Stormy Start to the Day

I was woken this morning by a storm.  Alot of lightening and some thunder that lasted about 10-15minutes.  I thought nothing of it and got the kids organized.

When we stay in the hotel, the routine is get out by 7.15, drop by Chick-Fil-A for breakfast and head down to school. We got out ok but the first set of lights were out - not a good sign.  ALL the fast food places were shut due to power being out.  Emergency lights lite up the major intersection were two clowns in a hurry had collided, and traffic was heavy.  We headed up to the house to get a poptart for breakfast and feed the cats. 

It was now 7.35 and we need to be heading back to school.  Plan one was foiled - the normal road was blocked off by the police.  We struggled along the main road which was by now a parking lot, and down the main road.  We finally arrived at school by 8.20!

The problem was trees down in the storm, traffic lights out at most intersections, some lights were rotated so that my left turn arrow was turned to the left or right and couldn’t be seen; and we frequently came across blocked left or right lanes that had limbs or firetrucks in them.  In essense - it was a real pain getting round town.

I phoned the septic guy to get him pinned down to a time only to find that he couldn’t make it until late afternoon.  Knowing that the main problem was problably not a septic one but rather a plumbing one, I decided another night in the hotel was likely.

Got the youngest to school just a few minutes late to find that the school had no power and he had the day off.   So we both went down to the Barrington to see what damage had occurred there - all  the trees were still upright, which was great.

 The septic guy called at 2.50 to say he was 10 minutes away. What a rotten time - that was just as I was about to leave to pick up from school.  I delay a few minutes to get him started.  At 3.10 he phoned again - he was lost and had the wrong address.  I phoned the eldest to do the school run for me.  The septic guy finally arrived at 4pm and starts his stuff. 

Around 2 pm that afternoon I had a phone call.  The Christmas tree recycling program lets you get free mulch in return. I had sent off the form.  Yesterday they chose to be in the area and wanted to deliver the mulch.  They arrived at 4.30 to find that the septic guy was parked right where I wanted to pile the 20 yards of mulch.  Quickly worked on plan b for dumping mulch.

So the septic guy finishes and establishes that most of the house is useable but the kitchen area is still blocked.  The plumber is booked, again, for the problem that I told him about on Sunday. He should be here this morning. 

I wonder what today will bring!

I spoke too soon!

OK the carpet did arrive and was installed, followed by the guy who finished off the painting and touched up some small areas damaged when the carpet was laid.

The carpet went down Saturday, my brother-in-law plus wife arrived on Wednesday for a few days.  We installed eldest, who was using the spare room, back into his room in the basement just in time for the guests. They stayed longer than two days - they were here until last Saturday - a total of 10 days altogether.  They were no trouble, but on top of chaos, it just gave one day to get things sorted before yet another Monday.

I broke my rule of not doing laundry on Sunday to get some of the backlog sorted. Got dinner started and began to attack the ironing pile.  That is when I saw a little puddle on the floor. On closer inspection I saw several puddles, all parallel to the counter.

Darn, I thought, the dishwasher is leaking, or maybe the fridge.  Alas as my eye travelled right I ntoiced the old, little bathroom.  This thing is totally against code and common decency. When the people before remodelled they left the small bathroom by the back door.  The door to the room opens right onto the kitchen and with very little effort one can sit on the throne and reach for a beer!  Hence I shut the water off and declared it unusable!

I tentatively opened the door to the offending little room.  I gingerly approached the lid and opened it - YUUUUUUUK!  No further description needed here.

One quick call to the plumber indicated that we could not flush, shower or otherwise use anything that would put waste water, or any other sort into the system. 

We are English.  We continued to complete dinner, and served it in the dining room as per norm.  Dishes were stacked in the dishwasher and kids dispensed to bed.Even the countertops were wiped with disposable cloths.

This morning was a rather less decorous affair.  Minimal water for teeth etc and no major bathroom privileges was rather tiresome. Kids went to school, I went off to the garden and the husband, in town for at least one calamity, stayed to meet the plumber.  Within half an hour he phoned a hotel - it was the septic tank and that couldn’t be dealt with until tomorrow. 

So kids and I are back in the local hotel and the husband is south of the town at a meeting for the rest of the week!

