A Touch Of Damp

Once again I don't have a lot of pictures for you today. This time it wasn't just laziness. It was laziness in combination with craziness. The craziness started last night when the washing machine wouldn't drain. It was just another in a long list of little things that have gone wrong one after the other for years now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not upset, I'm used to it now. Besides, it not like any of them cost me anything but time and money anyway. I really don't “go without” in any meaningful way for any prolonged period of time. Today for instance I ordered two Solid State Hard drives to replace the drives that have been broken in the past couple of months. Had we been home when Rachel's went bad I would have ordered her a replacement the next day (if not the same day). It's just a matter of not being able to save up because one thing after another has to be replaced. And really a broken hard drive or a washing machine that won't drain are nothing compared to warped heads or a broken rod in your card (both of which I've had to deal with). So, it really wasn't a big deal, it was just one of those “Oh good...” moments life hands you from time to time.


Here I have to point out that I've learned a great deal from my Dad. One of those things is: Don't start working on a washing machine in the middle of the night if you're already tired. So, making use of my education I refused to work on it last night. I told Rachel that it was late and that I was going to watch Murder She Wrote instead. On the other hand she decided that there was “no time like the present” and started trying to fix it. I tried to stop her much like Willy Wanka did Augustus Gloop. That is to say that on my way to watch TV I quietly said “Don't... stop...” as I passed by. Well, she didn't take my dispassionate advice, but instead started pulling off hoses and what not. After a few minutes she gave up and joined me in the watching of the Murder She Wrote.


Had the story ended there all would have been well and good. Sadly it didn't. It picks up again a little over twelve hours later when Libby came to tell me that the floor of the laundry room was wet. Well, I got up to take a look and it seemed that there was a little water on the floor. I figured Rachel had just spilled a bit and hadn't felt like cleaning it up last night. That was odd, but I had work to do and felt that if it had waited all night it would wait a few more hours. After I was back working on e-mails and forums posts (as well as sending off another book submission) I forgot all about it. For her part Rachel got up and started handling her daily affairs having pushed the washing machine off for later in the day. She and her mother took the girls (and baby) out for lunch and it wasn't until she got back that she decided to look into the washing machine issue.


Right after she returned she said something like “Are you going to help me fix the washing machine?” to which I replied with something like “As soon as you clean up that water.”
“What water?” She asked, slightly raising one eyebrow.
“Go take a look.” he answered with a knowing nod.
She turned, silently leaving the room, only to return moments later, a stunned look on her face.
“That's not a little water!” she exclaimed.
“What do you mean?” he asked, turning his attention momentarily from his video game.
“There's like an inch of water on the floor!” she said indignantly.

And so it was... As it turns out it only looked like there was little water on the floor because there's a room beside the utility room with a concrete floor. You see, while it was “filling up” the floor of the utility room stayed relatively dry. So, by the time I actually took a real look there was around forty gallons of water on the floor. That is a guess, but it's a close guess. We had to get a shop vac to clean it up after we realized that trying to dry it up with towels was futile. The shop vac holds eight gallons and we had to empty it three times AFTER we had half filled a giant Rubbermaid storage container. So, seriously, I figure there had to be about forty gallons of water on the floor.


As far as I can tell one of the hoses Rachel had disconnected wasn't quite turned off last night (or it leaked). Either way, while Rachel was gone to get the shop vac me and the boys took a look at the washing machine. We got it hooked up to test while she was vacuuming up gallons of water. I think all that was wrong with it was that the drain hose had been left at an odd angle when I first put it in place and so it filled with water rather than draining properly. The test run went well and the machine drained. So hopefully all the water and cleanup work was over nothing more than a poorly placed drainage hose. The moral of the story is: Don't start working on a washing machine in the middle of the night if you're already tired. I hope everyone reading this will remember that. It can save you a lot of trouble.

Needless to say I'm a little worn down now. That washing machine weighs a great deal and me, Ben and Alec had to move it around, pick it up, and set it down. I started work on this post early so I could wrap up early. I'm actually going to try to catch Dilian online. He and I haven't gotten to talk since we got back. Once that hard drive comes in I should be able to get the Magic Jack up and working again. Then I can call the Bellots.

For now, however, the time has come for me to go. So, goodnight from South Carolina!