Missing him. Waterless.
Mick went to California last weekend. He flew out there last Friday for a labor union conference. However, he is taking his time coming home - taking a meandering bus ride through Minneapolis to visit a friend from college before heading home. This morning, he is en route to Iowa. He will get back Saturday evening. I’ll meet him at the Greyhound station and happily take him home.
It has been a long week. I’m on call and carrying the pager, so I can’t venture too far from home. It was warm this weekend so I turned off the heat in the house. My stubborn nature kept the heat off until last night, I was watching a movie and realized my feet were freezing. Wasabi had crawled under the blanket on my lap and was purring there - very out of character unless it is 4am and I’m trying to sleep. I checked the thermostat in the hallway and realized the house had dropped to 56 degrees. I turned the heat on but still kept it low. I went from there into the kitchen and started to wash up dishes from dinner. The water pressure was really low. I frowned and started checking the house for a leak somewhere. I didn’t find one - I even checked the main water shut-off but the tap there was all the way open. I posted a question on my neighborhood association page and quickly received an answer from a neighbor down the block - there was a water main break. I walked out front and saw water streaming down the street, and a taped-off area across from my house. I walked over to look at it more closely - the water was furiously bubbling up from under the street, taking chunks of the curbstone with it. The city worker confirmed the water main break caused the low pressure, and that when they got a crew to work on it the water would be turned off for 4 or 5 hours.
I went home and immediately set up the coffee pot for the morning, filled a pitcher and some jar with water. I filled another container and left it in the bathtub for when I needed to flush. Wasabi was thrilled when he found the container in the tub - he thinks it is his own personal drinking pond! I did a load of “A-list” clothing in case this goes longer than a day - the rest of the wash can wait. I gave Gypsi Benadryl and put her in the crate in the basement. This week, she has been sleeping upstairs with me as it makes me feel safer alone in the house. I knew that the crew was going to start working overnight and she’d flip her lid over “intruders”. I went to bed early but was awakened at 3:30am by the sounds of a jackhammer outside my window. I never fully got back to sleep - I’d drift off and someone would shout and wake me up all over again. Wearily, I got up at 6am to find my water was still off. I washed my face in cold water and gratefully had a cup of coffee.
It is an inconvenience, to be certain, but hopefully no worse than that. The city is very efficient getting things like this resolved quickly. I went home on lunch break, though, and found the whole block was barricaded. They are still working on it - so still no water. I’m working from home tomorrow - I hope it is done by then. I’m planning to treat myself to a new Cuban restaurant in my neighborhood tonight since I really can’t cook at the house.
Mick feels guilty that he isn’t here while something goes wrong with the house. I pointed out that this isn’t something wrong with the HOUSE, it is the water main break on the street. There isn’t anything to do about it whether he was here or not. It seems like every time he leaves town, something happens with the house. However, it is an older house so something is ALWAYS going down. While I miss him something awful, I’m glad when he gets to go out on jaunts like this.
It has been a long week. I’m on call and carrying the pager, so I can’t venture too far from home. It was warm this weekend so I turned off the heat in the house. My stubborn nature kept the heat off until last night, I was watching a movie and realized my feet were freezing. Wasabi had crawled under the blanket on my lap and was purring there - very out of character unless it is 4am and I’m trying to sleep. I checked the thermostat in the hallway and realized the house had dropped to 56 degrees. I turned the heat on but still kept it low. I went from there into the kitchen and started to wash up dishes from dinner. The water pressure was really low. I frowned and started checking the house for a leak somewhere. I didn’t find one - I even checked the main water shut-off but the tap there was all the way open. I posted a question on my neighborhood association page and quickly received an answer from a neighbor down the block - there was a water main break. I walked out front and saw water streaming down the street, and a taped-off area across from my house. I walked over to look at it more closely - the water was furiously bubbling up from under the street, taking chunks of the curbstone with it. The city worker confirmed the water main break caused the low pressure, and that when they got a crew to work on it the water would be turned off for 4 or 5 hours.
I went home and immediately set up the coffee pot for the morning, filled a pitcher and some jar with water. I filled another container and left it in the bathtub for when I needed to flush. Wasabi was thrilled when he found the container in the tub - he thinks it is his own personal drinking pond! I did a load of “A-list” clothing in case this goes longer than a day - the rest of the wash can wait. I gave Gypsi Benadryl and put her in the crate in the basement. This week, she has been sleeping upstairs with me as it makes me feel safer alone in the house. I knew that the crew was going to start working overnight and she’d flip her lid over “intruders”. I went to bed early but was awakened at 3:30am by the sounds of a jackhammer outside my window. I never fully got back to sleep - I’d drift off and someone would shout and wake me up all over again. Wearily, I got up at 6am to find my water was still off. I washed my face in cold water and gratefully had a cup of coffee.
It is an inconvenience, to be certain, but hopefully no worse than that. The city is very efficient getting things like this resolved quickly. I went home on lunch break, though, and found the whole block was barricaded. They are still working on it - so still no water. I’m working from home tomorrow - I hope it is done by then. I’m planning to treat myself to a new Cuban restaurant in my neighborhood tonight since I really can’t cook at the house.
Mick feels guilty that he isn’t here while something goes wrong with the house. I pointed out that this isn’t something wrong with the HOUSE, it is the water main break on the street. There isn’t anything to do about it whether he was here or not. It seems like every time he leaves town, something happens with the house. However, it is an older house so something is ALWAYS going down. While I miss him something awful, I’m glad when he gets to go out on jaunts like this.