For this i went to college?

"Mom! Emergency in the bathroom!" Bigger Girl's voice rang out over the clamor of kitten cries and kids listening to a movie on the computer, as well as my kitchen radio.

What happened now, and aren't you kids old enough that you shouldn't have bathroom emergencies any more?

"Not that kind!" Teen exasperation dripped with every word. "Miss Lizzie dropped a tube of eye lash glue down the sink drain. We can't use the sink until we get it out, otherwise it could stop everything up."

Yes, it could, like we don't have enough plumbing troubles around here.

First order of business, assess the situation. This calls for a flashlight. Good luck. Not in the kitchen drawer where one belongs, that one was lost at the creek. Emergency one in the pack hidden under the stairs? Nope, kids got to that one after they lost the kitchen one.

Ah, there's one! Hidden in my night stand. They say that piece of furniture is getting rarer in modern homes. Well, it's the only place i can hide stuff and reasonably expect to find it again, so mine isn't going anywhere.

Next, a wrench. That means a trek into Sweetie's music room/man cave. That calls for finding a key, which he hides various places that change, whereupon he forgets where he moved it to. The back up key, under the mattress. Gads, this is getting complicated.

Back with a flashlight and wrench. So, we need something to catch the water that will spill out when i take the trap off. Bucket? The only bucket i can think of is already catching leaks under some other piece of plumbing. If by this you get the idea my house is falling apart, you would be correct. Okay, a puppy piddle pad should work, left over from training the Hazelnut.

As i climbed under the sink armed with my equipment, i was thinking, i did 6 years at university for this? Turn off the water so no one will accidentally "help" by turning the faucet on. Listen politely as Bigger Girl tries to remind me "righty tighty; lefty loosey" while fitting the wrench.

By the Lord's grace the parts turned that were supposed to turn, and i managed to get the trap off without much trouble. The tube of eye lash glue came out with a splash of the water surrounding it onto the piddle pad, and i began to reassemble it all and see if i could extricate myself from my curled up position in the cabinet.

Yes, i managed to remember to turn the water back on and get Miss Lizzy to turn the water on and check to make sure i had tightened everything correctly before climbing out from under there.

Another blip of the radar on a busy Sunday afternoon. Dinner stayed on schedule, too, and no kittens got so desperately hungry that they launched an escape attempt.

Sometimes i wonder, though, if i should have gotten my post-secondary education from a trade school instead. After all, when was the last time i needed to know about Beaumont and Fletcher or be able to discuss gnosticism? Plumbing and car repair would have come in more handy.

Guess i'm just letting my inner cynic loose. Knowing my luck, that's the part that knows more about electrical than it is willing to let on.


Today is

Ancestors' Day -- Russian Christians (Radunitsa, a Slavic tradition after Thomas Sunday)

Boston Marathon -- 116th Running

Bunsui Oiran Dochu Festival begins -- Nishkanbara, Japan (through the 23rd, when there is a traditional costume Courtesan Parade)

Day of Mushroom Encouragement -- Fairy Calendar

Dronningens fodselsdag -- Denmark (Birthday of Queen Margrethe II)

Emancipation Day -- Washington, D.C., US

Easter Monday -- Orthodox Christians following the Julian Calendar

Holiday of Ra -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar

HM Queen's Birthday -- Saint Helena

Jim Thorpe Day -- US

Jose de Diego's Birthday -- Puerto Rico (Father of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement)

National Arts Advocacy Day -- through tomorrow

National Eggs Benedict Day

National Stress Awareness Day -- sponsored by the Health Resource Network (appropriate for the day after paying taxes)

St. Bernadette of Lourdes' Day (Patron of Lourdes, France; of people ridiculed for piety, poor people, shepherdesses, shepherds, sick people; against bodily ills, poverty, sickness)

St. Padarn's Day (Celtic peoples traditionally begin weeding crops on this saint's day)

World Entrepreneurship Day


Anniversaries Today:

Founding of the University of Queensland, 1910


Birthdays Today:

Lilliana Mumy, 1994
Selena Quintanilla, 1971
Martin Lawrence, 1965
Ellen Barkin, 1955
Kareem Adbud-Jabbar, 1947
Dusty Springfield, 1939
Bobby Vinton, 1935
Herbie Mann, 1930
Edie Adams, 1929
Pope Benedict XVI, 1927
Henry Mancini, 1924
Peter Ustinov, 1921
Barry Nelson, 1920
Merce Cunningham, 1919
Charlie Chaplin, 1889
Wilbur Wright, 1867
Anatole France, 1844


Today in History:

Calculated date of the return of Odysseus from the Trojan War, BC1178
The Jewish fortress of Masada falls to the Roman Army, ending the Jewish revolt, 73
Martin Luther is called before the Diet of Worms, 1521
Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina, 1582
The United States Senate ratified the Rush-Bagot Treaty, establishing the border with Canada, 1880
The first passenger rail opens in India, 1853
Ebenezer Bassett, the first African-American diplomat, begins his service in Haiti, 1869
US Marshal Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle, in Dodge City, 1881
Harriet Quimby becomes the first female pilot to cross the English Channel, 1912
Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Amritsar Massacre by the British, 1919
Annie Oakley shoots a record 100 clay targets in a row, 1922
Dr. Albert Hofmann first ingests LSD, thus discovering its effects, 1943
Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, 1947
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation, 1963
The Katina P. runs aground off of Maputo, Mozambique and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean, 1992
The Queen Mary II embarks on her first transatlantic voyage, 2004
President of Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo declares the First Ivorian Civil War to be over, 2007