January 20, 2008 - Sunday
Friday night I discovered a puddle in front of the washer. Do the paper towel test to check for dog urine.Negative. So I tell hubby the washer is leaking. He puts it on "blocks" to look under. Can't find anything. Goes on for the evening, no changes. Hmmm. Must be nothing. Saturday morning, puddle is back. More investigating. Discover a small leak on top of the water heater. Our water heater is ancient, but we think, "maybe we can make it last a little longer." So hubby goes to Home Depot and gets some kind of epoxy putty that sounds like rector stop. Pretty funny. Applies it as directed. Works like a charm. We do a load of cloth diapers and start the dishwasher. Uh-oh. Now it's leaking out of the other pipe area. Turn off the water heater, unplug the fuses. More epoxy putty (turns to steel in no time). Great work. Patting ourselves on the back for this relatively low-cost treatment. We both get showers and the boys get a bath. During their bath, another leak pops up. We decide we're going to have to replace the water heater anyway. But plug the leak so Olivia can get a bath before church in the morning. I used water from a pot on the stove to warm her water, b/c there just wasn't enough left for her. She gets bathed, I start cutting Nate's hair, and hear Kevin hollering and carrying on. Our water heater decided that if we were going to keep pluggin the leaks, it was going to give us one that couldn't be plugged. So now we have water covering the floor...and it's not a little bit. We ran out of towels (we couldn't do laundry all day, remember?) and are in a big mess. By this time it is 8:15. So Kevin gets dressed and makes a mad dash to Home Depot for a water heater before they close (we're 30 minutes away). While there, the store closes b/f he gets to purchase one. AND he's told that it'll be at least Tuesday (yes, 3 days away) before a new one can be installed due to the holiday. So he goes to buy some more towels and comes home. Hmmmm...what now?
We decide to mop the floor with the towels, disconnect the water heater fuse, and go to bed. No church today b/c no showers. I had a load of dishes in dishwasher that never got finished, dishes filling both sides of the sink, and pans and stuff on the counter. Laundry is piled up. Olivia has NO more pants, so we can't go anywhere. A little pity party later and I decided that enough was enough. I was NOT about to let a little cold water defeat me. I am woman, right?! Women used to lug water in from the creek. I could do this. Just tell me that I can't!
So, I boiled water on the stove in the only pot left clean and started washing dishes. After five pots of water (meaning five cycles of washes, rinses, drains, refills), I finally had all the dishes from the sink and counter clean. And it was time for lunch before I had a chance to wash the ones already in the dishwasher. Which means the lunch dishes just got piled in the sink again for me to start over.
And I haven't figured out how I'm going to get those pants washed. Perhaps a "load" in the bathtub will do it. Won't that be a sight?
Yes, I know running water was not standard in the "olden" days. Neither were cars, daily showers, or two loads of laundry a day. But call me spoiled...I like hot water and I'm ready to have it back. Sure, I'll "pioneer it" for the next few days (perhaps slipping next door for a shower or two), but after that, I want my luxury back! And just WHAT am I supposed to do all day without toilets to scrub, laundry to fold, dishes to wash, children to bathe...guess I'll just have to kick back and do some puzzles, read some books, and play some games with my little angels.
Because once we get our hot water back, this place will be scrubbed!
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