It’s The End… For Now

What’s this I keep hearing about a “new year”? Didn’t that happen in September?

Seriously, 2012 has been a crazy year. The world was going to end… but it didn’t, because Erin got into Berkeley. Then the world was going to end… and then it didn’t because Obama was elected. Then the world was going to end… and then it didn’t because the Mayans got it wrong. Then the world was going to end because we were going off the fiscal cliff…

But it probably won’t. We’ll probably pay higher taxes for a few weeks until they straighten it out, and then they will realize they can now claim to have cut taxes instead of increasing them, and everyone will figure out how to resolve the problem. Of course, then the world will end when we have to raise the debt ceiling and the Republicans balk… and then the world will end when we have to do the appropriations bill and end up not decreasing the deficit… and then the world will end when a comet passes by the Earth that is brighter than the moon…

What was I saying again…

ETA: Speaking of the fiscal cliff, an article in the LA Times notes:

Details of the emerging “fiscal cliff” deal ricocheted through the Capitol on Monday, appearing to please almost no one from either political party, as President Obama urged negotiators toward a conclusion. A House vote appears unlikely on Monday, even if a deal is finished.

What the paper is failing to realize is that a deal where everyone is unhappy is a good thing. The means each side has compromised to the point where they don’t like it, but they can accept it. That’s how the country has always moved forward.

 

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I Hate Plumbing

Growing up, I have a vivid memory of a plumbing break at my parent’s old house in Kenter Canyon. It was under the slab, and involved ripping up the carpet and padding, and jack hammering out the pipe. A royal mess.

At our previous house in North Hills, we had continual water problems. It was either leaks in the roof due to bad flashing under the air conditioning plenum, or clogged sewer lines due to tree roots.

At our current house in Northridge, the sewer line problems have continued. Again, we have the city tree in the parkway creating root problems in 40 year old clay piping, which has collapsed in places (and is equally problematic under the street, which is our responsibility, evidently). About every 6 months to a year, we’ve had to root out some line. The last major rooting was in October just after Thanksgiving, on the line from the bedroom side of the house.

Lately, we’ve been having loads of problem on the guest side of the house. The kitchen sink backed up the day after Christmas. My wife had me check the trap, which ended up not solving the problem and exacerbating cracks in the under-sink piping. We had a plumber out to fix; he fixed the under-sink piping, and rooted from the kitchen cleanout to the guest bathroom. This morning, the sink backed up again. We had the plumber out (under warranty), and it turned out to be cloggage in the line from the sink to the cleanout. This is all muck built up in the brass lines in the slab or walls.

This evening, with a load of guests in the house, guess what happened? Yup. The guest bathroom toilet backed up, overflowing into the shower (meaning that the clog is somewhere downstream of the shower, but likely before the Y to the bedroom wing, as the cleanout cap hasn’t popped). The plumber has been called; hopefully we can get him out tomorrow.

What a way to start the year. Plumbing problems. Grrrrrrrr.

ETA: The plumber was here on time, as promised. The clog was roots about 1 foot before the Y junction under the driveway. Total cost for this rooting (as it wasn’t connected to the earlier problem): $135. His estimate to replace the main sewer line from the 3″ clean-out until the property line with ABS plastic pipe, including the Y-line and up to the guest bathroom side, with a 25-year warranty, is $3,000. That’s a possibility, in the future. Inlining the 6″ clay sewer line from the property line to the city connection under the street would add about $1,500. to that amount.

This entry was originally posted on Observations Along The Road (on cahighways.org) as this entry by cahwyguy. Although you can comment on DW, please make comments on original post at the Wordpress blog using the link below; you can sign in with your LJ, FB, or a myriad of other accounts. There are currently comments on the Wordpress blog. PS: If you see share buttons above, note that they do not work outside of the Wordpress blog.

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