Weather and plumbing

What a difference a week makes. A week ago it was snowing. Yesterday it was 85 degrees. Heavy rain Monday and Tuesday saturated the ice on the lake. Then Wednesday's warm temperatures plus high winds destroyed the last of the lake ice. We went directly from winter to summer.

I was able to go on a good walk with the dog, but a lot of the day was taken up with a little plumbing project. The hot water faucet for the shower had a bad drip that kept getting worse. It could not be ignored any longer. Just changing the seals wasn't working.

There are shut offs for the hot and cold water in the upstairs bathroom. Unfortunately they are located in the basement. I did a lot of stair climbing as I tried different fixes for the problem. A plumber recommended that I take the cartridge to the hardware store so they could match it. Of course the exact part is discontinued, but they did have something that was supposed to work. It took four trips up and down the stairs, pulling everything apart, reassembling and then testing before it was fixed.

Just to make the job more interesting I was dealing with a sinus headache. I don't get them very often, but when I do, they really hold my attention. It made the job a lot harder. In the end, everything finally worked the way it was supposed to. Sometimes it's not a matter of being clever. It's a matter of being tenacious.

-Sixbears