Sink or Swim!

I thought I'd let you suffer through the stress and anxiety of wondering what happened to the sink project... Did the new sink leak? Did the gaskets burst, spewing water sky high? Did the worst things that could happen happen?!?!?
NO! It all went swimmingly and we've been enjoying our new cabinets and sink for almost a week now. I've just been remiss (and busy!!) and haven't gotten around to finishing this epic.
So to pick up where we left off, Joe and Bob installed the freshly painted cabinets- ones repurposed from a couple of friend's kitchen re-do.And as you can see, with the exception of a couple of places that needed repainting after the cabinets were fitted, it already looks cleaner and brighter.
This part of the process looks simple enough but my hats off to Bob and Joe for figuring out how to fit all the jigsaw puzzle like pieces back together and then still have to do the actual plumbing.

For a few days, we washed dishes in the downstairs bathroom sink. It was a tad inconvenient but thank goodness for that downstairs sink. It felt almost awkward to think of using the kitchen sink again. The dish drain board had to sit on the washing machine and necessitated many trips back and forth from the bathroom to the kitchen. I don't miss that procession!
But finally, the sink was dropped in and the side pieces were glued on and braced. That's what the random looking piece of wood is all about: causing pressure to hold the side panels in place until set. But look at that glowing red sink! Fabulous! Around the edge, you can see silicone caulking oozing out of the friction between the sink and the counter surface. Bob carefully sliced that away and then he was ready to hook up the pipes and connections underneath. That's the nerve wracking part, because if it isn't sealed correctly, we're back to Leak Ville!
But it worked and brilliantly when Bob turned on the water.

So the sink is now in use and every time I approach it to get a glass of water or place a dish in the sink to wash it, I admire the amazing red sink... with no leaks. The doors still remain to be reattached but we're waiting a couple of days until the underneath dries out completely. But it looks and works great and I don't cringe when ever I get a glass of water.

That Sink-ing Feeling

Get ready for some truly gross before pictures! I mean, our sink was BAD. Last year, pre-tornado, we were aware that the faucet on the kitchen sink leaked. Water was seeping out from under the (badly chipped!) metal housing and oozing down around the sink and between the wall and the countertop. I even (cringe) removed a few mushrooms that sprouted in that crevice between the wall and the faucet. Hey! They were small...

Here's the underneath- unpleasantly soggy and one of those places in your house you don't want to even think about, let alone dwell on. And this is the cleaned out picture! There were boxes of things like steel wool pads that had disintegrated so completely that when I reached in to remove them, they dissolved into a nasty smeary, rusty rotten pile of slime. It was awful cleaning everything out from under the sink.
And the sink itself! Holy cow! It was never a paragon of sink perfection but as it was made of plastic, it just became entirely stained and no amount of Bartender's Helper's Friend helped. Take a look:

Wow... even I'm impressed by how hideous that was!
So I was attempting to say that we meant to do the sink/ counter/cabinet replacement last year but never got to it as we had so much exterior clean up to do. But Bob and our intrepid friend Joe (thanks Joe!) set to work on Tuesday and tore all this nastiness out.

 Here's Joe's arm being featured alongside the old cabinet (and dishwasher) that are a-comin' out. Notice the lovely neon lime green wall detailing: I think the entire kitchen was once that refreshing color! (Yeeeesh!! My eyes!) Anyway, here's what it looked like after circuit breaker had been tripped, water had been shut off and cabinets had made their way to the backyard:

Bob and Joe cleaned that disaster up and I painted the interior white. (I also did my (small) part by painting all the doors, trim boards, floor boards and various other connection pieces white... the least I could do!) Enough eye sore! I'll post the happier photos of successful rebuilding the cabinet and installing the sink in a few days!

