Day 4290 - Autumnal Equinox

I knew it had to happen sometime. The faucet in the kitchen sink broke. What a mess. I never realized how many times I need to rinse things off in the sink. Ordinarily fixing a faucet wouldn't be a big problem, but our fixture is a 50 year old Moen cartridge faucet that doesn't exist anymore. It was ahead of its time when it was introduced, but not anymore. Fifteen years ago I bought the very last of the early model Moen faucet cartridges and had it installed to replace an even earlier cartridge. Now this one is broken as well. Why not just replace the entire faucet you might ask? Well, it's more or less impossible. The faucet is an integral part of a GE Kitchen Unit that was popular in the 1950's and 60's. The stainless steel backsplash isn't vertical. It is slanted at a ten degree angle. The surface mount faucet that came with this GE Kitchen Unit was built to accommodate the ten degree angle. Apparently nothing made since was made this way.

Most wall mount faucets are made to be mounted on 8" centers. The mounting holes on the Kitchen Unit are five inches apart. I used to own a rent house with a similar kitchen and when I had to replace that faucet I found one place in Italy that made a wall mount faucet with 5 inch mounting holes. I bought one but I should have bought two. This particular faucet was discontinued many years ago. Now everything is meant to be mounted on either 4 inch or 8 inch centers. I had a machine shop make a special angled flange that I placed in front of the mounting holes so that the Italian faucet could be mounted vertically instead of at a ten degree upward angle. I even had the forethought to have two of these stainless steel parts machined. The special adaptor won't do me much good though, since I can no longer find a faucet designed to mount on five inch centers.

Most people like to remodel rather than restore. Just look at all those home improvement shows on TV. A big part of these shows is taking sledge hammers and knocking down walls and tearing things apart. There is absolutely no incentive for anyone to manufacture mid-50's reproduction hardware. Even the simplest things like mid-century modern cabinet hinges can be impossible to find. I've got a sliding glass door I can't find anyone to fix. There are ceramic tiles in the bathroom that can't be matched anymore. I can't even find the translucent fiberglass panels to fix the roof on the greenhouse. Every time something breaks around this place I just know it's going to be a nightmare to fix.

The broken faucet was the bad part of the day. The good part was the weather. The temperature was in the 60's when we woke up this morning. Janet and I both wore light jackets when we took our sunrise walk with Dawn. It was perfect weather for the first day of Fall. It was still nice and cool when I took my long walk later in the morning. I think the weather is going to be nice all week. At least there's something to look forward to tomorrow. I'm certainly not looking forward to dealing with the plumber. Most plumbers are so young now that they don't have a clue how to fix a fifty year old cartridge faucet.

There has been a utility crew with a backhoe digging a huge hole in the alley behind our house all day. I thought they might be fixing a broken water or gas line, but when I looked in the hole, there were no pipes of any sort. It was just a big hole. I have no idea what these guys are doing. I hope this doesn't cause a problem when we are walking Dawn tomorrow. We always return home through the alley and I definitely don't want Dawn to fall in the hole. 

It's always something, isn't it. Just when I start to think that the crazy times are over and life can return to normal, something new happens. I hope the plumber has some magic up his sleeve. I miss my kitchen sink.

Sadie is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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