After picking up our one car and dropping of our other I spent a day at home with no place to go and no way to get there. It's nice to have days like that sometimes, especially rainy ones where you can just stay inside and do what you need to do. This was Wednesday and it had been raining since Sunday. It turns out the remnant of Tropical Storm Lee was happy to settle his huge self over our region for quite a while and dump a whole lot of rain on us. All in all, Wednesday was a good day. I was starting to feel like things were getting caught up around my house. I was doing laundry, cleaning, etc.
But, I needed groceries. So, my plan was to get all my housework done so Thursday I could run all my errands, namely getting groceries.
Well, Thursday morning comes. The rain is ridiculous. Roads are just covered in water. We were up early because Dan picks up Barbara and takes her to work and the kids have to be ready to go by the time he is ready to go since we only have one car and I was riding with them today.
I dropped them off and came home because I figured I would wait out the rain so I, and my groceries, weren't full of water by the time I got home.
Well, I was waiting and waiting, and the rain was pouring and pouring. At 10 a.m. Dan calls me and tells me I need to get to the school to pick up the kids before they close the bridges and we can't get home.
WHAT?! Oh my. The river was rising so high and small creeks were flooding roads. I tried to take the back roads to avoid crossing the river, but the road was flooded out. I drove through one of the areas, and then promptly swore I would not drive back through that spot since it felt like there was a big hole forming in the road under the water. But, when I drove farther down the road there was another spot that was just completely flooded that looked like a pond. There was NO way I was getting through it.
I turned around and took a dirt road to avoid the flooded spot I had just driven through and headed out to the main highway. It turned out the southbound lanes on the highway were closed because the road was flooded out. It was craziness. Yards were flooding out into the roads, but I made it over the river on the way to the school. The bridge was still open, but just past the bridge the road was covered in water and we had to take turns crossing in on the lower side of the flooded area. I was shaking by the time I got to the school. It was so nerve-wracking.
I stayed at the school for a bit trying to figure out the best way to get home and found out what back roads were closed at that point. I didn't want to have to cross the bridge again and I didn't want to sit in traffic so I was hoping I could find a back way to Leesport.
I did, and I was grateful. Meanwhile, Dan stayed at the school to make sure the remaining students and teachers got home okay.
The kids and I are settling in at home, eating lunch, etc. I told Madelyn she could watch a movie and when she went downstairs she saw water all over our basement.
When I say all over. I mean ALL OVER. The kitty litter boxes were literally floating in our storage room At that point we had 3 inches of water on the floor and I found out later it was continuing to rise. Our basement NEVER got wet before.
I called Dan and he said he had the same thing going on at the school. He said there were springs of water coming up from cracks in the floor in the cafeteria. The poor guy. We found out our neighbors had 3 feet of water in their basement along with some other neighbors too. So sad.
I didn't want to get electrocuted by walking in the water so I went ahead and cleaned up the kitchen, showered, got online and waited for Dan to get home.
The first thing he did was climb across the furniture to get to the breaker box to turn off the power. Smart man. The second thing he did was pick up what he thought was an empty bag of cat food floating around and half a bag of cat food fell out into the water. Up until that point the water was fairly clean. It kind of makes me laugh even now as we continue to clean things up and I find a mushy piece of cat food on something. It's amazing where all those little pieces ended up.
Make a note of this. Firemen pump water out of basements. Amazing! I was so happy when I saw them pull up next door. They pumped out as much water as they could. Packed up their stuff, left, and the water promptly started filling up our basement again. AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Our sump pump just stopped working.
Then the Lord sent an angel. A parent from the school got word that we needed a new pump. He got here around 8:30 pm, helped Dan replace the pump, and even stayed to help him mop the water over to the pump. So kind and generous and kind and even more kind. He was here until almost midnight even though he had to work the next day. He saved us so much trouble that night.
The one store that still had pumps was already closed for the night so our basement would have been filling up all night long until we would have been able to buy a new pump. Ugh. It could have been so much worse. The sump pump was working all night long pumping the water out that kept trying to get in.
It's so strange to go downstairs and see NOTHING in our basement. No couches, no chairs, no tv, etc. The paint on the floor is all chipped up now. Our washer and dryer seem to be working though. That's a praise. Our surge protector is all warped and funky looking, but our tv seems to be okay. And, I was super glad I had had Wednesday to get caught up on stuff. Our basement could have been so much worse had I not been caught up on laundry, or had I not just cleaned it all up for a get together I had the Friday before.
