BOY Does The Kid Stay In The Picture!

First, Johnny and I fought about whether we ought to start lining up another plumber just in case.

Then the Kid called (this was at 2:30). Said he was okay, and could he come over now?

So then Johnny and I fought about whether or not it was a good idea to give him his 50% deposit on a Friday afternoon when he'd called in sick that morning and wouldn't be here in time to start the job. And why was he coming over right now anyway?

"To show us the proposal, talk to us about it, and get us to sign off on it," says Johnny. "It's what any good contractor does."

Sorry. Maybe I'd've know that if I'd ever hired one.

Still, I reserved judgment. But the Kid showed up. With a written proposal. He'll start tomorrow. Saturday. For about a thousand dollars less than we discussed.

Well, actually, it's the same price as we discussed, but it turns out to include the cost of the chimney liner and other materials -- pipes and things -- which we thought we were paying for ourselves. The $3500 price I posted the other day was my own estimate, adding on the costs of those things to the price he gave us, which we thought was just for labor.

I'm actually too embarassed to tell you the actual price -- if you know me, you know I'll probably get over that eventually -- but for now I will say this: Johnny and I just had a brief discussion about whether or not we were taking advantage of the Kid. We were gearing up to fight about it, but decided to let it go.

In the meantime, I've begun digging a spider-hole in the basement to throw the Kid in when he's done.

It puts the pipe wrench in the basket...