So the plumber came, and Friday afternoon I will be the p...

So the plumber came, and Friday afternoon I will be the proud owner of a new water heater. Yay. Closer examination of the old water heater with the plumber's help revealed that the tank was leaking down onto the pipe, which is why it looked like the pipe was leaking. It's also leaking from the top, and the back, and many other places. It's a bad time to have to do this, but the old one lasted twenty-one years, so you can't really fault it, especially since it's (knock on wood) holding on ...