List

[copied from dland]

1. At some point during the storm yesterday, late afternoon probably, it became clear that our basement was starting to fill up with water. We checked on it here and there and then went to sleep.


2. When I woke up at midnight or so, half of the power in the kitchen was out. Because this has happened before, I knew that this meant that somewhere in the basement there was something plugged into an electrical outlet and the wire was sitting in water. Because I was more asleep than awake, I left a note on the counter explaining this, and went to bed.


3. The Hubs got up at 3.30 and so did I, so I explained this to him. He said he'd seen my note when he'd gotten up before and hadn't really slept since then. He got up and pulled the plug downstairs, then reset the breaker and then began to bail water off the floor and into the utility sink in the basement. He did this until six, when he took a shower and went to work.


4. While he was downstairs, I logged in for a personal day today and went back to sleep. When he went to work at six, I got up and went downstairs.


5. For the next several hours, I would pointlessly run the little shop-vac for twenty minutes at a time and then do something else for a while (eat breakfast, drink coffee.)


6. Somewhere in here, I saw on the news crawler that R's train line into the city today was closed due to flooding, but that the bus would be honoring train tickets. I emailed her at some point to see if she was at work. When she answered, she said she'd left home at 8.35 and gotten into the office at 10.30. It's normally a 20 minute train ride, but not if you're on a bus.


7. K got up early to go to school, and I told her that there was no way she was driving there on potentially flooded roads, so she stayed home. She came downstairs to help me and immediately pulled a muscle or pinched a nerve or something in her neck and was in great pain. She came upstairs and put ice on it, and then went back to bed.


8. Using the shop-vac was like shoveling sand against the tide. I decided that my time would be better spent by cleaning up some of the water damage. By the time they came to collect the trash around noon, I had filled the curb with bags of destroyed books and clothes and other things that had been in cardboard boxes sitting on the basement floor.


9. Around 2.00, I remembered that my parents had had a surface pump for occasions like this and I went to the local hardware store to get one, but they were out, of course. They said that they were expecting a shipment between 4.00 and 4.30. Meanwhile, K saw the chiropractor a few doors down, so she was feeling a bit better.


10. K and I discussed the logistics of tomorrow being her first day available to substitute and how we would work that out in the morning if she got called.


11. I went back to the hardware store, where the delivery truck was late and I stood there for two hours. Very bad for the old back. Got a pump.


12. Pulled into the driveway at six, just as the Hubs was getting home. We went in and looked at the water and it was really much better. (Hasn't rained much today.) So the water was not deep enough for the pump. He changed his clothes and started shop-vaccing.


13. I made macaroni and cheese for me and K for dinner. While I was washing the pot afterwards, the Hubs called me downstairs to see that water from the kitchen sink was pouring into the basement. (This is not, however, the source of the basement flood, which is heavy rain and a 57 year old foundation.) Finally got him to stop working after 45 minutes. It'll dry up at some point.


14. K got the call to work tomorrow, but in the junior high, where she wouldn't be finished until 3.00, and she has to be at her other job at 3.00 tomorrow. Now she thinks that the sub lady doesn't like her and will never call her again. Who knows?


15. Called the plumber, who is coming to fix the sink tomorrow after 3.00, when I get home.


16. Made my lunch for tomorrow. Oh wait, I did that before K got the call, when I thought I might not have the opportunity in the morning, with both of us getting ready. My bad.


17. I am ready to freaking drop. On top of this, I had my normal stress reaction today, which means I was in the bathroom every ten minutes. If I have gained an ounce today, then I just don't know. It would be a fitting end to the day, though.

watching Little People, etc. :: entry #1433