Low Flow becomes High Flow

Don't get me wrong. I'm all for conserving natural resources, but there comes a point when a man has to draw the line. The "Lo-Flo" toilet of the mid-1990's is the quintessential "good for the environment" idea gone bad. Basically, here's how it works -- Take a standard toilet (which gets 4-5 gallons per flush). Then, put a plastic cone-like thing in the reservoir (a.k.a. the "Upper Deck"), and abracadabra, you have a toilet that flushes only 1.8 gallons each time. Wow!! What an amazing accomplishment!!

Just one problem: You can't flush anything (not even "tinkle") with 1.8 gallons. There just isn't enough water to create the necessary "swirl" to get everything out of the bowl.

That's what we had to deal with in our new home (built circa 1997). To make matters worse, we had four houseguests -- two nieces and a couple of their friends -- in town for the wedding. And the poor things all used the same toilet, and they probably thought they had clogged it or something.

When the dust settled, I was left with three options:

1. Call a plumber to see what he could do,
2. Buy a new toilet, or
3. Take a steak knife from the kitchen and cut a hole in the reservoir "cone."

Take a wild guess which one I picked. (Yes, Mom...I washed the knife when I was done!!) The newly-rigged toilet gets an extra gallon of water in each flush...just enough to get "swirl" going. I feel very proud of myself.

Congratulations, Dawn and Cam

Our niece tied the knot with her special someone yesterday in White Sulphur Springs, WV.



Mr. and Mrs. Huffman, your Uncle Lance is very proud of you. We love you both and wish you the best.

Update

OK, after a long hiatus, I finally live in a home that has internet access. Just to recap what has gone on over the last week or so:


-Packed up everything in my Virginia house
-Barely squeezed it all into a 26' U-Haul
-Signed five million pieces of paper to buy a house in West Virginia
-Went back to Virginia. Picked up the cat and the U-Haul
-Moved everything into my West Virginia house
-Started my new job in WV
-Got Cable
-Got a new washing machine
-Played host to my nieces from South Carolina (one of whom is getting married this weekend)
-Got the internet


And I think that sums it up. I will post pictures and stories in the coming days. I have a ton of unpacking still to do, and Holly is on-call as the Matron of Honor at her nieces wedding. I'll keep you posted.

Pizzeria: The Sum of All Pizzas

Math geek pizza in Virginia Beach....

It was really tasty, too!!

Happy Birthday, Reid!!

My little brother turned a quarter century old today!!

I love my brother Reid...HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH!!

Right Near the Beach...Bo-eeeeeeey!!

We are in Virginia Beach for a little R&R. We debated forever about where to go. Ocean City and the Outer Banks were on the table, but ultimately we went with the VB.

We both got "tans" (i.e. Holly's sunburn will turn into a nice tan, mine will just turn into more freckles). Tonight, we might play a little put-put after dinner. More pictures to come.

Fourth of July

America's Independence was celebrated all day yesterday.


The morning kicked off with a parade through Concord. It went right past our house.

We had lunch at the fire station, and we ate snow cones in the afternoon. We grilled hamburgers in the afternoon and capped off the evening with a trip to Appomattox for fireworks.

Reid's New House

It's been a very busy week, and I've been meaning to post this for a while. Here's pics of brothers new place in Minnesota.

New House -- Reid's Blog