Tomorrow I get to find out if the septic was the only problem or if we have a blocked pipe too.  If the pipe is blocked, I doubtless have to call the plumber back to clear it and that could be another night in the hotel. 

The carpet finally arrives

Well it was way back in November when the leak in the basement happened.  The good news I suppose is that the vermin seem to have taken a vacation over the winter. Not sure if that is the exterminators, the lack of a water source now, or the fact the we have 2 kitties.

Well, today the new carpet arrived.  We had a few hiccups on that along the way.  First the guy that measured for the carpet, came up with a different number to the insurance adjuster. So we had to revisit that.

Then the carpet that we were shown that was supposed to be the same quality, was rejected by the insurance company.  They argued the point and we got the right carpet.

The carpet was estimated to be installed before Christmas.  It was not in stock that was rescheduled.  The first run was too narrow.  That was another delay.

Finally the carpet was delivered to the stockroom.  Now they could schedule delivery. 

Tuesday or Friday, I said. OK, they said, how about Saturday.  I agreed to have the weekend messed up and set the appointment for then.  A truck arrived on Friday to glue the carpet, which was not there, down.  I explain the problem.  They call the office and decide to revisit today - about 9.30.  At 11 this morning I called to see if they had been another delay, but of course the office was closed.

They did arrive about noon, or just before.  They finally went at 8 this evening.

The good news is that the carpet looks great.  The whole place looks uncluttered and clean.

I went to Home depot during the day to pick up some shelving stuff so that we can do that before putting everything back into the room.  Hopefully it will help the balancing act that occurred when too many things get stuffed into on room.  It is easy to lob something in and shut the door.

Tomorrow we refill the room with ’stuff’.  Some has been recycled to the bin or the Goodwill shop, but there is still alot of ’stuff’ to put in there.

Shopping for 9th Grade

This past two/three weeks have been a trail of visiting one school after another trying to figure out where to put current 8th grader next year.  We have so many options and so many good schools that I suppose we are spoilt for choice.  Even the public schools are not bad.  The down side with the public is the size - the local one currently has 2400 students and is bursting at the seams.

So I narrowed the choice to three and visited all three.  Each had definite advantages and each had one or two slight disadvantages.

First was a Catholic HS - great people, superb academics (these guys take 28 - 30 credits to graduate), and they are less than 10 minutes away. Down side - its a covenant school.  We moved here 18 months ago, and although I am Christian, I am not totally comfortable with the local church and the cathedral is great but too far. The other one is nice but I am hopeless at getting there at 8am.  So to enter this lovely school I have to get a pastor to sign that I belong.  I didn’t quite make it to that point yet!! One part of me wanted to go and explain, the other part wanted to forget the idea.This one was also the cheapest tuition wise.

School 2 was great.  Not a  school covenant school but Christian and that was fine.  The school though is nearer 25 minutes or more in rush hour traffic.  It also takes the kids traipsing across the globe on missionary work which I am rather dubious about. The other advantage though was that it may be able to take child number 4 as well - having two kids in the same school would be great, because there is no school busing in Ga for private schools.

Both 1 and 2 need ssat before the admissions package is complete and they do not give the final verdict until April 5th.

School number 3 is the high school for the school that kiddo is already in.  The academics are not as hot as the Catholic one, but they are very good.  Downside to this one is that we have to accept or decline by the end of February to get a place and get a $2000 ‘incentive’ , and it is the most expensive (though not by much).  This was the only one that I was able to drag the husband to - took a major guilt trip to get him there and take an interest in his child’s education!

Finally this morning after many heated/ very heated discussions on why we were not going to the local school, he finally signed on the dotted line and we are through this argument for another few years (I hope). We elected finally to stay where he is, as he has only been there two years (we move around alot), and we are now free to concentrate on child number 4. 

Finding the right school is a mix of location, curriculum and finance.  There is probably not a perfect school anywhere, so we just make the best choice we can for the kids.

Kitties have a visitor

kittiesvisitor.jpgLast fall we took over two kittens from a friend who realised that they needed more company than she could give them.  One is orange and called Pumpkin, his sister is a dark tabby and looks like the one in Harry Potter so she is called Maggie (after Prof. Mc Gonagall).

