Everybody Poops

That was one of may favorite books to read to the kids when they were little.

Read the rest of the post and watch the video and the reference will become clear...

One of the sinks in the master bath has not been draining well recently.

We finally took a few minutes to investigate what was going on.

SWMBO pulled everything out from under the sink while I grabbed a bucket and a pair of slip-joint pliers just in case.

I loosened the trap and emptied into the bucket. The trap was pretty clean.

Then I took off the extension for the tailpiece. It has some goop around its perimeter so I cleaned that out with my finger. The extension is ABS (black plastic) and was cut with a hacksaw so had rough edges protruding on the inside of the pipe. I took a utility knife and trimmed the edges so they were clean and smooth. That should help minimize future issues.

Then I loosened the ball-and-rod for the pop-up drain assembly and removed the rod so I could remove the pop-up stopper. The stopper had a little goop on it, so I cleaned that up too.

Looking down the tailpiece revealed the issue. My fingers aren't long enough to clean it out, So I grabbed a wet wipe and had SWMBO grab a wooden skewer.  I balled up the wet wipe and used the skewer to push it down the tailpiece. Here's the result:

I assume it's a coagulated accumulation of makeup, lotion, hair, and other stuff.

We never have to do this with the boys' sinks...

Hydrangeas

Recently I was chatting with someone about gardens and. more specifically hydrangeas.

We have several in our yard, though I don't remember the exact variety names at this point.

One is a variety similar to "Annabelle". It behaves similarly to a perennial with new stems growing from ground level each spring and has large white globe-shaped flower heads, one head per stem.

These are in the back yard along the stone wall.

Another is a small/medium shrub, which I prune back hard each spring to maintain its size. At the beginning of the summer post-pruning it is 3 feet tall and by the end of the summer it is perhaps 4-5 feet tall. It has very diffuse, "open" flowers that turn pink late in the year.

These are in a back bed between the driveway and patio.

The last is a variety similar to "PeeGee". It has a dwarf tree form. I prune it back - hard - each spring and it seems to grow quite vigorously. I prune it down to 5-6 feet tall to start the summer and it ends up at 9-10 feet by the end of the summer. The flower heads are quite large and oblong. The bloom pictured is longer than my hand, from fingertip to wrist, and is roughly 4 feet off the ground.

These are in the front garden on either side of the front porch.

The Destroyer of Worlds

He's a lab.

That means he's bred to want to have things in his mouth.

It doesn't really matter what it is at this point.

Even heater control knobs will do.

Because I think I'm smarter than him and can see where this is going, I played the long game.

The electric baseboard heater belonging to this knob is in the entrance to the carriage house.

I'd previously removed it when I installed the new tile in the entry, so knew what needed to be done.

It wasn't really in too bad of shape, but has been painted a couple of times, evidence being that the knob is not the same color as the heater.

Also, to get where I want outsmarting the Destroyer of Worlds I might as well go all the way and replace the heater, too.

The replacement heaters were 25% off this week at the green big box store, so I got a new one and the associated smart thermostat.

No chew-able protrusions to tempt him any more...

It took me about an hour to remove the old one, unbox & install the new one, and decipher the particularly poorly written manual to correctly wire & program the thermostat.

And with the new auto-setback thermostat, it will probably save a few pennies on the electric bill.