I Get By with a Little Help from My Dad

As a kid, I spent a lot of time "tagging along" with my Dad while he worked. (As I got older, it was more him dragging than me tagging, but that's another story.) He was a jack-of-all-trades and did all sorts of things, but what I remember the most was plumbing. He was a damn good plumber and he was patient about trying to teach me. And it worked reasonably well - I'm a semi-competent amateur plumber. I'm proud to say I've never had to call a real plumber to finish a job I started.

Today my bathroom painting job took a sharp turn into a plumbing job. Quite a while ago the kids broke the handle to open and close the drain on the bathroom sink. Without the drain stop in place, all sorts of things have fallen down the drain. Tooth brushes, tooth paste caps, toys; you name it, it fell down the drain. Most of it could be retrieved, but a fair amount was accumulating in the trap. This led to frequent clogs. Today it clogged again and I declared that enough was enough.

I took the drain apart and went on a trip to Menards with the kids. They helped me pick out a new drain and a new trap. That was the extent of their help. Which is probably okay. When I was their age, one of my brilliant ideas to help involved removing a door knob and flushing it down the toilet. That one got me exiled to Grandma Jacobsen's while Dad fixed it. I don't need that kind of help.

Things went smoothly until I had to test the new drain assembly for leaks. Were there leaks? Of course there were leaks. I warned you that I was only semi-competent.

I quickly realized my problem. I had forgotten to wrap the pipe threads with teflon tape. Teflon tape is that white, very thin, not sticky tape that plumbers use. I checked through my stuff and I didn't have any teflon tape anywhere. $#%^&!!

Then it hit me. Teflon tape is one of those things that everytime I see it, I think of my Dad. It probably comes from all those years as his assistant plumber. I remembered that I had Dad's old toolbox in the garage. I cruised down, found the toolbox, and opened it up. What did I find? Not one, but two rolls! Somehow I just knew they would be there.

I ran back upstairs. Now that I was armed with the proper equipment, I was able to wrap up the job in no time flat. This time there were no leaks.

Thanks, Dad.