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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Flooding

On Tuesday at 1:00 I participated in a market research study about local radio stations. One in particular and their syndicated morning radio show. I almost didn't answer when my home phone rang on Monday night with a blocked number. However, my mom's number shows up that way so I picked it up.

The process was fairly short, 30 minutes, and pretty painless. They asked me some questions about the morning show and about things that I thought would or would not be good topics for that show. And for my trouble I was paid $75. Where do I sign up for the next one??

Yesterday morning I woke up late and stumbled down to the basement to check on the water situation (since it had rained 2" over night). As soon as I got about halfway down the stairs I saw the water. About half of the basement floor was already covered, any where from 1/16 inch to 1/4 inch of water, and it was slowly creeping towards the rest. I put my shoes on and headed for the pump.

I got the hose dragged outside to the sound of thunder and the feel of a few raindrops on my skin. Quickly I hurried back downstairs, plugged in the pump and listened gratefully to the whooshing sound as it started pumping all the water outside. I was just getting ready to head back upstairs to take a shower when it just stopped. No warning, just done and the water came rushing back in.

So I quickly unplugged the pump and flipped it over trying to locate the reason for it's lack of functioning. I think it's important to add here that I had no idea what I was looking for. None what so ever. It was the equivalent of my car breaking down and me opening the hood of my car and staring at the motor. It might look good but it is totally pointless.

So, I set the pump down... having deducted that it looked perfectly fine to me, and plugged it back in. Swish... the water started pumping again. Alright, I thought, just a fluke. I stepped off of the pallets to head for the door and once again it stopped. So, once again I unplugged it and walked over and picked the pump up. A pointless exercise but one I engaged in none the less. Having once again deducted that it looked perfectly fine to me, because of course I would know what I was looking for, I plugged it back in. Nothing. Not a sound... not a whir... nothing....

So, yesterday morning at 7:45 am I got to take my newly acquired $75 and buy a new pump for our basement.

Uggg....

4 comments:

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

Murphy's Law. Never get ahead-- or behind... Next time someone pays you money out of the blue... ask them what THEY think with now break :) What a bummer!

Wolvers said...

Bummer, I was there two summers ago with the entire basement under water and NO pump and one tiny drain. It definitely sucks!!! Also draining physically and emotionally. I'm not great with items like that either, but maybe it wasn't submerged enough? We tried some hand pumps and it didn't seem to help unless they were submerged in the water. I paid to have the basement tiled and sumpump put in after it was all done. Definitely worth the money to have done. Hope this week of dryness helps you!!

Krista said...

It's always something... but look at it this way, thank goodness for that survey, because you were going to need that pump and have to spend that money regardless of where it came from.

Anonymous said...

I know it's really NOT funny at all Heather, but it made me smile that your two consecutive posts were about the joy of water and the pain of water. Life. Completely ironic sometimes.

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