I have a bit of a laissez-faire attitude. Some people refer to it as laid back, others as lazy. It’s probably a bit of both.

We had a party on Sunday which required peeling a number of vegetables. I remembered previous problems with the garbage disposal caused by trying to grind too many at once, so after each kind of veggie, I ran the disposal. I did not send stalks down the drain. Just peelings.

Unfortunately, the garbage disposal must have been feeling full, because it chose not to digest my peelings. So somewhere between the sewer and my sink, there is a clog of carrot, potato, and beet shavings.

Annoying? Yes. Life jeopardizing? No.

But, of course, because this happened just before a dinner party, there are way more dishes than normal piled up in the kitchen waiting to be washed. All our mixing bowls. Two of the three frying pans. Most of our spatulas.

This has led to a disagreement of philosophies in the Burrow.

Rudi — who is, admittedly, the chef in the family and thus is the person most direly affected by having no free surfaces in the kitchen — would like to call the landlord and have our handyman sent to clear the drain, since running drain declogger has not helped. He feels life is too short to wait around for things to improve on their own. He has a valid argument.

My feeling, on the other hand, is that if I leave peelings in the garbage can for several days they break down and turn to liquid. We’re at three days now. We’ve got to be getting close for those peelings in my drainpipe.

There are bigger things out there to feel passionately about and whether I have to reuse my teacup for a whole week between washings is really not one of them. (Yes, I exaggerate. Washing the oil-soaked pans we fried things in would be nice.)

I just can’t get my dander up over dishes. 50% functional illiteracy in the nation’s capital is worth getting upset about. The FBI potentially tapping my phone because we’re a house of Democratic activists is worth getting hot and bothered over. But not a kitchenful of dirty dishes. I just can’t muster the energy for that.

I say let it rot.