Category: Life with Pratts

Plugging a leak product

A week ago I talked about the leak around the water feed pipe coming into the basement, and my clever way of getting the water to go into a bucket.

The seal around the pipe failed during an exceptionally heavy rain that fell on top of snow, so my next challenge was to plug the gap around the pipe. I used Loctite epoxy putty.

All you have to do is cut the amount of putty you need, then knead it to activate the epoxy. Once mixed, you have 10-15 minutes to mold it before it sets. I don’t know yet whether or not the leak is fixed, but if it is all it took was half of a $4 tube of putty.

Quick, call the Patent Office!

A couple of years ago I featured adorable Sumpy the sump pump. We’re getting a lot of rain, and I was expecting Sumpy to kick in, but he can’t help tonight, because there’s water coming in from the other side of the basement, around the water supply pipe, where it’s never been before. After getting tired of using the wet-dry vac, I came up with this idea to get the water into a bucket, and it’s working OK.

This ‘n’ that

I get to be semi-lazy today, because these items were all handed to me by friends.

First, I refer you back to my Elvisible post. Those photographs were taken by Alfred Wertheimer, and published in a book called “Elvis ’56: In the Beginning.” Denro points out an article in Vanity Fair called Elvis at 21, about a traveling exhibit of Wertheimer photos.

Next, SamJay notes an unusual auto accident of sorts, near Boston, where a Ferrari fell off a truck. I have to say, it’s hard to feel bad for somebody who can afford a car that costs almost a quarter of a million. Ernie Boch, Jr. inherited a chain of car dealerships from his father, the late Ernie Boch, who was one of the richest men in Massachusetts and was well known for his sales pitch “Come on down!” Boch Jr.’s vocation may be cars, but his avocation is blues guitar, and he has a Boston-based band called Ernie and the Automatics. My one experience with a Boch dealership, in ’02, wasn’t good. The guy handling the loan left us for over half an hour, and when I got fed up and found him, he was just shooting the breeze with someone. Then he botched the paperwork, as we found out when he sent a FedEx package to us a few days later. After I took care of that he failed to follow through on something he promised he would do.

This last item is by far the most personal. tastewar forwarded a link about a stack of old love letters that were found in London.

It’s a lovely, somewhat tragic story, but I have to question the motive and judgment behind its publication. I am assuming that Anna left the letters behind unintentionally. If neither she nor her lover from long ago agreed to have their romance revealed, then why was it? And aren’t I just compounding the offense right now? I’ll justify it with the references in the article to the Beatles and Swinging London.

Back in trouble again

Once again I’m suffering from severe and debilitating back pain. It would be one thing if I were badly overweight and out of shape, but I’m not.

A month ago, while out running I tripped on an uneven section of concrete sidewalk. I managed to stop myself from falling, but in the process my right knee hyper-extended, and I jammed it hard when it landed. I was able to continue running and got home without trouble, but the next morning I couldn’t bend my knee.

The treatment for that is RICE — rest, ice, compression, elevation — and I was pleased that my knee responded. In fact, it felt good enough that five days later I was able to run a 5k (3.1 mile) road race. This was the starting line as seen by my cell phone.

Jingle Bell Run 2009

I took it slow, and finished the race without difficulty. My knee felt a bit tight afterward, so when I got home I did the RICE routine again. But the next morning once again I couldn’t bend my knee, and I had to limp to get around.

Limping triggered my back, which had undoubtedly been wrenched when I nearly fell, and soon I couldn’t tell where the pain in my back ended, and where the knee began. After a week of that I saw an orthopedic specialist who confirmed that my knee had actually healed up just fine, but the pain from my back was radiating down my leg. He put me on Mega-Motrin (IBU 800 mg), and that works well, but when it wears off the inflammation and pain come roaring back.

And that’s pretty much the way it’s been since then. I was on crutches the entire time I set up the Wi-Fi radio network over the Christmas holiday.

I’m in physical therapy, and I’m exercising very hard at home, but so far the improvement has been slow and small. If I’m not significantly better at PT next week, the therapist will recommend I have the doctor order an MRI.

Dishwasher safe

We’re getting a new dishwasher. It’s a Bosch, $598 at Sears, but Lowe’s had it for 20% off.

I’m not so sure we’re saving any money, because in addition to the $155 for installation, there’s $70 in town plumbing and electrical permits, and another $75 to have an electrician there. I questioned the need for that, so I called the Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Electricians, and was told the state does indeed require an electrician to do non-plug wiring. Lowe’s said the electrician will be there to inspect the work, but I said “No, the town does the inspection. I’m paying the 75 bucks to have the electrician do that work.”

So the total cost for our new $480 dishwasher? Nearly $800. Delivery will be Wednesday morning. I could have hired an independent plumber to do the installation, and I bet he wouldn’t have bothered to pull any permits or have an electrician there, but I wanted to be sure the unit gets installed immediately upon delivery.