Mission accomplished

Look at this.

It's the enemy.

I have been fighting this beast since time began and I know the epic struggle will not die. But there is a respite. Even if just a day.

I have taken a page from the book of George Bush and declared Mission Accomplished.

The epic struggle began long ago. I tried to fix this upstairs monster, but it rebelled. Water poured from the upstairs bathroom through the ceiling below, flooding the downstairs bathroom.

Defeat is wet and stinky.

True. I won small battles. I replaced the float so the water would stop flowing into the tank, but the beast struck back. The flap would not close because the bar holding the float blocked it.

For months I manually reached into the tank to close the flap.

Finally, with the help of a Jedi Master at $75 an hour, the apparatus inside the tank was replaced. But wait. ...

The new setup became plugged. For days I struggled in hand-to-hand combat with the devil in porcelain. ...

Finally, just yesterday in a desperate bid for sanity, I again took pliers and screw driver to task and cleaned out the flow valve and ... it worked!

The tank filled.

The float rose.

The water shut off.

The toilet flushed again.

The tank filled.

The float rose.

The water shut off.

Oh, the sweet sound of success.

Thought: Success can be fleeting, I know, but should be enjoyed.