So. When a “certain cat” drops your bobby pins down the sink…

I guess I should have known this was coming.

It all started in October of 2017 when I decided to replace the faucet in the bathroom sink. This is not, however, to be confused with the new sink in the guest bathroom, which can be seen here. When I installed the faucet in my bathroom, I couldn’t quite figure out how to attach the little pop-up stopper thing that is supposed to go in the drain, so I just decided I could do without it. Besides, I had a little drain screen to put there, which should be sufficient.

After all, nothing was going to fall down the drain, right? In this photo you can see the former faucet, and a much smaller kitty. Kitties, by the way, can remove those little drain screens if they frequently play in the sink. But I digress.

Now that I think about it, I even illustrated that faucet replacement in my “Inktober” notebook for that year. You’ll notice I combined two words for this page. The key word is “expensive”. So when the bathroom sink started draining slower than normal, I knew I had to do something.

Plunging it didn’t work. Baking soda and vinegar and hot water didn’t work. I didn’t dare try “Drano”. This was definitely going to be a “Big Girl” project. Either that or I was going to have to call PDS Plumbing, who had installed the guest bathroom sink. I knew, though, that I would have to try my best before calling anyone. I remembered I had a “drain snake” (or it could be a drain auger) around here somewhere. Sure enough, I found it!

A couple of nice men from YouTube helped me out with instructions on how to use it, which was a good thing because I had forgotten most of the details. The best piece of advice I got was when they said it can be a lengthy process and to be patient and keep trying.

There came a point where I couldn’t get the snake to go any further, nor could I get it out of the drain. The only thing to do was to disconnect the P-trap along with the pipe that led into the wall. From there I was able to pull the snake out, and what followed is best left to the imagination. Suffice it to say I have never seen such a giant clog in my life. Since this is a family friendly blog, I won’t show you the graphic details, but take my word for it; it was gross!

This is what happens when your assistant starts getting bored.

“Mom, are you almost done?”

You may not believe this, but I had to refer to my own blog to remember how the pipes were supposed to go back together.

Almost done.

I won’t lie and say I didn’t have a few leaks, which resulted in my having to take the pipes apart again and see where I’d gone wrong. I’m happy to say that now the leaks are almost fixed, with just a couple of bowls under the sink just in case.

And yes, I did find the bobby pins buried in the clog. I know I didn’t drop them down the drain because, well, I would have noticed. So that only leaves one other explanation.

A certain cat, who shall remain nameless.