Not a plumber

Let me be perfectly clear. I am not a plumber. I can think of three times when I attempted a home plumbing repair job, got in over my head and called a plumber, which I should have done in the first place before attempting the repair. In each case the plumber was kind and understanding and didn’t make fun of my bumbling efforts. I think they are used to that scenario. Plumbers are bold people. In two of the repairs made during the time we lived in Rapid City, plumbers cut holes in sheetrock to get access to the area where the repair was needed, leaving a hole that I had to fix. In both cases, I was trying to find a way to avoid a sheetrock repair. In both cases, I did avoid the repair by installing access panels just in case a repair might be needed in the future. They make really neat spring-loaded access panels designed to go in a square holes in sheetrock. They make different sizes for different sized holes.

I have respect for the skills and education of tradespeople. My father-in-law was a master electrician and he devoted a part of his career to teaching in the electrician apprenticeship program. He knew what he was doing whether the situation called for a repair or for new construction. He was good at teaching others how to do the work, too. For the first years of our married life, we had access to his skills. He made lots of repairs around our homes. He added outlets where needed. He did an electrical inspection on our first home and saved us a significant amount of money by getting a new electrical panel into the purchase deal.

He taught me that it is a good buy to purchase the skills of a competent tradesperson.

However, the pandemic has produced a shortage of tradespersons. Electrical and plumbing contractors are having trouble hiring enough staff. The price of building materials rose dramatically during the pandemic due to supply chain issues (fewer ships from China and fewer people to work at the ports to unload them). Prices also rose because demand rose. People did a lot of home improvement projects when they were isolated at home. A lock down doesn’t decrease the number of trips to Lowes, Menards or Home Depot. The high prices of building materials supported increases in costs for the building trades as well. There may or may not have been a bit of profiteering going on. Whatever the case, getting a plumber to make a repair probably means waiting for one to make an estimate and then waiting a couple of weeks before the job is actually done.

So, with a leak meaning that our son’s family had to turn off the hot water whenever it wasn’t being used in their 100 year old farm house, I mustered my courage and tackled the problem. I thought I had a small project that would be completed in an hour. I headed for the farm thinking I’d be back by noon. I finally rolled home around 9 pm last night. And the job isn’t done. I’m making progress and I should be able to finish in less than an hour after one more trip to the hardware store. There were three yesterday. I think the clerks in the plumbing section of the hardware store are so friendly in part because they know they will be seeing you again soon. It isn’t a casual purchase. It is a relationship.

As I said, I am not a plumber. Sometimes, however, you do what has to be done. And, in the process, you learn. I made several mistakes yesterday that I won’t make again. I have more sympathy for a plumber who makes a trip to estimate the job, goes back to the shop to get the parts and then comes out to do the job. At least they usually don’t have to make four trips to get parts.

In other news, since plumbing really doesn’t fill up an entire journal entry, just north of where we live, across the border, in Vancouver, British Columbia, conservation officers are trying to come up with a solution to a series of coyote attacks. Two children and one man were attacked in Stanley Park last week, bringing the number of recorded attacks in the park to 45. The park is now closed overnight. Fortunately the attacks have resulted in only minor injuries. Still the situation is concerning.

We had plenty of coyotes in the area where I grew up and I never heard of one attacking a person. There were lots of stories of coyotes making a meal of a lamb, but attacking a person wasn’t in the cards. They are wary beasts and tend to shy away from people.

However, folks have been making it a regular practice to feed the coyotes in order to get pictures of them. They use food handouts as a lure to get the picture they want. The coyotes become accustomed to being around people and when the people don’t feed them, they get testy.

The British Columbia ministry of forests reported that it will be taking steps for “direct coyote management,” including “lethal removal” in order to insure human safety. I know how to read those words. There was a bounty on coyotes in our county when I was growing up. People used to go out coyote hunting to make a few extra bucks. And one thing everyone learned from that experience is that when coyote populations come under pressure, say from increased bounty hunting, population spikes. The more coyotes are hunted, the more pups are born. People used to take pictures of dozens of coyotes killed and the overall population didn’t shrink at all. The survivors just had more offspring.

The solution is to get people to stop feeding the creatures. Of course that is much more difficult than deploying a team of sharpshooters to hunt coyotes. Conservation officers in British Columbia have their work cut out for them.

If it gets too difficult, I suppose they could switch careers. I know a place nearby where there is a shortage of skilled plumbers and amateurs are bumbling through plumbing repair jobs.

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