Monday, December 27, 2010

And all through the house ...

'Twas the day after Christmas
and all through the house,
the guests were all packing to leave
(-- ‘cept the mouse.)
The gifts were all tucked into boxes or bagged,
The hugs and the kisses goodbye had been snagged…

We had a nice Christmas visit from Helen, Jay, Rebecca, Lucy, Arman and John. (Peter, of course, was here already.) After Mexican food, turtle cake (which Tom insisted was pie), roast beef, mashed potatoes, figgy pudding (hard sauce or whipped cream?) and a fistful of pistachios and chocolate, the house emptied out. Peter, all celebrated out and with nowhere he had to go, slept peacefully on.

On his way out the door, Jay mentioned to Tom what he could do to fix the kitchen sink faucet. It has been more or less frozen in position for a long time, meaning that we cannot run water into the sink with the drainboard. According to Jay, apparently this would be easily resolved.

We spent some time doing basic cleaning up: vacuuming rugs, picking up scraps of wrapping paper and tissue flowers the cats had snagged from the tree and disemboweled, loading breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and tossing linens into the washing machine. I then headed to my comfortable bed and took a long morning nap. (I hadn’t slept all that well for two nights at the motel). And while I slept …

Tom decided to fix the faucet. He took it apart so well that eventually something cracked. So off he went to one of his favorite haunts – Home Depot – to pick up another fixture and the things he needed to install a shiny new faucet.

And he set to work while Peter in his room and I in my cap snored softly along in our sweet winter’s nap.

After much grunting and forceful exclaiming -- I don't think there was any seasonal mention of Dasher and Dancer in any of this -- and a few more trips to Home Depot, Tom was making progress when I finally woke up, stretched, pushed Cassidy off my legs and went out to investigate.

After a number of trips down to the basement to find tools and a number of digs through the pile of parts scattered on the dining room table and the occasional call for me to find the crescent wrenches he had stashed under his back, Tom was nearing the end of the exploit.

There were a few false starts, but he finally had everything lined up the way he wanted and descended to the basement to turn the water on. About this time, Peter wandered out, got himself a cup of coffee and dialed up his girlfriend. At exactly the moment he greeted her on the phone, water began pouring out of everything around the sink – except for the faucet.

I shouted to Tom, he turned the water off, Niagara slowed and we all went in search of towels, Peter saying a fast and unexplained goodbye to the phone.

After getting things mopped up, Tom found the problem, fixed it and we now have a lovely working faucet.

Along the way, the kitchen floor got the mopping it so badly needed. And Peter was able to provide a credible explanation to his girlfriend for his abrupt departure earlier.

The mouse – who seems to have taken up permanent residence in Peter’s room – meanwhile stayed warm and dry throughout the adventure.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, nice dry pipes!

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