International Small Emergency Month

[kate_schaefer]

A month ago, we were observing International Small Emergency Week at my house, with crises involving the washing machine, the dryer, the downstairs toilet, and the car gearshift. All of these crises were resolved through the magic of throwing more money at them than seemed reasonable, except for the toilet, which was resolved through the magic of having hired a plumber some time back who was willing to keep fixing it until it stayed fixed, dammit, without charging more. That is, he said it was fixed months ago, and when it turned out not to be fixed after all, he came back and worked on it until it really was fixed. Our plumber is a hero of the revolution and a jewel among tradesman.

It turns out that we were mistaken about the nature of this fine international festival. It's such a popular event that it lasts at least a full month, maybe more. We will not go into the nature of the plumbing crisis that requires us to keep a drip pan under the kitchen sink. It is nothing that would not be fixed in a major kitchen remodel, and it would not even be a problem were it not for the unfortunate circumstance of our house's previous owners having bought oddly-threaded plumbing parts back in the era of Make Your House Unique With Off-Brand Stuff, some time in the fifties. We will not talk about how the car mechanic could not duplicate the gearshift problem, while we could duplicate it at will and against our will, any time of the day or night as long as it was a bad time.

No, we will go straight to the gigando flood and record-breaking rainfall afflicting all of the Pacific Northwest right now and point out that it violates the terms of International Small Emergency Month. That is, yes, it is true that the part of the flood that affects me is relatively small, only a small leak in the basement, easily controlled yesterday by applying every single towel I own to the leak in turn, flinging each towel aside after ten minutes, running the towels through the spin cycle (you will recall that I replaced the washer last month, yes?) and then through a few minutes in the dryer (you recall also that I replaced the dryer last month, no?) before reapplying the towel to the leak, which was getting bigger and faster all the time, and maybe it would become a bigger problem than towels could contain, so we moved all the stuff in the path of the leak from one side of the basement to the other. As I say, small.

And the part of the flood that affects me indirectly is only a little bit bigger, a mere inch of water all over the floors of my granddaughter's high school, closing the school from Monday morning until Wednesday. Well, maybe more than an inch, and the school will stay closed until Thursday. Um, next Monday for sure.

These are minor inconveniences compared to the landslides and closed freeways and railroads and helicopters evacuating people from the rooves of the houses, and I return to my complaint: International Small Emergency Month is supposed to involve only personal inconvenience. It is not supposed to require the intervention of the Red Cross, calling out the National Guard, or governmental declarations of disaster.

Comments

[amysisson.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Sending invisible-force-fields-to-hold-back-water thoughts your way. :-(

[apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com]

Aside from climate change, I'm not impressed. Oddly, Chicago, which used to have one of the widest assortments of weather possible, seems to have benefited from climate change: the summers are a little hotter, and worrisomely drier, while the winters have moderated remarkably.
But juggling divorce, the death of my father, (my father's final illness having begun immediately after my finding out I didn't have a marriage any more, which I kept from the family for two months or so, until after the funeral), and now being semi-housebound after surgery for prostate cancer and wondering how long and severe the ensuing incontinence will be in my case (the surprise of the month is developing serious brand-loyalties in maxi-pads, and area in which I would never have expected to acquire expertise), hoping the summer and fall's steady o/d/d/ j/o/b/s/ consulting will hold up after the first of the year . . .
Well, hang on to that plumber, but "International" sounds hyperbolic.

It's Not A Week, It's A Month

[ladyjestocost.livejournal.com]

Our furnace just quit. On top of the car, my husband's crown, and drat, one other thing that I can't remember quite now.

I have to leave a message for my boss - I'll be in late for the third time this week.

Bother.

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

Apparently God didn't read that press release.

It wasn't posted in our house, either.

[lcohen]

hey, i celebrated. i hope that your leak does not become larger and that the rains cease and desist!

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Our next door neighbor said that during the heaviest rain on Monday there was actually a jet of water squirting through a crack in the foundation in their basement. I suppose you could just put a pot under that.

