The Honest Courtesan

Last Tuesday, I went to town to buy a replacement filter for our heater; Grace checked the websites for Wal-mart, Home Depot, and Ace hardware, and told me all three carried the correct one.  So naturally I assumed I could just pick one up and we’d be back in business.  Silly me; when I got to Wal-mart (where I needed other things anyhow), I was informed that the item was only available online.  So before I went driving all over town looking for it at the other places, I had Grace call them to talk to actual human beings; Ace stopped carrying them several years ago, and Home Depot was out.  We could easily order more filters from Amazon, but I didn’t want to wait until they arrived to take a damned shower, so we decided to simply buy a bolt to use as a plug.  Good idea, but Home Depot had nothing with a coarse thread, nor did the nearby plumbing supply store; fortunately, the guy there suggested a hydraulic parts dealer, and he had it.  Total cost (uncluding the teflon tape) under three bucks, and we got to take hot showers until the filters came in on Friday.  But after we replaced the plug with a new filter, I stowed this inside the pipe housing so the next time a hard freeze is predicted, we can pre-emptively remove the filter until the danger is past.