joy to the world...

(...continuing the story of kaci the plumber)

now, where was i? oh... yes. 

sunday rolls around. my mind is rumbling around solutions during church, and i can't stop thinking about copper piping, shark bites, snake eyes and bunny tails. well, really just the first two. but needless to say, my mind was preoccupied. 

finally, after church, i get my chance to put my hands on the hidden lil' pipe again, and realize there is no way to tip the water heater, or to move it, to make more room; no way to move the wall; no way to take out the bottom step/landing or to just reach in and cut the pipe the way i know how. i had even gone to the hardware store to see if they had copper snips to cut the pipe. alas, there was nothing but my trusty copper pipe spinning-cutter thingy tool.

i do finally maneuver the cutter into the tight space, spinning it slowly but surely, scrapping my knuckles against the rough brick with every turn. but after about 30 minutes, i realize that i am making one teeny, tiny cut in the pipe, about a centimeter long. i also realize that im wasting time, energy and brain work. i was going now where, with no idea where to go. 

i put down my tools, and take five. 

or sixty...

(same diff, really).

i come back from my break with a great idea: we'll cut the pipe out! (reminds me of smoke the blighter out...). i proceed to the same manuvering as leak #2 caused- getting up on the landing, turning around, fiberglass insulation burns, arms and face buried in pipes and insulation. i cut the pipe lose, stand up, and had to pull the pipe with all my strength, to get it to budge. i have to run outside and pull the spigot, wiggling it free from the actual house. then run back in the shed, and push the pipe out of the house, and then back outside to pull it.  finally, pipe is loose, the hard to reach spot is in my hand, and i get to work. five minutes later, the pipe is fixed. now all i have to do is shove it back into place, and shark bite it all back together, from the top of the insulation-filled landing. i'm getting good at this. and immune to insulation (so i hope).

so, about one hour later, two shark bites, and three hundred insulation burns later, i had a working pipe to the backyard spigot. now all i can do is pray myla stops digging and my daisies don't frost. 

hallelujah!