Yesterday I helped a friend diagnose a drain problem -- a drain in a patio area between his house & garage is backing up and overflowing in heavy rain. The drain hose is roughly 20' long and drains below a small wall. We tried blasting out what seemed like an obstruction with a power washer, but the drain line curves so there's a limit to how far we can reach. So we filled the drain with water to see if the blockage is total. The drain filled up then the level dropped relatively quickly ... but no water came out the other end. He's contacting the developer of the subdivision to see if he can get assistance, as we've exceeded our ability to figure this out without getting out a shovel and digging ... he's a good friend, but not THAT good of a friend, so no shovels for me!
On a sadder note, this morning I decommissioned our cat perch, e.g., tore it apart for disposal.
We adopted a pair of kittens in 2006. My wife & kids wanted to purchase a very expensive cat perch. I chose Plan B:
A few miles away a builder had established a deposit area -- he dropped off building materials that were in reasonable shape for home owners to take. It's much better than throwing this stuff in the land fill! I picked up a lot of materials, including partial sheets of 3/4" chipboard, 2x4's, 2x6's, 1x6's, and a 4x4. All the boards had damage on one end and/or nails sticking out, but there was enough good wood for a lot of uses. I still have a 3/4 sheet of chipboard sheathing plus other boards that I haven't needed (yet).
I built a 4-level perch around the 4x4, costing a total of $15 for cloth and padding to put on the flats. This perch has been in front of a window for 15 years, as the cats liked looking out.. Sadly, our male died in January and the female isn't climbing well, and the perch has gotten rickety with daily use, so today was decommissioning day.
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