Petey & Plumbing

My mother discovered a small leak in her toilet around Christmas. Today John installed a whole new toilet!! John and I went over there this morning to work on it. There was damage to the subfloor under the toilet that required John to do some work in the crawl space under the house. I went along to provide support from the upper side while John worked on the under side. We took Petey with us because we both knew that we had some other things to do today where we could not take him, and leaving him alone too many times is a major infraction of Petey Rule #1. Besides, Petey likes Mama's house.

Upon arriving at her house. Petey immediately secured the perimeter. It is part of the Petey code to ensure that all of his surroundings are safe at all times, and those within his realm are safe from all harm both real and perceived. Today this required Petey not only to pee on everything in the yard, he had to bark at some dogs that were outside. He then entered the house to ensure our safety there.

While Petey was busily keeping us safe from all harm, he missed the fact that John had gone under the house. John was in position under the opening where the toilet belonged, and I was in the bathroom talking to him through the hole, when Petey discovered me. Just as he entered the bathroom, John said something and Petey just stopped. He cocked his head to the side and listened intently. He could hear John's voice, but could not see him. I described the scene to John, so he started calling Petey. Petey went over to the hole and saw John's face - or as much as he could that wasn't obscured by the big pipe coming up from the center of the hole. Petey ran from the bathroom like someone had set his tail on fire. He was truly frightened. In a bit, he crept back in to the bathroom and peeped down in to the hole again. When John spoke to him, he tore out of the bathroom again. We spent a good bit of time with Petey creeping back in to the bathroom and running out, although he did not seem quite as frightened. His fright seemed to turn to puzzlement. I don't know how many times he'd run in and out of the bathroom before I noticed that he was going in to the bedroom which immediately adjacent to the bathroom. His little doggy brain thought that he could see John from that room, but when he went in there, no John was there to be seen.

Once I realized what was going on, I took Petey outside and showed him the hatch where John had entered the crawl space. Crawl space is a generous term for the space under the house. If you're more than about 10 years old, it is not possible to actually crawl in that space. It is damp, has a dirt floor and a musty smell. The bathroom in question is about at the exact center of the house, so John could not actually be scene from the hatch. I tried to coax Petey in to the crawl space with out actually entering it my self. Petey and I were in complete agreement that neither of us wanted to go in there!! So we resumed our support positions inside the house. Petey would routinely check the hole, then the bedroom, then need to get in my lap. We continued in this manner until John was ready to come out from under the house.

When John said he was finished under there for the moment, Petey and I went outside to await his arrival. I don't think I have ever seen Petey so happy to see John as he was when John emerged from the hatch. Petey's joy was short lived however, because John started sawing and noise is a bad thing for Petey.

Petey and I had to leave soon thereafter so that I could get on to my next appointment. Petey couldn't go and we didn't think it was a good idea for him to stay since he had such issues with John being under the house. I took him home and went on with my day.

We are all home now. Petey is jammed up next to John in the recliner, I'm sure ensuring that he never leave his sight again. All is right with Petey. I wish I could say the same for the toilet.