Heroes come in all forms

Between Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty, I grew up fantasizing about my white knight in shining armor riding up to rescue me. Reality, of course, crashes the fairytale, and you realize that a) you should be self-sufficient and not need "rescuing," and b) who wears armor these days? it's not all that sexy.

I'm pretty handy around the house, probably due to all the times I hung out watching my dad do things in the garage or backyard. I've installed a light fixture on a fan, textured and painted my kitchen and bathroom, stripped and refinished the cabinets on the bar, and even fixed a leak under the kitchen sink. (Thanks to technology, I took a picture of the pipe that was leaking and showed it to the helpful salesman at Home Depot, telling him, "I need THIS.")

However, I am pretty unprepared to do much else in the way of plumbing. It's one of those areas like engines that I don't understand and get anxious when things start going wrong.

On Saturday morning (yeah, I know, I should have written this earlier, but just relax and read the story, ok?) I went to the bathroom first thing as always. I noticed the bath mat in front of the toilet was SOAKED. I must admit, my first thought was my feline companion had confused the mat with her litter box, but even if she REALLY had to go, she couldn't soak the whole mat. Plus, it didn't smell like urine. (Cat urine has a distinctively apalling smell that is unmistakable and very difficult to eliminate.)

I spoke to Steve on the phone and mentioned the bath mat, and he suggested I turn off the water to that toilet and he would check it for me when he came over later. So I did that and later in the day used my other toilet.

It wouldn't flush. Instead, the water is rising up to the edge. Uh oh... This toilet has done that to me twice before (twice in 2 years isn't so bad, I think) so I grabbed the plunger and attacked the toilet. Unlike previous times, though, nothing was changing, and in fact, water started coming UP the neighboring tub!

I called my friend who's husband is a plumber, and she said she'd have him call me. Meanwhile, I checked the first toilet, and there was more water on the floor. I called Steve in a panic, and he came right over. He was there when my plumber friend called and was able to understand his instructions. He ended up fixing the clog by using my garden hose in the "clean out" pipe out front. It was very impressive! (And saved me money because I didn't have to pay a plumber to come out.)

I think better than a brave knight who can horseback ride is a guy who can fix things around the house.