Not What I Had Planned

Long story short, tonight was not what I had planned. It was the first nice day in my recent memory and so I decided to take the Vette to the bar for Green Drinks, put on by the Michigan Sustainable Something Something of Something. This is an event whereby I get paid to drink beer and be charming in the hopes of getting business.

It was very crowded and it became clear that the people who were there were not there to do business. I met some people, shook some hands, had a wonderful black and tan and left.

Nice night, thought I. Let's wash the car. After all, I just got a new hose, let's brake that baby in. Almost done washing the car and all is going according to plan when I by chance walk by the hose where it attaches to the spigot. I didn't immediately realize that I shouldn't be able to hear water flowing (since the hose nozzle was closed), but less than a second later the little voice in my head that knows every damn thing said; "Um, excuse me, Mr. Happy-go-lucky... if water is running, and it isn't running outside... should I draw you a picture?"

Shit.

Yep. my laundry room was under water. No panic, I just shut off the water at a valve I had the plumber install so that the spigot wouldn't freeze in the winter. The PEX pipe has a couple small cracks in it, making me think not all the water was evacuated out of the section between the valve and the spigot and it got ice burst. I can probably fix it without too much hassle.

Cleaning up the water is the hassle. I went to the garage and got my shop vac and began sucking. It was only about 45 seconds of sucking and the 6 gallon tank was full. There was a lot more water than I thought.

I dumped said container into my slop sink, not realizing that I had a bunch of grass clippings and shop dirt in there from my work on the lawn equipment last weekend. Now it was mud. I didn't discover this until I had dumped it already.

Now the slop sink was backed up, and our poorly executed drain which is accessed by lifting the bottom step of the basement stair was backed up, too. The carpet all around me was saturated.

So, I fixed both of those situations the only way you can... I got in shoulder deep and started mucking. So far, we have sucking and mucking which coincidentally rhyme with the word that was passing my lips at this time.

That situation fixed, I begin sucking water again which is when the smell kicks in. That would be the smell of my shop vac motor giving up the ghost. I did the rest by hand. There is still a lot of water in the carpet that I couldn't get out, so I go to set up fans. I get two set up and working, but the third is not working.

Up to the attic to get the last fan and back down to the basement where the cats are treating the disaster area like it is Disney.They both come tearing up the stairs as I was coming down with the fan. I did not die, but for a second I really thought I was going to.

Three fans set up and the washer running and I hear more ruckus upstairs. I think the cats. Nope. Neighbor needs my broadcast spreader. OK. I'm all wrapped up here with the flood, so no problem. That's when I realize I never dried the Vette, so it is now all spotted and looks even worse than it did before I washed it.

I needed a win. I decided to mow the front yard and test my overhauled lawnmower. At least that worked as planned, so I felt a little better.

Tomorrow is re-re-re-re caulk the tub day, so I have that going for me. I just wanted to have a relaxing night. Oh well. Can't win them all.