Can a Cavefish hold a hammer?

So in keeping with my theme, I will continue the progression from mere fscavefish to the much more adept, confident, (sore) Northern cavefish.

So what happens when a computer geek (AKA fscavefish) gets a cottage and something goes wrong? Well a couple things can happen, panic, cry, curl up in ball and hope and pray that the plumbing leak you just discovered magically disappears, or you do what any self respecting geek would do...jump on the Internet.

So google becomes the main cottage tool and we look up "plumbing thingy doing a weird thing it never did before" Result: New Zealand - Plumber, last question after NZIS interview

Well that doesn't help...Hmmmm...lets break this down a bit (is that water around my feet good for the laptop?) anyway, Google: Plumbing, Result: ahhh now we are getting somewhere, that thingy is called a pipe and it has a leak...oh turn the water off...got it.

Ok, after googling water, cottage, plumbing, pipe, pump, pressure tank, solder, what is solder, how do you solder, torch, location of nearest fire department and hospital now I am ready to call someone to fix my plumbing problem.

You want how much to come out to the island on a weekend to look at my problem? You sir, are Cracked, that's more than the place is worth!!!
Plan B: Back to the internet, Thank god for Cottagelife. A bunch of people NOS who are also online, I am now in geek Heaven. If they can do it so can I.

Dive right in (no pun intended), assess the situation...hey that piece is broken, ok we need a new one, I saw something similar in the shed the other day, hey...there it is. Now I need a torch, low and behold, there's one in the shed (I love this shed) So remembering the days of electronic engineering a billion years ago when I learned to solder tiny electronic components, how much different could this be...Whoa that's a big flame!!!

two hours later, a very black wall, a scary looking mess of metal, solder, odd bits of pipe and a few burns its time to go back to the net.

PRESSURE FITTINGS, YES YES YES, no soldering just what I need, Honey I'm off to home hardware. Hmmm, real people...try to sound intelligent..."ummm I need a pressure fitting to fix my plumbing". Sure what do you need 3/4, 1/2 inch, copper, PCV, ABS, check valve, slip coupling, male, female...
"ahhhh, my plumbing thingy is leaking, I can't solder, I need it fixed"

Now who's the silly looking one NOS. I have to say there are some fantastic people North of Seven, really patient and very knowledgeable about everything to do with a cottage. After walking out with bags of stuff I can't remember the name of and a new wealth of knowledge I am ready.

Soldering plumbing=Clean, Clean, Clean and dry, Pressure fitting are better, no soldering. So I am now a plumber, Hahaha, time to post that on the cottagelife forum (i'm still a geek).

Once you pop that cherry there is no going back...those ugly lights in the ceiling, down. The ugly door in the kitchen, replaced. The broken dock, fixed. The unusable outhouse, rebuilt. Hardwood floors, no problem.

Now the best tool at the cottage is me (hey that didn't sound right).

By the way, thank god for helpful neighbors because the one thing you can't get from the internet is hands on experience.

Next time...Pictures.

Bye for now.