Chemistry is magic

One of our toilets started leaking a few weeks ago; it’s a Toto, so I got the Korky 2023 adjustable flapper and set to work. My particular toilet needs the “flapper plug” to be inserted in the flapper, but it wouldn’t stay in place. I installed the flapper without the plug and it helped, but it wasn’t a real fix.

I called Korky to complain, and they sent me a complete replacement flapper kit. This time, the plug stayed in place in the flapper. I installed the new flapper today and…the toilet still leaked.

A web search on “toilet leaks after replacing flapper” took me to an article at I’ll Just Fix It Myself with six possible causes and fixes. The toilet is a one-piece model, so I didn’t have to worry about t-bolts, and tightening the flange bolts didn’t help. The drain didn’t seem clogged, but I decided to try to unclog it anyway. I followed the instructions at Mr. Rooter, and it worked!

I don’t understand the physics of toilets; in particular, I don’t understand how the toilet can flush with a clogged drain, nor how a clogged drain can keep the flapper from sealing properly. But I guess it’s like magic – if you perform the invocation properly, you get the right result whether you understand it or not!

Mistakes were made

I got new glasses a few months ago, and I took advantage of Costco’s offer of a significant discount if I ordered two pair on the same day. I ordered one set of progressives, and one set of “office glasses”, which are progressives without the distance segment – it gives you good vision at and near the computer, with more flexibility than “computer glasses” with only one focal length. And I’ve been happy with both pairs.

But I made a crucial mistake – I put very similar frames on both pairs. If I wear my regular glasses into the office and swap them for the office glasses, I can easily forget to swap back; the office glasses work fine if I’m just walking around the house.

Last Friday, I had a Zoom call; of course, I put on the office glasses for the call. I forgot to swap them back, and I didn’t leave the house again, so I didn’t notice. I was still wearing the office glasses when we got in the Lyft to take us to the airport on Saturday morning; things seemed a little blurry, but I wasn’t driving so it didn’t matter.

I finally realized that I’d brought the wrong glasses when it was too late to go home and swap, so I did the entire trip without proper driving glasses. The office glasses were just good enough to let me get by, but wearing them for driving was a strain; I even went without any glasses on days when I didn’t have to drive.

It was good to get home and put on my real glasses!

I made another mistake on the trip, and this one was a real hassle. Wednesday night, we drove the Niro to Lee (about five miles away) to do laundry. The tire pressure warning light came on for the left front tire after I’d driven half the distance; luckily, there was a gas station near the laundry, so I took the car there.

Air wasn’t free – I had to pay $1.50, which gave me four minutes of pump time. I filled the low tire and decided to top off the others; when I took the inflator off the third tire, the valve stem cracked and I soon had a completely flat tire.

I called Hertz and discovered that I didn’t have “premium roadside assistance”. They were willing to tow the car to Albany for $300 and fix the tire there – I guess I would have had to ride along to drive it back. I told them “no thanks” and used the AAA app to request a tow to a nearby repair shop. The app said that they’d be there in 45 minutes (at 7:05), subject to service provider availability.

7:05 came and went. At 7:30, I called AAA to ask what was going on and was promised a callback in 10-15 minutes. No callback, so I called again and this time the person called their tow facility, which claimed they’d be there in an hour. I even got a callback from AAA verifying that. But no truck showed up.

I finally called the repair shop (which was also a towing operator, R. W.’s Towing and Repair and they promised to be at the gas station in 25 minutes…and they were! The driver even gave us a ride back to the hotel, which was a very good thing because we’d discovered that there were NO taxis, NO Ubers, and NO Lyfts in the area (at least at night).

They had to replace the tire, not just the valve stem; in theory, the Hertz Loss Damage Waiver should cover that, but I’ll have to call Hertz on Monday to find out what they’ll pay if anything. I’m not holding my breath.

I’m still shocked that there weren’t any Lyfts or Ubers or taxis available. I had originally planned on taking a Lyft to and from the airport, but decided I wanted the flexibility of having a car at the last moment. That turned out to be a much better decision than I thought; one of the other travelers had an early flight so she couldn’t go back to Albany on the bus with the rest of the group – her only option to get to the airport was to use a limo service.

It’s nice to be back in civilization.

