You know it has been a slow news week when your major blog topic is plumbing.
The shower faucet has had issues over the years; every couple it seems to start leaking. I had replaced the seals at the end of the stems with new ones but this time that fix did not work.
Nothing like a drip – drip – drip to irritate you. Putting a bucket under the faucet just replaced the dripping with a splash-splash-splash.
So, it was off to the hardware store to try and find replacement parts. The house is 24 years old and used generic fixtures; finding parts would be a long shot.
I pulled one of the faucet stems to take along. Here is what the old stems looked like:
Old faucet stems
I lucked out and found new stems but with one major difference: They operate backward.
The original stems opened by turning counter-clockwise. The new stems open clockwise. While replacing the stems stopped the dripping we had to get used to the reverse operation. During the week I cranked the faucets the wrong way and got a blast of hot or cold water for my trouble. You learn quickly after that.
In theory there are right-hand stems and a left-hand stems but the store had only the left-hand stems in stock. Beggars can’t be choosers, as the saying goes, so I bought a pair of left-hand stems. Price was about $10.00 each, well worth it to cure the dripping.
As for the rest of the week, well, we will just say the time went by. We had some light snow but temperatures remain mild for late January. Here is a photo of the yard taken this morning; note the snow is present only in the shady areas.
Our yard on January 27th
We are already looking forward to spring (even though it is still months away). TV commercials for John Deere lawn tractors and folks loading their SUVs with fresh plants have already hit the airways out here – can spring be far away?
The next big event will be when Pam gives her notice at work. We will have to adapt to a new level of income, but both of us are more than ready to retire. For me that will not be for a few years yet.
That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!
Pam’s Five Cents Worth:
February 1 is the day I submit my resignation at the community college. You all know how it goes; plans are in place for your job to remain the same until you retire and then wham-o – the administration cancels part of your work contract (in my case, the remote work option) and everything changes. I’ve been using my annual leave benefits on Mondays and Fridays since the first of the year, to shorten my work week while still being paid at the full-time level. Vacation time runs out in April, at which point I [perhaps] go part-time to train somebody, or I’m done. Who knows?
I had one of those half awake/half asleep dreams this morning that took me back to the day Fields and I were married. We were both returning to college after the wedding, and neither of us had jobs yet. Things were kinda up in the air then – how were we going to live? I think my brain is telling me I feel the same way now. Even though the financial circumstances are different, it’s about the unknown.
Married life for us has been a constant rotation of “enough money/not enough time” or “enough time/not enough money.” I don’t apply for my pension (such as it is) until the end of 2018 or early 2019, so semi-retirement will likely be the “enough time/not enough money” option.
The search for a retirement house will certainly be impacted by this development, as my reduced income introduces a monetary impact I was not planning on until next year at the earliest. However, as Fields notes above, we are both more than ready to “retire.” For myself, after evaluating 16,750 (and counting) incoming student transcripts over a dozen years, definitely more than ready.
Happy Trails.