So, little by little we are getting things figured out. We have a contractor coming Monday and we are waiting to hear from the ins. adjuster. Oh, and we are supposed to get more rain tomorrow. Yippee.
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Monday, September 12, 2011
I Try
I try to not be a complainer. I really do, but I'm sorry. I've had a long weekend ...
I went to bed last night around midnight only to be awakened by Daisy needing to go out. Fine. I know if she wakes me up she REALLY needs to go. I let her out, lie down on the couch and wait. And wait. I look out and she is crossing the street on the OTHER side of the road! Somehow her collar got loose and off she goes.
Now, Daisy always comes home. That's not what bothers me. What bothers me is 1) it was around 1 a.m. and 2) she ALWAYS ends up rolling in some sort of stinkiness when she gets loose. I was hopeful that maybe she wouldn't this time since it had just poured buckets of rain on us, but she did. I was not going to give her a bath at 1 a.m. so I rubbed down the stinky area with a really soapy cloth and called it a night. I figured if she was too stinky she was going to sleep in a bathroom.
Then I have Samson who has been acting weird for days now. I have not been able to figure out his deal. Yesterday I kept tripping over him. When he wants something he gets under your feet, meows relentlessly, etc. But, I kept making sure they had food, the kitty litter was fine, etc.
I found that he peed on the bathroom rug yesterday so I was starting to think he was sick. In the night he woke us up meowing and meowing in our faces. I locked him out of the bedroom. Then when I woke up this morning I found he had pooed on the rug in the living room. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Finally. It occurred to me. The cat is afraid to go in the basement. We have fans running and our dehumidifier going and he is completely freaked out. I carried him down there to show him his food, etc. He freaked out and ran back up the steps.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Also, last night before bed when I opened the basement door to make sure the cats had food so Samson wouldn't be meowing I heard the basement window fall out and break. Lovely. And, when I got up in the night to lock Samson out I stepped in a wet spot on the carpet where Simon threw up.
I know what you are thinking right now. You wish you were me right?
I know I shouldn't have said this this morning with Elijah there, but I made the comment that I am ready to get rid of ALL of the animals. Of course he got concerned and asked why for each one. While I had a reasonable explanation for each one I assured him I was not going to get rid of the cats. Now I can only imagine what his prayer request is going to be this morning in school. His teacher told me that one day he prayed that Simon would not die. Sweet boy.
Now Samson is sitting at the top of the basement stairs trying to muster up the courage to head down. Oy.
I think I am done complaining now. I told you I "try" to not complain, but I do feel better already just getting this off my chest.
I went to bed last night around midnight only to be awakened by Daisy needing to go out. Fine. I know if she wakes me up she REALLY needs to go. I let her out, lie down on the couch and wait. And wait. I look out and she is crossing the street on the OTHER side of the road! Somehow her collar got loose and off she goes.
Now, Daisy always comes home. That's not what bothers me. What bothers me is 1) it was around 1 a.m. and 2) she ALWAYS ends up rolling in some sort of stinkiness when she gets loose. I was hopeful that maybe she wouldn't this time since it had just poured buckets of rain on us, but she did. I was not going to give her a bath at 1 a.m. so I rubbed down the stinky area with a really soapy cloth and called it a night. I figured if she was too stinky she was going to sleep in a bathroom.
Then I have Samson who has been acting weird for days now. I have not been able to figure out his deal. Yesterday I kept tripping over him. When he wants something he gets under your feet, meows relentlessly, etc. But, I kept making sure they had food, the kitty litter was fine, etc.
I found that he peed on the bathroom rug yesterday so I was starting to think he was sick. In the night he woke us up meowing and meowing in our faces. I locked him out of the bedroom. Then when I woke up this morning I found he had pooed on the rug in the living room. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Finally. It occurred to me. The cat is afraid to go in the basement. We have fans running and our dehumidifier going and he is completely freaked out. I carried him down there to show him his food, etc. He freaked out and ran back up the steps.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Also, last night before bed when I opened the basement door to make sure the cats had food so Samson wouldn't be meowing I heard the basement window fall out and break. Lovely. And, when I got up in the night to lock Samson out I stepped in a wet spot on the carpet where Simon threw up.
I know what you are thinking right now. You wish you were me right?
