Flashback Fridays

Do It Yourself
So yesterday I decided I would finally accomplish a little apartment repair that I have been putting off since I moved in. I have this old beautiful cabinet in my kitchen that holds my dishes and glassware. I have been storing my coffee mugs on the only counter space I have because the cabinet was full. For some reason the previous tenant had hooks on the third shelf , but that is the only shelf high enough to store my wine glasses and vases. So, I moved the hooks to the bottom of the shelving so that my mugs would sit above the counter top. I also had to spackle the holes that the hooks had created and then repaint the cabinet shelf. Needless to say when I was done I was very proud of myself. It made me think of the subject of this Flashback Friday.

I grew up with a single mom; a very ingenuitive single mom who made things work without a lot of money. She raised four kids on her own while working full time and she put herself through college. The home repair fix all of choice in the Beck home: Duct Tape. When the linoleum is so worn that someone might trip over the holes that show the exposed wood below, use Duct Tape. And then cover with a throw rug for aesthetic purposes.

My sister Jenny and I came to understand the broad scope of duct tape's handiness one April afternoon. We were probably 12 and 9 and it was my mother's birthday. Mom's birthday always falls close to Mother's day so we decided that with our non-existent funds we would give her something that wouldn't cost us anything, but that might relieve some of the stress in her life. We were about to embark on a plumbing expedition of a lifetime. The kitchen sink was always clogging and of late had become a real problem. We knew without our intervention mom was going to call Roto Rooter and that was an expense we really couldn't afford and one Jen and I could avert by pooling our plumbing talents. We had seen mom and Uncle Tim and Grandpa all attempt to fix the problem so we knew the steps to take. I'm sure at this point you are wondering where our supervision was. John was asleep in his room.

Fist step, snake. We were really sure of ourselves on this one. We even knew how it worked. Insert the snake into the drain and move it around and push it along until whatever ickiness is in there moves out of the way. Well, when we pushed that snake all the way in and pulled it out the water still wasn't draining very well. So, we discussed the problem and decided to move to the next step. Step two, take apart the pipes. This, of course, was moving into uncharted territory. Neither of us had ever done this and I don't think we'd ever watched anyone either. But, we knew what a monkey wrench was and we knew how to use it. We pulled out mom's toolbox and found the wrench. We took turns turning the wrench along the joints of the pipes. It was hard work and the wrench slipped and fell and we would return it to the joints that much more determined to take the pipes apart. See, we believed that if we took the pipes apart we would find the clog, remove it and then put it all back together. Each section we took apart we looked for a clog only to be disappointed that it wasn't there. We moved on until there were no longer anymore aluminum pipes left to search. The only thing left was this big thick metal pipe that went into the basement. This was an unexpected dilemma. We had worked so hard only to find that the clog was in a big pipe that we couldn't take apart. We went ahead and snaked the big pipe having no way of knowing if we unclogged anything because there was no way to get water to the pipe. Well, despite our heavy disappointment we knew that we'd have to put everything back together and that mom's anxiety about the clog wouldn't be relieved for her birthday. We worked very hard to put everything back as it had been. We argued about how it all fit together and our small arms ached from the hard laboring of the last hour. We finally got it together. It looked exactly as it had before we took it apart. And in a last ditch effort to see if our snaking of the big pipe worked Jenny turned the water on, both of us looking expectantly between the pipes under the counter and the water collecting in the basin. Something unexpected occurred and we began to scream. These were not the screams of excitement of a mission accomplished, but instead and "OH NO!" moment. The water was spraying out of every single joint along the pipes. Jenny reached up and turned off the water. We knew it was time to wake up John. This endeavor had become too big of a mess to not include him. John is the type of sleeper that no matter what time of day (it was late afternoon) he sleeps hard and always takes time to wake up. Needless to say, when we dragged him out of bed and into the kitchen, showed him what we had done, he woke up. We had stripped the pipes he said. Every last thread on every joint was stripped. We would just have to explain everything to mom when she got home.

Jenny and I were devastated and when mom arrived home we could barely get out Happy Birthday without crying. Through our tears she listened to the story spill out of our mouths. She wasn't very happy, but I think in some way she was laughing inside. Mom got out the Duct tape and began the very arduous task of duck taping every joint under that sink. We placed a bucket to catch the water. It stayed that way for awhile with us replacing the duct tape when it got too wet and worn. My Uncle Tim finally replaced the pipes, but the aluminum pipes were too expensive, so Mom had him buy the plastic. It never really fit perfectly and we ended up duct taping them too.