By the end of the day, both houses would have nice new toilets. Meanwhile, I would go to the city, pick up my NYC visitor from the airport, take her to lunch, take her to see DRW's shop and the crossbows, take her to her hotel, feed her again, take her to choir practice in the evening.
The reality: the plumber arrived with four new toilets (two for each house) and looked at the first of the old toilets, in the larger bathroom at our house. Let's just say he didn't think much of the toilet, and he really didn't like what he found under it....rotted flooring under the tile (tile conceals rotted wood quite well, until the wood fails and the toilet tips over, which happened in the *other* bathroom a few years ago.)
I left to go to the city and start the planned activities. Called home once I got to the city (little over an hour after I left. After several calls, made contact and heard this "There's a big, rapidly enlarging hole in the bathroom floor..." followed by "But I'm having problems with the reciprocating saw..." While on the phone, the plumber came to report that there was rot under the toilet in the larger bathroom in the other house--the one our son rents from us. But the floor my husband had repaired (in the earlier discovery of rot) was sound enough, and a new toilet was, in fact, in that bathroom. One working toilet in a house is way better than no working toilets, even if it was in the least convenient bathroom. What about the other toilet in the other house? Not yet checked.
Off we went to pick up the NYC visitor. Then lunch. Then back to R-'s house to call and find out the current status...I had recommended an immediate search for a carpenter since--though my husband can build a rock-solid really good floor--he's a thorough but not fast worker on things like this, and two bathroom problems might take a long time, and with a third a possibility...call for help. A carpenter was supposed to be calling him back. Meanwhile (there's always a meanwhile) I'd realized that by taking the car that wasn't blocked in by the plumber's truck, I'd gone off with my husband's choir music (needed for church this evening) and my choir music (ditto) was in the other car. We managed to plan and execute an efficient switch-out, at R-'s house at 5 pm. In the meantime (yet more meanwhile) I'd taken the visitor to DRW's house to see crossbows and swords. Then off to church for the Ash Wednesday service and choir practice.
Got home maybe 15 minutes ago. There's a piece of plywood covering the hole in the floor of our larger bathroom and the carpenter has supposedly framed in below it. At the other house, there's an emergency cover (to keep whatever lives under the house from visiting our son in the nighttime.) The carpenter is coming back in the morning. The plumber will come back when the floors are all done (Oh, and the little bathroom at the other house did have a solid floor so that house has a working toilet too.) I don't know when it will all be done and I know it will cost more than the original plan, but...better to find out the floors were about to cave in before they did when someone was perched there.