Just before the holidays we had a visitor show up outside the dining room window.  None of them could really make heads not tail fo the event!

The end of the drama, I think

Last week  I came home from a meeting and smelt something weird.  Gas I thought.  I checked the burners and put the fan on plus opened the door.  4 hours later it was even stronger!  I chose to call the gas company.  Now it seems to me that a gas leak is quite urgent.  The gas company does not deal with leaks, instead it would rather give a 1-800 number - like you have a pen handy, to call and report leaks.

Half a dozen options later I get to a real person to report a possible gas leak to, who promptly goes into overdrive with questions.  Is there a school, daycare of hospital nearby?  ‘nope’.  Get out of the house, she says and we will send someone round in half an hour.

The guy arrives and determines the smell is not gas ……but there is a leak anyway under the range.  Tough leak to fix apparently and needs a plumber. So he calmly turns the gas off and I am without heating and hotwater on one of the coldest nights of the year.  OK not cold by northern standards, but nippy on the southern benchmark. Not quite cold enough for a hotel either.

Theplumber came the following morning to fix the tiny leak for a large sum and wandered off.

 Yesterday I backflushed the pool and on resetting the filter, the top of the pump flew off, which started to empty the pool into the basement.  I waded through to turn the main switch off

 So today things are looking up.  The basement guys came to fix the wall, and they will be back to finish and paint in a day or two.  The pool guy is arriving tomorrow. 

So, things come in threes, and the pool made the three - one sewer, one gas and one pool. 

So yes, things are looking up for a while, anyway.

The week is over

So we got back into the house on Wednesday and the worst of the mess is now over. Rcovery is still in the works but will take several weeks before that can be done. We were able to put protection over the holes so that any rodents do not come into the house. The cats are back down there tonight. Life is slowly getting back to normal.

Also got the plants outside again. They were cluttering up the hallway when we had two nights of slight frost, and now can be back outside, which is better for them, for at least a week or so,

The Puddle Turns into a Waterfall

The plumber came this morning to look at the slight leak that had made an appearance on the carpet in the basement. His first job was to get me to sign paper saying that finding the leak could be as much as $250. Knowing the house as we do, this was not a problem. He also called their sister company who does restoration - ie clears the rooms so that they can do what they need to do, and cleanses/dries the carpet etc etc.. The leak was established to be about 10 feet left of the hallway - ie right at the far end of the junk room where two kids have offloaded their entire dormrooms until they get a place of their own.

The room was floor to ceiling stuffed with ’stuff’. Restoration took the ’stuff’ out so that plumber could find the leak. Three holes later it was established that the waterfall was indeed along a pipe. A pipe in the ceiling of the basement under the crawl space where there was no access courtesy the halfwit that finished the basement, and sold us the house.

In the process of unearthing the waterfall, plumber found some rats, so I called the people who have been unsuccessfully treating us for rats over the past 14 months. Three rats were dead, one disappeared though, so it is assumed that this one must have been bright enough to play dead until the light was taken away.

With half the wall down and some of the ceiling, the price tag was going up. Every 30 minutes or so the cry for ‘Ma’m” came out from the house and another problem had been uncovered and another price to clear had to be established.

The culprit was, it seems, was a rat, or maybe more than one, had found their merry way into the basement and taken a liking to the sewer pipe. So much so, that they had nibbled all they way through a cast iron sewer pipe and thus had caused a ‘bit of a problem’ for everyone.

So now I had three companies in the basement: the plumber, the restoration guys and the pest control guy (who heard the name over the intercom and didn’t need the address because he has been here so often). They all look at the damage and ‘humph’ and ‘hah’ about how nasty these little critters can be, and compare grissly stories about the ‘big one’ that Mrs so and so had.

The restoration company placed megga fans that could fly a jet engine into the basement and indicate that no sane creature will dare to enter with that noise going on, and depart. I think, or even hope, that they have tripped a circuit breaker because half the electrical sockets, including my computer one, are now dead as a doornail. They will return in a day or two to check on drying out problems and hopefully find the electrical glitz at the same time. The pest control guy, picked up dead carcasses and went off sighing that we still had problems - you think???. Plumber guy though realises that the pipe needs to be replaced and he was too broad across the belly to fit into the hole. Backup skinny plumber-guys are rare and the first one available cannot come until Wednesday - they really need to get more skinny plumbers I think.

