A day in the life

Some background.

Our basement flooded Friday night. The sewer backed up, so not rainwater flooding. The other kind of flooding.

Saturday Jake got it scrubbed clean and all seemed well. We signed up at a u-rent-it for the next drill auger to come in. My dad knows the owner. He said he'd call. We stayed at a hotel on Jake's diamond plus laser cut points or whatever. Sunday was fine, just waiting, the house smelled like bleach solution and everything was fine.

Then it rained. The laundry room started to fill up again. We went to my parents' house. I did not sleep, for the second night in a row.

Today dawned early, clear and pretty. Speech was canceled. Jake took the day off to deal with the mess in the basement. I took girls to school and then went home, held my nose, and made lunches for them. Went to school.

Right now school continues to befuddle me. But I'll try to say more about that later. I delivered lunches and went back to my parents' to do laundry. Laundry done, Jake showed up and explained what would happen. He went by the u-rent-it place and the owner dissuaded him. Seems that the last guy to use it broke a finger trying to do the very same job (snake our lateral sewer line). Plus there was no way to know if it was a collapsed line or a problem within the house or the yard or whatever. No rain until Thursday in the schedule...he recommended a plumber, another guy my dad knows.

I went to the chiropractor, who was pleased with my progress. I've been very very careful.

Coming home, I found Jake and the plumber and assistant chatting in the basement. All but done, Jake said. I went up and looked at facebook a moment, checked email. Then Jake came back in with a sigh. Billy had dropped a brick down the outside drain, a ten foot vertical drop. This definitely was a new block in the lateral line. He and the plumbers formed some rudimentary tools and went at it. I went back to my parents' house.

I went to a meeting at school that went smoothly. I never understand what is going to happen when I walk into that building. Sometimes I feel like we're all getting bent over the table and other times it seems like we're listened to. But today went ok. I think. At least for me. Politics make strange bedfellows. The school should carve that above the doors as you enter. The place is so endearing and so infuriating. I guess that's love for you.

Came home to the sweet smell of bleach solution. Problem solved. Everything was fine. Fine enough, at least. And in the process, Jake fixed the tub supply line and fixtures so that you no longer have to turn the hot water on and off at the floor. The faucet turns it off now. Fancy.

Cleaning up the kitchen, letting the girls stay up to watch an episode of something (young new just league of heroes I think sums it up). I went back upstairs, looked at facebook.

And saw this:

And realized it was Hickory. Our 16 year old black cat, the comrade of the recently deceased Bleys, who has been declining in health and is due to go to the vet because there's been some vomit and I worry that we're headed the same way, so quickly, that Bleys went last fall.

There she was. Staring at me on facebook. I called the neighbor, who runs a cat rescue organization. They told me to come on over. Which I did, and there she was.

Must have escaped during the plumbing snafus. Or maybe when Billy wandered onto the driveway in the alley, thinking about riding his bike, and was corralled quickly by Jake. Who knows. But I just figured she was hiding in the house sometimes--she sleeps a lot and doesn't like strangers--and then there she was.

Whew.

Tomorrow I may find out about a job. Tomorrow I hope to talk to Samson about apartheid (yes, that was in code). Tomorrow Kadir is coming. Tomorrow I go to the grocery store and do all this laundry and rescue my baby beets that are plastered to the ground from the rain. Tomorrow I plan for art class. Tomorrow I take a bath in my newly refurbished 6 foot clawfoot tub. Tomorrow will be a good day. Good night to today.