My Little Plumber

We been having some problems with our toilet lately. The chain keeps falling off the trip lever. Also, it was running a lot and wouldn't stop. Or it would run in small segments and then shut off (all night long). On top of that, there is a design flaw in the bathroom of the house we are renting. There is a counter top that runs from the sink and across the top of the toilet. There is just enough room to take the lid of the toilet tank off, but I can't really see inside the tank. Also, I can't put my hands or arms in there far enough to fix anything. When the chain falls off, I need to ask one of my boys to stick there arms in the tank and feel around for the chain. Gavin always volunteers, but then gets a little freaked out about putting his hand inside a dark, watery place that he can't see. Gage likes to watch, but hasn't volunteered yet. That left Garrison. He was willing to put his hand in the tank and find the chain. I had to convince him that he was putting his hand in clean water and not water that has been peed or pooped in. After that, he was all in. He'd find the chain and hand it to me or Joi and we'd reattach it back to the trip lever. The other day, I got tired of the running toilet so I took off the lid, and used a flash light to peer inside. I immediately found that the flapper wasn't seated at the base of the overflow tube. It had fallen off one of it's pins. As a result, it was not falling into place after a flush and you had to jiggle the flush handle to get it to seat properly. Garrison to the rescue. I brought him into the bathroom, showed him what was wrong, and let him do his thing. Within a couple of seconds, he had it back on the pin and in place. I was amazed at how quickly he fixed it. It hasn't run since. We were impressed. What an awesome little fix-it man!

The chain did fall off again yesterday and Garrison had to plunge his hand into the tank again to retrieve it. I tweaked it a little to help it stay in place and hopefully that won't happen again. But, I know that Garrison will be our man...until his hand and arm get too big like Daddy's to fit between the tank and the counter. Hopefully by then, we'll have our own home and won't be renting.