Another wasted Sunday - Day 1216 (Year 4, Day 121)

Clarksville, IN / Louisville, KY

It started out on Friday morning. Before starting the challah dough, I wanted to scrub the 2nd sink as it was getting pretty grody (I keep the dish drainer in it).  My faucet can rotate left & right or it can pull out with a hose.  I found it easier to rotate it, however, it was very hard to move and in doing so, I broke it off!  Not good timing as it's a day I need to prepare for the Sabbath with extra cooking & cleaning, so I really needed water in the kitchen sink.

I called Mitch in a panic and he took off of work immediately so he could help.  He stopped at a camping store and bought a new faucet.  He has replaced faucets in our sticks & bricks so he figured it would be a fairly easy task.  Ha ha ha!!!  Little did we realize that there is absolutely no room to work in.  Not only is there about 3 feet between the stove and sink to work (meaning you have to put your body at a weird angle instead of kneeling straight in front of it), but the connections to the faucet are hidden way in the back of the cabinet behind big pipes.  It took about 3 hours to finally disconnect the hoses and fittings.  It took another hour to almost get the new fittings on, but he discovered something wasn't the right size, so he had to run to the hardware store (Menard's) to get what he needed.  He finally got everything connected, but when we turned the water back on, water was shooting out of the hoses and connections under the sink - big leaks!  He took it all apart and added teflon tape.  Same result.  Took it apart again and added pipe dope.  A bit of an improvement but still no cigar. 

I was outside when one of my neighbors came over to chat. When I told of the saga, she said that her husband used to be a plumber and is very mechanically inclined and would be happy to help!  He had just come home from work and would be over shortly.  He came over about 15 mins. later but only provided some extra tools to borrow.  They had some family over so he couldn't help.  Mitch tried again with those tools but still couldn't fix the leak. 

After about 8 hours of doing this, and being on his arthritic knees which at this point were in excruciating pain, he had to give up.  By now, it was almost 4:00 pm and I hadn't even started my cooking or even made the challah dough!  We managed to clear off a part of the counter so I could prepare everything, and we used the tiny bathroom sink as our water source (not easy doing dishes in there!).  Mitch offered Ron $100 to come over on Saturday to see what he could do.  He accepted and Mitch gave him our keys since we would be in shul and then at the rabbi's house for lunch so would be out all day.

Turns out Ron did not show up.  He didn't tell us that his kids and grandkids had flown in for the weekend from Dallas and he was spending time with them (had we known, we wouldn't have asked for his help).  Once we learned about that, the decision was made to call an RV mobile tech.  Unfortunately, no one was available on Sunday, so it will have to wait until tomorrow (and if he can't fix it, next step is a plumber).  The real challenge to fixing the leak is just being able to work in a small, cramped area to access the connections.

Which brings us to today (Sunday, our last day in this area and chance to explore).  Everything from under the sink was laying all over the living room, fireplace mantle and counters, and the dishes were piling up everywhere.  Not to mention that I never got to do the heavy duty scrubbing and vacuuming that I wanted to on Friday.  So given the choice between a science museum or trying to eliminate as much chaos as possible, we chose the latter.  I felt very good afterwards.  Mitch also washed and dried all the dishes and whatever we use until the sink is fixed, I will bring over to the bathhouse and use their sink, even if it's against the rules.  Mitch also used the day to rearrange his stuff in the truck and fix the broken kick plate switch under the step for the central vac.  We then went out shopping (needed to pick up a prescription, drop off some items at Goodwill, and get a bunch of household supplies from Dollar Tree).  We decided to eat out rather than use up more pots & pans in cooking (went to Denny's.  Pathetic -- all the time that we've spent in this area, and with so many, many places to eat, the ONLY place that we've ever eaten out has been Denny's.  I guess it's about the only place where I can get low or no carb food such as an omelet; I honestly don't want to order a bowl of lettuce anywhere or spend $20 on a piece of fish).