I know I shouldn't have said this this morning with Elijah there, but I made the comment that I am ready to get rid of ALL of the animals. Of course he got concerned and asked why for each one. While I had a reasonable explanation for each one I assured him I was not going to get rid of the cats. Now I can only imagine what his prayer request is going to be this morning in school. His teacher told me that one day he prayed that Simon would not die. Sweet boy.
Now Samson is sitting at the top of the basement stairs trying to muster up the courage to head down. Oy.
I think I am done complaining now. I told you I "try" to not complain, but I do feel better already just getting this off my chest.
Cars ... Ugh
So, the last post about Irene, and the funeral, and the lawyer deal was all leading into Labor Day weekend. That was a looooonnnnnngggggg weekend because we thought we were going to hear back from the lawyer before the weekend, but didn't so we fretted all weekend about what that might mean. Well, it turns out we didn't hear back simply because she was never able to touch base with the other lawyer. I still don't know if they ever connected. Now I see why these things take so long to settle.
So, things were a little stressful. But, it was a new week, a new day, and God's mercies are new each day right?
Well, Tuesday morning Dan had a breakfast so since our cars both had issues at the time he took the one with the least amount of issues. He had farther to go. I just had to get the kids to school and home again. No big deal right?
I made it to school fine. No noises, nothing. Just a little ways down the road on my way home the car starts to over heat. I took the back roads home since I would then be able to pull over next to a corn field rather than a busy highway. I called Dan to let him know and then I waited. I was hoping the car would just cool off and I could just get home.
Nope. I had to pull over again. It turns out ALL the coolant had leaked out of the car. Dan had just filled it up the Friday before. Dan came with another bottle of coolant and 2 minutes down the road it overheats again. That was some leakage going on. At this point we were just trying to make it to the car place that was 5 minutes away. Five minutes can seem like an eternity when your car has smoke pouring out of it.
Oh, did I mention that when Dan finally got to me I got into his car to follow him to the car place and promptly backed into a tree? I didn't even see it AFTER I hit it. I could not figure out what I hit. I think I was starting to lose it at that point. Thankfully, there was no damage.
Anyway, we finally made it to the car place where we have a wonderful mechanic who loves the Lord and is just a good guy. We drop the car off. I take Dan to school and find out later we never gave the mechanic our key to the car. He had to drive over to the school to get it from Dan. See what I mean? Great guy.
I went home and promptly cried my eyes out for most of the day. It's a good thing I did too because I had NO idea what awaited me later in the week.
So, things were a little stressful. But, it was a new week, a new day, and God's mercies are new each day right?
Well, Tuesday morning Dan had a breakfast so since our cars both had issues at the time he took the one with the least amount of issues. He had farther to go. I just had to get the kids to school and home again. No big deal right?
I made it to school fine. No noises, nothing. Just a little ways down the road on my way home the car starts to over heat. I took the back roads home since I would then be able to pull over next to a corn field rather than a busy highway. I called Dan to let him know and then I waited. I was hoping the car would just cool off and I could just get home.
Nope. I had to pull over again. It turns out ALL the coolant had leaked out of the car. Dan had just filled it up the Friday before. Dan came with another bottle of coolant and 2 minutes down the road it overheats again. That was some leakage going on. At this point we were just trying to make it to the car place that was 5 minutes away. Five minutes can seem like an eternity when your car has smoke pouring out of it.
Oh, did I mention that when Dan finally got to me I got into his car to follow him to the car place and promptly backed into a tree? I didn't even see it AFTER I hit it. I could not figure out what I hit. I think I was starting to lose it at that point. Thankfully, there was no damage.
Anyway, we finally made it to the car place where we have a wonderful mechanic who loves the Lord and is just a good guy. We drop the car off. I take Dan to school and find out later we never gave the mechanic our key to the car. He had to drive over to the school to get it from Dan. See what I mean? Great guy.
I went home and promptly cried my eyes out for most of the day. It's a good thing I did too because I had NO idea what awaited me later in the week.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Other Natural Disasters
Tropical Storm Irene blew through here not too long ago. It was Saturday night when she started. Sunday morning around 3 a.m. we lost power. We didn't get power back until Monday afternoon.
So, we missed church on Sunday. We had no way of finding out if our church had power or not. We didn't know about the condition of the roads or anything either. Friends stopped by and took some of our cold foods since they had a generator, super, super nice of them. What's funny is I loaded them up with 4 different kinds of milk, not unusual in our house. Lactaid for Dan, regular for me and Madelyn, Almond milk for Elijah, and some leftover Soy milk from when he had his tonsils out. He doesn't like to drink Almond milk. And, I'm not quite sure why I felt I needed to capitalize the types of milk.
