Just a leaky toilet? Yeah, right....

In mid November, I arrived home from a business trip and heard my 13-year-old son, Tim exclaim: "The toilet is leaking, and it's coming right into the basement!"

No problem, I thought. It was probably just a gasket ring that needed to be replaced. No need to panic, I told Laura. "This will be an easy, inexpensive fix."

Famous last words....

Day 1.... Saturday afternoon (First trip to Home Depot) So far, so good...Pick up a new wax ring replacement kit ($9.95) drive home and remove old toilet. Uh, oh.... the sub-floor is rotted. The laminate tile all needs to be pulled up. Can we find a contractor who can get in here fast (five days before Thanksgiving)?

Day 4: subcontactor arrives, replaces portion of floor ($200) so far, so good..

Day 6 (Thanksgiving Day)
See the photo to the right? Yup, we decided to go all out and pull out the ugly sink, too...

Day 7: (Day after Thanksgiving) we remove all tiles from wall and begin scraping wallpaper...Dust is everywhere, cats are coughing....Randy is feeling major stress. Debris accumulates in backyard. We're exhausted, especially since we did our annual "Black Friday" shopping at 4 a.m., but hey, we found a really good deal on a new sink, vanity and faucet at Lowe's. We also picked up a new medicine cabinet and new, state of the art toliet with all the fixings. We also purchase tile, grout, mortar, floor padding and assorted plumbing pieces...today's expenses? $765

Day 8 (Saturday) Randy gets up bright and early to meet neighbor with a pick-up truck. They take old tiles, sink, toilet and loads of other crap to town dump. Matt finishes scraping wall while Laura relaxes with a hot cup of coffee..

Our house is a disaster zone....the dust is everywhere! The shop vac is in the kitchen. The tub is a repository of tools and bottles of caulk. Laura gets herself prettied up and unloads the tile cutter. The noise is shrill, like a Vietnamese women screaming at her dog on a humid summer night. Randy opens a bottle of Chivas....Tim is nowhere to be found. The wallpaper is almost all off, but we decide to get the flooring in first. The old light fixture (isn't is pretty?) will remain for now so that we can continue working at night and drinking heavily during the day...

Laura says her back is killing her. Matt says he is hungry. Tim is pulled over by the police (more about that later) and Randy is in the backyard with some kerosene and matches.

There is the distinctive smell of desperation in the air and the looming questions remains: Will our Christmas guests be able to crap in our new house without soling the carpet?

Laura becomes the true champion of this project. Working against the clock and with an aging tile cutter blade and the body of a 49-year-old, (oops, sorry, honey; but that's less than 10 years away now) she makes incredible progress. The new floor is shaping up. Everything else, including our bank accounts and relationships, are falling apart.

Day 9: (Sunday) Trips No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 to Home Depot. We pickup new laminate sheets for bottom walls and (who knew moulding is so friggin' expensive?) and new moulding, plus a basin wrench (a tool that Randy says you "absolutely must have" in order to put in a new sink) We never quite figured out how to use the basin wrench, but there's no way we can get to the sink today, anyway...it is now time for the toilet!! (Total costs today: $379.87)

To our blathering delight, at approximately 4:58 p.m., some nine days after the story began our new toilet is working!!! This means that our bedroom will once again be our sanctuary where we can lock the door without forcing the kids to go outside in the middle of the night for a pee. Remind me sometime to tell you what Tim likes to do with Poland Spring bottles.........

To all you do-it-your-selfers out there, one sage piece of advice: never underestimate the beauty of buying at least two (2) new wax ring replacement kits just in case something should happen to go wrong after Home Depot closes.

In PART TWO of this series we will discuss in detail the strains that installing a new bathroom light can have on even the best of marriages. We will alo examine crooked medicine cabinets, the beauty of drywall screws and how letting your wife flirt with a contractor will save you lots of moulding installation headaches.

Hawaii 5-0

Dah-dah-dah-da-duh-da . . .da-da-da-da-duh . . .
Come on, you know the song . . .it's the theme music from Hawaii 5-0... Okay, so now you remember the song, check out this video compilation of our vacation... (double click on the play button to start the video)



Now try humming the Hawaii 5-0 theme while stuck in a 747 for more than 10 hours straight... That was me, just a few weeks ago, on our way to the island of dreams, Oahu, the poster-child for land-use planning and zoning.

Check out this link, it makes Waikkiki look good.....but trust me, there's a good reason that camera doesn't roll 360 degrees....because what's behind it, is your avaerge city, think Cleveland, Boston or Detroit being uploaded and smcked down in the middle of the Pacific... so, welcome to Honolulu

http://www.co.honolulu.hi.us/multimed/waikiki.asp

Wild, wild life

Here are the other photos.... scroll down for more

of Mr. Moose!

Burgers, anyone?

