.....sadly, our basement did not, many thanks to our sump pump, which decided to quit working.
This morning I got up at about 7:30 and heard the wind howling around outside, so I decided to stay swaddled in my comforter a bit longer, even though I could hear my kids stirring. Well, they wouldn't let it be, they needed food, and right now too, because they were just famished! So I got up, made them breakfast and fiddle farted around a bit, and then decided to go downstairs and get a package ready for mailing real quick, because it was now about 9:45, and I could make it before the postman gets here. Bad Bad Bad idea.
As I got to the top of the basement stairs, I could see the foot of water that covered my basement floor. At this point, I should have stopped to take a picture so you all could see, but I didn't. I panicked. The basement is my workshop you see, I have tons of supplies down there. Now mind you, it's all neatly put up on pallets to avoid this unfortunate situation. However, 12" of water - 4" of pallet leaves 8" of water embracing my stuff. And it's not a love embrace either.
So I did what any woman would do, I waded through the water and took a look at the sump pump. I don't know a bit about them, but normally, fiddling will fix anything. After pondering for a few minutes, I didn't have a clue. So I did the next best thing, I called my dad. They're 2 hours away, but surely he could talk me through it? Our conversation was quick and I could feel my blood pressure rising. There was some talk about a hose, that was mysteriously missing from my pump. I lifted the cover. nothing happened. Ok, I was willing to fiddle, but I surely wasn't going to stick my arm down that hole. Screw that. So I moved on to the last resort, I
called the housing office. No answer. They should have been open by now. I called for about 10 minutes and got no answer. I figured they were just getting in, checking messages, busy on the phone, whatever...so despite the weather, I hurried my three kids and myself out to Blue Betty in their pajamas and flip flops, and we drove over to the housing office. By now, the rain was letting up, and I could even see a lightening of the sky.
As I was driving around the neighborhood, I could see that on a scale of 1-10, tropical storm Hannah was not too bad. There were some downed tree limbs and such, but nothing really horrendous. I pulled up to the building and told the kids to wait in the truck. I get up to the door, and there's a nice little sign that says "We are closed due to Hurricane Hannah, if you have an emergency, please call the emergency number." So I said the first thing that popped into my head...."Oh F&^#)!$&(!*@#"
Those of you that know military housing, know that if you call the emergency number, it's much like going to the Emergency Room at a hospital, they decide *HOW* emergent your problem is, and then decide how long they're going to take to treat it. I could see that with rain just over, and pending rain for the rest of the weekend, and possibly a lot of next week, my problem wasn't going to be too important until the rain stopped. There are many basements that were probably flooded, only I couldn't imagine that many other people had thousands of dollars worth of supplies for their business in theirs. I started to stomp off to go back home and call the emergency number, when the door opened, and lo and behold, a maintenance man came out. He asked me what the problem was, so I explained it. To make a really long story short, he followed me home, took a look, and diagnosed my sump pump as a DOA.
It's now 11:15, I'm contemplating what I can lace my first cup of coffee of the day with..I think I have some cough syrup. Is it too early for that? The maintenance man disappeared with the old sump and should be bringing me back a new one when he gets a chance. Then after it pumps out my basement, I can go down and vacuum up what's left and assess the damages. I know I lost a lot of supplies, there's a couch and a love seat down there that are soaked, all the laundry is soaked. (Whoop de do, I can rewash that! Thanks sump pump, you know how much I *HATE* laundry! Way to stick it to me!) Thankfully my finished jewelry product was all tucked away in a rubbermaid container so it's safe, and my candles were up on shelving, so I probably only lost the bottom shelf of those. All of my shipping supplies are wet. Those will have to be trashed.
Is now a good time for that nervous breakdown????
This morning I got up at about 7:30 and heard the wind howling around outside, so I decided to stay swaddled in my comforter a bit longer, even though I could hear my kids stirring. Well, they wouldn't let it be, they needed food, and right now too, because they were just famished! So I got up, made them breakfast and fiddle farted around a bit, and then decided to go downstairs and get a package ready for mailing real quick, because it was now about 9:45, and I could make it before the postman gets here. Bad Bad Bad idea.
As I got to the top of the basement stairs, I could see the foot of water that covered my basement floor. At this point, I should have stopped to take a picture so you all could see, but I didn't. I panicked. The basement is my workshop you see, I have tons of supplies down there. Now mind you, it's all neatly put up on pallets to avoid this unfortunate situation. However, 12" of water - 4" of pallet leaves 8" of water embracing my stuff. And it's not a love embrace either.
So I did what any woman would do, I waded through the water and took a look at the sump pump. I don't know a bit about them, but normally, fiddling will fix anything. After pondering for a few minutes, I didn't have a clue. So I did the next best thing, I called my dad. They're 2 hours away, but surely he could talk me through it? Our conversation was quick and I could feel my blood pressure rising. There was some talk about a hose, that was mysteriously missing from my pump. I lifted the cover. nothing happened. Ok, I was willing to fiddle, but I surely wasn't going to stick my arm down that hole. Screw that. So I moved on to the last resort, I
called the housing office. No answer. They should have been open by now. I called for about 10 minutes and got no answer. I figured they were just getting in, checking messages, busy on the phone, whatever...so despite the weather, I hurried my three kids and myself out to Blue Betty in their pajamas and flip flops, and we drove over to the housing office. By now, the rain was letting up, and I could even see a lightening of the sky.
As I was driving around the neighborhood, I could see that on a scale of 1-10, tropical storm Hannah was not too bad. There were some downed tree limbs and such, but nothing really horrendous. I pulled up to the building and told the kids to wait in the truck. I get up to the door, and there's a nice little sign that says "We are closed due to Hurricane Hannah, if you have an emergency, please call the emergency number." So I said the first thing that popped into my head...."Oh F&^#)!$&(!*@#"
Those of you that know military housing, know that if you call the emergency number, it's much like going to the Emergency Room at a hospital, they decide *HOW* emergent your problem is, and then decide how long they're going to take to treat it. I could see that with rain just over, and pending rain for the rest of the weekend, and possibly a lot of next week, my problem wasn't going to be too important until the rain stopped. There are many basements that were probably flooded, only I couldn't imagine that many other people had thousands of dollars worth of supplies for their business in theirs. I started to stomp off to go back home and call the emergency number, when the door opened, and lo and behold, a maintenance man came out. He asked me what the problem was, so I explained it. To make a really long story short, he followed me home, took a look, and diagnosed my sump pump as a DOA.
It's now 11:15, I'm contemplating what I can lace my first cup of coffee of the day with..I think I have some cough syrup. Is it too early for that? The maintenance man disappeared with the old sump and should be bringing me back a new one when he gets a chance. Then after it pumps out my basement, I can go down and vacuum up what's left and assess the damages. I know I lost a lot of supplies, there's a couch and a love seat down there that are soaked, all the laundry is soaked. (Whoop de do, I can rewash that! Thanks sump pump, you know how much I *HATE* laundry! Way to stick it to me!) Thankfully my finished jewelry product was all tucked away in a rubbermaid container so it's safe, and my candles were up on shelving, so I probably only lost the bottom shelf of those. All of my shipping supplies are wet. Those will have to be trashed.
Is now a good time for that nervous breakdown????
1 comment:
Don't you hate how all of the emergencies happen while our husbands are gone? Lady, you're a total badass and you'll have this entire situation taken care of like a rockstar. Good luck. Hang in there!!!
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