Another wild weekend at the ranch.
Sometimes Miss D. and I bite off more than we think we can chew, but it always turns out OK in the end.
Last weekend we had 7800 pounds of rock delivered and this weekend we began the retaining wall along the hillside near the waterfall. Are we having it built, you ask? Alas, no, I reply sadly (see below).
It’s been raining every day for the last ten days (though nothing like what’s happening in the Northeast!) and Sunday was no exception. We worked outside during the morning, but once the rain started just after noon, the clay on the hillside got dangerously slippery, especially when very large rocks are involved, so we went indoors. Miss D. began her second major job of the weekend: replacing the broken garbage disposal.
My part in this job was supposed to be cookies and moral support-I’m no plumber and, left to my own devices, would have called in a handyman. Miss D., however, is a die-hard “I can do anything a man can do!” type, so outside help was not an option.
Taking the old disposal unit out was easy, but the drain in the other side of the sink needed replacing as well. That didn’t go as planned. Turns out that the stopper unit had gotten corroded without our realizing it. (Who knew it was an issue? Who ever checks the state of the drains and connections under the kitchen sink?)
In retrospect, it was all pretty funny. At various times both of us, singly or together, were under the sink, upside down, with goggles and various tools. There are times when I do wish we had a man around the house (not all that often). We could use some of that upper-body strength that seems to be coded on the Y chromosome, but never underestimate what a couple of determined women can accomplish.
I’d love to be able to say that no blood was shed, but in fact I ended up with busted knuckles as if I’d been in a bar fight, after an encounter with a tool that looks like the evil offspring of a bicycle chain and a pipe wrench. This was, Miss D. assured me, the tool of choice for grabbing an odd-shaped flange and giving it enough torque to rip that sucker loose. Not.
So here’s the picture: Miss D. on her back mostly underneath the sink with the evil wrench-spawn, me straddling her, standing, trying with all my strength to hang on to a pair of pliers with which I’m gripping the sink drain innards, the strainer part, in hopes of keeping the entire unit from turning while she tries in vain to unscrew the collar. No luck: our muscles give out long before the little aluminum collar does. By this time I’m in tears and bloody, she’s cursing under her breath, and things don’t look good at all.
But it’s not always about brawn! In a moment of sheer genius, Miss D. remembered my Dremel tool, which I generally use for drilling holes in bones and beads and for putting up curtain rods but which, the directions assured us, will cut metal. And cut it did, with a spectacular whine and a very satisfying shower of sparks. The little aluminum collar lasted about a minute, then gave in to the pressure of a screwdriver. Yes!!!
The job finished up at 3:20 this morning-but it works! Are we good, or what!
Last weekend we had 7800 pounds of rock delivered and this weekend we began the retaining wall along the hillside near the waterfall. Are we having it built, you ask? Alas, no, I reply sadly (see below).
It’s been raining every day for the last ten days (though nothing like what’s happening in the Northeast!) and Sunday was no exception. We worked outside during the morning, but once the rain started just after noon, the clay on the hillside got dangerously slippery, especially when very large rocks are involved, so we went indoors. Miss D. began her second major job of the weekend: replacing the broken garbage disposal.
My part in this job was supposed to be cookies and moral support-I’m no plumber and, left to my own devices, would have called in a handyman. Miss D., however, is a die-hard “I can do anything a man can do!” type, so outside help was not an option.
Taking the old disposal unit out was easy, but the drain in the other side of the sink needed replacing as well. That didn’t go as planned. Turns out that the stopper unit had gotten corroded without our realizing it. (Who knew it was an issue? Who ever checks the state of the drains and connections under the kitchen sink?)
In retrospect, it was all pretty funny. At various times both of us, singly or together, were under the sink, upside down, with goggles and various tools. There are times when I do wish we had a man around the house (not all that often). We could use some of that upper-body strength that seems to be coded on the Y chromosome, but never underestimate what a couple of determined women can accomplish.
I’d love to be able to say that no blood was shed, but in fact I ended up with busted knuckles as if I’d been in a bar fight, after an encounter with a tool that looks like the evil offspring of a bicycle chain and a pipe wrench. This was, Miss D. assured me, the tool of choice for grabbing an odd-shaped flange and giving it enough torque to rip that sucker loose. Not.
So here’s the picture: Miss D. on her back mostly underneath the sink with the evil wrench-spawn, me straddling her, standing, trying with all my strength to hang on to a pair of pliers with which I’m gripping the sink drain innards, the strainer part, in hopes of keeping the entire unit from turning while she tries in vain to unscrew the collar. No luck: our muscles give out long before the little aluminum collar does. By this time I’m in tears and bloody, she’s cursing under her breath, and things don’t look good at all.
But it’s not always about brawn! In a moment of sheer genius, Miss D. remembered my Dremel tool, which I generally use for drilling holes in bones and beads and for putting up curtain rods but which, the directions assured us, will cut metal. And cut it did, with a spectacular whine and a very satisfying shower of sparks. The little aluminum collar lasted about a minute, then gave in to the pressure of a screwdriver. Yes!!!
The job finished up at 3:20 this morning-but it works! Are we good, or what!