Plumbing Paydirt!

Brace yourself... this is going to be a long one ;) If you happened to see a dark cloud of nasty words floating over middle America today, it's because I was working on the plumbing again. Actually I had incredibly good luck earlier this afternoon. You know the kind of fortune, the kind you only hear happening to the other guy.

Since I was already in the neighborhood, I had a look in the cramped little plumbing hardware that I'd been forced to beg for help from a year ago. This is the place that put an end to a four month long leaky faucet ordeal (a.k.a. nightmare! which included the cold water knob being blown off the tub, the bathroom getting flooded and my then 8 year old Junior so traumatized he couldn't be left alone in the bath for a week). This little shop carried the part for my fixture which nobody, not Menards, not Ace, or any of the big chains had ever seen before because it was longer in production.

Anyway, I had a look at what they had to sell me, and I was excited. There was not only just one but enough to give a person some choices in rebuilt mid-century faucets and accessories. Craigslist never had anything like this!

A clerk came over and asked what I was looking for. I think I scared him off because after I told him, he looked a bit lost and then walked back to the counter. LoL

After ogling the goods for a while, I caught up with the lost clerk and asked if he had sink basins too. He kinda mumbled and led me to the back. My hopes sank because everything he showed me was contemporary. Then I spied over the display fixtures to something way back, hanging from a peg on the corner wall. Chills ran through me - could it be? It was a porcelain kitchen sink, like we had when I was a kid.... like new and never used! It may have been covered in dust and cobwebs, and it may have been sitting around for who knows how long, but it was a thing of porcelain beauty.

The clerk didn't know what to charge since it had been forgotten so long, but I think he must have been glad to finally unload it - he asked only $25 for it. I was stunned... I forgot all about the faucets!

Another epic search was over and I took off for home with my sink like someone who'd just robbed Fort Knox.

...now where did I put that pipe wrench?...