Thursday, October 22, 2009

when it rains, it pours...

and pours and pours and pours... 

So, first came the discovery that the clothes dryer (a nearly 3-yr old LG stacked model) wasn't actually drying the clothes anymore. That happened while Pat was over, so, of course, she wasn't able to dry her clothes while she was here for a week and a half. Sean and Kyle tried to do their laundry (such nice young men) and discovered their clothes was coming out of the dryer in the same wet condition that it had gone in. Hmmm... a bit of trouble-shooting on my part, and I realized that it wasn't the breaker, but something wrong with the dryer. It tumbled, but didn't dry. Either the heating element or the thermostat. Turns out it's the thermostat. Of course, the "professional" didn't show up for nearly a week and a half and now it's going to take at least that long to get the damn part sent in from the mainland, and then (of course there's another "then") we'll have to wait until the guy can come out again, waht with them being busy and booked up and all.

Then came the windows leaking like a sieve during the horrible fall flurries of rain blowing in from the ocean which necessitated the use of many many towels to mop up the incoming water. The towels have been washed a few times since then, but damn...  I STILL hate crispy towels.

Then, no doubt just for shitzandgiggles, Paul went into the crawlspace to check out the leak that the boys first mentioned several months ago. Why? Really? Probably because he wondered if the furious rains had caused any trouble. Well, a plumbing leak was suspected, but the professionals (see other posting) have ruled that out. It did involved some fun and games in the bathroom. Imagine this scenario:

Mutt, while standing in the main bathroom: I hear water running!
Bubba, standing in the main bathroom: Me too!!!

Water merrily gurgling outside the window from the raging stream and waterfall below: GURGLE, GURGLE, SPLASH, ROAR...

Mutt, while standing in the bathtub with ear pressed against the wall: I think it's louder when I'm here!
Bubba, standing next to the doorway of the bathroom: Uh-yup! Me too!

Chris, opening window to bathroom: I think it's coming from the stream, boys.

Mutt: No, it might be the air exchanger! You got an air exchanger?!
Chris: Yep. Two of them. You want I should turn them off so you can confirm it's the stream making the sound of running water?
Bubba, perhaps sensing a glimmer of sarcasm in my voice: No, that shouldn't be necessary.
Mutt: No no! You should go make sure nobody's running the shower!
Chris: Um... okay... I'll be right back.

Chris returns from the basement with the news that nobody is in the shower and finds Mutt and Bubba standing outside the main bathroom with their ears pressed on the walls on either side of the doorway.

Mutt: I STILL hear water running! Man! This must be a big leak!
Bubba: Yeah... me too!

*note to audience* While there is a shower on the one side of the bathroom door, it was not in use at the time and there are no plumbing pipes on the other side of the doorway where Bubba was "listening."

Mutt: I'm going to make a professional call on this and say it's probably the stream making that noise.
Chris, inaudibly:  Wow... I should go to plumbing school. How much is this going to cost us?! (btw, it was just over $300.oo)

The professionals, in their infinite wisdom, have decided that it's ground water seeping into the house (no weeping tiles because this is, after all, a Frankenjudy House), and that short of installing weeping tiles (an impossibility due to the stupid location of our house on the berm of fill), we should dig a flippin' hole in the ground under the house and put in a sump pump. Oh joy... But hey! They don't do any digging.

Gotta drive Sean in to work now, and then pop in to Gerri's house to use her clothes dryer. Thank goodness for good friends!

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Wake up call
Sunrise over Torbay