Three Tee Shirt Day and Plumbing Made Simple

It's the day before my birthday, we're expecting company for dinner and damn! the downstairs bathroom sink won't drain. (Even the red rubber fish seems to be avoiding the sink.) Two days ago, I noticed that when I washed my hands and left the bathroom, the sink was full of water. Ditto an hour later. I went promptly into avoidance as I felt badly telling Bob, who probably gets stuck with more of those odious household jobs than I do.
But no elves or even orcs came to snake out the drain and our guests were still on target to arrive later today, so I did a heroic thing (even for myself). I actually told Bob to show me how to clean the drain. Yes, the day before my birthday on a truly three tee shirt kind of day (humid and just a tad above 100 degrees on the thermometer) we rolled up our sleeves (metaphorically as I wasn't wearing any) and the adventure began.

This is what it looks like underneath. Innocent enough, until you start unscrewing the plastic fittings and discover what's inside.
This:

Yup, that dingle berry of astonishing proportions is slime-ing its way out of the pipe as soon as it's removed. Hands, wrists are soon coated in an evil pudding of brown glop, composed of us and our lovely remains. (Human and dog hair skin, plant material and just plain dirt.) Check out Bob's hand in the sink:

Oh boy! Sure makes you never want to eat again! But hell, we're made of sterner stuff and I took all the parts outside and hosed them down. Refitting was cleaner but tricky as you have to thread the underneath parts of the plunger/drain blocker into a little hole and it's all upside down and backwards. Upon clean up, the sink ran and drained beautifully and I gained a skill and Bob is exonerated from having to unblock the drain next time.
Of course, I had to go change my tee shirt again but we all repaired to the air conditioned bed room, to wait for dinner guests who can now wash their hands in a clean and functional bathroom.

Another Birthday!

It seems all the men in my life are Tauruses (Taurens?) Yesterday was Jules' 3rd birthday. Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that we picked Jules up at the airport (international traveler that he is!) and he was a tiny eight pound, eight week old jewel. He had a very nice day full of cards from admirers (both physical cards and e-cards) and good things to eat. And he went swimming and got to drape rope-y dog spit all over his nose (reference above picture). He's such a good dog and a good friend.
In addition to the ongoing computer dilemmas, (which have made blogging difficult if not down right impossible) we've been digging things up:

Here is a fossil bottle of Mountain Dew that Bob unearthed down near his studio. The former resident of the  BauHaus Chicken Coop was a mighty consumer of this particular beverage. I can't tell you how many cans and bottles of the stuff we found under, in and on every surface in our house and carport. I don't think I've ever had any in my life (and never intend to!) but I guess someone likes it. Bob opened it and it smelled the same as the day it was manufactured; probably full of preservatives and flame retardants!
What else? I'm attempting to regain my blogging momentum but so much has been going on.

Did you really expect to see this? Bob fixed the sink in the bathroom- looks like more fossils! The trap was clogged which led to Bob trying to unclog it and the pipes under the sink were all corroded so it became replacement time. We probably could have used the Mountain Dew as a liquid plumber substitute! 

Storm Surge

Ironically, the buckets to flush the toilet are not due to Sandy but that stupid blown well pump. Despite major efforts to rectify the pump's demise yesterday in the face of the burgeoning hurricane, closures of plumbing supply houses and highways prevented completion of pump replacement. But we never lost electric power...
The wind sang and shrieked and pushed and pulled and threw assorted sticks, branches and other leavings. I'm sure we all experienced some aspects of that hilarity! But we played Scrabble and sipped gins and tonics and slept like babes. I had some truly peculiar dream about James Taylor proposing marriage to me and saying how he had wanted to marry me since the first time he saw me (when I was like 12 years old). I kept suggesting reasons why this was just not feasible (like I have been committed to Bob for over 20 years and I never liked folk music in the first place and James Taylor liked cats and I liked dogs...) Plus James Taylor kept trying to serve me odd milky drinks in strangely shaped plastic cups. Weird.
Anyway, we're on course to repair the pump today. Wish us luck.
The next posting will begin the saga of pump repair. Stay tuned..