Plumbers and Gobblers

So if you'll remember, my husband was going to snake out the washing machine drain this weekend.  He really worked on it Saturday morning, almost all morning, when he gave up.  He's a pretty good handyman, and so we rarely call anyone in for repairs.  He was defeated by this plumbing problem though, and so we called a plumber.  Well, I am so glad we called this particular plumber.  He just happened to be a high-tech plumber, and while we didn't know it yet, we really needed a high-tech fix.

There was no difference in price whether the plumber came Sunday or Monday, and so he came today.  There's no price difference because it's very expensive no matter what.  Just to snake out the drain, they were going to charge us $187.  I guess I'm glad I went to college.  I can tell you for sure that plumbers make a LOT more than social workers. 

So he went to work snaking out the drain, but fairly shortly he called Mike and told him that our drain wasn't plugged with gunk.  It was plugged by a hose fitting that had somehow gotten pushed down the drain.  And of course, all that snaking didn't help matters.  Now here's where the high-tech part comes in.  He put a little camera down the pipe.  That's how he could tell us exactly what was causing the blockage.  He estimated that it was about 11 feet down!  Mike, of course, nearly hit the ceiling.  "How the H*LL are we going to find it, let alone get it out of there?"  He had visions of dollar signs with lots of numbers behind them.

"No problem," said our high-tech plumber.  We were already impressed by the camera.  As it turns out, the camera also emits a signal, and he took a sonar device downstairs to our guestroom and located exactly where in the pipe this fitting was.  Then, they used a coat hanger to pull the thing out.  I'm a little hazy on the coat hanger part, but it did involve cutting a large hole in the wall.

Lovely.  Thank goodness the only "guest" we're expecting is our son, Matthew, home from college for Thanksgiving.  And . . . voila!

It's not a very large diameter pipe, and so it's pretty amazing that such a thing managed to make its way 11 feet down.  Had we called just any plumber, we might have had to tear the entire side off the house to figure out the problem.  A major mess averted.  And I have to say that after replacing our deck and constructing a windmill all in one summer, I'm quite finished with having construction going on at the house, not to mention George and Gracie's damaged little psyches from all that trauma.

As I said in my previous post, I had all the laundry done, but I really, really wanted to wash my Downy quilt so I could get it in the mail tomorrow.  All's well now, and the Downy quilt is packed up ready to go.

As for the gobblers, what funny birds turkeys are!  My friend, Sue, and I walked out here in the country on Friday.  (We try to walk every Friday.)  We had stopped to admire someone's chickens (Sue would dearly love to have chickens).  While we were standing there, we heard the unmistakable sound of turkeys.  We walked just a little way up the road, and there they were.

 

What outlandish birds they are!  Who would invent such a thing and still call it a bird? 

I fear they aren't long for this world.  I was so taken with them that I drug Mike down the hill with me to see them today.  Funny thing.  We've both seen wild turkeys several times, but I can't recall ever seeing a domestic turkey.  Except I do have a vague memory of buying a live turkey for Thanksgiving one year when I was a little girl.  I don't remember anything about that except those birds flying around with their heads cut off.  Now that's something that sticks in one's memory.  If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn't believe it.  Sorry if that image is too much for some of my readers, but that's exactly what happens. 

I'm glad I won't be around to see these birds fly around without their heads.  They are pretty ugly, I have to say, but cute in their own way.  I'm sure they admire one another all day long.