Plumbing Woes

Just as I was getting set to retire a little past 9:30 p.m. last evening, as I was about to set my cellphone alarm for 1:30 a.m., I noticed that my wife had texted me twice: once at 1:27 p.m., and again at 4:18 p.m.

She wanted me to check her E-mail account in the first text, and see if her employer had notified her that her pay statement was available at Intuit's QuickBooks.

I am unsure why I never checked my cellphone for messages prior to bedtime.

Anyway, her second text was to say that the notification was now there ─ could I please log into QuickBooks and download her pay statement and E-mail it to her.

So I had to take the time to do that, and to also text her that I had E-mailed her the statement (I closed with "Be good!"). By then it was maybe at least 9:45 p.m., so I decided it best to set my alarm for 1:45 a.m. to get me up to slowly ready for another five-mile+ walk.

As I was fussing with that, I heard my wife come into the house, for my younger brother was already home and watching T.V., and they exchanged greetings.

I hastened myself to bed, not wishing to become engaged in any conversation (we have separate bedrooms).

Overnight I slept as usual with short wakeful breaks, once even checking the time ─ it may have been around 12:15 a.m.

After some further sleep, I checked again, and it was 1:35 a.m., so I decided to just rise and not waste the remaining 10 minutes before my alarm chimed. However, when I went to the alarm setting to turn it off, I was amazed to see that for some stupid distracted reason, I had set it for 4 a.m.!

That would have been dreadfully late to be rising for a weekday walk ─ I could scarcely believe my good luck to have checked the time when I did.

By the time I was finally set to leave, a fully clothed weigh-in had me pegged at 187 or 188 pounds. And by the time I was outside and set to begin walking, it was 2:24 a.m.

I was not happy to see that there must have been a rain shower at some point in the prior evening, for there were still damp patches on the pavement.

As I feared, once I was at the elementary school playground three or four blocks from here for a half dozen sets of pull-ups and chin-ups, the equipment was dripping wet.

At least it was not raining (the sky was largely cloudy, but there were lots of open black stretches of clear night), so I wiped a metal bar dry and proceeded to exercise, managing for repetitions 5-2-3-2-2-2 respectively in the six sets.

The final two sets were with a pair of gymnastics-style rings, and I held the very last of those pull-ups for a 20-count.

Then it was on to the cement ramp leading to a school side door, and I put in a dozen slow full-range push-ups in a declined posture.

I recall nothing else about the walk worth mentioning, and it was 4:23 a.m. once I was back and approaching the locked front door.

I think that I was back to bed by maybe 5:45 a.m., but certainly somewhat ahead of 6 a.m.

Sleep was not always easy to find, so that was likely why I discovered it to already be something like 9:21 a.m. when I later did a time check. I hustled up ─ my brother would probably have been watching T.V. some while and wondering when I was going to join him and put our Android TV Box into action.

Well, as it happened, he was just about to head off on some errand, and would be returning anon. But he filled me in on a development involving the shower fixture in the main bathroom here upstairs ─ it had been leaking into the wall, and the ceiling above my youngest stepson's bed downstairs had a large wet patch that was absolutely soggy and dripping onto the bed.

Apparently the lad had already contacted a plumber for a house call to give a cost estimate for repair.

By the time my brother was back from his errand, we were to only watch one video ─ it was 1¾-hours (1:48:11), and had been streamed on May 2 at Rumble's The HighWire with Del Bigtree channel: Episode 370: LICENSE TO LIVE.

Christine Anderson, MEP, unceremoniously censored by the European Parliament, Joins Del to finish her Message to Europe and the World; Jefferey Jaxen Reports on The Origins of the Bird Flu Outbreak, Elon Fights Australia’s Move to Censor the World, and another ‘climate scare’ talking point falls flat in legacy media; Del Reunites with The Original Voice of Vaccine Research, Truth, and Education; Finally, The ICAN legal Match has been extended!

Guests: Christine Anderson, MEP, Sherri Tenpenny, DO, AOBNMM, ABIHM

Barely halfway through the video my brother went out into the backyard to possibly begin mowing the lawn for the first time this year, but he found that the gas-powered lawnmower would not fire up.

So he resumed watching the video with me until almost noon when he readied to head out for the remainder of the day without any of his usual bed rest.

I meantime had my day's first meal; and then maybe midway through the noon hour (I am guessing on the actual time) sought a needed nap.

I was to waken with a serious need to urinate, but as I was returning to bed upon visiting the bathroom, the realization struck that I also had the other elimination cue present, so I returned to the bathroom and dealt with that.

I was not at all adequately rested, feeling rather unwell for it, so return to bed I did, and possibly remained there until at least 3:30 p.m.

I rose to discover that my stepson's plumbing duo were already here.

I went downstairs to boil water for my day's third coffee, and bided time down there at the dining table. I saw that my brother had phoned earlier and left me a message, so I played it.

My stepson had by then joined me, and said that my brother had since phoned him.

Apparently my brother had been consorting with someone he knew in whatever bar he was drinking, and this guy was possibly a plumber who would tackle the job, if he could undercut whatever estimate we got.

So my brother enjoined me not to allow work to proceed. He declared that my name is on the title or deed of home ownership ─ not my youngest stepson's.

I am so damned sick of these near injunctions from my younger brother when he gets drunk ─ he can venture off to get drunk and leave me to deal with everything, and that's supposed to be understandable and accepted.

My stepson already knew of my brother's bar contact from the call my brother had made to the lad, but he decided to contract these guys on the spot ─ they were even offering to repair the toilet fill valve apparatus ─ the fill tube on ours had been snapped off at the base, so every few minutes the tank would refill. This had been going on since maybe December when my wife attempted the replacement of the entire apparatus on her own and got frustrated, breaking the fill tube or tower.

The plumbers needed to access the pipes of the shower / bathtub, so because my brother's bedroom closet is at the rear of this area, they cut a eight-inch to one foot square piece out of the drywall; and they also opened up the wet area above my stepson's bed.

He said he has a drywaller lined up to give an estimate on repair, but that will not likely be until sometime next week.

So now my drunken brother will be coming home to learn about all of this later this evening ─ I'm most likely going to have to listen to his condemnation and lip. He is especially not going to like that the plumbers were into his bedroom and closet and pulled so much stuff out of it to access the wall.

I did put back everything, but of course not exactly where he had things.

What I do not know is if my stepson plans to foot the repair bills on his own. I think he said that the plumbing job was $500.

I am definitely not looking forward to my drunk brother getting home. Especially since the plumbers said not to use the shower for at least a day, which leaves the ensuite shower in my brother's bedroom the sole option for my two stepsons. I don't shower ─ I'm a bather.

At least my working wife is not scheduled to be showing up following her full day today at the Thai restaurant ─ I believe that she said this morning that she wouldn't be back tonight.

The day has been largely sunny with a chilly breeze.

I learned that London Drugs has reopened after being closed for about a week after getting their system hacked, so I am considering hiking the 1¾ miles or so to the nearest outlet ─ I want to buy participation in the upcoming Heroes Lottery, and I dare not use my dreadfully 'overbalanced' credit card for an online purchase. London Drugs is the only other option offering tickets, apart from mailing in a cheque.

May 16 is the purchase deadline for the lottery 'Welcome Bonus' draw. It is unlikely that even purchasing at London Drugs at the present late date will get me in on time, but it might.

It is already approaching 7:15 p.m., and the store closes at 9 p.m., so I m going to consider this post complete and have myself clear to try and slip away from here by 8 p.m.