely daring to hope, I flushed again.

IT WAS A NORMAL FLUSH!!!

I cannot adequately describe my relief, joy and delight.  I flushed it again, just to be sure.  Success!

So that is my toilet story for the day.  I wonder if I can top it on Lame Post Friday.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.