Thursday 08/17/2023
Well today there was a Channing House bus outing to Half Moon Bay. 16 people on the bus. Went first to the usual walking path along the clifftops for an hour stroll. Took a picture.
Then to lunch at the Miramar Beach Restaurant.
Then home, just in time for the 3pm Ice Cream Social on the patio. I don’t think I’ll go on any more of these type outings, though. People walk too slow, and the bus is jouncy. The next planned one is to the Marine Mammal center in Marin. Marian and I were there some years ago, I don’t need to go again.
At 5 I took off again for the Third Thursday open-air concerts along California Avenue. The City sponsors seven local bands of various styles, spaced out along the quarter-mile street. I started with Past Curfew, rock of the 60s-70s-80s.
From there I walked up and down to sample the other bands but came back. Past Curfew was clearly the best and had drawn a pretty good crowd.
Oh I neglected to mention an important activity yesterday. 6 months ago, or so, my kitchen sink stopped draining. I called facilities and a guy came and removed the P-trap and did something. I asked what was clogging it; he just said “stuff”. Which is weird, I had never put anything down the sink but liquid (there’s no disposal). Well I was in the habit of brushing off the counter into the sink, so maybe crumbs? Anyway, since then I have been very aware of the drain and no longer put crumbs or any kind of solid down it. Anything but clear liquid goes in the toilet for flushing.
So for the past few days the drain had been very slow to clear and yesterday it stopped completely. Well, water would ooze away over ten minutes. So I decided to see what the “stuff” was. I got my big adjustable pliers from my toolbox in my basement locker and I took apart that P-trap.
Yick! The stuff was just sludge, greenish-brown, the consistency of peanut butter, with a dank smell. I took the two pieces of pipe, one straight, one U-shaped, to the shower to clean them out. Then I had to scrape the vertical sink outlet with a knife. Very unpleasant. Also unpleasant, forcing the three joints to line up and tighten so as not to leak. I hate plumbing.
But now I have this puzzle: why did my sink drain and trap grow a thick coat of sludge? And how can I prevent it? I plan to check the hardware store for drain cleaning chemicals, but how often do I need to use them?
Codgerville 