November 3: Winter is Among Us

Winterizing the house, the yard...it's rarely, if ever, a good time. Rather, it's a pain in the butt, if I may be so blunt as to put it that way. Especially when your lawn sprinkler system is set up in a way that requires you to blow out the spinklers from the basement via an old, rundown air compressor that's definitely on its last leg. You're getting a visual now, aren't you? Regardless, this past weekend, I begin the winterizing process with something simple - I shut-off the valves on the outside faucets from the basement. Unfortunately, in the process I came to realize that the front faucet, whose spicket had been replaced in July, was not working as it should. I was still getting a trickle outside. So, on Monday, I had called Mr. Handyman to come out and take a look; as they were the ones who replaced the aforementioned spicket just 4 months prior. Today, same guy came out to have a looksie at my shut-off valve. I felt good about the whole thing until he called me to the basement with a "we seem to have a bit more serious problem than we originally thought". Not a good way to gain the good graces of your customer. Turns out that not only is the shut-off valve to the faucet shot, but the shut-off valve down the line AND the valve that controls my main water line into the house. Translation, there's no way he can shut the water off to fix any of the valves. He tells me that we'll need a Plumber to come out and shut the water off "from the street", so that he can repair all 3 valves. He even knows a plumber who can lend a hand. The good news? Well, at least he didn't charge me the standard Mr. Handyman service charge for figuring all of this out. I guess what they say is true...you really can find something good in any situation.