Winter Sunset, so soothing
It hasn’t been a wonderful year for many of my friends. They’ve lost family members, jobs, beloved pets, even their own lives. Any problems I might have are in comparison trivial. Still, they are problems. Like the toilet backing up, or needing to haul some water right after a surprise heavy snow. Or choosing what I thought would be the best route to pick up meat for the dogs, only to be the worst.
Trivial issues in the grand scheme but still personal issues. What is normally a pleasant two hour drive became three tense hours. The payoff was wonderful meat scraps for the dogs.
Solving the toilet meant several forays onto the Internet for non chemical solutions, to protect the septic system. The plungers I had weren’t working. Very hot water with dish soap didn’t do much but I had a really clean toilet. After several fruitless attempt I invested in one of those long snake things, and a different sort of plunger. Still no success. Reading the instructions on the snake made some difference. Actually, a lot of difference. I was about ready to head for the baking soda and vinegar, which I had not seen on my first searches when…yep, it drained.
Whoosh.
Then there was the water situation. I made the trek out for water later in the day, and the sun was past setting by the time I was home and parked. The valve was frozen…well, duh, temperatures had just that day climbed out of the twenties,and I was getting so cold. I lost the discussion with myself about letting it go until morning. Warm water over the valve didn’t do much. This situation called for TA DA, the hair dryer solution.
Except, I no longer have a hair dryer in the house since I so rarely use it. A quick search found the small one in the motor home (used to fluff up Saluki ears for a show…hey, I have my priorities!)
Standing holding a hair dryer on a frozen valve when the temperature is dropping isn’t on my list of top twenty fun things to do. Finally, the problem solving part of my brain kicked into gear. A quick search around the garage netted a nice heavy wire basket and a cloth cover. No doubt a slight longer search might bring up dinosaur bones and flinty arrow heads. That garage needs a bit of cleaning out.
Voila, a valve thawing contraption came into being and I soon had a tank of washing water, enough at least to last a week.
Small problems, none of them earth shattering, but solving them myself always brings such a feeling of accomplishment.
Have I been writing in between these minor obstacles/ Why yes I have been. I’m having so much fun learning why Sydney’s sister Lana took Mosby off Stormhaven, all of which led to Sydney meeting Devin and…well, you know, http://www.amazon.com/Question-Honor-Stormhaven-Story-Stories-ebook/dp/B00WHHG8WS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1450724751&sr=8-1&keywords=mona+karel A Question of Honor.
Mona Karel Author 