So, we’ve had another interesting week…
Amongst other minor calamities, our kitchen sink drain is completely backed up (again.) Hoping not to pay a plumber hundreds of dollars, Jonny made a Craigslist search looking for a 50 foot drain snake. He found one down in Richmond and sent a text about it. A reply came and a price was settled upon. The guy selling it suggested that Jonny meet him at his warehouse at 7 p.m. Jonny googled the address and called me in to see the street view of the warehouse. It looked abandoned and sketchy. I told him something along the lines of, “No way are you going there. I’d rather pay a plumber than send you to your certain death.” Jonny looked for a public place nearby and saw that there was a Sugar Shack Donut shop down the road. He sent a text suggesting meeting there instead of at the sketchy warehouse (he called it that in the text!) and the guy said that was fine.
About an hour after Jonny left, I called him to check in and see if he’d arrived yet. He told me that he hadn’t. Then I asked how he knew this drain snake was even new. He said that the picture on the ad showed the price tag and mentioned that it was originally purchased at Lowe’s, and hadn’t been used. I asked Jonny why the guy didn’t just return it rather than sell it for a third it’s value. He told me that the guy claimed it had been a gift so he couldn’t return it. I said, “Yeah, right! It’s probably stolen! Or better yet, this guy just went to Lowe’s and took a picture of it, posted it, and is now going to steal your money!” (Laughter.) “Park under bright lights!!! Make sure there are lots of people there and that they can see you!” (How would this man survive without me and my advice?) (More Laughter.)
I told him I’d be calling back in fifteen minutes…
“Hey! Are you there yet?”
“Yep.”
“Where are you parked?”
“Right in front and there is a security camera.”
“Okay, good.”
“Hey, there he is. He’s got his shirt tucked in…hang on a second.”
(I think he mentioned the shirt to reassure me, because obviously criminals don’t tuck in their shirts.)
A few minutes later Jonny picked up the phone and explained that he had the drain snake and all was well.
“Yeah, actually that guy is the landlord for this Sugar Shack and a bunch of other places around here. He was wearing a tie and had his shirt tucked in…That warehouse is where he stores stuff. Someone gave him the drain snake, but he already had one and didn’t need it. He totally could have taken $75 instead of $100, but he’s a businessman, so that’s okay. I understand.”
Jonny spent hours last night, and all day today trying to clear the drain, to no avail. He even cut a hole in the wall in the basement to create another access vent for the drain pipe closer to the clog, but still no luck. He’s going to work on it for a couple hours in the morning, but after that, I guess we’ll be calling a plumber after all. Unless it works…Pray that it does?
We’re taking a break tonight, and I’m hoping to work on that little green Sunday Sweater for Mabel…
p.s. Before things went downhill, I got all my naturally dyed playsilks listed in our shop. I’m still working on yarn and I’ll let you know when I have that ready to go! So many pretty fall colors…I can’t wait to show you!
p.p.s. I know this post is a little silly, but you really do have to be careful with Craigslist!
Andrea says
For Craigslist (or any online selling) check to see if your local police department has a safe-trade area. Mine has a small section of their parking lot set aside for people to meet up and complete online sales/exchanges.
Jennifer Miller says
You weren’t being paranoid about buying and selling things off of Craigslist. I do it all the time but always in a safe, public spot or if my husband is home. This happened here and made me doubly safe… http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/us/unborn-baby-cut-from-womb-verdict-colorado/index.html
Better safe than sorry. Hope you got your drain working.
Richard (in Charlotte, NC) says
Have you and Jonny tried crystal sodium hydroxide to clear your drain? I just bought some at Lowes and it has worked splendidly for my Dad’s bathroom lavatory. The brand that I purchased is ROEBIC professional crystal drain cleaner. It’s not cheap, it cost around $15.00 but, it works very well. I only used about a third of a cup for what must have been a hair clog. If on the other hand, the children have put something down the toilet, I understand the outlay for the drain snake.
Anne Kitching says
You made me laugh…. I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts (guilty pleasure) and meeting a guy at night at an empty warehouse…. Better not!
Good luck with the plumbing.
Jeannine says
Hi Ginny!
I don’t know if you have a garbage disposal in the sink, but I once got some good advice I’ll pass on. A plumber once told me to live like you don’t have one. Not that I worry about every crumb that goes down there but I now always scrape plates etc and we have never had a problem. Hope it works out:) Love the yarn color!!
Kathy says
Reminds me of the time a little boy of mine dropped a Brio train in the toliet and created a block that required his father to use a drain snake.This little boy enjoyed the process so he did it again the next day too!
Hope you get your drain problem solved soon Ginny.
Liz says
We have the same problem with our drain now and again. The first time it happened my husband spend a whole morning to fix the problem with a drain snake, without any success. Then he got the idea to use a dry and wet vacuum cleaner and that did the trick. Now every time the drain is blocked he uses that vacuum cleaner and the problem is solved in just a couple of minutes.
karen says
I am a super paranoid person who grew up in a city trusting no one and locking everything up. So I agree with the wariness of approaching a craigslist item 🙂 However, I find most people are good and kind so there is usually not an evil person lurking around the corners. (or are they…ha!). hope your drain situation is resolved!!
