Saturday, December 01, 2007

Living on an Island....

....is wonderful. Easy and quick access to America's number one beach, a vibrant and creative community of interesting people, security & safety, a relaxed, laid-back lifestyle....I could go on and on. And Ocracoke is all of these things.

And there is a certain level of frustration now and then. I have a slow seeping leak at one of the water connections on my toilet tank. For several months I dealt with the problem by placing a plastic container under the leak. I was just too busy to tackle it.

Today I took wrench in hand to tighten the plastic nut. It didn't help. I put plumber's putty between the nut and the tank. Still it leaked. Then I took the tank off, removed all of the internal parts (more involved than your standard toilet tank -- it's one of those new-fangled, high tech models), and rearranged a large custom shaped gasket inside. No help. Finally I decided that a large flat rubber washer on the outside bottom of the tank might do the trick. Of course, no such item is to be found at our local hardware store. They carry all of the standard items (even several not-so-common parts), but no washer like the one I need.

So I cut an inner tube in the shape I wanted. It is not ideal -- too thin and flexible, but it seems to be helping some.

I guess I'll add one more item to my list of things to pick up on my next trip off-island. In the meanwhile, I'm keeping the plastic container under the toilet tank.

Our latest Newsletter is about the old Howard cemetery on British Cemetery Road. You can read the stories here.

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