This is just one of several shots Laura took during our annual summer vacation at Rangeley Lake. This moose was very friendly as you will see below, along with some other wildlife photos Laura took...

MERC: Your input wanted

As you may already know, I was appointed by the Biddeford City Council last week to serve as one of two public representatives on the Maine Energy Recovery Company Citizens Advisory Committee.

For the better part of the last decade, I have followed the Maine Energy issue very closely. Because of my former occupation as a Biddeford-based journalist, I have a keen appreciation of how important this issue is to the citizens of Biddeford.

I was honored to be asked to serve on this committee, but it is paramount that I represent all citizens and all perspectives during my service on the committee. Thus, I am inviting anyone with concerns, suggestions or ideas to contact me directly so I may bring those concerns to the table as one of your representatives.

Please feel free to contact me at 571-4376, my home telephone number; or via e-mail at randyseaver@hotmail.com. I look forward to discussing these issues with concerned citizens, and appreciate the faith and trust bestowed upon me by Mayor Nutting and the Biddeford City Council.
Thank you,

That damn novel

So, the whole reason I started a blog was to share my writing. Where's my writing?? How about a piece of the novel I started writing nearly 15 years ago? We'll start this evening with the prologue.

****************

It was the sum realization of a lifetime, and David Haskell couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. Staring at the computer monitor, he wondered if he was making the right decision. There was only one thought prevailing among the thousands of others in his crowded mind: After all this time— could he possibly know what the right decision was anymore?

The house was dark, save for the bluish haze of the computer screen. David had been drinking. It was the only way he could find the courage necessary to execute the chain of events that he had been contemplating for the last three months.

He took another swig from the bottle beside him. The bourbon couldn't stop the shaking. David knew that the drinking wouldn't help— but he no longer cared.

The memo was only four paragraphs in length; some 400 words to describe the hell that he had helped to create.

Would sending this message be worth the consequences? He forced a laugh, reaching for a nearly-empty pack of cigarettes. “Screw 'em,” he whispered, hitting the return key. Within seconds, David's confession was coded and sent deep into cyberspace, making its way toward an unwitting recipient.

What's done was done.

He took a long drag on his Camel, feeling some small measure of satisfaction. Too many people had died. Too many lies. It was time for some truth. With his eyes still closed, David reached down and opened the desk drawer. Reaching inside, he felt the cold, yet welcome, steel of the Lorcin semi-automatic.

He kept his eyes closed, crushing the remains of his cigarette on the desk and lodged the muzzle of the gun beneath his chin, slowly wrapping his index finger around the trigger.
“Forgive me, Beth,” he sobbed before squeezing the trigger.

With that, the deputy national security advisor was no longer a threat to those who were worried about his loyalties.

Yard work

As many of you know, my yard is my obsession. Here are a few photos to show how out of control I have been during the past few weeks. Given the new family member (see next post) this will most likely be the last time the back yard looks like this. My friend Parke says the reason I spend so much time working on the yard is because I have all but given up on the inside of the house. Parke knows me too well.

Hey, Jack Kerouac

Here is Kerouac, the newest member of the Seaver clan

Long time, no update

I know...I know....I've heard from many faithful readers that there is a serious lack of updates on this blog. I mean to correct this problem immediately. As for home improvements, I will be posting several before and after photos.

Also, within a few hours, I will upload photos of PHASE THREE of the Seaver outdoor holiday decoration project.

To get you started, here are a few shots of the living room project. This first picture shows how the room looked when we first toured the property with our real estate agent a little more than two years ago.

This next photo shows the same room, from the same angle how it looks today.

Lower Your Cable Bill! We should have choices!

I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of having no choice about what company provides my cable tv service. Well, there's some good news on the horizon! Congress is now considering the Barton-Rush bill, a bi-partisan, consumer-oriented bill that would open up markets for competition in the cable industry.

Many companies, both large and small, are poised to enter the arena and that would drive down costs and expand consumer options because of increased competition. Unfortunately, the piecemeal and parochial method now used to negotiate franchise agreements, effectively blocks out the potential for other providers.

I have no problem with Time-Warner offering phone service, I just think that the phone companies and ISPs should be able to offer video services. The Barton-Rush Bill (HR5252) meets that need and would provide individual communities with increased leverage during franchise negotiations.

In a rural state like Maine, we have a real opportunity to expand the digital highway by fostering an environment of fairness and competition. Doesn't that sound better than paying more taxes so that people up north can also be limited to just one choice?

For more information, please visit: www.wewantchoice.com

Please join me in contacting our Congressional delegation about this issue. Tell them Maine consumers should have choices. Tell Congress to support the Barton-Rush Bill. The contact information for our delegation is listed below:

Rep. Tom Allen: 1-888-862-6500 (toll free)
rep.tomallen@mail.house.gov

Rep. Mike Michaud: (202) 225-6306
rep.mikemichaud@mail.house.gov

Sen. Olympia Snowe: 800-432-1599