I was teaching in Steelville, an hour's drive over two-lane blacktop. Hick worked in the city, an hour's drive over 4-lane concrete. We left our respective homes around around 5:45 a.m.
I'd only lived in my $17,000 house for a couple of months. It was basically a living room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, with a half-basement under the bedroom and kitchen. What did you expect for $17,000, a mansion?
Here's the side street view of it, 30 years later, after it's fallen into much disrepair. Bedroom in the left corner, kitchen with the small window, master bedroom we added later on the back...and the half-basement with the walk-out door and once-cute windows boarded up.
Lucky for me, my Sweet Baboo was only five minutes away, at the apartment complex where I'd lived before splurging that $17,000 on a house. Luckier for me, Hick had not yet left for work. He said he'd be right over.
OH MY GOSH! Such a hero! And maybe a little bit of an idiot...
Hick walked down the stairs, his jeans tucked into his steel-toe Wellington work boots, and splashed onto the concrete floor. The water was at least 6 inches deep. Hick squooshed his way across the basement, to the corner of the washer and dryer.
"It's a broken connection on the washer hookup. I'll have to shut off the water. Then I'll set up the sump pump."
Hick took a half day off work to get things going, and I had the pleasure of reporting to work on time. I knew the basement could flood during heavy rain. I'd had a new concrete floor put in, with a gentle slope to a low spot, with a hole for a sump pump. Nothing was down there to get damaged, but my dryer only worked on one setting after than.
I still chide Hick for NOT SHUTTING OFF THE POWER before he stepped into the water! He says he thought about that when he was two steps in. Hopefully, he didn't think I was trying to kill him...
Since that experience, we always turn off the water to the washer after using it. Better safe than sorry. My dark basement lair is safe from flooding. We've never had a water issue in The House That Hick Built.
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This trip to yesteryear was spurred on by blog buddy Kathy's water predicament.
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Not shutting off the power was a bad idea, though if the water was in the electrical system it would have blown a fuse or flipped a circuit breaker and been off anyway...of course a $17000 house could have had a penny for a fuse...then the house would have been on fire.
ReplyDeleteMe, I turn off all power in the house just to change a light bulb. Electricity scares the not-heaven outta me.
You may have had a different Title: Water Lapping, my gums flappin cause Hick was zappin.
Hick had updated my wiring before I moved in. I think it was the old screw-in fuses that he modernized.
DeleteGAS scares the not-heaven out of ME. Hick has wanted an automatic backup generator for years, but I don't want a giant tank of propane sitting by the house. Or as I call it, a BOMB waiting to explode.
I see you are now branching out into the title business! That's a good one!
I am but Grasshopper to your Master Po. (Kung-Fu, I had to Google it)
DeleteFirst the titles, now the TV references! You're on fire!
DeleteI used to love watching Kung Fu and sometimes wondered if I would be any good at wandering the world with nothing more than a satchel. Now, I know I couldn't possibly. I need my TV, my books and laptop, my shower and bed.
DeleteI walked into a flooded kitchen unknowingly one summer evening and reached out an cut on a light switch just as I realized I was in water. It really frightened me as I had three little ones to care for. The washer had not cut off. Since I had to get on the washer and reach way down to cut off the water, we had it fixed. That is scary to walk in water. I am glad he did not die.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that YOU did not die! Not only was that lucky for you, but you FOUND A PENNY this week!
DeleteI feel honored to have spurred such sweet memories!! I just wish I could get mine resolved. I am sick of sweeping water out the back door and mopping endlessly! Reminds me that HeWho was apt to leave the doors off the breaker boxes located in our pump room. I squawked about it and refused to venture through standing water until Kevin finally fixed the matter and scolded HeWho himself. I am feeling lucky to have Kevin still with us. His cancer has spread, but seems to be at a standstill. He recently had blood clots in his legs and lungs. Soon will be one year since his diagnosis and we were told we would be lucky to have him here for 6 months.
ReplyDeleteI wish you could spur them without all the extra work it causes for you!
DeleteOur breaker box is in the walk-in closet of the master bathroom. It has a door, but it's usually left open. So a glance can show me a tripped breaker. It rarely happens, and is usually the one that serves the outlets on the kitchen counter. For some reason, my mixer does it every time. Which shows how often I use the mixer.
It's good to hear that Kevin is hanging in there.
Maybe a stronger fuse would stop the breaker from tripping?
DeleteMaybe...I don't know anything about electricity! But you'd think a kitchen outlet could handle a hand mixer.
DeleteMy kids used to always turn off the water too, because the taps were faulty and dripped rather fast while the washer was running ad for a few minutes after. The taps eventually got "fixed" by whatever secondhand washer was the best looking option in the landlord's boot (trunk) where he always kept a box of stuff from other places he'd "fixed", but eventually his plumber "mate" who does the drains convinced him to get new taps. I used to turn my taps off but now the dryer sits on top of the washer and I can't get to the taps, so I just cross my fingers and hope for the best.
ReplyDeleteYour old house looks like it could have been pretty if someone had taken better care of it. Some people love their homes, others just live in a house.
When Hick did the plumbing for our now-house, he put the water connections in the wall behind the washer, at a height of about 4 feet. So all I have to do is reach over the washer and turn the hot and cold water on or off. Works great!
DeleteRight before we built our now-house, Buddy (of Hick and Buddy's Badly Blacktopped Hill fame) had a washer flood in his less-than-a-year-old house, just up the road from us. The rubber hosing split, I suppose from the pressure of the water in it while the taps were left on. It flooded some carpet in their living room, but they got it all sucked up with a shop-vac thingy. Of course Hick know-it-all-y told Buddy that he should always turn off the taps.
My $17,000 house was cute when we lived there for 8 years. The basement windows and door worked, the roof was new, and we remodeled the kitchen and bathroom, adding a master bedroom on the back.
The basement itself was tiled, black and white checked, like a NASCAR finish flag, and a bedroom built with bunk beds for little HOS (Hick's Oldest Son) and the little future Veteran. They had a couch and chairs and TV and Nintendo system, for weekends and summers when they stayed with us. They called it their apartment.
I also had three lilac bushes, and two rosebushes in the front yard(came with the house, I'm not a gardener!). I was sad to see the shape of THIS OLD HOUSE when we started driving by to get to Hick House/HOS House.
It was love at first lap for you two. Sweet story, but a little soppy.....
ReplyDeleteIt was before I learned that Hick is all wet!
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