Always interested in how things work, I recently found myself bringing young John and Charlie on a field trip into the basement. Mission: follow the "poop pipe." That's right, the question came up "Where does the poop go after you flush?" I tried the line from Nemo about all pipes lead to the ocean but in midwest Ohio, that doesn't really fly. So, after taking care of business, I explained in brief how the toilet works and and we pointed (on hands and knees) the path of the water until it went down through the floor. This took us into the basement to see...the "poop pipe." We continue to trace the path through the pipes and out of the basement through the backyard and towards the alley. I showed them the manhole in the alley, and that's where our journey ended. Although, we did have to take turns flushing the toilet while one of the boys stood in the basement to hear the water going through the pipes.
This morning I walked by the bathroom and found John and Charlie again, doing their bathroom business and talking a hundred miles an hour. They were retracing verbally the path of things through the "poop pipe." It was too funny! Perhaps we have a few "Joe Plumbers" in our midst here. A family business perhaps. (Someone please help me to know we're not the only ones having conversations like these.)
