2003-03-17 - 5:33 a.m.
This entry would have been posted last night but I could not get into Diaryland.
KEEPING ABOVE WATER
I like lakes. I particularly like big lakes. When I say that I like lakes, however, I am not saying that I want one right outside my door. I am not saying that I crave one in the ten feet between my house and the neighbor�s driveway. I most certainly am not saying that I want a lake that drains into my window well and down into my basement, causing rivulets of water to run like flowing creeks through my freshly washed basement floor to my house drain.
But a lake is what I had today. My first clue that disaster had occurred was the nagging feeling that the sump pump did not sound right. I looked at it and it didn�t look quite right. Mr. Philately pointed out that the float was not quite righted and we righted it. Still the water came.
Something didn�t make sense. I went outside to check and I saw a lake where my little strip of side yard used to be. I also saw a small mound of residual snow that seemed to be acting as a dam. Mr. Philately was not thrilled to see the lake and suggested bailing�so I did. I took the old Barbie things and a Fischer-Price washing machine to a friend�s house for her young children. I didn�t bail long enough. The entire day would not have been long enough.
When I returned, Mr. Philately was still working furiously, pitcher and bucket in hand. We didn�t just have a lake. When he got to the bottom of the mess the first time, he discovered sink holes, something akin to quicksand, and an underground spring. Actually, the spring was more like a geyser, a geyser with a pump behind it.
The buried line from the sump pump to the ditch at the front of the house was broken. Our very cold winter with no insulating snow until the last two weeks had frozen the ground too deeply. Our sump line was a casualty but, until the rapid thaw, the sump pump didn�t go on so we didn�t notice. We were pushing the water out of the sump into the ground right next to the sump, letting it trickle back down, and then pushing it out again.
Mr. Philately bailed furiously to reduce the water that could flow back into the sump. He also called a plumber. (He called the pricey emergency plumber but you take what you can get on a Sunday.) $400 later we have a temporary fix but we still need to call the real sump line guys and let them tear up the lawn, most likely to the tune of two to three thousand dollars.
But at least we won�t be bailing anymore just to keep our house and home above water.
LAST YEAR: Quiz Me
LAST FIVE ENTRIES:
Cooler By the Lake
Waiting Time
Being My Parents
Talking Cars
Helping with Mother
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Copyright 2006 by Ellen |
