View from the North 40: It's when that sinking feeling gushes over you

In a good two week’s worth of miscues and mishaps and daily trips to the plumbing store on our way to a fully functioning kitchen sink, my husband, John, won the Video-worthy Fail Moment of the Project award, which doesn’t exist, but should.

We’d been trading off different duties on the project and John tagged in one morning last week to install the shut-off valves on the hot and cold water lines — a task for which he had formulated a plan.

I suspect somewhere there exists a tombstone with the inscription “Victim of a clear and well-thought-out plan. R.I.P.,” though, to be fair, his morning wa...