With a cute kitten in the house, you'd think I'd find nice pictures to post online.

You'd be wrong.

I posted this on another blog a while back; since that one has pretty much died, I'm reposting it here since it actually has a certain amount of intelligence behind it.

Once every couple years we have a toilet that needs fixed. Sometimes the wax seal has started to leak and water slowly seeps onto the floor, and sometimes the mechanism within the tank just gives out and needs replacing.

As a result, once every couple years I figure I can fix the toilet myself instead of dropping $100 or more on a professional plumber to resolve the problem for us. I’m not wrong in this figuring; I’m handy enough to resolve whatever problem there may be. The difference, of course, is where it would take a plumber 30 minutes and little mess to finish the job, it takes me four hours (not including rest breaks) and plenty of paper towels to sop up water that spills, leaks, and sometimes pours onto the floor.

For the fantastic inventions that they are, toilets really aren’t that complicated. Each time I fix a toilet, I can’t help but think that I’d be much more efficient the next time I have to perform such maintenance. Then, a year or two goes by, and I forget all this knowledge, and I’m back to the same four hours and wet clothes situation.

So, here are ten tips that hopefully I’ll remember to look up next time the situation arises. This isn’t an extensive instruction manual, as those are plentiful elsewhere. These are tips that I usually forget and don’t have documented anywhere and only realize their importance after the fact. Plus, after the fact, they seem so logical that it is almost silly that I didn’t remember them. But, sometimes inherent knowledge isn’t that obvious until after the fact.

1. Toilets come apart very easily. And, when the tank is disconnected from the bowl, neither are very heavy. They are messy; the bolts rust up badly and create quite a mess once everything is apart. It is important to have plenty of towels and a nice sponge to sop up as much of the mess before it is all disconnected and put on the floor. Or, be prepared to clean the floor when all is said and done.

2. If the bowl needs removed from the floor to replace the wax ring, be sure to use a razor knife to cut the caulk that holds secures the bowl to the floor. Otherwise, there is a substantial chance the tile on the floor will rip when the bowl is lifted.

3. The old wax ring can be removed very easily with a putty knife. It is nice to wear rubber gloves throughout this process; none of these things are overly pleasant to touch. It is also a good idea to have a towel to dump the old wax ring on when removing it from the bowl as it is kinda slimy and likely fairly disease-ridden.

4. Mooshing the bowl with the new wax ring on the floor is also fairly easy, but be overly careful to ensure it is straight against the rear wall, or else you’ll be sitting at an angle until the next time you need to change the ring.

5. Something tiny changes in the mechanisms every time I buy them. I don’t know why this is, but it just is. Don’t discard anything until you are sure you don’t need it. For example, one large rubber washer may have a center extra piece of rubber that appears to be a leftover in the production process. However, this rubber may serve as a washer to the main water entry pipe depending on the type of hardware you have in your house.

6. Likewise to #5, don’t discard any of the old mechanism as it is an important reference for some of the settings and measurements you will need for your new hardware.

7. Most instructions say to hand-tighten the plastic bolts and to not over-tighten as to not crack the porcelain. Not cracking the porcelain is important, but not having to troubleshoot small dripping leaks is also handy. I usually use a wrench to lightly tighten everything a turn or two beyond what my hand can support.

8. Leaks from the tank can occur in four main places: each bolt (I’m counting that as two, but if you have three bolts, add “1” to my total count of “main place”), the overflow/bowl fill pipe, and the main water intake mechanism. Remember that water travels to the path of least resistance, so just because a leak appears to be occurring in one place, it may be flowing from another. This becomes hard to troubleshoot when everything is wet and cold (including your hands), but don’t become stubborn in believing you know exactly where a leak may be coming from.

9. Since I’ve always found hooking up the water intake pipe to the tank to be one of the more difficult things to line up perfectly the first time, try pouring a small cup of water in the tank to determine if any of the main possible leak points are dripping before finishing the water intake connection. Otherwise you may need to disconnect everything and start over again.

10. There are four main types of water intake connections. Inspect yours closely against the mechanism directions to ensure you are hooking up the pipe correctly. If you don’t succeed the first time, you may need to fish the small rubber washer out of the water intake mechanism using needle-nose pliers.

Herons are great.

There is a Great Blue Heron I see when we bike ride back a dark wooded trail. I often find it by a small stream; it hears me coming before I see it, so typically it is already beginning its flight away, not appreciating my company. Although I can't say it is always the same heron, but I've been spotting a bird in the same place for two years now.

Watching the Great Blue fly is really marvelous.

This Green Heron was hanging in some still water near one of the trails near our home. It skulked along, dipping its head for food while giving me and a nearby dog/owner the stink-eye, extending its neck nearly a foot high to keep watch on us. I saw it two days in a row; perhaps he'll be part of my biking routine as well.

This is Coco, our new kitten.

Kittens are just nuts, of course. When we got our last guy, he was already 9 months old, and while he was, and still is, quite mischievous, he had outgrown that raw badness a small kitten typically has.

This cross-eyed goofball hasn't outgrown anything.

The good news is that Oz, the now 2 year old cat mentioned above, just loves Coco, and chases her everywhere. About 90% of her energy is expended on Oz, leaving just about 10% of her madness left over to attack our feet, hair, and everything in between.

When she isn't racing around the house, she does show many signs of affection. She was raised and bottle-fed by a generous volunteer as the poor girl was abandoned while only a few days old. We now have two cats who were saved by a rescue group (Four Paws), and we are very glad folks are out there to take care of these guys.