Living Retired — ‘Bum Toilet’

By Gary Chalk.

I am not a home handyman, a fixer upper kind of guy. Never have been. I don’t have many work tools — although I still have all ten of my fingers. Perhaps this is because I don’t fix things. Sort of a chicken and egg thing, or a nail and hammer thing. This is what I mean…

If a light bulb needs to be replaced, I go to my seldom-visited workshop. On my little-used workbench I have a yellow plastic Toys ‘R Us ‘On the Go’ toy toolbox. Inside, I grab the red hammer with the fat bright blue handle. I like when the batteries are working and it makes a sound every time I smack something.

So when anything in our home needs to be repaired Jan insists that I call our friend Rick. She says flat out, “Gary, it is non-negotiable. Call Rick.”

“Gary, don’t you remember our wedding vows? You said when it came to home repairs ‘Through better or worse until death do us part to call Rick.’”

Over the years Rick has bailed me out with our home fix-it issues. One time it was dire! He dropped … Read the rest here

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