March 16 – “Plumbing”

Water began backing up into bathtub and toilets bubbled when Chris washed clothes.  An old pre-Ike problem.  I called the plumber.  He would arrive the next morning.   Meanwhile, over at Nathan and April's (which used to be Kel and Christina's), the kitchen sink was clogged.  Nathan had already attacked it with a plunger, and he was calling to see if I had a snake or some other bit of advice.  I told him I would take off the trap below the garbage disposal and see if he could clear it from there.  Not much help, really.  That matched up with what he had planned to do anyway, and he even managed to locate a snake.  He crammed it down the pipes from below the sink, but couldn't get very far.  That made him even more frustrated, because he had to go to work.   I met Kel over there after Jachin's baseball practice.  He was being the dutiful landlord.  I was just going to check it out with him and let him know the number of our plumber.  Chris and I planned to go back to the block party Seaside was sponsoring at a local apartment.  Once I got there, though, I admit I was intrigued.  It should have been clear, but the sink was full of water.  We each did the required plunging attempt to no avail.  That's one of those guy things, I guess.  I knew Nathan had already tried it.  And I stood there and watched Kel try it again.  But I still had to give it a go myself.  Us guys are so weird sometimes.    At least I didn't insist on taking off the trap again.  Our next step was to check under the house.  It is on pier and beams, so it stands about three or four feet off the ground.  The plumbing is all right there and easily accessible, but you have to crawl under the house to get to it.  What fun.  To our delight, we were able to access the cleanout spot without having to go completely under house.  Kel opened it up, hoping to see a rush of water.  Nothing.  He ran the snake as far as it would go through the pvc piping.  Nothing.  So we turned our efforts in the other direction.  There was a rubber hose clamped onto the cast iron pipe going to the sink on one end and to the PVC heading to the rest of the house on the other end.  Kel unscrewed the clamp and pulled the PVC loose.  Nothing.  The blockage had to be in the cast iron.  Kel tried to run the snake back up to the sink.  Couldn't get it to go through.  We found a three foot long old piece of PVC, about ¼ inch in diameter.  He stuck it up in there, but nothing.  I finally couldn't stand it.  I took off my windbreaker and crawled a bit further under the house to get better leverage.  I tried the snake.  Nothing.  Undaunted, I switched to the little pipe and behold, success.  I had to be forceful about it, but it finally broke through the gunk that had accumulated. Of course that meant I was full of stinky, dirty, garbage disposal goo. The hardest part of the whole thing was getting the rubber hose to fit back onto the PVC.  I finally had to abandon all pretense and stand up under the house, all hunched over like some evil hooded beast to get it back on.   Cailyn wanted a hug when we emerged from under the house, but I couldn't do that to her.   So I headed back home for a shower.  We never made it back to the block party.   Oh, and when the plumber got to our house the next day, everything was fine.  No backing up or bubbling toilets at all.  Figures.  He ran the roto rooter anyway.  Ah, plumbing.  That's why they make the big bucks.   Isaiah 53:7 says, "He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth."   Father, there have been so many times I wish I hadn't opened my mouth (I mean besides when that nasty water began gushing out of the pipe).  Help me learn from your example.  Amen.