He's a John Deere man...
Fun at the McWane center. We found out at the doctor that CJ is in the 17th percentile for height and 33rd for weight. It makes him very easy to pick up and toss around. He and I love it.
Lowes.... let's build something together. We love the every-other-Saturday workshops. I got to stay home this time to work on a hot water pipe that was leaking (scroll down for story), but the kids had a great time making a mini ball toss. Emma Jane obviously has her own style.
So Friday I get a call from Courtney while I'm at work, saying we got a pipe leak. Fortunately it was leaking into the crawl space and not on our hardwood floor. So I came home to see what was up (did I mention how much I love working half a mile from home). I shut off the hot water so they at least had some water (no showers or baths) and went back to work.That night I cut out the wall and found that when I was putting on the baseboards the nail gun sent a nail through the copper pipe. That was months ago, but it jarred loose this weekend. So, Saturday I went to Lowes, got the parts, cut the pipe, fit it all together and find out I have no clue how to solder pipes together.
I'd seen people do it, so I tried and tried, then I gave up and called someone. Too expensive. So I leave for work and Court and Nana are like 'what about the hot water?!?' I asked Court to borrow a bigger blow torch from some friends from church. I tried again during my dinner break, but now there is water in the pipe, so there is no way to solder it. And it's halfway soldered so I can't take it apart and drain it. I called my dad on the way back to work, adn he says get a "gator bite".
Best invention ever. It's engineered so you can pop the pipes in and it just locks. No solder. No leaks. So, Court goes to get some, but they don't have all the right pieces. Crap. No way around soldering at least some of it.
I get home just before midnight, sit down between the washer and wall and say a little prayer. Then I hear a still, small voice whisper 'suck the water out with a straw.' I turned my head and there was Court on the stairs. I guess my noisy attempts had woken her up, so she came down stairs with a good idea. It did the trick. I was able to solder it (not well, but it hasn't leaked yet) and put a gator bite on the rest of the joints.
Voila! Hot water is back on and Nana finally gets to take a shower, just in time for church (the kids got eight pots of hot water the night before). I celebrated with a long shower at 2 am. Hot water never felt so good.
6 comments:
that is an awesome story.
hope it was clean water and not the sewage line ;)
cj is an evans with that height, eh?
Oh Carl. You're so good at fixing everything.. Dang, that was a good story. Long night for ya and good job for praying. Glad you got some hot water back!
Cute picts of the kids at lowes.
moral of the story...always listen to your still small voice :) hehe....
and call dad FIRST! Youre amazing! love the pictures.
Your kids are just darling! Glad you could fix the leak. I was impressed!
love the leaky pipe! this has happened to Brandon and I about 4 times and twice we had already sheetrocked and taped once before it decided to leak. I have spent hours without water trying to let it drain and then the soldering, then turn the water back on and it leaks and back to square one. when I call my dad he tells me that he spent many hours working on plumbing with grandpa and has decided it is just not worth it, he will pay a plumber.
Very impressive. A chip off the old block.Necessity and desperation will win out every time.
Dad
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