[timalyne.livejournal.com]

Sheesh! Hang in there.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Amy. We're fine, really. We didn't have to evacuate, and the amount of water that hit the basement wasn't all that scary. I'm talking personal inconvenience here, not personal disaster.

[amysisson.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it. I guess I've gotten into Houston-mode of worry-about-water. It's so humid here that toxic mold is a danger any time there's even minimal flooding inside a building -- when we had our toilet overflow disaster a few years ago ($4K damage in 15 minutes!), the mitigation company was out there practially before it happened, because they were so intent on getting mold-retardants sprayed down! (I have to say, it's not often one praises insurance companies, but they really handled it well in my opinion. No messing around.)

Of course, we don't do basements here in Texas, which helps!

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Hyperbole is our specialty around here. The Canadians are having floods as well, but the storm had used up much of its feorocity by the time it hit the border.

You have had a truly appalling year, Neil. I wish you a considerably better year for 2008 and succeeding.

Re: It's Not A Week, It's A Month

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

drat, one other thing that I can't remember quite now.

I hate when I start losing that thing I store stuff I want to think about later in.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

I laughed out loud when I read that you had just given up and gone back to bed. I decided I had to write about this when I caught myself saying cheerfully that at least the house hadn't been struck by lightning and burned down. May I never cheer myself up by saying how lucky I am not to live in a war zone.

You had a much more difficult flood than we did. I certainly hope your flood recovery plan works.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

You know, this is a festival in whose celebration I'd just as soon no one joined. Our rain has become your snow.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

And then come the summer droughts, they'd be all set...

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Timalyne. Really, we're fine. Any disaster that only requires a lot of mopping and laundry and wall destruction -- well, okay, the wall destruction is going to be a pain in the butt to repair once everything is dry again and we're back into construction season -- any disaster that doesn't make any of us bleed or go to the emergency room or call for uniformed assistance remains a small crisis, not a large one.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's really interesting. Do you know what they sprayed? The wall we've had to open up is one Glenn rebuilt a few years back, when we had a mold problem in there after a bathtub drain leak we didn't catch in time (the water goes away when you pull the plug; who knows where it goes if you don't see it any more?). We're figuring that we can avoid a mold problem this time if we keep the wall open until everything dries out entirely, but if this storm is the precursor of a very wet winter, we may have to come up with some back-up plans.

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

Our landlord's flood recovery plan is that she will "loan us a little heater" to dry out the sopping, toxic, 40-year-old carpet that covers half the square footage of the house.

I'm seeing her today to do battle with her and I'm so hoping I won't have to go all legal on her ass.

Yeah, our house is pretty much trashed. It could be such a nice little house, too, if its owners would take care of it.

It's a shame.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Your landlord has been a learning experience the entire time you've lived in that house.

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

I am so sorry; we had a landlord like that too, when we lived in West Seattle and had the sewage line repeatedly backing up into the house. :(

[jinasphinx.livejournal.com]

Guess you were ahead of the trend. Sorry you have the basement situation now in addition to everything else. :|

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

I think she's about to have one herself.

[singingnettle.livejournal.com]

Thank you...Bad landlords are a drag. We've had mostly good ones, with a couple of exceptions. This being one of them.

I really should have listened to my gut and walked away when we were looking at the lease and there were all these weird little rules and penalties, and when she rushed us through our original visit to see the place. Next time we're going over the lease and my antennae start to twitch, we're leaving.

[amysisson.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't know what they sprayed. It was almost 4 years ago, less then 3 months after we moved into this, our first house -- it was quite a shock to us! And it was caused by a $5 little valve or switch on the toilet that didn't kick in to tell the toilet the tank was full. At least it was clean water, not sewage.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

That's us, always fashion-forward in our approach to life.

[k6rfm.livejournal.com]

Don't know about chemical sprays, but as soon as the actual leaking stops it would be a good idea to point a fan at the wet area until it dries out.

It's been really dry down here in the Bay Area; was happy to see a little rain yesterday and we're supposed to get about an inch tomorrow. I hope we don't go directly from drought to flood...

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

Glenn opened the wall entirely so it would dry out. We don't think we need to go through the learning experience of black mold more than once.