Turns out the leak wasn't in an irrigation line. The main pipe that feeds both houses finally rotted enough to burst. It took all friggin' day to fix. Except it isn't fixed!
Drew came over this morning (Sunday) and got started trying to figure out where the leak was coming from. Jim went to Palm Desert to visit Kenny and (urp!) Bernie so he wasn't here to share in the joy. I went out to offer my meager assistance. Dad was out there "helping".
Having Dad be involved in these kinds of projects is a bit of a nightmare, especially when his blood sugar takes a dip. You can't explain things to him because he either doesn't get it or he forgets what you just told him. He was getting agitated and argumentative and Drew was getting pretty impatient with him. I sent Lindsay to Subway for some sandwiches. Dad needed lunch.
After a lot of arguing and fruitless digging they decided to go rent a mini backhoe. Good decision. It took a while but they finally found the leaker. Jim arrived home just in time to be sent to Home Depot for some pvc pipe. It didn't take long for Drew to splice everything together. It was getting late and he had to leave before the glue on the pipes was ready to be tested. After a couple hours Jim and I turned the water back on. The big hole we dug filled up with water almost immediately. Oh well. Jim will try to fix it in the morning. If he can't then Drew can take another stab at when he comes back. In the meantime, we have no water.
Bleah! This took up the whole day and it looks like we're going to be devoting a good chunk of tomorrow to the pipe project. I wish Dad would find someplace to go. When I called him and told him the fix didn't hold he bitched at me about turning the water back on. He said, "You've undone all that work we did!" I said no, the directions said we could turn the water back on after 2 hours and NO we did NOT undo all that work. Anything that was undone will take just a few minutes to fix. It's not like all that dirt fell back into the hole!
If he's nasty to me tomorrow he may find himself in that muddy hole.
7 comments:
Thanks, Nancy. It's fixed. We went to Benihana for dinner. We be cool.
Today was just the calendar date birthday. I'm looking forward to the big bash in October for my birthday celebration. Can you believe it's been 10 years since my 40th birthday party where you danced that beautiful hula? Zee time, she flies.
Plumbing! Ach! This morning Dad wanted to get started right away but Jim and I really wanted to wait for Drew. So we stalled. Dad must really think we're slow and lazy! We spent a lot of time rounding up tools. Some of ours were missing. When I asked Dad about them he said he didn't take them. Later I found them at his house. It's funny. I talked about this with Drew later in the day. We've figured out that if Dad doesn't know the answer to a question he won't say he doesn't know or tell us he forgot. He'll make up a lie. It was frustrating for Drew because we were trying to figure out where all the pipes are and where the water meter is and we totally couldn't trust any of Dad's answers. Anyway...
The leak was under the driveway in a part of the pipe that had been repaired years ago. Fortunately, it wasn't very far in and Drew could splice on a new piece. The actual repair didn't take long but there was a whole lot of digging and searching and planning they had to do and that took all day.
This morning Dad was getting all frustrated because we weren't jumping into the hole when he snapped his fingers. I kept trying to convince him to wait for Drew. He said, "Well, we can get that mud cleared out. You don't need a brain to do that!" I said, "Well then, that's the perfect job for you."
Heh, heh!
Oh yeah, while they were working I gathered up our tools and painted the handles gray with yellow stripes and put our name on everything. Good solution.
How come your responses to comments are always much longer than the original entry?
Not me. Not my family either.
Hey Donita, Happy Belated Birthday! I'm sorry you had to spend it in a mudhole tho. Oct 21 will be way more fun!
BABoR- I consider the comments to be a conversation. Sometimes (often) they're longer than the original post but that's how conversations go. It's my blog. I can be long-winded if I want to.
Dean- It's a Lang thing. We grew up doing this stuff. Dad used to work us to death but at least we learned a thing or two. Especially Drew. He can do anything. Doing stuff yourself can save a lot of money. It cost $175 to rent the backhoe and about $40 worth of pipe from Home Depot. I'll bet it would have been at least a couple thousand bucks to hire someone to do what we did the other day.
I got lucky and married a handy guy. Together we're not afraid to tackle DIY projects that most people would shy away from. Man, we sure did a lot of work on our house in Santa Rosa. We're not speedy like Drew but we can get stuff figured out and dive in and do it.
But really, I'd rather be rich and be able to hire people to do this stuff.
Virginia- Thanks! Every once in a while when we were working out there I'd think to myself hey, I'm 50 and I'm shoveling mud. Wheee!
I'm reeeeally looking forward to the party.
wemoxlf- a club for former elves
Hey, I agree with you on conversations in blogs. I tend not to leave comments if I don't think I'll get a response.
Dave, Nancy and Amelia, thank you for the cute card!
pyynx- a good name for a band
I just want to say a public Happy Birthday, as well!! I remember your 40th! It was tons o' fun - do you remember the harmonium?!!? We made up a song for you - remember?!?
Mary
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