June 20th, 2017

Don't you just love plumbing issues?  We should not have been surprised.  We bought an older home, built in 1962. Older homes are prone to problems.  And actually we've been through this before.  Our house in Connecticut, which we loved, was even older than this one.  Built in 1940, our CT house needed a new roof, new septic system, new pump in the well and changes to plumbing and electric before we could do anything "pretty".  The first five years of improvement to that house were all invisible.  At least with this house, we got the kitchen done first.

We had decided that this year we were going to reno the bathrooms.  Take 'em right back to the studs and start from scratch.  We picked out tile, vanities, mirrors and fixtures. Then someone wisely suggested that we find out what was going on inside the plumbing hidden in the slab foundation of the house before doing the pretty stuff.  Good thought!  And that's how we found out that we needed to have the entire house replumbed.  Sigh.

That meant that nobody could be living in the house during the process - no water, no bathrooms, means no Sam living in the house. As it turned out, Tim needed to travel back to Colorado for business anyway.  So I went with him. Good timing. It was great to visit old friends and Tim got a lot of good businessy stuff done, but both of us wondered what we would be coming home to.

Turns out, it's not so bad. Now we know for certain that our plumbing is problem free and up to date, hurrah!  We have one functional bathroom, although it now has a concrete floor - kind of industrial/contemporary looking.  The second bathroom is currently not usable, all the stuff that belongs in the bathroom currently being in the bedroom and all.   The fine layer of dirt that is on every single surface of the house and the fingerprints are all cleanable.  We have found a tile-guy who, for a very reasonable price will put down new floors in the bathrooms (and then we will have two bathrooms again - yay!) although he can't start until maybe July, maybe August.  That's okay. At least it will happen.  All of the side yard was dug up and is now just dirt that washes away a little more with each rainstorm.  Also fixable.  Just need some grass seed and a few sunny days in a row. 

What turns out to be the biggest issue is actually the courtyard patio. The plumber guys tore up as little as possible, I will give them that. And further, they neatly stacked all of the pavers carefully against the wall of the courtyard. Thank you guys! I genuinely appreciate that.  The thing that I don't have is a specific pattern to put it all back together.

The courtyard patio has become the hardest puzzle I have ever worked on!  Each day, I work on it, between rain bands and other projects and so far, I have one row successfully completed.  Apparently it all goes back together in one specific way.  Which way is that?  I just do not know.  I always think I know. And I am always wrong.

But I will keep trying and ultimately, I will win because I am stubborn, I am determined and now, it is a mission.  Also I understand that if you put enough chimpanzees in front of enough typewriters, eventually one of them will type Shakespeare.  I'm not even shooting for famous authors, I'm just trying to get my patio put back together.

Wish me luck, I'm heading back out into the puzzle zone. Maybe today will be my lucky day!