Your leaking thatched hut during the restoration of a pre-Enlightenment state.

 

Hello, my name is Judas Gutenberg and this is my blaag (pronounced as you would the vomit noise "hyroop-bleuach").



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   pipe cutting with the wrong tool
Sunday, October 19 2014
Gretchen had come down with some sort of non-Ebola illness last night and by this morning was too weak to walk the dogs. So I took them on an uneventful walk of about two miles in length in the forest south of the house. The only vertebrate wildlife I saw were birds, a bluish-grey species with white stripes on the sides of their tails. Eventually Gretchen took some 60 mg of pseudoephedrine, which gave her the strength necessary to attend a couple Woodstock Film Festival events. As for me, I bailed on the one I'd previously said I would attend and instead went to the the Wall Street House to do some work. I went out of the way out to 9W so I could buy a variety of plumbing supplies at Lowes, though for some reason I forgot T-fittings, which send me out on a second trip, this time to Herzog's. While at that Uptown Plaza, I also got a tin of mixed nuts and something called Lagunitas Little Sumpin' Extra Ale. It might be the best beer I've ever had, and it put me in the mood to do plumbing despite the fact that I didn't have a pipe cutter. Without that, I was forced to use a reciprocating saw. It's a terrible tool for cutting copper pipe; when it isn't simply vibrating the pipe, it makes rough burr-filled cuts that need to be cleaned up before they can be used. Eric had finished his painting for the day and hung out with me in the basement while I worked, helping to steady the pipe while I cut it with the saw. Despite the lack of a pipe cutter, I was working rapdily and, if I say so myself, competently, easily installing an additional valve for the washing machine and then stubbing out a hot water line near the closet that will eventually become the world's smallest half-bath. Eric also helped me move the removed radiator from the steps to the garage using a heavy-duty cart I'd brought. When I tried to repressurize the heating system, the valve I'd closed that had once supplied the pulled radiator proved leaky, sending me scrambling yet again to mop up unwanted water. It was simple matter to replace the valve with a cap, something I was going to have to do anyway. (You can't leave a live water valve to nowhere over a wooden floor in a rental property.)


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