The Aerie
It all started last night when The Boy launched himself onto the couch in the manner that teenaged boys are wont to do: completely without regard for the couch. There was a crack, and the couch broke again.
It had broken in this place once before - where the right side of the couch seat frame connects to the back support. Now, this couch arrived in our home under a bit of a cloud, so this is more of the same.
Anyway I woke up this morning knowing that before I got to the Big List of Stuff that needed doing before The Big Trip, I had to fix the couch.
Now, really, I told myself I was lucky. My first "fix" of the couch was a complete botch, as evidenced by its falling apart under the onslaught of Teen. Since we're swapping homes as part of The Big Trip 2006, I was happier to be fixing the couch BEFORE the trip, rather than getting an upset call or e-mail from our guests complaining that the baby fell into the couch and they can't get the baby back out.
I stood the couch on end, took off the bottom panel, ran off to the hardware store, drilled and bolted the couch back together. Much more robust repair, highlighted by two-count-'em-two completely blind parallel drill-hole alignments. What this means is, I had to slip two 4" bolts through holes drilled in two boards (the back and seat supports), but my drill bit was not long enough to reach through both boards. So I had to drill one hole, then go around the opposite side of the other board and drill a hole directly across from and in-line-with the first hole. I didn't just do this once, I did this twice.
Go me.
I refastened the base panel, put the legs back on, and around 11:00 a.m. I put the couch back on the floor. Finished! And now I could get on to the day's work of packing for the Big Trip. Sure it was a full day's work, but I had only lost a few hours and it was good that I got the couch repai...
Hey. What the hell is this water coming out from under the fridge?
Yes, that's right. Less than five minutes after I finished fixing the couch, I discovered that the hose that supplies the ice maker with water was leaking.
So... back to the hardware store for plastic tubing, then I had to turn off the water for the entire house while I fixed the leak. Of course, since I had to move the fridge it was necessary to clean up the fridge-schmutz that grows beneath there. And I got The Boy to vacuum the dust out of the fridge parts as well.
(Two asides on that paragraph. First, what the heck is it with the plastic plumbing these days? When I got the ice maker working, I was a bit tenative about the plastic hose supplying the water - with good reason, as it turns out. So what did the contractors use to build our new bathroom? All plastic tubing. I look at the feeds heading up from the basement to the second floor and I worry.
(Second aside: Why the heck do they put the heat exchanger coils on the BOTTOM of a fridge? Heat rises, so it immediately tries to get back into the fridge! Stupid design.)
Anyway, I replaced the tubing and restored the fridge to working order, finishing up around 1:30.
As I dragged myself up the stairs to shower the couch lint, refridgerator schmutz, and wood chips (from drilling) off myself, I mused about how lucky I was. I mean, really. The tube COULD have leaked while we were on our trip. We could have returned home to extensive household damage. At least that's what I told myself emphatically as I went down the basement to turn the household water pressure back on, and then crawled back up to the attic to take my shower.
Then we had a visit from some folks from Great Britain with whom we might swap homes in the future (they're in town on a home swap with another person). Then we gave the twins their belated early-birthday presents. Then I took the twins back to the stores so they could exchange most of their gifts (in order CompUSA, Target, and Barnes and Noble). And then I came home and grilled salmon for dinner.
So it was about 7:30 or so, and FINALLY, finally, I was ready to get to work on the day's worth of cleaning!
*thud*
Posted by Albatross at July 25, 2006 10:59 PM | TrackBack