The past few days have consisted of fighting the great ant infest of 2012 with gusto and boric acid and ant traps. I cannot think of a time when I have worked so hard to get rid of something and it just won't go away! Typically when I want something to go away, and really put all my energy behind it - it's gone! Not these damn ants! I swear to God that they look at those ant traps and just laugh and give me the finger. I shared that with the guy at the hardware store downstairs and he cracked up! It's sad when you stand in the kitchen with spray in hand just waiting for one of the little buggers to show themselves so you can pounce. Spray and wait and wipe with paper towel...and repeat.
Just when I thought I had hit bottom in the "how I spent my summer days" category, we woke up yesterday to a sink full of black sludge in the kitchen. "Great, just great," I say out loud to my self. I call the landlord...
Me: "Hey Janet! How are you?"
Janet: "Hi Shelley! Actually, I'm doing pretty good today!"
Me: (well I'm about to ruin your day missy) "Well, I'm sorry to say that we have a sink full of black sludge in the kitchen."
Janet: "OH! Well my goodness! Well take all the stuff out of it."
Me: "The stuff from out from under the sink?"
Janet: "no the stuff in the sink."
Me: Oh, okay - but should I go ahead and take the stuff out from under the sink?"
Janet: No, just make sure to take the stuff in the sink out."
Me: "Umm, okay...there's just a couple things in there waiting to be washed...so..."
Janet: "and don't pour any drain cleaner down there - we don't want to ruin the pipes."
Me: "Right - sure! I won't...
Janet: "I'll let Carl know (her husband) and he'll come over and check it out."
Me: "Great! Thanks Janet! See you soon then."
Janet: "yeah, okay hon!"
I walk into the kitchen and take out the empty yogurt container, the ice tea pitcher and the spoon and the bowl I had my morning yogurt in and put them in the dishwasher. Done!
Now...I wait....and wait....and wait...
The landlords came by around four o'clock in the evening and proceeded to take everything out from under the sink...???? unscrewed the elbow pipe and let the sludge (which was by now filled more than half-way in the sink) fall into the blue bucket strategically placed under the sink. All the gunk began pouring out into the bucket. It looks a lot like oil so we joked about the discovery of oil on this here land and that we'll all be rich - until the city finds out and puts an oil tax on us or something.
Anyway - Carl began using the snake thing (technical term) to rout out the pipe. This went on until about Nine in the evening....needless to say, we ordered in from T's across the street because cooking was out of the question. Promises of being back tomorrow and scratching of heads occurred as we said our goodnights.
Fast forward to this morning when I went into the kitchen first thing and there sat about a quarter of water in the sink - but this time it was brown! Which set me into a panic of...uh oh, where is this coming from now? I figured they would be calling and saying - "we're on our way!" So I waited...and waited...and waited...nothing. I walk back into the kitchen and the sink is quickly filling up to the top! I put on the trusty flip-flops and my Sam Adams ball cap and run down to the Aquarium that they own and run. I burst through the doors to see Janet with a customer and Carl in the back with another customer. The store looked great! I hadn't been in there in a while.
Me: "hey you guys - um, the sink is filling up rather quickly and it's on it's way to spilling over..."
Janet: "Oh, i guess we better check on it then..."
Me; "yeah..."
Janet: "Carl is waiting on someone right now..." (Carl walks toward the front of the store) "hey, the sinks filling up, better get up there and see whats going on."
Carl: "yeah, I had a couple of leaks I had to fix here this morning, put out some fires, you know."
Me; well, the sink is about ready to spill over...so..."
Up the stairs we go!
Another day - add the granddaughter - the son-in-law and more opinions of what is happening, coupled with time in the basement digging through all the suspected pipes and it is now eight-thirty in the evening and we hear a bang on the door between the dining room and the kitchen. We walk into the kitchen.
Janet: "I was just getting ready to call you."
Me; "you could've just opened the door"
Janet: "no, I don't open closed doors..."
Me: "....okay...?"
Janet: "well, we're gonna break down and call a plumber. He'll be here in the morning. You gonna be home?"
Me: uh, yeah, I'll be home..."
So..tomorrow I'll be waiting for the plumber to fix the sludge problem. I should ask him if he has any advice on killing ants but one thing I know I'm likely to be doing tomorrow is...waiting and waiting and waiting...sigh.
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