fixing toilets and setting off alarms

This morning, I woke up (ok, it was late late morning, but still morning), and went into the bathroom, and saw the top of the toilet resting against the side of a toilet. This is never a good sign. The toilet was also running. Sedwick had headed off to work, and Kara was still asleep, but, I smartly deduced that part of the problem was the chain under the rubber thingy. After fixing that, something still didn't seem right. I looked further, and saw that the handle part of the toilet flush thing wasn't actually connected anymore to the chain part. Toilet knowledgeable person that I am, I knew that was not good.

So, I im'd Sedwick, and found out that he'd taken the lid off, but then had to get to work. So, after a trip to UPS to mail 1L a power cord and forgotten pair of glasses, I headed to Home Depot.

After wandering around for a while (past smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, which made me wonder if the batteries had ever been replaced in Sedwick's, after they made that "we have no more power" noise last year, and picking up a spiffy talking combo smoke alarm/carbon monoxide alarm), I stumbled upon the toilet section, found the handles, and immediately faced a dilemma. I could get one that would fit a Kohler, a Standard (I think the brand, rather than a standard toilet), or some specific model number. Of course, I had no idea what kind of toilet I needed a handle for. So, I went with the Standard one (on the off chance that it also meant a standard toilet and not just a Standard toilet).

Wrench in hand, I got off the old handle, and got on the new one -- but the chain was too long, and, try as I might, I couldn't get it to flush. I then stumbled on the idea of connecting the chain higher up. That did the trick, and the toilet is now flushing, with its cover on.

Then, I set off to tackle the smoke alarm. I actually found two carbon monoxide alarms, still in their packages, in the basement. I opened one, put the batteries in, and promptly scared off Henry and Poledra as I tested it. While they calmed down, I opened the package of the combo smoke/carbon monoxide alarm I'd gotten. Just as I got the batteries into that, they had settled down enough to return to the living room... only to have the tester for *that* alarm go off. They seem to have recovered, and I think we now have a working toilet and two working alarms.

Between that and the hospital sending off to home a patient, it's been a very good day :)