The throne room. With a new throne!

Well, it isn't pretty.  The potty in my bathroom was working, sort of.  It was not nice, even after scrubbing, and even pumice stones (!), I couldn't get it to look 'clean'.  Less dirty, perhaps, but it was a mess.  And it would tend to plug up, and try to run over, if you weren't paying attention.  This made potty business a very attentive activity.  You do NOT flush and walk off.

And the sad part is, Husband's toilet was worse.  I would clean, and it looked like I'd done... nothing.  And his would run, continually.  He finally figured out a way to flush and get it to stop, but I didn't have the magic touch, so would have to let him know if I used his toilet. Otherwise whatever time elapsed, we'd hear the sound of running water in the toilet.  Thank goodness we don't have city water, or we'd owe a king's ransom by this point!

But it was not pleasant, it was not good, and it did nothing for the pump, or the house.  So, Husband got the thought that we should get new toilets. 

Okay. Cool.

We trotted off to Orange Hardware, and after losing him, (ironically because I needed to use the bathroom), I found the right aisle for toilets.  He was looking at many, many toilets.  I stood and knit a hat nearby, amusing many shoppers.  (Someone made a comment about a toilet cover. Uh. Nooo... 😄)

We finally agreed on a toilet, and after scaring up some help for him to get it in the pickup, off we went home. 

He started removing my old toilet, which led to Ding getting 50 kinds of curious.  She wanted to be there.  It worked out all right, as he put her over on the mat. (Her 'place', as it were, and she was able to watch, and for the most part, not be in the way.)  He had all out, then we locked Ding in the bedroom for a minute, as he shuttled old toilet parts out, and brought new toilet parts in.  Amazingly, she didn't try playing the bongos on the door during all this!

He was worried about the toilet being not the right size, as the spot for it in my bathroom is narrow, and the pluming is right near the wall.  Well, it worked!  So, he put all the parts together, and  we buttoned everything up, the next morning he checked for any leaks or drips.

NONE!!!  :)

So he put caulking around the base, and I now have a new throne!

God Bless the Queen?

The one and only drawback so far, is the sound.  Remember I said the old one would try and run over?  The new one, when it flushes... Sounds like the old one when it runs over!  This has made me pay attention. 

I will get used to it... But heck, it works!!!!

My dryer had a lint stroke...

It was one of those kind of days...

We noticed that Schrodinger was itchy.  A closer exam showed flea dirt, and then - the fleas.  Since she didn't have fleas until a few days ago, we think our dog might have brought some in when we were letting them get together for "pet to pet" time, so they won't have problems with each other.

Best laid plans. Not. 

I have cleaned and vacuumed, and she was treated, so we hope we don't get fleas in the house.  So far, so good, I am not itchy, nor is Husband, and believe me, I am sensitive to bug bites.

So, the day goes on, and I notice that I haven't cleaned out the lint trap in the dryer.  Pull it out, like I have done a zillion times before, and zzzwhoop, the lint was sucked into the line.  Whereupon, the dryer suddenly became an oven.  NOT good.  (And yes, now I know not to leave the dryer running when I pull the lint trap out.  Grumble...)

After some snarling and growling between Husband and I, (mostly me... Okay, okay, all me...), Husband told me something I guess I should have figured, but didn't know. The dryer vent has not one, but two 90 degree turns in it, as well as running several FEET to the outdoors.  The feet long run I knew about, not the turns.  Well, one of the turns caught the lint, and blew it into a ball, blocking the exhaust completely, hence the oven imitation.

So, Husband had to go under our house to find the trapped lint, and fix the problem.  We tried several different methods, none worked to remove said fluff, so under the house it was.  NASTY to do this, as it is really narrow, having been build on an older foundation, and all the duct work is in the way.  Plus, it is damp and buggy down there.  I stayed up top, to get all the sheets and such put down for his return to the light, (our access to the foundation is in the house), as well as towels to clean up his face and hands.  He started to crawl down there, and came back, asking for a towel.

Oookaay?

Told me that the spiderwebs were so thick he couldn't see.

Oh, I am SO glad he did that.  I think my hysterics would have had hysterics at that point.  He found out not only had the lint balled up in a turn, one of the pipes had come loose.  He then unclogged the bend, put the pipe back together, and came out of the hole, looking like an extra for Revenge of the Mummy.  He dropped the clothing on the sheet, and ran in to get a shower.

I washed lots of spiderwebs out... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew.  And dust.  And, um, other stuff.  I don't know what it was, and just hoped it would come out. (It did.)

At this point, the clothes are clean, and strangely, the dryer is working better than it has since we've moved here.

I still hope Husband doesn't have to do anymore dryer vent pipe surgery...