Humpday Happenings...

Well, the good news is that...
((...crickets...))
Ah hell, there IS no "good" news today, so who are we kidding?
There is just differing levels of bad news...and I suppose one might find some silver lining among those clouds just in knowing THAT.
The weather today...not AS cold as yesterday...only MINUS ONE outside (0700 hrs), and it feels like MINUS FOURTEEN.
Today's high will reach into POSITIVE numbers (we made it to 3 above on Tuesday) with a high of about TWELVE ABOVE...
A good amount of sunshine (that won't melt a damn thing) and a bit more snow later this week.
In the meantime, let me regale you with ALL the goings-on in and around the 'Fortress"...(mostly IN).
So, pour another steaming cup of whatever you need to stay warm this morning, and let's get thios show on the road...
*** First up, as is tradition, is our WHO SAID THAT? quote of the week:
"It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men."
And you will see a very apropos "theme" attached to this quote in today's post, so WHO said that?
Than answer at the top of tomorrow's post.
Meanwhile, back in the history department...
*** Houses are like people in MANY ways. They have their own "personality", if you will - a way of either endearing themselves to those living within, or sometimes, being problematic to the point of becoming (as one movie showed) a MONEY PIT.

Being a homeowner means you sooner or later develop a "symbiotic relationship" with that structure.
It's a give and take proposition.
You give...it takes, usually in the form of money from the hip-national bank.
Our house is no exception.
Being built at the close of WW2, it has it's own unique way about it.
A modified Cape Cod (not quite two full floors), 3 bedrooms, with a full basement and a 2-car detached garage makes up the majority of our "Fortress".
But, for some strange reason, this house LOVES water.
--Years ago, we had a garage roof that was dripping on our cars...had to replace THAT roof.
--After that, we had water incursion into the computer room (former bedroom on the first floor), and into the laundry room ceiling, so we replaced the roof on the HOUSE last year.
--Between those two "roofings", we had two small basement floods when the drain backed up from the channel around the house which siphons off ground water to send it into the sewer system.
--The hot water inlet valve on the washer has been leaking, so we wash everything in COLD water, unless I carry buckets of HOT water to the washer to warm things up (don't feel like taking apart a washer and then not being to get a replacement part).
--I've rebuilt the delta faucet on the kitchen sink (that was leaking)
--We had a faulty shut off on the shower faucet (one piece - cartridge went bad due to calcium buildup and wear)
--And, we also had a feed-line break at the toilet on the 1st floor, flooding that room (as mentioned last year in one blog post).
--We also have numerous spots along the house where the gutters refuse to stay clean (even with guards on them) and drip in front of the front door whenever we get a decent rainstorm.
--Naturally, we have also had our share of stopped up sinks and toilets (as does everyone from time to time - liquid plumber to the rescue).
All this leads me to believe that our house wants an INDOOR WATER FEATURE, and we're not ready for that...any time soon.
--The latest adventure has been an ongoing gig since the advent of these sub-zero temps.
The upstairs (powder room) sink backed up.
So I poured some very hot SALT water into it - cleared it out by the next day.
It happened again yesterday, when I heard a dripping that I couldn't place at first...then I dashed upstairs and saw the sink was OVERFLOWING onto the carpet (not good).

The scene of the crime...

Yep, the sink drain was blocked (apparently with ice from the frigid temps).
I scooped out the water from the sink, pouring it into the toilet, only this time, I tried to flush the toilet up there...
(bad idea and a big mistake)

And the water came down to HERE...

The hopper overflowed (thankfully with clean water) onto the rug, saturating it MORE, and causing drippage into the first floor bathroom ceiling (wet down that floor nicely, and as can be expected, since water ALWAYS runs DOWNHILL (Spoken to Jack and Jill on that one), we had drippage into the BASEMENT, soaking the rugs down THERE.

And finally wound up HERE.

Luckily, I manged to "MacGyver" a hook to keep the toilet from refilling, but the spill had already been done.
We called Korte, and when they came out, they determined the DRAIN (which both the toilet and sink share) was blocked with ice, as we let the sink drip to prevent freezing.
They advised me to do what I did before with the hot salt water.
I had used our new rug shampoo machine (Bissell to the rescue here) to SUCK UP the water already down (does a good job).
Anyway, I do the sink and toilet with the hot salt water, and plunge both in the hope of jarring the ice blockage loose...
(another bad idea)
The sink apparently cleared, but the toilet was making a SUCKING sound as I plunged it, and the rug got soaked yet AGAIN...
Apparently, the toilet base is either loose, or the wax ring is dislodged, and that means another fix (hopefully soon).
The crapper will have to be removed and then RE-SEATED and fixed back down to the flooring (and hopefully the floor is in good enough shape to allow that to happen).

Here's hoping we get this FIXED.

