The Sink

Would you believe the highlight of my Friday after Thanksgiving was a clogged sink?   Well, you should.  Because it was! 

Here is how it went down. 

I checked out of the #1 rated Tennessee Bed and Breakfast (my brother Guk and his lovely wife Ms. Tennessee's house) on Friday morning after a wonderful three night stay.  I had never spent the night at their house before and their accommodations were perfect and the hosts were most gracious!  I was planning to stay the night at Malarie and Brett's house on Friday night so I could wake up bright and early and get back to the reception hall to do the last minute touches before the big party on Saturday night.  

The Nice One, The Queen and I worked all day on Friday helping to decorate for Meg and Es' wedding reception (separate post coming on that special event!)   We were so pooped by the time I dropped my sister and niece off back at the Tennessee Bed and Breakfast on Friday evening that I drug my suitcase back in their house and begged to extend my reservation one more night.  I was too tired to face a 45 minute drive in the dark back to Malarie's house. 

They welcomed me back with open arms, but told me they were experiencing some plumbing issues that might impact my visit. 

That just kicked off the most damn laughs I have had in a month of Sundays.  I wish you all could have been there!  I will never be able to recapture the moment, but I did take lots of pictures and have such fond memories of screaming "STOP - I am going to pee my pants!" 

Something had clogged the drain pretty seriously and both sides were full of water.  They had tried all the normal techniques - Drain-o - Plunger - Cussing.  Nothing worked.  Guk and Bean ran up to the local Walmart for a plumbing snake to see if they could clear the clog. 

Then Guk put on the sexist plumbing gloves in the history of plumbing gloves and assumed his duties as Head Plumber.

Let's get to work! 

Guk's first attempt, and second attempt and third and fourth attempt at getting the snake down the drain resulted in it getting stuck. He called out for pliers to try to crimp the snake small enough to be pushed down the drain.  Failure, after failure after failure...all resulting with a jerked out snake slinging Drain-o filled water everywhere.  

Finally, I suggested we get as much water out of the sink as possible so we could see the drain and figure out how to get the snake past the drain cover.  I got a round of applause for a good idea and the place sprung into action. 

The Nice One scooped and scooped cupful after cupful into a big bucket. 

There were lots of other suggestions being shouted out every 10 or 15 seconds and it made the Head Plumber get a little feisty.  Look at this picture below where Ms. Tennessee is just rearing her head back with laughter. 

Soooooo many cups of water into sooo many buckets.  It took a long time to empty both sinks.

Finally, we were down to squeezing the last bit out with a sponge and we could finally see the drain cover.  Tiny holes in the drain cover and we could not get it to pop off.  That snake was not going down the sink from up here.  So, the Head Plumber went to Plan B. 

Attack from the bottom!  He put a bucket under the pipe under the sink and start taking off the pipes.  Once Guk started unscrewing it, the pressure caused it to spew everywhere.  More laughing, more talk about sink vomit and maybe a tiny bit of horrible odor filling the kitchen.

Finally, most of the backed up water had been drained out and he started using the snake.  He pulled out the MOST DISGUSTING wad of clog you have every seen or smelled.  We all ran through the house screaming like he had pulled out a real snake.  It seriously was huge and smelled to high heaven. 

What ensued were fake barf sounds and real barf sounds and laughter and screaming and howling and cheering.  Team plumbing effort!  We did it!  

Finally, he put the sink back together and it drained like a champ.  No leaks!  Hooray!  

It really was the most hilarious night and one that I will not soon forget!  Seeing my brother in action  with the tension and humor and mad plumbing skills was so good for my soul. 

That is a sweet unexpected gift that I have realized through the pain of divorce.  I am spending more time during the holidays with my family.  I like them so much. They make me laugh harder than any other people in the world.  We get such a kick out of each other.  We are probably hard to stomach.

I hope the next time you get a clogged sink, you will put on your pink plumbing gloves and make it a party in the kitchen!  It is the best!