I would like to clear up some confusion that occurs every time my wife wants me to “fix” something around the house. By the third trip to the hardware store she always asks if it really takes that many trips to get the job done. Well, yes, yes it does! Let’s take the resent toilet repair for example. The water would not shut off so I needed the repair kit for inside the tank, that was the first trip. So I have to shut off the water to replace it but when I try to shut off the water the valve is rusted and old and when I turn it, water begins to run from it. Trip two is for the valve and since I am replacing the valve I better get the little water hose to go with it. To replace the valve I have to shut off the water to the house which when I do I notice a lot of sand in the water. Trip three is for water filters, since we are on a well the filters keep sand out of the lines and get gummed up so before I turn the water back on I need to replace the filter. While at the store I also see there is a special kind of sand trap I could buy to catch the sand before it hits the filter. This I will debate in my head on the way home as to whether I should have bought that as well. Once all the parts are installed and the water is back on, I realize that the toilet water has not stopped running even after the repair and is now leaking from the new hose. So trip four is for a replacement for the whole toilet. It should also be noted that if I get the wrong wax ring a fifth trip might be needed as well. So in conclusion you can see that all of those trips were necessary and the next time I need to “fix“ something just assume mileage and travel time are included.