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This Day in My History

2000:  Back to Basics
2001:  Oh, My Aching Back
2002:  Spinning Straw into Gold
2003:  Everything Old is New Again...and Again...
2004:  Stop the World, I Want to Get Off
2005:  Biting the Hand that Feeds You
2006 Still Horny After All These Weeks


IN MY OPINION
"fig (a): the heart"

Books Read in 2007

Updated 5/3:
"Paula Deen"

FUNNY THE VLOG

Jean Sings for Walt

Mefeedia Video Archive


My Favorite Video Blogs

Desert Nut
Missbehavens

(for others, see Links page)

Look at these videos!
Bette Davis...uh...Sings
The Zimmers
Wizard of Oz--Alternate Ending
Phil Donahue vs. Bill O'Reilly
Drunk Driving Test
Steve Irwin Meets Ross the Intern
Volcanic Eruption 4/2/07

Family Stories Vlog
(updated 5/4/07)


New on My flickr_logo.gif (801 bytes)
Easter 2007



That's My Answer

Have you answered
the Question of the Day?

HOW BIG IS A CUBIT?

17 May 2007

First came Sheila.

Then came Lizzie.

Then came Google

Then came the puppies.

I didn't realize that this was a sign I should have been building an ark all this time I've been collecting animals.

Yesterday was one of those days which went along like every other day until it fell apart.  And then it really fell apart.

I was blissfully watching American Idol, eating some of my free Häagen Dazs ice cream, planning to type a report for the psychiatrist when the show was over.

The washing machine was on its second load of towels.  I wash a lot of towels when we have newborn puppies.  It's like having a baby in diapers again, only worse because there are three of them.

I finished my ice cream and, as a commercial came on, I decided to go to the bathroom to relieve myself.  This is obviously my week for bathroom disasters.

I opened the door, reached around to turn on the light and stepped into the room without looking and realized I was stepping into a pool of water.  The rug was soaking wet and the level of water in the toilet was at the very top.  I quickly grabbed the plunger and set to work on it, proud of myself because I cleared up the clog without problem.  I even flushed the toilet and the water went down just fine.

That just left me with a pool of water on the floor.  I took the rest of the dry towels I had, and put the rug and the towels into a bucket and moved them out to the laundry room.  I moved the towels in the dryer to the top of the dryer and the clean towels to the dryer, and put the dripping towels and rug into the washing machine and set it running.

I went back to the bathroom and finished cleaning up the water, closed the door, and sat back down again.

I heard the washing machine change from the wash cycle to the spin cycle and within seconds, I heard gurgles from the bathroom.

I went back into the bathroom and brown water was pouring out of the toilet onto the floor.  I got all the towels I had just taken out of the dryer and sopped up as much as I could.  I emptied the big plastic tubs that I store puppy bedding in and took it to the bathroom and started sopping up water again, trying desperately to get it out from under the Pergo strip.

I quickly shut off the washing machine, leaving the tub filled with towels and a rug.  I used all the rest of the dry towels to sop up as much of the rest of the water as I could and when I ran out of towels, I used a sponge mop and spent about 15 minutes just soaking the sponge and emptying it into a bucket.

I called Walt to see if he could think of anything I could do at that hour of the night.  He couldn't, mentioned that I could do my laundry at a laundromat (I reminded him that I do about 4 loads of laundry a day when we have puppies), and said that I'd have to call a plumber.

When I finished getting up as much water as possible, I had a plastic tub filled with water and sopping wet towels and a washing machine tub full of a rug and more towels. And I had no dry towels.

I change the puppies' bedding in the morning and at night but they would have to sleep in their bedding until morning.

No sooner had I finished mopping than the puppies set up a howl.  I got formula made and sat down to feed them, at which point (11 p.m.) Sheila decided to bark outside.  We have "Stop Bark" there which emits a high pitched noise that hurts her ears, but apparently whatever was making her bark was more important than the discomfort to her ears.

At the same time, Lizzie, who never does this, was desperate to get into my lap with the puppy and Google, who has been trying for days to jump into my recliner, finally made it and was trying to walk across the end table, which is piled high (I should say precariously piled high) with stuff, to get the puppy formula that I was feeding Tipper.

I yelled at Google, who fell off the chair and high-tailed it into her cage, eyes more googily than usual.  I dragged Sheila in and locked her in the house, and I yelled at Lizzie to get down.  I got all the puppies fed and back into their cage. 

I took the plastic box out to the yard and took the sopping wet stuff out to lay out on the ground.  I don't expect it to get dry quickly, but at least it won't start getting moldy by sitting in dirty water.  I also took the soaking wet towels and rug out of the washing machine to spread out as well.  When/if they dry they will all have to be rewashed because they are all sopping wet with filthy water from either the first wash in the washing machine, or from the toilet.


part of the collection, in the morning's sun.

It's now midnight and I haven't started the psychiatrist's report, which ordinarily wouldn't be a problem except that my computer is still at the geek's and I have to learn Word in order to do this report on the laptop. 

* * * *

I worked until 1:30 but didn't finish the report.  I decided I needed to get some sleep and finish it in the morning.  I got the hatches battened down for the night and walked into the living room.  That's when I discovered that the water had seeped under the Pergo and extended so far that the rug in the living room had soaked it up and about one foot of rug was wet as well.  There is nothing I can do about that, the wet rug or the water which seeped under the Pergo.

I called a plumber with a full page add and a name that had "Rooter" in it.  I knew they would have to pay for that telephone book ad and expected to have to pay an arm and a leg, but they could come out before noon, so I bit the bullet and agreed.

So the guys with "Rooter" in their name came, assessed the situation and said it would cost $379.  I gulped a bit, but I knew it wasn't going to be cheap, so I signed the contract.  The futzed around and futzed around and made noise and brought in big machines and scratched their heads.  They removed the toilet and then told me that they'd reached the clog, but that their machine was too big to fit in our bathroom (which was apparent) and they would have to go back to Sacramento to get their smaller one, which would only cost me $500+.  I knew I was being had, but what could I do at that point?

They finally returned and there were loud noises and shouts of "SHUT IT OFF!  SHUT IT OFF!"  That's when I discovered that the words "Uh...ma'am...we have a problem" automatically cost you at least $200.  There was a big long complicated explanation of the problem, but I only zeroed in on $600 and "chop up the bushes in front of your house."

Finally they announced that the job was done.  The problem was two-fold.  Branches had grown through the 33 year old pipes which obscured their view and when they finally found the clog, it was....baby wipes.

Apparently during my...uh...difficulties on Sunday I managed to overload the system.  So it appears that my Rock of Gibraltar was made of gold after all.  Now I know why it was so difficult to pass.

At least it appears that the problem is solved, for now, and I don't have to build that ark after all.  Good thing because I don't have a clue how big a cubit is.

 

PHOTO OF THE DAY

The hole where my toilet used to be

 

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