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livingdebToday I learned how to turn my water off at the street. I am actually strong enough to do it.
I should have learned this as soon as I bought my house, in case leaks sprung and I wanted to stop them, but no. Because you need a special tool. But now we have this special tool.
So, at my house, you go out toward the street and find a square metal plate at the street end of the front yard, at the property line between me and my neighbors to the south. Robin brings out a hammer so we can use the claw in the keyhole-looking part of it to pry the plate up, but then I find that I can just slip my fingers under there and lift one end as if it's on a hinge. Then I scootch up to carefully flip it over onto the grass when suddenly my foot drops six inches into the ground and I lose my grip and it goes over not quite so gently.
Then I pull my foot out of the hole and remember that there used to be a little round metal cover over this hole, which has a concrete pipe inside it. I don't know what that's for. (I guess a neatly mown lawn is good for safety reasons.)
So, under the square metal plate are two water meters with two metal bars attached. I jump to the conclusion that the meter closer to my side is mine and the meter closer to my neighbor's side is theirs.
The special tool is the shape of a capital T at the top, with a little bracket at the bottom. The bracket perfectly fits over the bar attached to the meter. Then I start turning it clockwise/right (righty-tighty, lefty-loosy--and turning off the water means tightening it, right?). It takes quite a bit of my muscle, but not more than I actually have. After 180 degrees, it stops. Voila! The water is turned off.
Oh, I'm sorry, is suspense building? We just needed to replace the rubber gasket thingies in the kitchen faucets. You know how you bring your old parts to the hardware store to make sure you bring matching new parts home? Well, this would not have worked if I had been doing it myself because our old gaskets had a very different look to them due to the years of gouging and splatting that had been happening to them. Let's just say the older ones were much more decorative than the newer ones.
Boring as it seemed, I really should have watched/helped my dad do more of this kind of stuff. At least I observed cooking and learned embroidery (which is close enough to sewing to be helpful) when I was a kid so I can feed myself cheaply and make minor clothing repairs.
I should have learned this as soon as I bought my house, in case leaks sprung and I wanted to stop them, but no. Because you need a special tool. But now we have this special tool.
So, at my house, you go out toward the street and find a square metal plate at the street end of the front yard, at the property line between me and my neighbors to the south. Robin brings out a hammer so we can use the claw in the keyhole-looking part of it to pry the plate up, but then I find that I can just slip my fingers under there and lift one end as if it's on a hinge. Then I scootch up to carefully flip it over onto the grass when suddenly my foot drops six inches into the ground and I lose my grip and it goes over not quite so gently.
Then I pull my foot out of the hole and remember that there used to be a little round metal cover over this hole, which has a concrete pipe inside it. I don't know what that's for. (I guess a neatly mown lawn is good for safety reasons.)
So, under the square metal plate are two water meters with two metal bars attached. I jump to the conclusion that the meter closer to my side is mine and the meter closer to my neighbor's side is theirs.
The special tool is the shape of a capital T at the top, with a little bracket at the bottom. The bracket perfectly fits over the bar attached to the meter. Then I start turning it clockwise/right (righty-tighty, lefty-loosy--and turning off the water means tightening it, right?). It takes quite a bit of my muscle, but not more than I actually have. After 180 degrees, it stops. Voila! The water is turned off.
Oh, I'm sorry, is suspense building? We just needed to replace the rubber gasket thingies in the kitchen faucets. You know how you bring your old parts to the hardware store to make sure you bring matching new parts home? Well, this would not have worked if I had been doing it myself because our old gaskets had a very different look to them due to the years of gouging and splatting that had been happening to them. Let's just say the older ones were much more decorative than the newer ones.
Boring as it seemed, I really should have watched/helped my dad do more of this kind of stuff. At least I observed cooking and learned embroidery (which is close enough to sewing to be helpful) when I was a kid so I can feed myself cheaply and make minor clothing repairs.