Encore to Part 1 aka Part1b Revenge of the Mouse King; if you enjoyed part 1 this part is shorter and the plumbing part is on video.
“I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain! One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night filled mountain, in itself forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy”
― Albert Camus
I was only half joking about the spill of water in front of the dishwasher if you slogged through Part 1 There was a bit of water but it was a foot away from DW-dish. Our saga continues a few days later . . .
This past Tuesday 9/01/20 it happened again. I had started a load in the dishwasher before going to bed. The second load since the last fix. Still, I stood and watched it for a few minutes looking for a leak. Satisfied that it was fine I shut off the lights and left it to its task. As I walked into the kitchen that morning I was yet again met with a puddle filling the kitchen floor. The towels I used to sop up the water last time were ready for duty, clean, dry sitting folded in the next room.
Pre show extra before the encore.
When I went to take the towels outside to hang on the line what do I see? The doggie door is broken. That doggie door with hard plastic segments for the flap instead of soft vinyl was a big part of finally ridding my self of mice those years ago. I fumed and frustrated over what to do to fix it. Try to fashion strips of rubber of some kind to replace what had worn out? Each segment is held together with screws. That can't be by accident. But how many times a day do they use that door. It can't just be the kind of rubber inner tubes are made of. Or can it? Metal fatigue but with rubber, Rubber fatigue?
Its still morning, I am already exhausted from DW-dish debacle Ib (the revenge). I choose to obsess on finding an answer to the doggie door. Dishes won't need doing for a few days and what I don't need are more mice in the house coming through the gaping dog door hole in the door.
Amazon and other online retailers sell replacement units that oddly cost the same as new ones. $45-$65 up to $137 for the same item. I finally found the manufacture's web site. They do sell just the rubber segment hinges for $15. Plus $7.95 for the one that seals at the bottom of it's swing. $22.95 plus shipping & tax. Keep in mind that my bank account is perpetually running on fumes. Miserly doesn't even begin to describe my M.O. these days. The whole AirSeal/UltraFlex Hinged LEXAN™ Replacement Flap by Ideal is $32+&+. But now I have a search term to use. $25 Amazon Prime for the whole flap. It also says that I bought one in 2012.
Then it comes back to me. The flap that came with the dog door in 2010 did not last. This just broken on lasted 8 years. Got back down on the floor. As you know, not my favorite thing. Duct tape should hold broken segments together in place till the new flap gets here. The dogs of course are afraid of it. I put them outside to decide how much they were afraid. Not that afraid as it turned out.
The replacement came. Think I'll wait to see how long the duct tape holds
Charlie Foxtrot plumbing repairs Part 1 took over a month all together. It was slow going due to my various disabilities and comorbid conditions. I had just started picking away at the backlog of home maintenance and housekeeping that went undone for 5+ years. I did very little of that kind of thing prior to 2013 due to apathy and short attention span. Cleaning and rearranging my little office was the place I stared in June. That was supposed to move my tinkering and it's associated items filling the dining/living room to it's own space. At that point the nice wood floor could be cleaned then . . . the list goes on and on.
Then, out of nowhere, this set of critical repairs pushed all of that aside for now.
I will update this if fix #4 fails, assuming that I don't run away to someplace where they never heard of plumbing.
Now to do something about Part 2 where the shower stall is melting the wall and flooding the floor in the adjacent room.
