Sometimes Life is Surreal

Isn't there some reality show with Surreal Life in the title?  I have some material for such a show!

Maybe you have noticed that on this blog, I really try to focus on the positive.  It is good mental therapy for me to write about the positives, and I hope it is good therapy for you to read happy stuff.

I really need Erma Bombeck to help me write about the last few days and our plumbing saga, but I'll try to give you a short, short synopsis and tease you with some photos of what I WOULD HAVE BEEN writing about if PLUMBING had not gotten in the way.

Monday of this week, we awoke to the fourth plumbing emergency.  Gordon had to rescue the bathroom wall in the studio from my uncle, age 81, wielding a chainsaw.  He wanted to cut into the wall with a chainsaw to get to the pipes.  I kid you not!  Life is NEVER dull here on the farm!

Turns out, that fourth plumbing emergency... that turned the parking area into a wading pool... was a ten-minute fix for the professional, and the repair did not require cutting into the wall with a chainsaw. So that was a Positive Result.

There is something especially unnerving about starting one's day defending one's home and studio, albeit temporary living quarters, from a chainsaw attack.

Plumbing Emergency #2 and #3 were precipitated by the thermometer dipping to 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

#2 was a broken pipe behind the washer that put three to four inches of water on the pouring room floor.

Now, to keep this account my report focused on the Positives, we really did need to completely reorganize and deep-clean the 20' x 30' foot pouring room in the studio, moving, literally, the several TONS of plaster molds. 

This led to breaking old molds of porcelain designs that I decided on the spot to discontinue, retire, never make again.  A very hard decision made very, very easily when one has COLD water lapping at one's ankles.  This is a Good Thing! 

We are still into the total reorganization of molds in the pouring room which led to making more room for my fabric stash (yippee!) which led to sorting and refolding all that happy fabric.  See all these Happy Things that came out of a plumbing disaster? 

I also now have two shelves devoted to my happy yellow Tupperware! That makes me happy every time I look at the little kitchen nook we carved out in our temporary living quarters.

Please try to picture three of us, Unc, Gordon and me struggling against the indoor surge of water, moving what could be moved... sucking up water with Unc's huge, powerful wet/dry shop vac... me trying to rescue all the CLEAN sheets and towels that Gordon had thrown on the floor in his first responder attempt to soak up the water.  My "good" sheets and "good" towels.  No time to wring the water out. Heavy, heavy fabrics loaded with water that I could only drag to the threshold and dump outside on the sidewalk.

Then. Gordon let out a yell, and the room went deadly silent. 

The water that the shop vac had been working so hard to suck up all the time that we had been sweeping water toward its hungry nozzle....and none of us noticed that water was happily pouring out of the back of the shop vac, out of the little hole designed to drain a wet-dry shop vac when it is used for such plumbing disasters... but that little hole is SUPPOSED to be plugged when one is sucking up the flood water.

For thirty minutes, we had been sucking up water and dumping it right back on the floor, and NOT ONE of us noticed it until Gordon spotted the water gushing out of the hole like a garden hose running full force.

No, the men could not find the little plug that should have been in the shop vac. No one could remember where the shop vac was last used for water duty... which might give a clue to where the little plug had been left.

This was about the time I decided on retiring a good number of my porcelain designs, breaking the molds and master molds and simplifying my life.  Simplifying Life... that is another Good Thing.

I also decided to go shopping for a shop vac of my very own, in a pink or a yellow color.  You see, I already have a nice little collection of tools with pink or yellow handles that I have collected over years and years.

These Girly colors are supposed to SCREAM to ALL MEN, whether relatives or hired handymen, that the pink or yellow tools belong to Penny and are OFF LIMITS to MEN!

I probably could take a picture of my pretty Girly tools if you give me a day or two find my Girly tools by looking in all the tool stashes the men have made around the farm.   *sigh*  But my re-affirmed vow to find my Girly tools and buy a Girly shop vac is another Good Thing, something positive, right?

Plumbing emergency #3 was almost a repeat of plumbing emergency #2, except it was in the lower 20' x 40' lower level of the studio. Thankfully the shelves of molds are built on a 4" tall platform.

Then plumbing emergency #1 was precipitated by the first dip in temperature to 14 degrees Fahrenheit.  Yes, we have had two good dips in the last two weeks. 

This time, the hunters leasing the hunting cabin on the farm had not turned off the water and drained the pipes, as they are supposed to do (it's in writing), so our plumber spent two whole days inside and under the cabin replacing pipe, etc, etc, etc.

Here's the positive in that.  Our plumber replaced the copper pipe with some freeze-resistant PVC pipe...so we should be better protected in the future.  Plus, I made a mental note to always use freeze-resistant PVC pipe in future plumbing projects and to check behind the hunters anytime we are expecting a big freeze.

One more positive.  Every time the temperature dips suddenly to 20 or below, bugs are dying!  Fleas, ticks, the worms that eat at cotton or pecan trees, etc.  Those icky smelly Japanese beetles that were imported by the experts who thought they would be like our native Lady Bugs. 

I love those sudden cold winter dips in the temperature, primarily for the bug killing.  Ice storms and snow only insulate the ground. I want a sudden, hard, hard freeze that hopefully lasts for a few days. And sometimes, this non-chemical method of bug killing results in some plumbing adventures!

So, this is what has been consuming our time and energy (along with those two stomach things tucked in among the plumbing emergencies.) 

I am SO behind in my porcelain deadlines.

Please also forgive me for not responding yet to your gracious, lovely email about Daisy's death. 

These pictures are a tease of some blog posts to come.

Today is another new day, and I WILL make progress on the porcelain orders and the continuing studio re-organization and in ferreting out my Girly tools! *wink*