Ewww! Did I Just Find an Animal?

Last night I did something that I thought I'd never have to do again.  Unclog the shower drain.  GROSS!  I thought when I got married this was one of those implied chores for the husband to do?  Don't get me wrong.  He's cleaned the drain on numerous occasions and always pulls his weight around the house with other chores, so I really can't complain.  Actually I'm really lucky.  I usually don't have to ask him to do anything.  He just does it.  Because of that, I figured I would step up.  It was my turn.  After all, it was my hair.

For the past few weeks we've been ignoring the growing puddle of water in our shower.  Well, not completely ignoring it.  I dumped Draino down there a few times but it didn't do much.  Do you know if Draino can go bad?  I think it can.  This Draino looked like milk that had gone bad.  It had big white chunks and everything.  I've never seen any other bottles that have looked like this.  Totally weird.  Mental note:  Don't buy Draino from Winco.  Its right up there with meat.  You never buy meat from Winco.  Now there are two items not to buy.  Meat and Draino..... But anyways, the Draino would sort of work for a few days and then it would back up again.  It got to the point where by the end of a shower, you'd be standing in two inches of water.  This had to be fixed.

So last night after I was already sweaty and gross from a workout, I figured I would take a stab at unclogging the drain.  I gathered up the Draino, snaking tool, a plastic bag and rubber gloves.  I was ready to go in.  I fed the snaking tool down through the holes in the drain as far as it would go (our drain cover isn't removable so this was quite a challenge.  Those holes are really small)  As I began to pull it back up I had to put some muscle behind it.  It was really clogged.  What's in there?  I pulled again, and "Clunk, clunk".  What is that?  I peered down through the holes and could see a solid ball of hair and who knows what else.  Yuck!  Then it dawned on me.  "Gasp.  What if that's an animal?  Like a rat or hamster or something? The last family DID have three boys.  Maybe they thought it would be fun to see if the hamster would be able to make his way back out? Uhhhhhhhh huh huh huh. Please, oh please, don't be an animal."  I had to stop myself and come back to reality.  How would an animal be stuck in our drain? And how would I be able to lift it up with my flimsy snaking tool? And if it was an animal, wouldn't we have noticed the smell by now? I guess it's within the realm of possibilities but what are the chances? C'mon Emily.  Pull it together!.........So back to the challenge.  It was so solid that it wouldn't fit through the holes to come out.  I pulled again.  "Clunk, clunk, clunk".  Damn.  I'm not going to be able to get this out.  Then I'll have to explain why we still have a clogged drain AND why there's now a tool stuck in it.  So I started vigorously shaking the tool back and forth at an attempt to shake the solid hairball off.  It actually worked.  I was free!  Phew!  Now to try again.  I fed the tool back through those tiny holes and pulled up.  This time it was coming up with much more ease.  I pulled out a huge long clump of hair and slime.  I held it up and stared at it with pride.  Victory!!! ......Then the smell hit me.  "Hooooork. Hooooork. Hooooork".  The gag reflex was in full effect.  All of the sudden the bathroom door swings open and my husband asks "Are you alright?  I could hear you from downstairs."  I turn and proudly hold up my accomplishment.  "Look, hoooork. what I, hooooork. Found, hoooork!"

The smell was awful.  But the drain was unclogged!