One Hammer to Rule Them All…

This weekend was rather interesting for several reasons entirely unrelated to roleplaying. I elected to do some yardwork, and in the process elected to employ the water hookup at the front of my house to wash my siding. Shortly after engaging said hookup, I noticed that water was pouring out from underneath my siding and the water pressure was low through the hose, so I decided it prudent to turn the water off and move forward using the water hookup from the back yard.

The Plot… Wettens

I didn’t think anything of the leak until I went downstairs to prepare the area for D&D. I got my bar all cleaned up, and then I noticed that the floor was a little cooler than normal by the stairs. Then I heard it… the sound of water dripping onto leather.

Looking up, I found that the water from the hookup had… well… ruined a few areas of the finished ceiling in my basement. I immediately employed the use of large fans and a dehumidifier and called the plumber.

Help arrives in the form of Albus Plumberdore

The short bearded man arrived today, looking very much like a workingman’s version of Richard Harris as Albus Dumbledore and proceeded to fix the water hookup (apparently called a hydrant). After knocking a hole in my ceiling (*wince*), he had to go to the local hardware store to get some parts, and curiosity getting the best of me I went down to see what he was doing.

Necessity is the mother of invention

Now, I’m not going to get too far into it now, but suffice it to say that I really, *really* like Lord of the Rings and have subsequently decorated my basement with all sorts of accouterments from the films (never fear, I will post more fully on this once I can take some better photos). Luckily, none of my displays were harmed by the water, however I did vacate the wallhanging stuff from the affected area.

Very near to where the hydrant was leaking, I had United Cutlery’s Staff of Saruman hanging on its hanger. I relocated the staff to my bar for safety, and hilariously, I found this in its place:

Apparently, in the process of knocking the hole in my ceiling ol’ Albus Plumberdore needed a third hand to hold his hammer and he elected to use the staff hanger as his proxy. Not only that, but he fell victim to the strange entropy field that exists in my house and affects only contractors, because this is the second hand tool that has been inadvertently left at my house by someone doing maintenance. I was delighted to find that my $299 service fee has earned me One Hammer to Rule Them All!

It’s almost going to be difficult to take it down once my ceiling is repaired…