Drip Drip Drip

Inspirational song: Pump It Up (Elvis Costello)

For months, the tiny drip in my bathroom faucet has been getting worse, culminating in such a steady drip that I started setting small plants under it and they would be thoroughly watered in under an hour (frequently well under an hour). The faucet was the original 1959 installation, and I was reluctant to ask for a replacement, because it seemed very "atomic age" and cool to me. The choice was taken out of my hands.

The Mr finally got around to this item on his honey-do list, and the first thing he discovered was that there was no shut-off valve under that sink. Once he turned off water to the whole house, he started removing things that ought to have been easily fixed. Nothing was easy. After 65 years, the whole assembly was basically rusted or corroded into a solid hunk. He worked hard to get things loose, at one point dropping the entire cast iron sink through its hole, crushing the tub that had been set to catch water from the P-trap. He had to cut the old faucet off in the end. 

I was out with our daughter, Val, and Avery for part of this. We were having lunch downtown, and he joined us right at the end. We then met down at Lowe's to choose a new faucet (I wanted a pretty basic chrome one, and we went with a modestly-priced Delta). With all the accessories he needed, including shut-off valves that should have been there all along, what should have been a $5 fix ended up being a $100 all-day pain-in-the-butt. Works now, though.

Our 3-generation outing involved a whole lot of walking. I even joined late in the process, and still covered a lot of ground. We parked the car in one central spot, and shopped in an expansive strip mall. We bought next to nothing, but we had very specific missions rather than just wandering aimlessly with little self-control. We found that Lowe's had moved and added to Dmitri's favorite Halloween display. Val was as enraptured as her brother is by it. I like them and all, but I still haven't come across one I can't live without. I'll keep watching and pondering.