By now I had called the insurance - this was way beyond a little leaky pipe. The good news is that they cover the damage; the bad news is that they do not cover the plumber, because sewer pipes are ‘maintenance’ and rodent damage is expressly excluded (note to self that we need to get they changed). So by now we are $1000 in deductable, and $3000 in plumber fees. All because of a rat problem that cannot be solved.

So at 2.30 everyone departed, leaving me and youngest to figure out how to deal with two kittens, numerous unknown rats who may or may not enter the basement because the wall had now been opened - we packed bags and booked into a hotel. Husband did finally call after an email, and phone message saying ‘you had better call and get an update on they day’. Did I mention he was in Paris???? I really hope it is is cold and rainy!

So here I am in the hotel keeping up with the blogs, and I am probably going to order another beer before long, so that I can relax.

Tomorrow is election day,- that should be not-fun. We, ie me and one other, real reporter person are suppose to cover 22 poling stations and get updates and attend winning party celebrations, so that the paper can get up to the minute updates on what he results are. Does that sound like lots of non-fun or what? I had planned on helping until 9,30 in the evening, but with being in a hotel, that will be nearer 8pm - i am not going to leave two kids (12 and 14) in hotel room alone.

I do hope that life settles down soon, and then I wil really be stretched to figure out what in the world to write in a blog in November.

The ongoing Puddle Problem

Well plumber number one did not return the phone calls, so I let my fingers do the proverbial walking to the yellow pages and found a nice big ad for plumbers. Very nice lady answered the phone -I do like people answering phones, not machines, when you have a problem. After just a few minutes she had secured a truck to come round late afternoon. At 5.15 he phoned to say he was on the way and would be 40 minutes. That was time to run to fast food place for nuggets and burgers for the charmers (kids).

Large truck arrives with guy to mend problem. He looked down the septic tank and thought we had a root blocking it. Funny thinks I, there isn’t a tree for 20 feet or more. He gets a light and decides that there is no root there (phew). So I flush all the toilets in the house and they obediently all enter the system on schedule.

So… the good news it is not a backed up septic system.
But to see what is causing the problem, they need to get behind the wall. This can be done with a light thing, which the gentleman in the truck didn’t have. Seems he was the guy to sort out the blogged up outside problems. A leaking thingy inside is a different sort of plumber. He called to schedule one for Sunday morning, or if they get a cancellation they will arrive this today.

We can shower but I cannot use the dishwasher or washing machine. I had planned to go shopping today anyway to get jeans and clothes, so instead of washing I will just buy a few extras!

After the plumber left I decided that the kids were old enough for me to leave them while I nip for an hour at the pub with some folks from work. I needed to get milk, fruit juice and cat food anyway, so a beer was kinda along the way. We spent an hour whining about work, objectionable editors etc, - nothing special but it was a much needed time-out from the drama of the basement being smelly, unsolved and unusuable. After shopping today I may have to face the fact that some of the things in the basement need to be moved so that we can see what has got wet and what is safe. I think I will stick to the shopping bit!

The puddle gets bigger

We have a pipe or something leaking down the basement wall - what fun.  Had to call the plumber who has not called back yet.  The puddle on the floor in the basement has grown and is now smelling.  I hope it is the chemicals in the carpet rather than contamination.  We relocated the bomerang kid (25, post college, who has a room in the basement) to the main floor spare room.  Husband seems to think that this is my fault somehow, but things like this always happen when he is away! 

The animal control folks are coming tomorrow to replace some traps so that we avoid last year’s problem of rodents in the kitchen after five months of pest control telling us that they had cleared the problem.

There are days when I think we bought a dud of a house.  It looked decent but everything that they touched to update or change was done on the cheap and is now showing as a disaster.  I wonder if the insurance will cover this, after claiming for a the cars.  Kiddo #2 reversed one car, the SUV, into the car, a Mustang, the night before he went to Europe for a year.  Fortunately the husband was away and we got the cars fixed before he returned!  The lady at the repair shop seemed to think that wives trying to get things repaired while husbands were out of town was quite common.  it seems we all want just a quiet life sometimes.