About three months ago, I started having issues with my kitchen sink. It would clog regularly. At the time, my sons were living with me and, being the father of those kids, I KNEW one of them had to have done something. Perhaps shoved a wad of toothpicks down in it.
I’d buy Drano, unclog it. But it never REALLY unclogged. It would sort of unclog and just be a slow drain. Not having a dishwasher, it’s made doing dishes a royal pain in the ass.
Last night, I discovered that the shower in the second bathroom was overflowing. It has a four inch wall that separates it from the rest of the bathroom and thankfully, it had JUST reached that wall. I don’t know how long the water’s been backing up in there because I never go in that room. I HAD a roommate, but that was for about three days. Models use that room sometimes, but nobody’s been in it in about a week.
Anyway, I’m stressed. I realize, using my brilliant deductive reasoning, that the clog in the kitchen sink and the clog in the shower (which has an adjoining wall to the kitchen) are quite possibly related. I test my theory. With water sitting at the edge of the lip in the shower, I go into the kitchen where water is standing in the sink. I turn on the water. Quick run to the shower, and the water is now spilling out into the bathroom and now flowing into the bedroom.
Brilliant, Scott. Brilliant. Turn off the water, you fool!!
Ugh. I am, at this point, thoroughly disgusted as well, because the water that fills the shower is a dark brown. Like sewer water. It doesn’t smell like sewage, but it smells like something stale and not so pleasant. Bad. But a grotesque shade of brown that leaves me with little question that somehow, sewage is down in there somewhere. Blech. Utter nastiness.
I put on my shoes and make the trek to the store (and actually, it was an enjoyable walk, given my recent scooter situation). Four bottles of Drano. Ugh. I’m going to have to walk around this dark mess. Step lightly. Don’t disturb the pool. There, that should take care of this. Four hours later, the clog is still there. But the water level has dropped about half an inch. And I can at least see where the drain is now, because it wasn’t exactly dead center where I poured all that Drano down the drain.
Money down the drain. $20 worth, to be exact.
Since it’s looking like maybe by next Tuesday, the drain should clear (provided I don’t do any dishes in the kitchen sink or wash my hands in the kitchen sink or do anything at all in the kitchen sink), I decide that I’ll probably call the management company in the morning.
Long story short (which, I realize, is too late at this point)… I bust out the plunger today, now that I can see where the drain is, and after twenty minutes, done! And then it hits me.
The clog? Coffee grounds. Or more precisely Cafe Bustelo grounds. The shower, once the water cleared was FULL of Cafe Bustelo.
I make three to four pots of espresso a day. And each time I do, when I go to make the next pot, I empty the grains into the kitchen sink, mashing up that hard cylinder of coffee until it goes down the drain, safely out of site, and out of my world.
So, Scott’s tip o’ the day? Throw coffee grounds in the trash, not in the sink. Or alternately, you could do this. Otherwise, you’ll end up throwing money down the drain and possibly end up thinking there’s poo in your shower.
So there’s a gallery show tomorrow. My stuff is going to be there. As of this minute, I have zero items in my possession that I’m going to have on display tomorrow. At 2pm. Less than 23 hours from now.
