Monday was a beautiful day, high 72. Spring was in the air and a barbeque seemed definitely appropriate. But fate had other ideas. I let Fuji out back, hooked up the hose to the soaker hose to water our new Coral Bark Maple, and took a seat by the screened door with Mooch to enjoy the day.
I heard a funny water sound coming from the inside of the house but I was doing laundry and assumed that’s what it was. Less than five minutes later, water started running underneath my patio chair. So I checked the faucet for a leak but really didn’t find one. I followed the water trail and, to my horror, found it was coming from the inside of our house!
I quickly shut off the water, went inside, and found our dining room hardwood floors under water. I ran downstairs to get some towels and water was pouring out of the utility room door. Upon further inspection, it was also coming out of the fan in the ceiling in the half bath. I went into the garage to get more towels and water was coming out of the ceiling and pouring out of the garage door. I quickly got the water off the hardwood floors, franticly called Jan (not a good call), then I went over to Rich’s house and he came over to survey the situation and give us advice on who to call (thanks, Rich).
Fuji is still wandering around unsupervised and in my mind I was thinking “I’ve flooded the house and lost a cat” but at a certain point I did see her come back and lay on the concrete of the back patio happy as can be. This put my mind at ease somewhat. After getting the water off the hardwood floor, I started on the utility room floor. I was removing the water by putting down bath towels, letting them absorb the water, then wringing them out by hand in the utility sink.
My hands were sore, I was exhausted, and then I heard a cat fight brewing. I ran upstairs and saw Fuji all puffed out ready to take on the killer black cat in the neighborhood who, just last week, split Sebastian’s head open and wounded his chest and belly. The killer black cat started running when I exited the screen door yelling my best battle cry that I was sure might have a few neighbors reaching for their phone to call 911. This only made Fuji think she had the upper hand and started to chase the killer black cat through the backyard, around the barn, out the gate, and into the front yard of our neighbor’s house. I was thinking, “I don’t know these people very well. I’m not in a very stable frame of mind. If they come out, this is going to be one hell of an acting job”.
I managed to retrieve Fuji from under a juniper bush and as I carried her through the garage into the house, she thanked me by putting one of her claws into my chest. I finished cleaning the utility room floor which had become full of pine needles and dirt from my shoes that I tracked in from the garage. I opened the closet under the stairs which is packed full of music equipment, pictures, holiday decorations, you name it, but now it was sitting in water. Right when I thought I was going to get to rest, everything under the stairs closet was now going to have to be removed and sorted. It was a mess and really destroyed my morale. Fortunately, the water just missed my guitars by about an inch.
Jan called the insurance company who in turn assigned us to Servco, the water disaster clean-up crew to remove all the existing water caught in our walls and floor. They brought in Gary’s Rooter and Plumbing Services to cut a hole in our dining room wall and repair the busted pipe that was indeed caused by a freeze.
Jan and I are now going to Costco or Video Only to see if we can replace the T.V. that died in the bedroom about five days ago. It didn’t seem all that important at the time but now it seems critical.
Well it’s nice to know that some things were completely unaffected by our crisis.
What a year. It’s got to get better, right?
-Mike and Jan