Oh well.
So, we spent the day reading and playing. Thankfully I was completely hooked into The Hunger Games trilogy so the time went by pretty quickly for me. Later in the day we went to the park to kill time. We kept expecting the power to come back on soon because we rarely lose power, especially for any extended amount of time. The whole neighborhood seemed to be out walking or at the park that night. There wasn't much else to do.
While we were at the park we could hear all the generators in the neighborhood running so we told the kids when the generators stopped we would go home because that meant we had power.
Well, they never stopped. And, it was starting to get dark. And, they had their first day of school the next day. And, they needed showers. And, we found out Dan's Uncle's funeral was on Tuesday and we were going to have to try to get to his parents' house by then.
So, we buckled down, got the kids to school Monday morning, realized neither of our cars were going to make the 4 hour drive to Western PA so we set up a rental. I pulled clothes together from whatever we had clean. Made arrangements for the dog. Since it was only one night Megan was able to just drop in to let Daisy out. The cats would be fine for one night.
And, the power came back on. Yay! It was so funny because as I was scrambling to get things together I walked through the kitchen and thought, "Oh, that light is blinking. That light is blinking!!!" We had power again. I felt like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life because I was opening my fridge saying, "Hello fridge! (like 'hello you old savings & loan!' or whatever that line is) Hello coffee maker, and microwave, and phone and ..." You get the picture.
It was a good feeling, but I had to leave so I couldn't really take full advantage of my electricity.
The kids got home. Dan got home, and we rushed out the door to get to the rental car before the place closed. It was hectic, but we made it.
Vern and Pam came up for the funeral as well. Of course, poor Vern had literally flown in from Afghanistan that day, met up with Pam, flew to Dulles and drove from there to PA. Oh, and he forgot his suit so they had to stop along the way to buy a new one.
So, Tuesday morning Vern says, "What do we have to do to get you to stay another night?" We planned for just one night because the kids were just starting school, Dan runs said school, and we thought we should probably be there for the beginning of the school year. Plus, we didn't know what everyone else had planned as far as how they were staying, etc.
Anyway, I said we just needed Daisy to be let out, but I figured if Megan couldn't do it another night she could at least get the key to a different neighbor. Well, it was 7:15 pm by the time I got in touch with Megan. She had an all day training class and never got my cell v-mail I left her. Once I did reach her she informed me that she had locked the key in our house since she knew we were coming back that night.
WHAT?! I totally understood why she did it. I just couldn't believe what I had to tell Dan when I walked back into the house where his whole family was gathered, namely his 2 brothers whom he so rarely gets to see at the same time. But, I did. Thankfully, Megan was willing to try to break back into our house so I was waiting to hear back from her on that.
It turns out she did. She brought her six year old with her so the neighbors would think too much about it. Now THAT is a good friend. Oh my. I was so relieved.
We eventually made it home in the same clothes we had been wearing for almost 3 days straight since I only packed for one night. And, one of us may or may not have come home with no underwear on, but that is a story for another day.
We pull in the driveway and I say, "Okay, let's all try to get into some kind of routine now ..." That's when we found out our lawyer had been trying to reach Dan all day.
Yeah. We're being sued. Remember that? Ugh.
So, we missed church on Sunday. We had no way of finding out if our church had power or not. We didn't know about the condition of the roads or anything either. Friends stopped by and took some of our cold foods since they had a generator, super, super nice of them. What's funny is I loaded them up with 4 different kinds of milk, not unusual in our house. Lactaid for Dan, regular for me and Madelyn, Almond milk for Elijah, and some leftover Soy milk from when he had his tonsils out. He doesn't like to drink Almond milk. And, I'm not quite sure why I felt I needed to capitalize the types of milk.
Oh well.
So, we spent the day reading and playing. Thankfully I was completely hooked into The Hunger Games trilogy so the time went by pretty quickly for me. Later in the day we went to the park to kill time. We kept expecting the power to come back on soon because we rarely lose power, especially for any extended amount of time. The whole neighborhood seemed to be out walking or at the park that night. There wasn't much else to do.
While we were at the park we could hear all the generators in the neighborhood running so we told the kids when the generators stopped we would go home because that meant we had power.
Well, they never stopped. And, it was starting to get dark. And, they had their first day of school the next day. And, they needed showers. And, we found out Dan's Uncle's funeral was on Tuesday and we were going to have to try to get to his parents' house by then.
