I got home Saturday night, and had a full on head of steam to get my money back into play at some sportsbooks. Then I didn't. Here's why:
I had a litle bit of time on the computer Sunday morning while everyone was still asleep, but I needed to set up the website for the sportsbetting freeroll that I am sponsoring. That went fairly well, but as soon as others were awake I needed to get off the computer. I have been away for a week and a half and there were better things to do than be on my computer.
The first was to get going on my "honey-do" list. The kitchen sink was leaking underneath, so I decided to start there, as water damage can get bad in a hurry. A quick inspection showed that the leak was actually from the spray head of the hose/sprayer attachment to the sink. It was leaking from around the trigger and dripping through its holder into the area below the sink. Gonna be an easy fix, right? Just replace the head on it, right?
Went to Home Depot and got a new spray head. Brought it home and found that the new one isn't compatible with the rest of the hose assembly. While at Home Depot I saw they sell the full hose assemblies, so I figured I'd just go back and get one. So I did.
Removed the old hose assemby and found that the connector for the old one is different than the connector for the new one. Bummer. But wait! The head from the new one fits on the hose assembly for the old one, so I can just put the new head on the old assembly and re-install the old assembly. Piece of cake.
About an hour later I realized I was NEVER going to get that old assembly back on. I could not, for the life of me figure it out. I was going to need a whole new faucet. So back to Home Depot I went, and picked up a new faucet. Brought it home and installed it. While Op-checking it I noticed a bit of leakage from around the hot suppy isolation valve. Set old Mr. Crescent Wrench on there and commenced to tightening it up, and BAM! The joint connecting the isolation valve to the supply line broke and the valve came clean off. Hot water spraying everywhere.
I had to shut off hot water to the house right at the hot water heater. Cleaned up the water, and headed back to Home Depot for a new isolation valve. Got home and dug out my propane torch so that I could sil-braze it into place and found that I was out of propane. Back to Home Depot for a bottle of propane.
Back at Casa de Bull I could not get that damn torch to light. I tried and tried, but I could not get it to work. I was already 5 hours into a 5 minute job, and was getting pretty frustrated. I decided to call my neighbor who has his own handyman business and get him to come over and solder that damn valve into place for me. I called his cell, and he answered and heard my tragic tale. He explained that he would love to come and help me but he was currently in Connecticut - far from me. Fortunately he recommended that I get a compression valve instead and install it myself. I was unaware that one could get compression water supply valves, but once he informed me that I could, I was off the phone and on my way back to Home Depot.
I got the compression valve and brought it home. The end of the supply pipe still had some solder on it and the ferule would not slip on, so I got out my Dremel tool and cut the end of the pipe off. After that the compression valve installation was a snap. I connected the new faucet lines and op-checked it again. No leaks.
By then it was dinner time, so I showered and we went to eat. By the time we returned home it was too late to bet on any of the games. And THAT is why I didn't make any sports bets yesterday.
