"have you seen any zebras lately?"

that's what dad texted me today. it's a joke i'd like to share.
last week, my tub stopped draining. i tried drano, then three rounds of baking soda/vinegar, then lots of plunger action. nothing helped. i got a plastic snake & tried that; tub still wouldn't drain. dad showed up a few days later & we tried all kinds of methods, including an expanding hose snake, which burst the drain seal, resulting in mild flooding in the basement. not good. that required another whole round of repair to fix drain seal & flood. dad went home kinda bummed bc he has got the perseverance of a patient bloodhound when it comes to problem-solving, & we'd not solved this one.
then he sent an email: i can't sleep thinking about your plumbing, w/a diagram of another approach he would take. i felt bad that dad was worrying about MY plumbing...
he & mama arrived yesterday & he tried the diagram method. i had taken my niece out of town to a test at the university she'll be attending & shortly thereafter received text from dad: FIXED YOUR TUB.
we got back that night & dad looked spry & wily, the cat who'd swallowed the canary. he took me to the tub & plugged it & started filling it with water. he removed the stopper & the water just sat there; it appeared the tub was still not draining. i looked at him, puzzled. he said, "i was going to remove the overflow valve here & i had disconnected it & then realized.." he flipped the handle-switch on the overflow valve DOWN. the tub started glug-glug-glugging immediately. we roared w/laughter. the whole time it simply had been a valve i'd not flipped -- a human problem, but NOT a plumbing problem... i felt like a real dumbass & let him know, apologizing for having wasted his time & worry.
"now, don't beat up on yourself, jenny," he said. "i didn't see it either. i immediately jumped to conclusions, too. the problem you & i both have  is that when we hear hooves in the distance, we assume it's zebras..."
"when it might be horses... or even camels," i said.
"yes," he said. "so we mustn't immediately assume 'zebras' unless we check & see that, yes, it's zebras, all right."