When It Rains It Floods

Two hydrogen molecules bonded with one oxygen molecule. It doesn't sound very complex does it. And yet...it is. Water is one of the most intriguing elements on earth.

In a glass it can be inert, in nature it can be a force to be reckoned with. It can be soothing if you take a hot relaxing bath after a long day. It can help you stay in shape if you swim in it. Living things have to drink it in order to survive, and yet it has the power to wreak havoc, destroy and kill. It covers over 70% of our planet.

This afternoon it covered 50 % of my family room and 100% of my bathroom and laundry room.

It was such a strange thing really. I had been doing laundry all day. I had just started a load of towels. I went to the computer to do some work and had the window open listening to the gentle rain fall while I typed. I also heard the washing machine running, but it's one of those sounds you don't really pay attention to because you're so used to it.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw motion and Rizzo jump. I thought she had found a bug or something. It took me a second to realize I was looking at swirling water on my tile floor.

I immediately ran to the washer and tried to turn the knobs that shut the water off but it wasn't working. The water was deep enough to cover my toes and I panicked. I called R who could barely understand what I was saying. Naturally these things only happen when he isn't home, and he was stuck in a traffic jam south of Denver. He told me how to shut off all the water for the house.

Then the fun really began. I tried to get one of the wet/dry vacs in the house from the garage and down the stairs, but akin to the troubles of Goldilocks...the first one was too big and I couldn't lift it. I managed to get the smaller one inside but it was too small to do much good. I did get the bulk of the standing water up with it, but the rugs were soaked. (These are big rugs.) I had to keep emptying it and it didn't seem to suck up much water. As it turned out R had forgot to tell me I should remove the inside filter first.

So I decided to make a second attempt to get the big one inside. After much huffing and puffing (we are switching fairy tales here) I managed to get it in the house and down the stairs only to discover that it had about 6 inches of dirt inside it from R cleaning the garage.

Dust, dirt and water aren't really the best situations for a woman who has reactionary asthma. At this point R was nearly home so I admitted defeat and left the rest for him.

After about an hour of cleaning he had it all up. Only one thing got ruined for which I am very happy. Tomorrow we are going to go get a new washing machine. Apparently the timer went out on this one. Now all I have to do is finish cleaning up the bigger mess...the one left by R, who like all plumbers manages to make things more dirty in the process of cleaning up.