Texas and How Was Your Morning
Mine was interesting. Coffee first, right? Turned on the faucet of the drinking water system and only one cup came out. I instantly recognized the problem. The primary filter in the three-filter reverse osmosis system was clogged. So, I replaced the filter and the system started cranking out good drinking water. But wait, water was also coming out of the air gap and dripping under the sink. It took a while to remember how I had assembled this system a couple of months ago so that I could figure out how to take it apart. To aid my memory, I checked my filing cabinet and found the operation manual. The toll-free Whirlpool number jumped out at me, so I gave them a call. “Sorry, but everybody is in a meeting this morning – call back after 3 P.M..” So, when all else fails, read the manual, right? The manual explained that when water drips out of the air gap, it means that the overflow water line is clogged. OK, nothing to it, all I have to do is blow out the overflow line and I’ll be back in business. I figured out how to unscrew the faucet assembly, remove the overflow line and blow it out. After reassembling, the system was again percolating along and there was no leakage. It takes maybe an hour of filtering to fill the 1.5-gallon tank under the sink, so I must wait a while before I can get another cup of filtered water for my coffee – so I wait.
About that time, Pat walks into the kitchen and asks: “What kind of mood are you in?” Now, if you know Pat, you would know that these are likely the scariest words that can escape her lips. My brain races through all possibilities of catastrophic events that Pat might have just observed. You see, Pat never asks me about my mood except when she is about to say something which could negatively affect my mood.
“Well, I’m in just a wonderful mood,” I replied unconvincingly.
“OK, my computer has crashed,” she said. So in only a half hour or so, I figured that Norton Virus checker had interfered with her Earthlink email so all she needs to do is turn off Norton for a few minutes while she gets her email. Feeling better than I was able to solve a couple of problems, I returned to the kitchen, turned on the drinking water faucet and got my second cup of filtered water so that I could now make coffee. As the coffee pot perked, I returned to the kitchen sink to double-check the mornings work on the filter. Oh no! It was leaking again. By now, maybe two to three hours had passed without my morning coffee so I decided that a little caffeine in my bloodstream might serve as a mood-enhancer – before again tackling the leaking faucet problem. This time, clearing the line proved very quick and easy.
After a morning jog and a bowl of cereal, about three hours have passed without a single disaster. But I wonder: how did I ever have enough time to solve these kinds of problems before I retired? My guess is that you wives out there know the answer to this question.
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