Our house, which we bought in 2012, was built in 1983.  It has three bathrooms, which is nice, but none of the toilets are the low-flow kind, which is not as nice, because that means a higher water bill every month.  A few days after we had moved into the house, Sean started talking about switching out the old toilets for new low-flow ones.  I was on board because it would mean conserving water and a lower monthly utility bill.  But he never got around to doing it.  A couple of years passed, and then the subject came up again this morning.

“I’m thinking about replacing at least one of the toilets today.  I might go to Ace Hardware and see if I can lift one,” old Broken Wing said.  “But what would I do with the old toilet?”

“Call the Habitat for Humanity Restore,” I suggested.  “Maybe they take old toilets.”

He looked up the local Restore’s phone number and called.  The answer was no, they only accepted low-flow toilets.

He set the phone down and looked out the window at our back yard.  “Well, you know what that means.”

I knew where this conversation was heading.  We’d had this talk before.

“No,” I said.  “Absolutely not.  We are not going to have a toilet bowl planter in the back yard.”

“Okay, then.  So that’s a yes on a toilet bowl planter in the front yard.  Even better.”

I kept on knitting and let that one go.  I wasn’t about to stop the installation of a brand new water-conserving toilet that would save me a few dollars on my utility bill.

I don’t think he’s really serious about the toilet bowl planter, but then again, you never know.  This is a guy who, after that conversation, went to the hardware store, purchased a modern low-flow toilet, brought it home without any assistance, removed the old one, lugged it outside, and installed the new one himself, all with a broken elbow and essentially with the use of one hand.