WHAT'S IN TWOEE'S FREEZER? 3-22-21

    If there’s one thing Covid has taught me it’s that I’m invincible…or at least I think I am.  Like all of you, we’ve had to learn to fend for ourselves.  Granted now with vaccines we are slowly reaching for the phone again, to summon repair people, but there’s still that little part of me that kinda liked being able to fix things.

    I got to test my abilities when I opened my water bill and saw $400.00 glaring up at me.  I called the Utilities department.  “How can that be? I’m one person with a brick patio and a few hanging plants,” I cried into the phone.  “Oh, you probably have a leak somewhere,” the woman said.  “Turn all your water off and check the meter.  If the dial moves…you got a leak.”

     I did what she said and sure enough the dial moved!  I checked all the hose bibs on the property.  Looked at all the sprinklers. No leaks.  I checked the guest house. No Leaks. I checked the kitchen and garage. No Leaks. Then I heard the toilet running in the guest bathroom.  AHHH HAA!  I found it.  The next morning, I headed for Home Depot, got all the parts needed to replace everything inside the toilet tank plus instructions from Mike in the plumbing department.  “Don’t forget, go on YouTube and watch a video on Replacing an aqua piston,” he said as I ran down the aisle to check out.

     Once home I reviewed the steps, I needed to get this toilet fixed properly.  As instructed by my new best friend at Home Depot, I will turn the water off at the wall valve and empty the toilet tank. Then I’d watch the video on YouTube.  I was ready with a pail to catch the water and towels to mop up any excess…just in case.  The valve was behind the toilet and had a tiny turn nob that controlled the water intake.   It was attached to the water pipe in the wall. I got down on my hands and knees and turned the nob. It wouldn’t budge. I was ready for that and shot some WD-40 on it. I had learned the merits of WD-40 from other plumbing projects. After all, this wasn’t my first fix-it project. I tried again. Nothing!  I got a towel and wrapped it around the nob and threw my weight into it. My shoulder cried out in pain. I took the pliers, wrapped the towel around the pliers and pressed as hard as I could downward.  Not even a slight budge.

     Mike said it would be easy… I grabbed a rubber mallet and pliers.  I’d just gently tap the turn nob… tap, tap tap…nothing. I tapped it again.  It wasn’t budging. A little more WD-40 should do it. Tap, tap, tap.  I readjusted the angle of the pliers and hit it again.  WHAM! Water came shooting out all over the place, and hit me in the head. The nob lay on the floor. I raced outside and shut the water down to the house. Maeva, my neighbor spotted me and came over.

     “Hey, what happened to you?” she asked, looking at the water dripping down my face.

     “You know that $400.00 water bill I got? It was the toilet and I’m trying to fix it.”

     “It doesn’t look like it’s going to well for ya,” she said, and followed me into the house. 

     Now Maeva and I have a saying… “What she doesn’t know I do, and what I don’t know she does!”  Between the two of us we’ve been able to fix a lot of things around our homes…not always the way a professional would do it, but we get the job done. Last year I had a broken pipe out front and she used an old bicycle inner tube and pulled it tight and wrapped it over the pin hole in the copper pipe. The leak stopped! “It’s the Tahitian way,” she said.

     She bent down and looked at the hole where the turn nob used to be. Water dripped steadily onto the towel. “You really did a number on that one, didn’t you?” She studied the situation and said,

 “Hey let’s just replace the whole valve. We’ll get a new one and just screw it back on! I bet we could do it.”

     I eyed the valve going into the wall and it looked a bit rusty to me.  “Welllll… I… don’t knoooow,” I said, and tried to turn the bolt on the valve.  It didn’t budge. “This house is pretty old, and the walls are plaster.  What if we break the pipe inside the wall?”

     “Here, let me try,” Maeva said, folding herself next to the toilet. She took the pliers and tried budging the nut. Nothing!  “Hand me the WD-40.”  She sprayed the stubborn nut and we waited. She positioned both hands on the pliers and pushed up with all her might. Nothing…again….  She wrapped the towel around the pliers and leaned into it. “Hand me the rubber mallet. I’ll just give it a little tap.”

     I handed her cell phone to her.  “Call Dave the handyman,” I said.  There comes a time when one must know their limitations!

     Covid may have made me feel invincible, but it hasn’t fried my brain yet.

 What's in Twoee's Freezer?

 Piper’s Peppermint Paddy-Just as your taste buds are savoring the essence of fresh peppermint, hidden in the folds of a velvety texture, your treated to rich dark chocolate spears add to the excitement of this blend.

 

 

Toby’s Tail Waggin’ Toffee-Rich caramel ice cream explodes with the flavor of pecans steeped in maple syrup and bits of bittersweet and milk chocolate. You’ll think of English Toffee when you taste this ice cream.

 

 

Bula’s Banana Bark-The rich taste of banana and chocolate explodes in your mouth as chocolate truffles swirls through thick banana cream. 

 

Kensi’s Krazy Chocolate-A chocolate lovers’ dream.  Rich dark chocolate blends with the sweet flavor of milk chocolate into a smooth creamy chocolate truffle that melts in your mouth.

Lucy’s Limoncello- A true lemon lover’s ecstasy.  It will pucker your lips. Laced with Limoncello in a creamy lemon base.