our first (almost) plumber's story

So Erik and I have our first story that thankfully didn't involve a plumber (and isn't too disgusting!). Our downstairs bathroom stopped working about a week ago. Well, it still worked somewhat - it was just reallllllllly slow, and slow enough where we couldn't really use it.

That, of course, is a problem.

We plunged it plenty of times, but still no change. I even went to the store and asked an employee if there was anything like drano you could use on a clogged toilet. He smirked and said, "Pretty much no. That's the job for a plumber or maybe a snake you can purchase." His look was relatively humiliating, but I kept reminding myself I'd probably never see him again...

So Erik and I were somewhat resigned to the problem and the possibility of spending money on a plumber. Until last night...

I decided to put all the carrot peels down the kitchen sink, and apparently, it didn't like that. Within seconds, both the garbage disposal and downstairs bathroom was plugged... great... So I decided to hunt online and see what "how-to's" were available for plugged pipes.

Long story short, Erik looked online, and then grabbed the plunger and thankfully cleared the garbage disposal. He decided to go purchase a plumbing snake for the toilet since we were both convinced the clog was way down the piping system and wouldn't be reached with a coat hanger, one of the online suggestions.

Erik came home, put the $8 snake in the toilet, but was perplexed when it couldn't go far. He tried and tried, and then bent down to see the problem. Lo and behold (I know, that's an ancient phrase!), Tuck's missing dog bone, which was circular, was right there, out of sight.

Thank goodness, we hadn't called a plumber.

On another dog story, we did decide to put up our Christmas tree, in hopes Tuck would avoid it (I know, a lost hope). And let's just say, now the bottom of the tree is surrounded by furniture, a baby gate we use to keep Tucker out of places, an overturned stool, and a few other of our things that are faithfully guarding our carefully decorated tree.

:-)