The Road Less Traveled

The last activity for our group was a guided tour at Hancock Shaker Village this morning at 11am. We had a leisurely breakfast, with plenty of time to pack and to charge the car to 100% before following the bus to the village. I’d never been to a Shaker Village before, and it was fascinating.

There are no Shakers left at Hancock Shaker Village any more, but our guide was well-versed in their history and some of their religion. We walked past the garden tool shed on our way to the Brick Dwelling (their names are accurate, if not poetic) where the members of the community lived.

I was taken by the clean lines and functionality of everything we saw; it was modern, minimalist, and functional, and beautiful.

Our next stop was the Round Stone Barn. Hay was brought into the barn on the top level; animals were on the bottom level; gravity brought the two together. The hay was put into the chute in the second photo to dry; our guide said that the volume of water vapor coming out of the chute was enough to let someone wash their hands in it!

They still raise animals at the Village, but now interns take care of them instead of initiates. :-)

The Meeting House was across Route 20; we admired it from a distance.

The guide took us into the Laundry and Machine Shop and showed us the water-driven machines; he even used the power saw to cut a piece of wood.

The Sisters did the laundry (of course) using water power to agitate and tumble the clothes. When it came time to iron, they heated the irons in this oven and used old grave markers as ironing boards!

We said goodbye to our group and headed for the Sheraton at Bradley International Airport. I had thought about visiting ARRL Headquarters, but Diane wasn’t thrilled, so I suggested a trip to the Berkshire Botanical Garden instead. We did get to see some ham radio gear and antennas anyway – we found ourselves behind this car on the way to the gardens.

The gardens were beautiful and restful; not everything was in bloom, but there was enough to make the detour well worthwhile.

I didn’t want to take the Mass Pike (mostly because Hertz would have charged us $7 in “convenience fees” atop the $2 in tolls), so we took back roads (mostly Massachusetts 57). It was pretty and very lightly trafficked. There weren’t many places to stop along the way, but we found Gran-Val Scoop, complete with petting zoo (we just looked at the animals, including the llama at the top of the page). The ice cream was good, too!

The rest of the drive to the airport was easy; I was pleasantly surprised to find that I’d only used 22% of the battery, even though I’d driven 82 miles today, which is a third of the range the car claimed to have when I left the hotel. That meant I didn’t have to pay $35 to have Hertz refill the car – I guess it paid to take the back way!

Flowers and Sculpture

Our day started with a drive to Bunny Williams‘s home in Falls Village, Connecticut.

I’d never heard of Bunny Williams before this trip, but several of the people were almost in awe of her reputation as a designer and really valued the chance to visit her estate. Ms. Williams wasn’t available, but her head gardener, Robert, gave us a tour of the guest barn, the gardens, and the studio. Flowers were everywhere!

We also wandered through the meadow, complete with eccentric bird houses (Robert said that very few birds actually used them).

The pool house was very interesting.

We had lunch at the White Hart, an old farmhouse which has been converted into a restaurant and inn. It was one of the best meals I’d had on this trip.

After lunch, we returned to Massachusetts to visit Daniel Chester French‘s home and studio at Chesterwood.

We saw many of his sculptures (or at least models and moquettes).

We had our farewell dinner at Alta Restaurant and Wine Bar in Lenox and returned to the hotel.

Museum Day in Williamstown

We visited two museums today, Mass MOCA and the Clark, both in Williamstown, about an hour from our hotel.

Mass MOCA is in an old factory complex (originally Arnold Printing, then Sprague Electric) which they’ve converted into a museum; the Clark is in a building specifically built for them in 1955 and then expanded in the 21st Century. Our Study Leader described it as “contemporary art in an old building vs. classical art in a new building”, and that seemed pretty accurate.

At Mass MOCA, we took a whirlwind guided tour through several of their buildings. Here are a few photos.

Cosmic Latte – the lights are supposed to represent the color of the Milky Way

This is where the North and South Forks of the Hoosick River merge; the river flows onward to Troy where it joins the Hudson.

Mass MOCA doesn’t own any works, but they have three floors of one building devoted to Sol LeWitt’s wall drawings, on long-term loan until at least 2040.

I could have spent much longer at Mass MOCA, but we had a luncheon and tour appointment at the Clark. Again, I only have a few photos to share – both of these are from their American gallery.

Both museums were worth visiting, but I have to say that Mass MOCA seemed more alive than the Clark.