Marion says
Be careful. Love the pictures of Mabel and Job with the pumpkins. They look so much alike. Have a blessed week.
Marion
Elisabeth Leake says
This might sound really strange, but I love the picture of Mabel with her belly poking out. That’s one of my favorite things about babies.
Taryn @ WoolyMossRoots says
Yes, I agree about being careful with craigslist! We saw a vehicle for a really good deal on craigslist and when we called about it, the man said we would have to pick it up at his house. We only meet in public places when it comes to craigslist. We looked up the guys phone number online (think we had to pay $1.99 or something) and saw that he had a criminal record and was from another state. We didn’t call back.
Anyway, I hope you get the drain cleared without too much trouble!
Paula Carli says
Good luck!! Have you ever dyed using pomegranate juice? I just dyed some fabric using indigo but the day before I juiced some pomegranates and didn’t wash out my strainer cheesecloth. It was a beautiful color and wondered if I could dye with it also. Love your colors. Best Wishes. Paula-Windmill Farm
Melissa says
My husband has had some similarly sketchy Craigslist interactions, I even wrote about a particularly silly one:) Glad it all worked out!
Maddy says
Hello,
My husband had a similar problem with a sewage line. He tried all of his long snakes then rented a 150 ft rotorooter, but it just wouldn’t clear. Finally he called the plumbers. It took them four hours to figure out how to get it clear. The problem turned out to be a soft gelatinous blob of gook. The snake and the rotorooter would punch right through it but not clear it away, so it would always glom back together and seal the pipe back up. The only thing that worked was a high pressure water sprayer.
Good luck
Ruby says
I literally did this exact thing to my husband when he was meeting people off Craigslist to sell his truck. I think I drove him crazy. I feel I did my job well as he’s alive, unharmed and the truck was eventually sold to a nice man who also had a tucked in shirt. 😉 X
Kate says
Plumbing problems is one of the reasons I’m glad we’re renting right now! We all needed a rest from 15 years of dealing with the septic and plumbing of an old house. We owned a manual snake, but also borrowed a friend’s electric one often when the situation was desperate. We did occasionally have to call a plumber. He told us to be careful about what we put down the drain. The kids would sometimes wash oily or greasy stuff which builds up in the pipes. And long hair! Our problems were mostly caused by a septic tank that was failing (we knocked some money off our asking price so the buyers could put in a new system). Do you have a septic tank? If so, when was it last pumped out? I hope you solve it quickly. I feel your pain!
I’ve had good experiences with CL. However, I usually bring my teenage son or husband with me to pick something up. The only negative problem I’ve had was second hand to CL. When we were moving and listing a lot of stuff for sale on CL, we had someone walk onto our property while we were gone and steal all our garage and barn tools that we were not selling. The sheriff said it was probably related to our CL ads. He guessed that someone who had been to our house to buy something, might have mentioned the set up of our rural place (unlocked outbuildings) to an unscrupulous person. He told us always to meet CL customers in a public place. I don’t know how you do that if your’re having an ongoing moving sale.
Amy Marie says
This sounds so familiar, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry for you. So sorry!
Mary @ Better Than Eden says
Sorry about the sink! You’re right about Craigslist. I’ve been way less than wise in the past when selling things and inviting people over or when going to see things. I’ve tried to be more careful the last few years. I don’t want live afraid of everyone or always suspect but also don’t want to be an idiot! I hope the sink gets fixed!
Liz says
My kitchen sink drain line gets clogged about every two years. Before my friend recommended a pair of steel mesh drain filters, it was more often. I don’t know if you already use them but they are crazy cheap and at Walmart too. We luckily bought my parent’s house so my dad showed me where our drain is prone to being clogged and how to shove a small pvc pipe down a vent tube to access it. Plumbing is totally crazy, but at least I can fix one of the many issues that pop up at my old house myself! Also whenever I bust up a clog, it is almost always full of rice and oatmeal. I guess the small amounts that make it past the filter accumulate over the years and get stuck in greasy, yucky slime:) Good luck!
Maria says
Oh yuck, good luck with the plumbing! You’re totally right about Craigslist. Last year when I was selling some roosters on Craigslist, one person got angry and didn’t want the bird after I repeated (which I had said in the ad) that I would meet them at a public area near them, rather than allowing them to come to our farm, which I didn’t want for biosecurity as well as personal safety reasons. Makes you wonder….Definitely better to play it safe!
Clémence says
Pfiou!!! I hope it ends up working…. here it’s a washing machine that’s waiting to get fixed, how awful, I almost bought a new one!! The man can only come on Tuesday to fix it aaah!
Elizabeth says
yep, you DO need to be careful with craigslist! Oh bother about that sink! Will say a prayer!!!