The Good, The Bad and The Chicken Stock

The Good -
We finally got back to work on the MIL apartment. Dad has Friday's off so he came over so we could start work on the plumbing in the MIL apt.

The Bad -
As we opened the door to the cellar under the MIL apt that holds our furnace, hot water heater, and the foundation of the plumbing for the entire house, we started to feel water hitting us. One of the really old pipes that we were hoping would hold up until next summer or fall had developed a pin hole leak that was spraying water all over my cellar. We don't know how long the pipe had been leaking since we rarely have to go down there. It's really frustrating since the leak could have happened at any time in the last 50 years (it was in the middle of a straight stretch of pipe and the weakness was probably in the pipe when it was first installed) but the leak waited until now. However, even when Mr. Murphy-I-had-a-law-named-after-me tries to beat me down, I always have Mr. Caffeinated Optimism to pick me back up. Since we were already planning on doing some plumbing, we just changed our focus. Dad and I and Honey ended up redoing all the foundational plumbing (cold in, cold to the house, cold to water heater, and hot out from the heater). We were able to add shut off valves in all the places they needed to be and get rid of the Hodgepodge of weird connections and pipes that no longer went anywhere that used to drive me crazy. It was a little frustrating and money for the MIL work will be tight this month since I spent most of it on our little plumbing adventure but I'm actually really happy to have all the pipes that are so important to our entire house redone and redone right.

The Chicken Stock-
Taking into account all the above Drama, when we all got hungry, none of us felt like trying to cook with no running water. I ran to the grocery store and grabbed a rotisserie chicken for dinner. After we ate dinner, I stripped the useful meat off the chicken for taco's tomorrow. Now I'm taking the leftover onion, celery, and carrots in the fridge that are just about at the end of their useful life, adding some spices, the chicken carcass and throwing it all in the crock pot overnight in an attempt to make my own chicken stock for the first time. Wish me luck. If it comes out OK, it will help to salvage a day that has otherwise gone completely off course.