I know what you were thinking, that you were going to be treated to some soft, acoustic country music while you read my latest blog. Yeah….no. Today’s topic: how to unplug your toilet. When you live in a house built in 1857 (Click here for quick History 101), there are always ongoing repair and restoration projects-old wood, old wires and old pipes make for a constant drain on the pocketbook and the patience. Recently we have noticed that our toilet was running very slowly, and taking two to three flushes to clear it out. Could it be due to our recent brush with a stomach bug? Not to be indelicate, but a lot of time was spent on the “throne” in the past couple of weeks- let’s just say we should’ve had stock in Charmin’.

Speaking of thrones-nice segue, huh?- while we were in Paris a couple of years ago,we were fortunate to be paired with an incredible tour guide named Thierry. He educated us about all things French while we strolled through the palace and grounds of Versailles , entertaining us with anecdotal stories about King Lous XIV & Marie Antoinette. One of everyones favorites: back in the day, toilettes were placed in plain sight of everyone, so you could do your “business” while you were doing business! The king had several highly stylized toilettes, think Kolher by Elton John- decorated as if they were “thrones”, where he perched throughout the day. Not sure if this is true or not, but it made for an enjoyable afternoon of pondering the inner plumbings of the king while visiting the city of lights.

OK, back to modern day plumbing. We tried plunging it and flushing it repeatedly, with little result. So, rather than call the plumber, I turned to the internet (thank you, Al Gore) for the solution to my dilemma. I read several articles about how to clean it out naturally, and this seemed logical, and cheap, so I gave it a shot. For complete instructions, click the toilet. Essentially, you pour a generous amount of dishwashing soap into the toilet, add a large pot of boiling water (do NOT do this with bare feet!) poured from high above the toilet, wait a minute, then flush. Rinse, repeat, if necessary-which it was. I hated wasting that big bottle of Dawn Hand Renewal infused with Oil of Olay, but I figured it was a lot cheaper than the plumber’s bill, and it made the bathroom smell amazing! And guess what-it worked!! But only for a short time, so now we are back to square one. Anyone know a good plumber I can call? I know it won’t be Joe the Plumber-remember him from the last presidential campaign? Apparently he just won the Ohio Congressional Primary- too bad he wasn’t from Flushing, NY. Now that would have been great blogging material.