OMG I hurt.
I woke up this morning with all my muscles screaming. Apparently an hour and a half of tennis after a lifetime of laziness had consequences. I sucked it up though, because today was forecast to be the nicest day of the weekend and I wanted to take care of a couple of outdoor projects. So I downed some Aleve, and headed outside.
First, I went around the yard picking up all the branches that have fallen over the winter, and then I pulled all the vines trying to grow on my house. Then I moved on to the major project for the day. Last year my dad made a new door for the crawlspace to my house, but told me that I needed to let it weather for a year before I painted it. So I start painting, only to realize I can hear running water. Not good.
I open the door, and where the sump pump is, there's a mini geyser under my house. Like, its own little water feature and yet not planned or soothing. So I got my dad on the phone, with visions of plumbers in my future, and crawled under my house. We ruled out fuse issues, and I got to learn how to test an outlet with a voltage meter (while standing in a bit of water, with my dad ready to call the paramedics from 800 miles away if things went badly). While doing that, I realized that the outlet was grounded so I pushed the button to shut it off and the water stopped.
Once the fountain was off, I realized that the problem was that the flex pipe that connected to the pump had come off. It should have just needed reattaching but somehow it didn't reach any more. I don't know. Maybe it shrunk? So I take measurements and get advice from my dad and head off to Home Depot. They, of course, have nothing that will bridge the gap. So I head off to the local Ace True Value Hardware, and oh! Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man! I am going to make an effort to shop there more often. He was so nice, listened to me, got me a whole new sump pump kit and connections and explained how it all needed to go together, and the whole thing cost less than $20. Then, when I got home and couldn't get part of the old pipe off the sump pump, I took the whole thing to the store and he took it off, put the new part on, and tightened it for me. I am a little bit in love with him.
The best part was while I was standing in the parking lot, waiting for him to come back with the wrench to tighten the connection, a little boy about three years old toddled by and looked at me (having spent about four hours crawling in and out from under my house, rolling around in red Georgia mud) and said, "Mommy, why is that lady so dirty?" ♥
First, I went around the yard picking up all the branches that have fallen over the winter, and then I pulled all the vines trying to grow on my house. Then I moved on to the major project for the day. Last year my dad made a new door for the crawlspace to my house, but told me that I needed to let it weather for a year before I painted it. So I start painting, only to realize I can hear running water. Not good.
I open the door, and where the sump pump is, there's a mini geyser under my house. Like, its own little water feature and yet not planned or soothing. So I got my dad on the phone, with visions of plumbers in my future, and crawled under my house. We ruled out fuse issues, and I got to learn how to test an outlet with a voltage meter (while standing in a bit of water, with my dad ready to call the paramedics from 800 miles away if things went badly). While doing that, I realized that the outlet was grounded so I pushed the button to shut it off and the water stopped.
Once the fountain was off, I realized that the problem was that the flex pipe that connected to the pump had come off. It should have just needed reattaching but somehow it didn't reach any more. I don't know. Maybe it shrunk? So I take measurements and get advice from my dad and head off to Home Depot. They, of course, have nothing that will bridge the gap. So I head off to the local Ace True Value Hardware, and oh! Ace is the place with the helpful hardware man! I am going to make an effort to shop there more often. He was so nice, listened to me, got me a whole new sump pump kit and connections and explained how it all needed to go together, and the whole thing cost less than $20. Then, when I got home and couldn't get part of the old pipe off the sump pump, I took the whole thing to the store and he took it off, put the new part on, and tightened it for me. I am a little bit in love with him.
The best part was while I was standing in the parking lot, waiting for him to come back with the wrench to tighten the connection, a little boy about three years old toddled by and looked at me (having spent about four hours crawling in and out from under my house, rolling around in red Georgia mud) and said, "Mommy, why is that lady so dirty?" ♥