The Imperfect Ending

Thursday, 11:07 pm

By Kate

Nov

22

2007

Just about the time that I was putting the finishing touches on the carrots, this afternoon, it occurred to me that the water filling the washing machine had been running rather a long time. I got about half way down the basement stairs and I knew there was trouble. That gushing sound wasn’t at all what I should have been hearing.

Water was gushing up from behind the washing machine like a geyser and it reached nearly to the ceiling and poured down the walls. I tried to turn the water off by the washer, but the little lever was stuck and with water pouring down on me, I really didn’t want to make a project of it. So I turned the water off to the whole house. And then crawled up on top of the washer and put a little elbow grease into pushing the water lever off. It finally budged and turned off. Mental note: Apply some WD-40. I looked down behind the washer and saw that one of the water hoses connected to the back had split wide open. It looked as if it had exploded. It shouldn’t be too difficult to find a replacement for it.

So...I surveyed the damages and found a fairly significant pool of water surrounding the furnace and the hot water heater. Another half inch and it would have drowned my hot water heater. Many boxes were completely soaked as well as a pile of laundry on the floor. That I was able to run through the spin cycle on the washer to wring out the excess. And I tossed it in the dryer.

I tried to pry the cover off the floor drain and it wouldn’t budge. Naturally. I got out a large wrench and tried to twist if off, but the wrench kept slipping and then the handles snapped closed with my thumb between them. I was kind of surprised to see a rather generous amount of blood running down my hand.

It looked worse than it was. After I mopped it up, washed it in soap and water and soaked it in alcohol, it was pretty clear that the damages to me were fairly insignificant. The wrench pinched my thumb hard enough to make me see stars, but only managed to extract a teeny tiny piece of skin. A nice clean, round little hole, not much larger than the head of a pin. Funny how it bled so much. It stopped bleeding quickly, but I got to thinking that maybe I ought to get a tetanus shot. The wrench was kind of rusty in spots and where it was swishing around in water, the rust sort of dribbled down the handles and my hands were covered in it.

One of the lads across the street, meantime, had located a HUGE wrench and got the basement’s floor drain cover off. The water drained away nicely with a satisfying gurgle. As for the rest, I figured it could wait until after dinner. It surely wasn’t going to go anywhere while I was away.

I thought, at the least, I’d take a shower to make myself a little more presentable, being somewhat soggy and wilted by that time. But, no, there wasn’t a drop of hot water left. The geyser had apparently been from the hot water hose. Doesn’t that just figure. With my apologies, I showed up for dinner with my carrots, pie, and banana bread....and clean clothes and a few smudges around the edges with a baseball cap pulled over my mess of damp hair. That’s the nice thing about good friends. They can overlook the fact that you look like you just crawled out of the sewer.

Dinner was quite lovely. It was over within forty-five minutes. Isn’t it amazing how quickly we can demolish a meal that takes hours to prepare? But the boys did the dishes. That was way cool! Everyone felt the effects of too much food—there were a few glazed eyes and deep yawns. There wasn’t going to be a Scrabble tournament tonight, so I reluctantly took my leave to start cleaning out the basement before the mildew got a toehold. Yuck, what a lousy way to end a Thanksgiving.

While I was hauling soggy stuff out to the curb, my thumb started aching a bit and I also started thinking maybe I ought not wait until tomorrow to see about a tetanus shot. The more I thought about it, the more convinced I was that I should go up to the emergency room to have it looked at.

The emergency room was empty. Totally. The triage nurse on duty wondered if she could help me. I explained my situation and said I was mostly seeking advice. She looked at my thumb and and whipped out her magnifying glass.  I think that was a clue.

Well, I guess there wasn’t a burning need for a tetanus shot after all. Mostly what I’d managed to do was bruise the heck out of my thumb. The tiny wound itself was almost healed and very clean. And it didn’t cost me a dime to feel like a big baby. My dignity wasn’t even really wounded. So, all’s well there, I guess. Could have been worse.

Back home, I continued hauling soggy stuff to the curb. I’m most of the way finished, I think. With a couple of fans blowing and the dehumidifier going at full tilt, I might be able to forestall the mildew until I get the rest cleared out tomorrow.

I think I chose a pretty good week to call a moratorium on the 90 percent project. I blew through at least 40 gallons of water today...the gallons that ended up on the floor. And the fans and dehumidifier and dryer aren’t exactly electricity sippers. My electric meter is spinning madly. Sigh....

At least my basement is a lot cleaner that it was a few hours ago. That’s one potential silver lining. It’s pretty clear that I’m not going to be doing any laundry for a little while, though. I don’t know what I’m going to put on the lad’s bed if I can’t wash his sheets. And, no, I don’t think I’m going to have the time to wash them in the bathtub. Of all the miserable times for the washer to spring a leak! Although that is probably the least of my concerns right now. I need to get that basement dry sooner rather than later.

Well, that’s been my exciting Thanksgiving. And it started out so well, too. How was yours?