Something must have changed because my dentist, who does most everything himself, also sent me to an oral surgeon to have an extraction. The last time I had it done, it was pulled right in a dentist’s office.
May present this to my new dentist. They don't like it during a filling when I say "Can you see China yet?"
Mobile Home Plumbing Update I used to always try to do household repairs or improvements according to "Code.".. I'm over that now. This project has turned into what you might describe as whack-a-mole plumbing. Each repair reveals a new problem, just tantalizing enough to make you want to keep at it. Results: New kitchen faucet, new drain fittings in guest bathroom sink, two new toilet flush fixtures, including new flappers. Discovered leak in master bath sink drain. Took out everything from the drain down to the squiggly trap and reinstalled with new washers and caulking. As long as the shutoffs don't leak they can stay permanently turned on. Some sinks don't even have shut offs at all. Everything was finally working properly with no leaks. EXCEPT the hot and cold water lines were reversed in the kitchen. Got that fixed one day last week. Almost on the way out the door, I noticed the faucet in that same sink in the master bath was dripping. So slow that if you passed through the room quickly enough you could miss it. The cartridges are unlike most others, of course. Faucets came from a box store, not original to the mobile home. Called quarter-turns with a D-stem. Everything looked in good shape, just some corrosion. Cleaned them up and greased and put them back. Didn't help. Last night I finally found a cartridge online that will replace them. They are for Glacier Bay faucets, a Home Depot brand, from Locke Plumbing, in Knoxville, TN. Family business since 1948. Only $11 each for solid brass & ceramic. Ordered 2 last night. Just for fun. Meanwhile everyone can live with one slow drip. (keywords added at the end for Ken)
When the heck did everything start using 'cartridges'? What happened to old fashioned valves with cheap washers? You make me feel useless at this point in my life with all your fixits. But, I did actually re-dug my own septic drain field once, by hand tools.( talking about doing things a little less than by code)
I dug out a mini-septic system in the back yard years ago for the washing machine to drain into. The tank was about the size of a foot stool. When I moved in this house there was just a hose from the washer that went out the back door and into the yard. If you used too much Tide, a big white foam bubble would grow out there. Not acceptable to the code police, but nobody said anything. Still not up to code. I'm waiting for it to fail any day now. Then you have to install a pump to pump the water up to the sewer line.
Two teeth pulled at 4pm today. My dentist probably couldn't have done these after all. There are two surgeons at this office. This time I picked the other one, because he had a free space a month earlier. He kept asking if I was SURE I didn't want more than just a local anesthetic. (Red flag?) The shots have always been the thing I hated most. This is an older man. Graduated dental school in 1979. Overalls and boots would have fit his character. Jumped right in with both hands, a drill, and a prybar. It took about 10 minutes of digging. He had to drill the one dead tooth (root canal) into pieces, and pry the pieces out. Never could get the other tooth numb properly. Anticipating that it might get worse, was the worst part. It never did. There is a big gap back there now. It almost shows out the front when you smile. They kept asking if I wanted an implant, because there will be one tooth unopposed now and therefore useless. I just don't want to think about it right now. He left at least 3 dangling stitches with 1" long tails. I cut one off already. Will do the back ones tomorrow. Just like the cat, only mine wasn't dangling down the back of my throat, and my mouth is much bigger. Poor kitty.
I have a tooth that I might need to have removed someday. Dentist gave me a choice of fixing it or pulling. He said it was not hitting an opposing tooth because I had one pulled before. My tongue said otherwise and it is the only thing standing between two gold teeth that would probably be destroyed by tooth grinding. So I wear a mouth guard at night. When I don't the nerve of the tooth in question gets irritated. I am not sure unopposed is useless. It might be space holding. When I had my tooth pulled, I kept biting my cheek because of the space allowing it in.
If I were starting all over I'd never get a tooth pulled unless it was absolutely necessary. It starts a chain reaction of bad things. Space holding is useful. Otherwise the adjacent tooth/teeth start to tilt. I bite my cheek on the other side all the time also, now that the two back ones are gone over there. Maybe this new unopposed tooth will be a space holder to keep that from happening on this side. My dentist says you can never break the habit of teeth grinding. I've tried to prove him wrong, but no luck so far.
That looks just like the drill the surgeon had. Except his was cordless. Nuances, like fast or slow, fine or coarse bit, were not necessary. Just keep drilling until chunks break off. This morning there were two loose 1" long pieces of suture string floating around loose in my mouth. Hope I didn't grind them off during the night. Everything looks OK. What's that all about?
If you can "catch" pavers doing jobs in your area, that might be the way to go. I think moving all the paving equipment to an area to do a single driveway is just so expensive that no one want to pay for it. The companies don't want to quote jobs that only get refused as being too expensive. If the equipment is already near,however, you may get a better price.
From emails and letters, it sounds like the little girl, my 2nd cousin from Ohio, has grown up to be a good person and someone who would be a lot of fun to be around. She has an unmistakable happy-go-lucky approach to everything that reminds me of a 20-something. Makes it even harder to imagine that she must be near 60 years old now. (Quick repeat. I keep getting mixed up). She and her husband, daughter, and 1.5 y.o. granddaughter are driving to a retreat near Hiawassee, in the GA mountains, to attend a wedding Saturday of her daughter's friend, who lives in Atlanta. Hiawassee is about 2 hours away. She wanted us to meet up while she's in the area. At first this trip was supposed to continue on to Miami Sunday to visit my only other living 1st cousin on that side of the family. The most sensible plan was to meet at a restaurant halfway between here and Hiawassee somewhere off I-85 on Sunday morning. They could go on their way, with no detours. The Miami leg of the trip has since been cancelled but will definitely happen at a later time, she says. Now they are just heading back home after the wedding. At this point the plan still made some sense. All other possibilities were ruled out. Now she says she remembered she wants to be in Akron on Monday to accompany her mother to a doctor's appointment. I suggested we postpone this until they take the trip to Miami, because it's almost a 600 mile drive back to Akron. She emailed yesterday that they are on their way south after a 3.5 hour delayed start. Still wants to keep this plan open as a possibility, because there are 3 of them driving, and it's still feasible. But she will see how long the trip south takes. Maybe it's me. Maybe I should just say, I'll see you whenever you get here (or not). It makes me tired just reading all these overly-ambitious plans. Sometimes I wonder if she's not doing this just because she feels obligated to visit all living relatives. I had two other cousins like that. One spent most of his adult life visiting relatives east of the Mississippi. Some members of the older generation in our family were good at laying guilt trips on their offspring, about keeping in touch with relatives. Especially the mothers. Traditions carried down from years when everyone lived within a day's horseback ride and there were no telephones, let alone Facebook and Zoom.
As far as I can tell all the stitches in my mouth have already fallen out in just 48 hours, and everything is back to normal. I love it. Thank you, Dr. M. The cat is still gagging on hers. Three weeks now with stitches? Vet said it might take even longer. That is ridiculous.