Ah yes, another birthday. Where has that charm of "my very own special day" gone now? After some decades the big birthday day now often seems like any other day. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for each day, a day I can raise myself up out of bed and do the things a guy has got to do. But, doing all the things, just isn't as charming as having that one special day.
With the nationwide cold snap now moved back to its rightful place up in Minnesota and points north, the morning sun was out, the breeze was mild and for my birthday day to begin I pick a shovel from the shed and head for the soggy spot around the valve in Line #1 of the lawn irrigation system; here lies one of those things to do that a guy has got to do - birthday or not. The spade makes a gurgling sucking sound as I pry up a sodden lump of sticky black clay and dump it a few feet away. Muddy water seeps into the hole and I pry up another lump of wet clay and laboriously scrape it from my shovel blade. I dig carefully until I reach the white PVC pipe buried about 1 foot deep at the edge of the garden space. I enlarge the hole and pull a used dog food can from the recycle bin and use it to bail out the muddy water which I toss over my wife's pea plants. I have been here before. This is a repeat repair job from a few months back, where I cut out the old valve and spliced in a new valve and couplings. Apparently, my first go at repairs did not last long.
Once I have bailed the muddy water sourced from an earlier rain and a leak in the connection between the main line and the valve to Line #1, I discover that my pipe dope cemented splice connection is leaking. I swab the male and female connection once again with liberal amounts of PVC cement and recouple them and hold them together for a few minutes for good measure.
I return to the water main in the front of the house and open the valve to turn the water back on. The leaking connection now seem to be sealed, but then I see another leak. There is a small spray is coming from the threaded connection at the up-stream end of the valve. What the H-E-Double tooth-picks; let me get a wrench and see if I can tighten the threaded connection a quarter turn tighter. I give it a twist. Then I go sprinting for the main valve shut-off at the front of the house. Everything has just gotten worse. I'll just blow bubbles in this mud puddle.
What do I want for my birthday? I desperately want a 1" PVC end-cap. A short jaunt to the Home Despot and I find what I need of $0.78. Happy Birthday to me!
I move up the line about 4 feet from the vexing valve dig a new hole and cut out a 5-inch section of the main PVC line. The hole naturally fills with water that drains out of the pipe and I lie on my belly to bail. I think to myself, now I'll really blow bubbles in the mud puddle at the tip of my nose - that will be my birthday celebration [poor me]. Instead, I bail and then tap the cap over the 1" PVC line with my rubber mallet and seal off the problem (temporarily). I will get to back to this seemingly simple repair some other day. For now, my pipe dreams have become pipe nightmares, it looks like I have "mud on my hands".
But the indoor plumbing is restored to the house and I have staunched the leak. And that allows my wife to bake a dazzling rum cake for my birthday.
Light the candles! I guess this birthday is not so bad after all.
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| Rum Birthday Cake For the "muddied, but not beaten" plumber |
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| Grant, home for the Thanksgiving Holiday that coincides with his Dad's birthday. Grant brings a gift wrapped in a 'playful kittens' bag - A History of the Civil War in Missour. |
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