Dr Copa

My mother called me this afternoon to tell me that her kitchen and living room was flooded because her washing machine had sprung a leak.  She had set it to run a load and then went out to run errands with my daughter, and when they returned the machine was pumping water like crazy!  I told her how to turn off the water to the machine and for her to call me back when she got the water mopped up so I could tell her who to call to help with the more difficult part of cleaning up. 

While she was doing that I went on the Internet and looked up the water restoration experts at waterrestoration911.com.  They have a huge network of affiliates that deal with cleaning up water problems like that.  When my mother called back I gave her the telephone number to call to get the water cleanup crew out to her house as soon as possible.

I was changing the oil in my truck this morning.  During my oil changing routine I always climb under the truck and give it a good “look over” to see if anything is worn out or needs greasing.  I was unpleasantly surprised to find that the driver side front upper ball joint needs replacing.  I’ve never replaced one of those before, but I’ve done a lot of work on a lot of vehicles, so I’m confident I can replace it myself; I just didn’t want to deal with the extra expense and labor involved in replacing it.  The replacement ball joint is going to cost me almost $50, which is a hard hit this close to Christmas, and I really need to fix it before winter really settles in.  I wonder how my wife would like to open a box with a new ball joint in it on Christmas morning?  (Just kidding!)