Our little room is really shaping up nicely. You can see that Steven Edison put in the light, (like the water, there is no electiricty to it) READ ON. We got our new vanity with a top that I thought looked like something out of a rest area but I guess it's fine now. I'm waiting to install the hand blowers and the urinal.
As you can see, we have a toilet but that was not without controversy. We went to the Depot and looked at toilets and decided on a "comfort height" due to our advancing ages. Steve suggested that we do the rest of our shopping and then come back to get the toilet so we didn't have to carry it around on the cart. I agreed. We bought the vanity and a few other things and went back for the toilet. We grabbed it off the shelf and checked out.
Well, the plumber did his thing and as soon as Steve got home from work he had to go down to see his new toilet. He came upsatirs and said, "we have a little problem". I thought, oh crap, there is no water to the toilet or some such thing. As it turns out, his idea to come back for the toilet did not pay off as we took the wrong one. Not only is it not "senior height", it's round instead of enlongated. I've been teasing him about it ever since.
At left you can see the plumber in action. From what I can tell of this picture, I think he's still looking for water.
I do have another question though. On the box for the toilet is said it can flush a bucket of golf balls down in one flush. Here's the question, wouldn't it depend on what size bucket the golf balls have come from?
Smug ! That's what we were. Steve is a pretty handy guy indeed but this was kind of funny. We went to Home Depot and got all the things we needed to cut off the supply ends and to install the shut off valves for the hot, cold, etc. The first thing he did was cut off what appeared to me to be where the drain goes. He hack sawed that off and then put this stuff on the actually melted the PVC pipes together. That went quit well and I might add, without my help.
The next thing we did was cutt off the extra length of pipes they gave us when they built the bathroom. We took our pretty new pipe cutter and after a couople of revolutions the pipe was cut to legnth. Even though we shut the water off to the entire house we were nervous about water flowing into the basement. He cut off the piece, then the next putting shut of valves on each. Steve then picked up a pice of the pipe he'd cut off and said, "Don't you think there should be water in there because there was water going to it even though it was capped off"? I said, I think so. We both suspected something was wrong. We just expected the inside to be wet. When he cut off the pipes, not a drip of water went anywhere. Not a single drop. Steve went into the other room and said, "Oh my God, come here". I went to the other room to have Steve show me that the pipes we had just cut off never had water going to them at all. They went through the wall, up to the rafters and ended.
Being eager to get this done, it stopped the project in its tracks. On Tuesday I called the plumber who came to hook up the lines to "real water". He then gave me some pointer about putting in the toilet which Steve has done a hundred times. He told me that as we tighen up the hook things, the ring will pull up from the floor so we needed to put screws into the ring. I looked at Alan with my typical puzzled look and he said, "You want me to bring down the toilet from the garage for you to install?" We went up and got the toilet and put it in. Let me rephrase, he put it in. He then explained to me why there were two drain holes for the bar area. I actually understood this, a little. I called Steve at work to tell him before I didn't understand anymore.
You can see our little plumber doing his thing to a pipe that was hooked to "air". Remember, not a drip of water. He really cranked the shut off valve tight so we didn't have any water leaking. There was a better chance of the Pope becoming Lutheran than water coming out of that pipe. As you can see below, all the valves are in place and we are ready for water. What a hoot.
As you can see, our, "indoor, outhouse" is progressing well. We paused for a few minutes as we tried to figure out how to go around the toilet hole. I'm not sure what the exact term is but I'll use that one. The next run across the floor we had to find a way to get around the hole and make is look nice and even though the toilet would cover any flaws. Steve laid the floor next to the hole and started to pencil in an outline when a "brilliant" man suggested that we use the papers that seperated each pieceof flooring and trace the hole onto the paper and transfer it onto the next piece of flooring. We actaully had to do it twice as the floor pieces went down in two different pieces. We just had to do the same thing twice. What a wonderful fit. The "brilliant" man struck again.
OUR JIMMY = WALLY
As any dear friends would do, Freddie and Jimm (AKA Wally) take care of our house in The Villages while we're gone. They come over each Monday, get the mail, flush the toilets and just check things over. Sometimes they even call to tell me the pool is green.
Well, this day our Jimmy took Water Lilly out for a ride so she is ready for me when I get back to the house. It appears that Water Lilly had a mind of her own this day. Our Jimmy (AKA Wally) was preparing to take the old girl for a spin and it appeared he had it in reverse but perhaps not, as he went through our kitchen wall. Through might be a slight exaggeration but let's just say we now can have our own drive through window.
Freddie called to tell me what happened and after I stopped laughing I thought, "Only to Jimmy could this happen". I told Freddie that as long as no gators can get in we can fix it when we return. I suggested to Steve that he repair this at the same time he repairs the two holes in our closet wall where he installed electrical outlets. Perhaps Steve can just improvise here as well and put in a huge electrical outlet.
Upon repair, we will put a large flashing stop sign and those cement poles you see protecting the bank tube machines. We are just glad that the Lilly was not hurt. Unlike Water Lilly on television, she has had no cosmetic surgery thus far. Needless to say, we have not asked Jim to test drive our car.
And to be sure, Wally will not live this down anytime soon.
We love our Jimmy in spite of his driving abilities, or lack thereof.
HOW DID JIMMY DO IT !!
How did poor Jimmy put up with Frank (Fred) for all these years? I think Pope John Paul should be pushed aside and Jimmy should be made a saint. (Other than our wall which Is coming up)
Peter and Ed, as usual put on quite the spread for the guys who have been together for 25 years. The food was great, the company was wonderful and it was so nice to see Fred and Jimmy on their special day. You will see Fred above in the blue designed shirt and our Jimmy in the white shirt behind the cake cutter. I guess Jimmy was not much of a cake cutter so someone had to step in.
All in all, it was a wonderful day for them and for us. We really wanted to be with the guys on their special day. I'm still not sure how Jimmy did this without a partial lobotomy or without being heavily medicated.
Congratulations to our very dear friends of more than 14 years. May Jimm have the courage and patience to handle another 25 years.
UP, UP & Away !!
On August 19th, Steve and I were performing what would have normally been an uneventful day at JBS getting ready for school to start. I was instant messaging our friends in Florida when Jimm said "I wish you guys could be here for our 25th anniversary". I hollered to Steve in the other room and said, "How would you like to fly to Orlando this afternoon?" He thought I was kidding but I was really serious. I looked up flight times and prices while he thought about it and still thought I was kidding He said, "Fine, if you want to go let's go!" I made the reservations, told Steve to shut his computers down and off to Orlando we went that same day. We came home, packed our computer equipment and headed to Mitchell Field to catch a 6:55 PM flight with arrival in Orlando at 10:34. So off we went, stopping at the Cone on the way. We still got to the airport too early and had a lot of time to kill.
I had my first experience with the x-ray scanners at the airport. I just know my physique is going to end up on You Tube under the heading, "Don't let this happen to you".
It was an uneventful flight as Frank came to the airport to pick us up. We were both exhausted but glad we were able to be there for the special day and too meet many new faces who we will hook up with again when we return SOON.
