United Snakes of America

I haven't been wild about fireworks since high school so I'm glad that they're banned this year due to the severe heat and dryness in the Pacific Northwest. It's my weekend today and I didn't really celebrate. I marked the occasion by unclogging a nasty drain problem in my tub. 

This is really a major event for me, because I had to use a snake (or a drum auger) for the first time in my life. I thought it would be expensive (it wasn't) or time consuming (not very). I put it off because I'd hoped it would be solved by the old baking soda and vinegar treatment, but that didn't do anything this time. 

I followed this video from YouTube to get the advice I needed:

Most how-to videos will tell you to penetrate the actual drain, but I had to take out the plug mechanism (as shown in this one) because the coil wouldn't bend as I needed it to. Fortunately I didn't have to take out  everything; I just snaked down the middle of that part at the end that looks like a bell. It took some persistence but in a few minutes I pulled up a nice chunk of hair!! The water drained like magic afterwards!

Cleaning the coil was the hardest part. It was so nasty! I wiped it down with a bleach solution and cleaned out the tub thoroughly. 

Looking back, I don't think I've done a whole lot of bathroom cleaning tips, but it's one of the jobs that gives me the happiest results. I keep all of my cleaning products in the bathroom and a couple different brushes and sponges. Old toothbrushes are great. It's important to vacuum the floor before wet cleaning. 

I've been on another true crime watching spree on Netflix and it's been a journey. I highly recommend the Dirty John series, based on the podcast by journalist Christopher Goffard. The first season focused on the eponymous John Meehan, a con artist played by Eric Bana. The second season is about the Betty Broderick case, unrelated to the Meehan plot whatsoever. I had seen her story told on American Justice years ago and I formed a strong negative opinion about her, but the Dirty John series has a lot of subtlety in the development of her family life and the toll it took on her. It doesn't excuse her actions but it explains much more than an hour-long TV show could. Christian Slater is as great as ever as Daniel Broderick, her cheating and gaslighting husband. 

I tried watching Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, which describes the murder of Frenchwoman Sophie Toscan du Plantier on the vacation property she owned in rural Ireland. I was surprised at how the documentary dragged repeatedly, and seemed to gloss over the failures in the investigation in order to focus on the eccentricities of the main suspect, Ian Bailey. Bailey's history of violent behavior is barely touched upon. I stopped watching in the middle of the second episode. 

I watched the entirety of American Murder: The Family Next Door, a total of 82 minutes in length. I'd been avoiding it for no particular reason but I gave in yesterday. The story has a lot of parallels with the Scott Petersen case, but the husband in this case confessed not long after he murdered his family. As short as it was, it was the hardest program of all to watch this week. 

I'll switch from all of that evil nonsense to leave you with a clip of someone who is by far the opposite of sociopath: this young fellow Hampton.  I watch his channel to get all kinds of advice. His fitness tips are the best I've ever seen, and he breaks everything down so carefully. His thoughts on mental and emotional well being are priceless too and he is just the kindest, gentlest soul. "Hello, my friends!"