WHAT'S A GOOD SHOWER WORTH?

On May 11 of 2011 I wrote a blog about my shower head, which is actually part of a shower wand, the kind you can hold in your hand and then slip into a fixed holder when you need to have your hands free.  I was bemoaning the fact that I do not have a satisfactory experience when I shower due to a very recalcitrant shower head that manages to direct water directly into my face no matter how hard I try to aim it elsewhere. The last paragraph of that blog is as follows:

“I just may have to call upon my laid-back disposition for another few years while I wait on my aging brain to come up with another idea. A new shower wand might work but they are not cheap and there are, unfortunately, no guarantees.”

Today, June 30 of 2013 I have finally concluded that I WILL buy a new shower head THIS WEEK!  It wasn’t the aging brain that kept me from replacing it sooner.  It was simply that more important things kept breaking down and needed replacing (teeth, hearing, microwave oven, coffee-pots, etc.) and the shower head just never made it to the top of the list.

It’s there now.  And I deserve a new one.  Not only that, but very honestly, the whole unit is ready for replacement.  Nothing turns easily on it any more, making any kind of adjustment next to impossible.

We are in the middle of a very hot spell and to insure that I could walk my two miles this morning before the sun got hot, I got up at 4 a.m., did my little pre-walk routine, and headed out at 5 a.m. when the daylight had just passed the squinting point.  I was back home by 5:50, already sweating, and I knew the shower was going to feel very good.  But today, the little wild spray that always hits me right in the face seemed to be worse than usual.  I stood dripping in the shower for about 10 minutes, turning and twisting the adjustable sprayer part on the shower head to minimize that problem, but nothing changed.  If I stood on a stool in our shower so that the water could hit me lower on my body, that would solve everything.  (Of course that is also why Jerry doesn’t experience this problem; the water hits him in the chest, not in the face.) 

Nothing in our house (or on/in our bodies) broke down last week so that is why I have decided this week will be dedicated to finding the perfect shower head replacement.

I saw one featured in yesterday’s LA Times – it’s a Kohler brand “Moxie” shower head.  It has a waterproof wireless speaker that attaches via a magnet.  The Bluetooth speaker runs for seven hours and pulls out for charging via USB port.  It comes in different colors, starting at $149 through Home Depot, Lowe’s and Amazon -- and elsewhere, I’m sure. 

I don’t want that one!  I care not for the availability of color choices, and since I have music flowing through my ear buds while I walk, having music in my shower is not a deal-breaker.  But strangely, the idea of paying that much for a shower head is the least of my concerns at this point, although if I do use my money that way, we’ll probably be eating canned pork and beans through the month of July.  I am a firm believer, mostly, that you get what you pay for and THIS time when we buy a new shower head I won’t bother looking at price until I find what I want. 

Unfortunately, I cannot change the height of the pipe that is built to bring the water into our shower (I’m guessing that it is about 6 feet up from the shower floor) but SURELY I can find something that will aim that water at my chest, not my face, and at a price that I can afford.

Today is not a day to rummage around in the non-air-conditioned big box stores looking for the plumbing department.  Since they open early during the week to provide for the building trades, we can appear at their doors at 8 a.m. this coming week and make our decision – my decision, really – before the heat addles my brain into doing something rash like thinking I can “make do” again.  I’m going for EXACTLY the right thing this time.