84 SEPTEMBER 2019 FAMILYHANDYMAN.COM
Great Goofs
Laughs and lessons from our readers
®ILLUSTRATIONS:^ STEVEBJÖRKMANKNOW WHEN
TO PULL
THE PLUG
When my garbage
disposal went on the fritz,
I purchased and installed a
new disposal that same
day. I turned on the
disposal and everything
worked perfectly. Feeling
proud of myself for
conquering a problem
without hiring a pro, I did a
little victory dance in front
of the sink.
That night, my dish-
washer quit mid-wash
and wouldn’t drain. Since
this problem was out of my
comfort zone, I called for
help. When the service
technician showed up and
looked under the sink, he
asked who had installed
the disposal. I hung my
head and mumbled an
expletive, then explained
that I’d followed the easy
installation directions.
“Yeah, but the directions
don’t mention that you’re
supposed to remove the
factory plug from the drain
line that runs to the dish-
washer,” he said. Sure
enough, he unhooked the
drain line, popped out
the plug and solved the
problem. My oversight
wasn’t a total bust—the
technician showed me
how to tune up and clean
the dishwasher.
MARK BLAIRMEASURE ONCE, DIG TWICE
When I retired, I moved into a new home with a large yard. My previous
home had a 6-ft. privacy fence around the backyard, and I wanted one
at my new home too. Since I had more time than money, I decided to do
the work myself.
I carefully measured the distance for each post, and then manually dug
all 38 postholes. Then I set all the posts perfectly plumb and added the
concrete. The next day, I began to install the first fence section, and oh,
did my heart sink. That’s when I realized my math was off. I had set the
posts 8 ft. apart for the 8-ft. fence sections. But they were supposed to be
7-1/2 ft. apart so the sections would fit inside the posts. I spent the next
three weeks digging up and moving the posts. Let’s hope the rest of my
retirement goes a lot smoother!
JOHN A. GERKIN
I’VE STRUCK OIL!
I moved to a rural area where power outages are common, so I bought
a portable generator. When I woke up one morning to find my entire
neighborhood without power, I started it up.
Having once ruined a lawn mower because it didn’t have enough oil,
I wanted to make sure my generator wouldn’t suffer the same fate. The
ingenious design engineers put the oil compartment at the very
bottom of the machine—without a dipstick. The generator was
humming along beautifully, but I couldn’t stop thinking
about the oil. I just had to check it. Here’s what I learned the
hard way: Never, ever remove the oil cap while the machine
is running. It’s amazing how fast
and how far oil can shoot out
of an engine. I was covered
from head to toe with dripping
oil. I guess the generator was
full of oil after all.
GRACE W. GLOWACKI