The Joy of Plumbing

Well, we have the plumbers here for the third time in as many months (right? close, anyway) to fix the same problem: our bathtub won't drain.

It goes in a predictable procession: flushing the toilet causes the tub drain to gurgle; we say uh-oh; tub starts retaining fluid; it eventually drains; tub retains with a vengeance; doesn't drain at all; toilet will no longer flush. It's fun!

They're now telling us that they may have to replace the pipes from the bathroom to the street, or wherever it goes. And that might take a couple of days. No bathroom for a couple of days? No problem! Luckily we live in the same town as my parents, so we can stay with them if need be. I just hope that if they have to do that, it doesn't take any longer than a couple of days. And that it really fixes the problem. Which they say is tree roots. Thanks, trees! What'd we ever do to you?

Here are Sassy & Molly, waiting for the intruders to leave:













You can see that they aren't too thrilled with their prison. And who can blame them? Here's what they're used to:













Update: They fixed the problem, again citing tree roots (damn you, trees!), but claiming that they shouldn't cause a problem again for six months. Ha! We'll see about that. It's us against the roots now. This means war.

Now please excuse me, I have to go light some candles to counteract eau de plumber...