Flapper 3.0 and other errata

As a public service announcement
I offer that you should never buy a flapper valve for the toilet that has more than two parts to it. The flapper and the chain.  Flapper 1.0 was all high techy and stuff having multiple plastic parts which served the purpose of who knows what. Flapper 1.0 worked for a while and then feeling overly gaudy for a mere flapper valve jettisoned all its extraneous plastic bits into the drain tube in the bottom of the tank.
Flapper 2.0 did not fit. Even with some famous Kx59 mods it did now work. Fail.
Flapper 3.0 was purchased at Lowe's, L'Homme Deepot having failed me twice before. L'Homme Deepot's purchasing department's protocol for flappers appears to be, " We have a wide selection of 5 flapper valves! None of which will work on your Toilet! Thanks for shopping at L'Homme Deepot!". Flapper 3.0 seems to be working. It has two working parts.

We switched cable providers yesterday.  Cable tech informed me that the house was not grounded. Ah, ok.  The 9 gage wire must have popped loose from the ground rod again. (well ok, I admit it probably had help, had to be me with the mower)

The lug clamping the wire to the rod was iffy at best.  I've had to re-attach it before. So I got a new grounding lug while at the hardware store.  I'm thinking this is going to be a 5 minute job*.
So I've got a screw driver, the lug and a plastic bag to kneel on, being as it rained frogs yesterday.
Digging in the dirt with my fingers looking for the ground rod. Digging some more. Then, digging some more.  Srsly?  What dickweed steals a rusty rebar ground rod?  Ugh. Like all home repair jobs, this one was going to require a minimum of two trips to the hardware store apparently.
Being that the copper ground rods sold at the hardware store are 8' long and my car is roughly 7.5' long inside, maybe, I opted for a 4' piece of #4 rebar.  8 feet long?  All I need it to do is get to moist ground, not poke someone planting rice on the other side of the planet in the ass.
Fortunately, it rained frogs yesterday, so driving it into the ground was a piece of cake with Rudy Sr.**, the 5 lb. hand sledge.
Not bad. Only two trips to the hardware store to git'er done.  But, the new house we moved in to 15 years ago is not so new anymore.





* The last time I put a short time estimate on a home repair / improvement it turned into a two day affair.  That happens when you drill a hole through a water pipe.
** Yes, some of my tools actually have names.