Andrew Heller

Best. Columnist. Ever.

  • About
  • More Posts …
    • More Posts …
    • Come Heller high water
    • The Heller Poll
    • Steve Jessmore photos
    • Auchtoons
  • Books
 

Surveyin’ da Situation: The reason I’m not allowed to plumb

January 12, 2019 by John Matonich 8 Comments

By John Matonich

When they were younger, my kids would say to folks that their dad should never be allowed to do plumbing. When asked why, they would reply, “Because we learn a whole new set of swear words. “  I couldn’t argue with that for some reason, plumbing and I don’t see eye to eye.

I consider myself to be a relatively patient man, but for some reason crawling under a sink has never lead to good things happening. It has been a while since I have had to tackle one of these projects, but I recently found myself on my back in the laundry area contemplating life and wondering why the Big Guy was mad at me.

I got up on a recent Saturday morning looking forward to heading to my shop in town to finish up a couple of projects that needed my attention. I grabbed my coffee mug and headed out the door. I jumped in my truck to make the 35 mile trip to town. When I was about halfway there, I got a call from my little filly. She called to tell me there was water under the laundry tub and it didn’t look good. Trying to make the best of a not so good situation, I asked her if she could take a bunch of pictures and text them to me. I would stop at the home center in town and see if I couldn’t figure out what needed to be fixed.

Steph did a great job of sending me pictures of all kinds of things. Most of which I knew what was in them, but wasn’t sure I could make out the issue. That was until I saw a picture of the bottom of the 35-year-old laundry tub. It appeared to be rusted. I had to shake my head as I thought these fancy tubs were plastic, but I guess this one was built while Henry was still making cars and plastic was something new-fangled, at best.

My hopes were that someone in the Home Center could help me load up with what I needed so I could get home and get this taken care of. A shopping cart later (which included a whole new “plastic” laundry tub), out the door I went. I decided to forgo the shop time and head home to see if I couldn’t rectify the leak issue. The hair went up on the back of my neck a little when the gentleman who helped me said he has been in the business for 15 years and has never had a customer get everything they need on the first trip. Since this place closed at noon on Saturdays and I was a good 45 minutes from home, I hoped I would be the first to have all I needed.

Needless to say, he was right and I found out I had missed a few things. There is another home center 45 minutes in the other direction and they closed at 2, so I beat it there hoping to complete the material purchases before they closed. After getting home with the new material additions, I discovered a piece I thought I could re-use wasn’t even close to what would work. I thought I was screwed until the next day when I remembered one of the grocery stores just over the border in Wisconsin carried hardware, so out the door I went again to drive the 50 miles one way to this location. I bought several extra pieces that I didn’t know what they would be used for, but my options to get material was becoming severely limited so I didn’t want to chance it.

The good news was when I got home, I had enough stuff to get everything put together and get the laundry back in business. I spent several hours on the road that day and about 15 minutes fixing everything. I guess that’s the price you pay for living in God’s Country miles away from anything remotely resembling a Big Box hardware store. I kept thinking about my past plumbing experiences and it took a lot to hold back the stream of expletives I had in my head, but I did. Maybe I am growing more patient in my older age or maybe I just was too busy trying not to forget the list of things I needed. Either way, I hope my kids would be proud of me for keeping the swearing mostly to myself.

And that’s the situation as I survey it …

After a 35-year career downstate livin’ amongst da trolls, during which he built a successful engineering and surveying business, John Matonich is back home in da U.P. His column will appear here occasionally, don’tcha know. His book “Surveyin’ Da Situation” is available on Amazon.com.

 

 

Filed Under: Guest columnists, John Matonich Tagged With: andrewheller.com, surveyin' da situation

Comments

  1. Robert Sibilsky says

    January 12, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    What a familiar story, John….in every detail! The faster we go, the further behind we get.

    Boy, did your comments hit home.

    Nice work!

    Bob Sibilsky

    Reply
    • John Matonich says

      January 12, 2019 at 1:34 pm

      Glad you liked it, Bob. I suspect those if us with plumbing issues would make a big club…

      Reply
  2. David Ingram says

    January 12, 2019 at 1:40 pm

    When I saw the headline my first thought went to a plumb bob and I’m thinking to myself you’ve been plumbing your entire life. Silly me.

    Reply
    • John Matonich says

      January 12, 2019 at 1:43 pm

      I had the same original reaction, Dave. I wish the piping stuff was as easy as using a plumb bob…

      Reply
  3. Matthew says

    January 12, 2019 at 5:24 pm

    The thing you wrote about never getting everything on the first trip is profound gospel. It is a universal American guy experience. Right now, I am helping my helpless bachelor friend in his kitchen. I need to make a round-trip of about an hour (including shopping) for materials, for a ten-minute repair.

    Reply
    • John Matonich says

      January 14, 2019 at 9:59 am

      It always seem to happen that way… Not sure why, but it does…

      Reply
  4. Jims says

    January 12, 2019 at 7:00 pm

    I am not allowed to touch anything that has water running in it or out of it per my wife!

    Reply
    • John Matonich says

      January 14, 2019 at 10:00 am

      Your wife sounds like a smart lady…I am afraid I am in the same part for the most part…

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Buy My Books!

Show_Cars_Illustrated_300x250-2018

 

Archives

  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016

Categories

  • All Columns
  • Auchtoons
  • Brenda Brissette Mata columns
  • Come Heller high water
  • Flint Columns
  • Guest columnists
  • Guns
  • Humor
  • John Matonich
  • Michigan politics and government
  • National politics
  • Steve Jessmore photos
  • Steve Murch
  • The Heller Poll
  • What do you think?

About The Author

Andrew Heller has been an enduringly popular newspaper columnist in Michigan for a long, long, long time. He wrote his first column for the Escanaba Daily Press way back in 1979. It was about his … Continue Reading

SOCIAL

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

BOOK: Come-Heller-High-Water-by-Andrew-Heller ISBN-13:9780964983212

Come Heller High Water I is the collection readers asked for, and includes columns that they wanted reprints of.

In true Heller style, topics cover everything from the craziness of having kids to tales from his U.P. days.

Buy My Books!

BOOK: Come-Heller-High-Water 2-by-Andrew-Heller ISBN-13:9780964983212

Come Heller High Water II is the smash hit follow-up to Come Heller High Water I. It includes everything from Andy's takes on modern life to conversations with his back home pal Moon Dimple, and much, much more.
 

Buy My Books!

BOOK: Saving the World One Column at a Time Paperback  ISBN-10: 0971495114 ISBN-13: 978-0971495111

Saving the World One Column at a Time is a bitingly funny look at the world through the eyes of this award-winning columnist. In it he takes on corporate crooks, Little League parents, tongue piercers, ketchup sinners and much, much more. A must-have for Heller fans.

Buy My Books!

Copyright © 2025 · Andrew Heller · Best. Columnist. Ever.

Mobile Responsive Website by Media Cafe Online, LLC · Log in