Sometime early afternoon on Saturday my stepson called me. He wanted to ask my advice on something, and then we talked for probably 45 minutes. Great conversation. During the conversation I reached under the kitchen sink for something (I was doing some cleaning tasks while we talked) and found several things had a little moisture on them. I kinda went "Hmmm," and continued with our conversation.
A few minutes later I returned to that cabinet, and as I looked, there was a definite leak somewhere. I looked at the bottom of the sinks, the drains, and it didn't seem to be from there. Then I saw a teeny spray of water coming from under the faucet. Aha! I wasn't too worried, because it was tiny. I got a bucket and put it under the leak, but since it was spraying, not merely dripping, that wasn't sufficient. I created a block with paper towels and an aluminum foil funnel into the bucket. There! All secure.
Next I called the plumber who has done off-the-clock work for me before. I couldn't reach him, but did get his brother who said he would give him my phone number.
Through the evening, I kept checking the leak, and it was clearly getting worse. I quickly showered, filled several containers with drinking water, and walked down to the well house to turn off the water to the house. Why turn off the water to the whole house? Well, there are not turnoff valves under the kitchen sink! The plumber and I talked about putting them in, but I never called him to do it. I don't know about you, but I don't think of those things when I don't have a problem. duh. But I thought being without running water for a few hours was not a big deal. An inconvenience, but not a disaster. Oh, and I carried a couple three gallon buckets of water up the hill from the well house. It is unfiltered water, and I wouldn't drink it, but I needed it to flush the toilet. All set for the duration!
Sunday morning came and I still had not heard from the plumber. Hmmm. Well, I figured that his drinking had finally taken it's toll. Too bad, 'cause I really liked him. I knew from rumor that he drank, but he was always efficient, affordable and very pleasant. But I waited until around 1:00, just in case he is just running behind, waking up, even attending church. No one was answering. I tried again about 2:00, incase they stopped for lunch after church. (Boy! Talk about giving a person a mile of rope!) So I called friend to see who he would recommend. Trouble is, we didn't connect for a number of reasons until late in the afternoon, and I decided to wait till this morning to call a new plumber. At that point, why pay weekend prices?
This morning I gave one of the numbers a call, and talked with Mr. Jones (Yeah, really!!) who will be out early this afternoon. He asked if I could wait that long, as he had a couple other calls that were from people without heat. Well, yeah, of course! It was just 20° out, and I can't imagine being without heat! He is going to put in the valves to shut off the kitchen sink so I can have water in the rest of the house if necessary to shut it off again. If the faucet needs to be replaced, he will come back to install it, so I can get one like I want. Good deal.
Have you had to live without running water for nearly 48 hours? Other than camping? Pain in the tushie!! Not the end of the world, as I said, but sheesh! I've been living with Huggies wipes, antiseptic hand cleaners, paper towels, etc., followed by hand lotion, hand lotion, hand lotion! gah! I can't really clean up after a meal other than with kitchen wipes (and hand lotion), and although I tried to fix foods that are as un-messy as possible, it happens.
And here's the kicker .... before I discovered the leak, here is what I had planned for the weekend:
- bathe the dogs (water!)
- I took a whole set of crystal out of a cabinet to wash it and pack it away since I don't use them (water!)
- laundry (water!)
- clean tile floors (water!)
- make homemade dogfood (water!)(for clean up)
- water plants (water!)
- have a life (water!)
Oh, well! It's Monday and the plumber cometh!!
Yikes.....Hope the plumber comes and all is back to normal, soon! "Normal" isn't that an interesting word with many meanings..lol!
ReplyDeleteBlessings and prayers,
andrea
"Normal" is a very interesting word, indeed! The plumber came and went and I have water! He has to go buy the replacement faucet and he will return tomorrow to install it. But he fixed it so I can have drinking water and use the dishwasher! Life is good again!
ReplyDeleteHope everything is back to normal now. I went without running water for twelve days once during an ice storm. We lived in the country in Maine and had a well and no power. It was something - you should have seen the trash bags of dirty clothes after the 12 days. And, I learned to wash my hair in a cup of water. At least I wasn't alone half the state was without electricity. Good luck. Liz
ReplyDeletewho needs a job anyways . . .your retired life is soooo interesting and full of fun times!!
ReplyDeletelol . . .glad you have someone that was able to fix it.
NE/ME, it is amazing what we can do when we must, isn't it? I survived a week of living without electricity during an ice storm in Kansas City. It actually became a pioneering adventure before it was over, and we were impressed with how creative we'd become in that time!
ReplyDeleteI just slipped over and read some of your blog. I hope you decide to return to blogging at some point!
I need a job, to be honest, Beans! This economy is killing me. I'm beginning the search this week. gah.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I found this guy, too. He is a really nice man, and He isn't killing me financially, whew!
When it rains it pours? Not quite right but what a pain in the arse, as my grandmother used to say! We are sort of in the same situation here with the shut off valves. 60 plus year old plumbing. Jake has been gradually putting them in. Of coarse we have to wait til theres a problem to do it!! Glad it's all taken care of by now, at least I hope so?
ReplyDeleteLove Di ♥
It's almost done, Di. He put in the valves, tomorrow he will get the new faucet and put it in. The faucet is turned off, but the RO system works for drinking water and I can run the dishwasher, so life is almost normal! And yes, we always wait until we have to before we fix things, don't we? that's the human way!
ReplyDelete