So, we buckled down, got the kids to school Monday morning, realized neither of our cars were going to make the 4 hour drive to Western PA so we set up a rental. I pulled clothes together from whatever we had clean. Made arrangements for the dog. Since it was only one night Megan was able to just drop in to let Daisy out. The cats would be fine for one night.
And, the power came back on. Yay! It was so funny because as I was scrambling to get things together I walked through the kitchen and thought, "Oh, that light is blinking. That light is blinking!!!" We had power again. I felt like Jimmy Stewart in It's a Wonderful Life because I was opening my fridge saying, "Hello fridge! (like 'hello you old savings & loan!' or whatever that line is) Hello coffee maker, and microwave, and phone and ..." You get the picture.
It was a good feeling, but I had to leave so I couldn't really take full advantage of my electricity.
The kids got home. Dan got home, and we rushed out the door to get to the rental car before the place closed. It was hectic, but we made it.
Vern and Pam came up for the funeral as well. Of course, poor Vern had literally flown in from Afghanistan that day, met up with Pam, flew to Dulles and drove from there to PA. Oh, and he forgot his suit so they had to stop along the way to buy a new one.
So, Tuesday morning Vern says, "What do we have to do to get you to stay another night?" We planned for just one night because the kids were just starting school, Dan runs said school, and we thought we should probably be there for the beginning of the school year. Plus, we didn't know what everyone else had planned as far as how they were staying, etc.
Anyway, I said we just needed Daisy to be let out, but I figured if Megan couldn't do it another night she could at least get the key to a different neighbor. Well, it was 7:15 pm by the time I got in touch with Megan. She had an all day training class and never got my cell v-mail I left her. Once I did reach her she informed me that she had locked the key in our house since she knew we were coming back that night.
WHAT?! I totally understood why she did it. I just couldn't believe what I had to tell Dan when I walked back into the house where his whole family was gathered, namely his 2 brothers whom he so rarely gets to see at the same time. But, I did. Thankfully, Megan was willing to try to break back into our house so I was waiting to hear back from her on that.
It turns out she did. She brought her six year old with her so the neighbors would think too much about it. Now THAT is a good friend. Oh my. I was so relieved.
We eventually made it home in the same clothes we had been wearing for almost 3 days straight since I only packed for one night. And, one of us may or may not have come home with no underwear on, but that is a story for another day.
We pull in the driveway and I say, "Okay, let's all try to get into some kind of routine now ..." That's when we found out our lawyer had been trying to reach Dan all day.
Yeah. We're being sued. Remember that? Ugh.
Earthquake
So, I was on the phone with Kerry when she says, "Wait a minute. My house is shaking." "What?" "My house is shaking!!" Then I heard one of her boys call for her and I could hear the rumbling. We realize she is having an earthquake. I started to feel kind of dizzy as I was trying to google some info on what might have happened.
Then Madelyn comes downstairs. Kerry and I hang up so she can check on her people and I see on FB that people all over the east coast were talking about feeling an earthquake; my cousin in VA, Jess in Reading, people in NY. It was nuts!
I then realize that I wasn't feeling dizzy. I was feeling an earthquake too when I was talking to Kerry!
Madelyn walks back in the room and says, "Elijah didn't feel anything." I said, "Did you?" She said, "Yes. That's why I came downstairs. I heard things rattle on my wall and the floor shook." She actually thought Dan had come home.
Meanwhile, Dan was at work and didn't feel a thing. Elijah said he heard things rattle on the wall, but that isn't so unusual around here because that happens when the trains go by.
Either way, we are all now able to say that we survived the earthquake of 2011. Amen.
Then Madelyn comes downstairs. Kerry and I hang up so she can check on her people and I see on FB that people all over the east coast were talking about feeling an earthquake; my cousin in VA, Jess in Reading, people in NY. It was nuts!
I then realize that I wasn't feeling dizzy. I was feeling an earthquake too when I was talking to Kerry!
Madelyn walks back in the room and says, "Elijah didn't feel anything." I said, "Did you?" She said, "Yes. That's why I came downstairs. I heard things rattle on my wall and the floor shook." She actually thought Dan had come home.
Meanwhile, Dan was at work and didn't feel a thing. Elijah said he heard things rattle on the wall, but that isn't so unusual around here because that happens when the trains go by.
Either way, we are all now able to say that we survived the earthquake of 2011. Amen.
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