So...we shall see what happens. I mean we can do fine with ONE toilet, but it's nice to have the other one...and working properly and not trying to damage another room (or more) in the house, right?
As it stands NOW, we're booked between 2-5 PM TOMORROW (Korte is slammed with frozen pipes all over the area), and after that...we shall see.
Meanwhile, back at the OUTHOUSE...
*** The SOTU...what a freaking FARCE.
Now, I confess to not having watched it in it's entirety (I can only take watching THIS POTUS for about 30 seconds without wanting to kick the hell out of my television).

But I will say from reading the gist of what he had to dictate that he clearly is wonderfully incompetent, marvelously devoid of what it takes to BE a president (and not a monarch), and his tone and demeanor was nothing short of that of IL DUCE (Mussolini)
The SAD part is that SOME people STILL believe he's doing fine...and when did these folks get a full frontal lobotomy?
* He (Obummer) SWORE an OATH...on a BIBLE...to uphold and defend the CONSTITUTION of these United States.
* And since taking office, he's done everything BUT that...and done it well.
* He claims that America is the best place to invest (as long as someone keeps buying up our BONDS)
* He pushes for more alternate energies (and ignores that which provides the majority of electricity, so we're all not back in the 18th century...like COAL).
* All of a sudden , he's pushing for NATURAL GAS (like HE and his cronies aren't the largest source of it in the lower 48 states)
* He pushes for more "end-arounds" past Congress to foster HIS agenda (progressive socialism)
* Again, "O" is proposing MORE crap planned to "reshape America"...into a nation with the letter "K" in it's name?
* I was correct, he IS pushing the income inequality button...big time...wants to raise the min.fed wage to $10.10 hr.
Yet, if you go back one year to THAT SOTU address, you'll see several initiatives mentioned THEN that were quietly missing from this year...

More deception...smoke and mirrors...to keep YOU confused and guessing...it's all about THAT.
Not a lick mentioned about gun "control" this year...
Tax and entitlement reform - a biggie last year...M.I.A. this year.
He's also not bothered with CREATING jobs...focusing in on workers protection and job training.
(Thought we had to have JOBS first...so people could be TRAINED to fill them?
He wants to raise the minimum wage, while seniors don't even get adequate COLAs (cost of living adjustments) to keep UP with inflation...pathetic.

The "O" is also pushing (as I said he would) immigration reform...and as long as we have POROUS borders, those illegals will get a free pass and further diminish OUR resources here.
All in all it was a speech that you most likely heard much of BEFORE...and Barry's great at being REPETITIVE.
(let me be clear - if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor...you get the idea)
The less said about him, the better (imho), BUT...we DO have to keep watching BOTH hands of this man, because if he gets a pen in that LEFT one, we can be assured of another screw-job from D.C.
And that's ALL I feel like saying on that for now...
*** Got an email from BLOGGER than said one of my posts (from Sep 2013) was in copyright violation from some BS crap called the DCMA act (Big Brother and the PC police, no doubt)..

This is only the SECOND time this happened since I started this blog, and I guess that's okay...BUT...(uh oh, here it comes)...if ANYONE wants to copyright THEIR photos that they DIGITALLY place in the Internet, there ARE methods available to PREVENT  a "hi-jack:" OF those pictures...I know. I've encountered them, and whenever I do, that's the end of it...I can't use the photo...end of subject.
But SOME people feel the need to "ambush" the rest of us by ALLOWING others to use a photo for their blog...and then pounce on them like an ambulance-chasing lawyer.
I suppose that's WHY I find the Internet a mixed bag when it come to anything close to entertaining.
It's like the lurkers that lambaste bloggers for whatever they have to say...attack the messenger, since they cannot refute the "message", as it were.
We'll see what happens there...if people want credit for a photo...ASK ME.
I look at using a photo as FREE advertising for whoever took the shot.
*** Last back to the freezer today...if it's not ONE damn thing...it's ANOTHER, right?
(and that should sound all too familiar to most of us)

People in general need to LEARN...a LOT...and about a LOT regarding LIFE.
Hell, I'm damn near 62 and I admit I still have a CRAPLOAD to learn, but I have ALREADY learned much in those past years.
And I attempt to apply that knowledge whenever possible, because every day is something DIFFERENT, regardless of how similar it might appear.
But HOW do you even begin to TRY and educate the un-educable?
HOW does one try to make such people comprehend that learning something (anything) is not race-motivated, partisan in the political nature, forcing one to a particular religion, creed or sexual orientation, and otherwise NOT harmful to one's health (or little children)?

I always use that teach by EXAMPLE gig...let the world SEE how you live...what you learned...what your parents taught you, and that you turned out not-so-bad.
That's if you can get others to pay attention...
(always seems to come down to THAT).
I think we can ALL benefit by whatever education we are taught, we we can teach ourselves, and what we can teach and learn from others.
And by embracing such notions, can get this nation BACK to where she (and we) belong.

Be well, make a difference to someone, and...
Stay SAFE out there, America.