Bad Got Worse

Everyone gets those days that everything seams to go down hill. My Tuesday day started bad and then, mid morning it got much worse.

The first thing I did was spill my coffee on myself before I had even had a sip of it. I figured it would get better after I had my coffee. There had been a down pour of rain last night so I figured I should check the boats first thing.

I got quickly side tracked to scoop the cat litter box. Our newest cat that we inherited from my sister would not use it till it was scooped. The cat yowled outside of the box till the butler service was done. He is training me to meet his needs!

I got down to the boats and found the tender needed bailing and all three boats needed hosing off. The trees riverside look so beautiful, but they are messy when it rains. The boats were covered with leaves and seeds from the trees. I used the leaf blower to get the big stuff off then hosed and boat brushed the rest off.  I got well grunged, but the dog loved it.  

I took my soggy self up to the house for a shower.  I thought I would use the shower off our bedroom. We do not use that shower much because that bathroom is not laid out well. The shower is too small and it is hard to get into because the toilet is in the way. The shower must have been an afterthought when the bathroom was laid out. The shower is actually a projection into the garage and tucked into a small space by the water heater. They should have relocated the water heater and put the shower where it was.

The unused shower had a few cleaning things in it in a bucket, so I figured I would give the shower stall a cleaning at the same time as I cleaned myself. I emptied out the shower, got undressed and tried to turn on the shower. The knob would not move. I muscled it and it moved a little. I tried to think when the shower was last used and put more force on the knob. The water came and the knob broke off. The water was ice cold and the stall was too small to get out of the way of the cold stream of water. I spoke French and I saw two cats and the dog run out of the bedroom. 

The broken knob would not work to turn off the water. There is no turn off valves for the shower water source.  Wet muddy, grungy me had to get out of the stall, dry off a little, throw something on and go outside, across the back yard to the pump shed and unplug the water system pump. I flipped the hot water heater breaker off and went to my plumbing stuff to see if I had a spare knob or something I could use to turn off the water. 

I gathered some tools and headed back to the shower. The telephone rang. A woman speaking broken English wanted me to take a few minutes to go through a survey on…I hung up on her. The dog looked at me from across the room and just the tip of his tail was flipping slowly. He did not move. 

I got the shower turned off, then had to go back out side and turn the water back on and rushed quickly back in to see if it was truly off.  I was feeling good that at least that worked.

I went to the other bathroom, got undressed again and hopped under the shower. The water was not all that hot, and I figured it would warm up as I showered. I got most of the way clean and the water turned COLD. Most of the hot water had emptied of the hot water heater at the other shower stall and when I turned on the water, I did not turn on the power to the water heater. I quickly finished up speaking more French.  I dried off and found I had trashed both bathrooms and tracked stuff all through the house. Hey, It could have been worse…ceramic tile is easier to clean up then carpet would have been. 

About an hour later I had most everything cleaned up, and even the shower stall was clean. The dog was acting normal, and all I needed to do was get a replacement knob.

The dog and I went to the hardware store for a replacement knob. I found that a replacement knob cost more than a cheap replacement fixture of the same brand. So I bought the replacement fixture to get the knob. I can, maybe down the road, replace the stiff fixture with the one I bought if needed.

I sure hope my wife asks me how my day was, so I can tell her this story. 8-)

PS: She did not ask how my day was, so I ask her if she would read this blog. I got a "Poor Baby" after she read it. *-)