Monthly Archives: February 2014

“Water, taken in moderation, cannot hurt anybody.” Mark Twain 

Last night just before I put my tired head down for the night I heard a metallic “pop.” Startled my little dog Minnie began to growl, however since we have been having snow and ice melting off of our roof and making lots of noise, I assumed it was ice breaking off of our storm drain or roof gutters. Calming the little dog I turned off the light and passed out.

This morning we got to sleep in. Normally either Minnie or Molly are demanding that we take them out to do their business by six or six thirty in the morning. This morning I woke up at nine and both were still passed out. So after I got dressed I picked up Molly to take her down the stairs since she went blind over a year ago. She enjoys the ride down the steps.

As I walked down the stairs with Molly tucked under my arm like a football and Minnie dancing down the stairs behind me I noticed water all over our ground floor. I turned the corner and saw that the entryway, kitchen and dinning room were covered in water. I quickly let the dogs out and looked to see where the water was coming from, it was the water heater, which is located underneath our staircase. The entry to the water heater is through our main entry way closet, so I turned off the water realizing that water had been pouring through the broken tank for at least eight hours.

I got Judy up and we went to work trying to minimize any possible damage. I also got on the phone with USAA with whom we have our insurance.

Our carpets throughout most of the ground floor are soaked, water has seeped into walls, baseboards woodwork and counters, it even looks like the wood inside the base of our stairway is soaked. There may be damage to our kitchen cabinets as well. At least one hutch looks like its legs may be soaked beyond repair as well. Thankfully much of the damage, minus the deductible is going to be covered through our homeowners policy. We had the water tank replaced today and between it and our $1000 deductible we are still out a decent amount of money, but the really expensive damage will be covered.

Because of the amount of damage caused by the recent major snowstorm in the area it probably will be tomorrow or Monday before a company gets to us to begin the dry out of our house and restoration and repair of all the damage.

The dogs are handling things well, while we were doing the initial clean up and phone calls Molly decided that she was going to lay down on the soaked carpet in the dining room. She was completely unfazed. When we put up the child gate to keep her in the dry part of the house she kept trying to figure a way to get back into the dinning room or entry way. She paced back and forth, attempted to find ways around it and reminded me of a pissed off Monarch of a small European country. Her Divine Rights were being infringed upon and she didn’t like it, nor was she satisfied with the help (Judy and me) who she presumes is incompetent and uncaring for not indulging her every desire.

Molly likes laying in the entry way because she has always done it. Despite being blind she still conducts guard duty, barking at anything walking by the house. Obviously she still has very sharp hearing. Minnie didn’t seem to care either, she bounced back and forth through the water splashing her way through it.

After the plumbers were gone we decided to head out and have dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant. While there enjoying the food, with Judy having a jumbo Margarita and me a big Dos Equis the topic of “crossing the Piso Mojado” came up.

For those that do’t know “Crossing the Piso Mojado” will be the title of my life story. In Spanish it means piss on the floor, or something like that. I always see the yellow signs in stores whenever there is a wet floor that show someone slipping and say “Piso Mojado.” We were both laughing as we thought about it. After all what can you do? These things happen to everyone and it could be worse, a lot worse. Like the Bible says “the rain falls on the just and the unjust,” or as the Revised Padre Steve Version of the Bible translates it “shit happens.”

Yes working around this is going to be a pain in the ass. Between recovery and restoration a lot of work will have to be done. There is a lot of water damage, but it could be much worse, and for that I am grateful, even if Molly is unhappy with being able to have free reign of all of her indoor empire.

Anyway, have a great night, be safe and much love.

Peace

Padre Steve+