Not the Kitchen Sink!

To set the stage:

Yesterday I started feeling achy, tired, and less than 100% well. No fever, but I imagine the severe achiness has something to do with a vaccine I got last week. Throughout the day yesterday I steadily felt worse and worse.

John is finally working in town this week after spending the last four weeks at jobs in Waco and Harlingen. In fact, he is not only working in town, but came home last night at 6:00!

Because he got home so early, and because he has put on the “busy season pounds” from being stuck in an office 80 hours a week, he decided it would be a great idea to visit the fitness club to which we belong. Since he is a man, it will probably only take about two weeks of a regular workout schedule for him to lose whatever weight he wants to lose.

While he was at the gym, I dragged myself off the sofa to make dinner. After all, my hubby has been eating out for the past month and would really appreciate something cooked at home. (I might add that I think this home-cooked meal should also be something pretty healthy – after the work-out and all.)

Well, we didn’t really eat until close to 8:00, so we were cleaning up dinner dishes around 8:30 or 8:45. Both of us (me – because I felt like death warmed over, John – because he was so happy to just be at home) were looking forward to vegging on the sofa together.

So it begins:

The kitchen sink had other plans. In the midst of rinsing dishes, both sides of the kitchen sink begin vomiting food particles and refusing to drain.

First, we did what any rational couple would do in this situation: stand and stare at the disgusting mess, hope running the disposal might help (it doesn’t), and talk about going to get the plunger all while willing the water to just drain.

John decided we really need two plungers, so luckily we have one plunger and an “apparatus.” The “apparatus” has a technical name, I’m sure, but all I know is that it is an air-pressure gun used to unclog drains. It has, in fact, successfully unclogged one drain and failed to unclog one or two others.

Working with an “apparatus” that apparently has a success rate of roughly 40%, we go to work without a great deal of confidence.

Sure enough, the plunger/”apparatus” scenario does nothing to unclog the kitchen sink, but does manage to spray us with bits of food and dirty kitchen sink water. It’s time to take drastic measures.

At 9:00 at night, John is now under the kitchen sink, dismantling pipes, while I hand over the large bowls to catch all the water. We empty the U-bend, stick a plumber’s snake down the stub-out pipe, and retrieve pretty much nothing except a tiny bit of sludge. Since the plumber’s snake didn’t seem to have cleared anything gross out of the pipe, we are seriously considering a call to a professional. At the last minute, we choose to go ahead and reassemble the drain as best we can to just see if perhaps anything has been miraculously fixed.

We don’t know how it happened, or how long it will last, but it now seems that water is flowing normally once again. I keep telling John he did exactly what the professional would have done, except probably with a smaller, much older plumber’s snake. In a matter of half an hour or so, John has saved us around $100.

I have a very handy husband. And, at least for the time being, our desire to save money outweighs the laziness that would demand we just call someone to come out at 9:00 at night to fix the chaos.

I am pleased to report that, so far today, the kitchen sink appears to be in working order. We hope this evening will be a bit less exciting.