My mother called a few days ago, said her kitchen faucet is leaking. It's one of these things with a single-lever handle that's completely separate from the spout, and the spout leaks water at the base whenever the handle is turned on. Dad isn't sure how to fix it, and they're wondering if they should call a plumber. NO! I'll fix it, I said. So I went over there this afternoon with my box of plumbing tools, not sure what I'd find.
Turns out that the spout disassembles from its base in 30 seconds without tools. Problem obvious: flattened O-rings. One trip to the neighborhood hardware store and eighty-three cents later, problem fixed. Mom happy.
Best part? I got "paid" in homemade peanut-butter cookies. Woo-hoo!
[I posted the following to GG this morning. It appears there, but not on eternal september. So I am posting it again] And she was proud of you too, no doubt. Which is nice, at any age.
My Mom sometimes asks me about household repairs /after/ a repairman has failed to fix the problem. I am repeatedly dumbfounded by the incompetence of *some* people who call themselves "plumbers" or "electricians". My parents have found themselves a truly excellent plumber in the last couple of years; he's hard-working, honest and knowledgeable. But before that...?
My Dad still works a little bit, despite his advanced age. He goes to his office every day. He called me one day a few years ago to say that two of his toilets wouldn't flush. The "plumber" (sent by an actual plumbing company) was unable to fix them.
That didn't sound promising to me. I've become a reasonably handy guy in recent years, but no one would mistake me for a plumber. If a plumber couldn't fix it, what chance did I have?
I brought my toolbox of pristine, seldom-used plumbing implements. I opened the first toilet tank. My Dad said that one wouldn't fill. Indeed it wouldn't. The busted fill/float mechanism must have been invisible when the "plumber" came by, but it was there in plain sight for me. The other toilet had the wrong length of lever rod and a rotted flapper.
One trip to Home Depot, ten minutes rummaging through the pillaged heap of incomplete fill kits (people go to Home Depot to steal a washer) to find one that was intact, plus a few more items, and I had both toilets working in barely triple the time that a good plumber would need. They had the same situation with an electrical problem. They have one of those large fluorescent ceiling fixtures in their kitchen; maybe
30" square, wood around the sides, white plastic "dome". My parents are children of the depression, and would only replace it as a last resort. I'm told that the electrician spent two hours bouncing between the switch panel and the fixture before telling them that he couldn't figure it out.
I don't know why he spent any time with the switch. A minute or so with a meter and my Mom manning the switch eliminated that possibility. I have never attempted to repair a fluorescent fixture, but it seemed obvious that the fixture consisted of bulbs, connectors, and a ballast. Off to Home Depot I went. This took a little longer, as there are several kinds of ballasts and I had no experience with them. But in less time than it took the "electrician" to throw up his hands, I had it fixed.
I got soup. Homemade. Mmmm. And the admiration of my parents, which, even at my advancing age, is a nice feeling.
I hope you presented him with a "bill" of zero and laid out the repair methods you used. I also hope that neither that faux plumber nor the faux electrician got a cent out of him. If so, he should call them and demand his money back. If that fails, he could pay a couple out-of-work folks to picket those businesses. They deserve their negative karma. Complaints to the local BBB and Chamber are in order then, too.
-- Life is an escalator: You can move forward or backward; you can not remain still. -- Patricia Russell-McCloud
The chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips is from Reese's peanut butter chips box and in Hershey's cookbook. Peanut butter chips are not a rarity. (In the US that is.)
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:27367865.124.1333533691079.JavaMail.geo-discussion- forums@yngr3:
is easy to fix, then it's just as easy to unfix. The next time he's at Mom's house and no one is looking, he'll cause the faucet to leak again, hence he'll be asked to fix it, again. And what happens after it gets fixed?
Then I get more cookies, of course.
But there's no need to resort to such chicanery. If I want more of Mom's home-made cookies, all I need to do is ask her for some. Or bake them myself, since I have her recipe, too.
All this damn talk of cookies, damn you all. I have been restricting my sugar intake for the past three months to deal with pre diabetic indications. I ought to just plonk y'all.
I've avoided most sugars for a couple decades now. Most of my sweetening is made with saccharine or stevia. All my baking is done with Splenda (and now Apriva.) If I buy cake mix, it's sugar-free. Don't give up dessert just to get away from sugar. Adapt!
I've lost 8 pounds since I started watching my serving size last month. Only 22 to go...
-- Life is an escalator: You can move forward or backward; you can not remain still. -- Patricia Russell-McCloud
As someone who's body can no longer tolerate many artificial flavorings, preservatives, and the like. Trust me that it's not all fine and dandy. Enjoy yourselves in moderation. Be wary, the food industry does not have your health as it's highest priority.
I can evidentally handle "Pink Slime", but am boycotting it anyway. I read in yesterday's (4/3/12) WSJ that BK and Wendy's use it. So I wrote Wendy's a e-letter today letting them how I felt about them using Pink Slime (additive to hamburger meat). A few company's that make pink slime evidentally went bankrupt this week, and Pink Slime has had bad publicity so, they wrote--the industry will probably be looking for a new hamburger additive! : (
What did them in is the terminology. Some "investigative TV reporter" learned the basics of the food industry, and decided to get his name in print to get a better job. The media imposed the term, which created the image, which did the company in.
Ammonia and several Ammonia compounds have been used for many decades in the food processing and drug industry.
You can check the ammonia compounds in the US Pharmacopeia
formatting link
which has been incorporated into US Federal Register as part of the FDA Good Manufacturing Practices for the Drug and Food Industries. There are other similar standards books in the US. Most countries have either their own book similar book (BP, EP, and others), or actual incorporate the US Pharmacopeia into their laws. They all allow the same Ammonia compounds
Some of these ammonia compounds have been recognized as safe and legally use in food processing since 1900. They have been used in food processing since the beginning of processed foods, in the 1860's
We are either all equally deformed by these chemicals since we have been eating them for over 150 years, or they are safe.
Yep, it's the original quarter sawn white oak finish.
Have you smelled the ammonnia, in just the last few years, in Swanson's "chicken broth"?
... enough to gag a maggot, even knowing the unpleasantness of the alternative.
The question is whether it is being used excessively just to stave off lawsuits and recalls and in lieu of instituting more, costly to the bottom line, sanitary practices.
Unfortunately there is a lot of unnecessary things going on to prevent lawsuits. Have you ever read the MSDS sheet for Water. Yes there is one and can be found online. Interestingly while there is an MSDS sheet, Water is the most dangerous chemical in the world and there is no clamor to increase the regulations to control it. There are thousands who die every year from overdoses.
As with medicine, and many other industries we are paying through significantly higher prices, as each segment (materials, production, transpiration, distribution and sale) of the industry is forced to protect them selves from lawsuits.
The most recent is the sawstop, some one comes up with an idea and can not sell it, so he publicize the safety aspect and tries to get the government to require it on all new items, so he can make money.
How many lives have been saved by the requirement for the high position of the taillights on cars.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.