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The March Time-Turner Weekend is always a contradiction. (No it isn't.) On the one hand, we "lose" one real hour of actual time, and I awaken at an hour that says it's 7 a.m. but by all Circadian-rhythmy signs is really 6. On the other hand, this confuses the animals, as well, and today it was past seven before Zoey came in, rattling the Venetian blinds to demand foodage. Every spring, I try to hold on to this illusion as long as possible- a week is usually pushing it- but it was nice to get the "extra hour" even though it never really existed. We watched an online concert last night and after all the adventures of the previous week and, yes, month, we turned in without cleaning up the kitchen.
Eleanor was raring to go even before Zoey got in here this morning. She'd been in the habit of taking a bedtime dose of Z-Sleep, the generic knockoff of Z-Quil that itself is a variation on NyQuil only removing the pain med component but leaving all the Benadryl in it plus the 20-proof alcohol to knock you out. A few nights ago, she tried cutting the dose in half, and is finding it a lot easier to get going in the morning. That would work for me, too, except I'm not taking the stuff. Instead, I just have twelve paws that insist on me getting out of bed.
Today's project for her was a continuation of one she began Friday and continued yesterday. She was also having embarrassing thoughts about the conditions of some things around here, brought on by the appraiser's visit, the results of which we still haven't heard. While I was flashing back to 40-year-ago dartboards, she was determined to fix the cracks in the bathroom ceiling that were caused by some since-fixed leakage around the vent's roofjack. By the time I got home Friday, she'd taken the frame and filter off the vent cover, spackled the damage, and begun sanding. There were also Saturday hardware store runs for paint and such, and after I got back from dog-parking this morning and finally cleaned up the kitchen dishes from last night, she went downstairs to get some brushes, and when she came up she asked me to check the downstairs laundry tubs.
This was the other object of concern I had when the appraiser came. Last weekend, those tubs, which have always run a little slow, had completely stopped draining. A full washload will just about cause them to overflow if they're not draining. I bailed them last weekend, ran some Drano-ish stuff down them to no avail, and we just resolved not to do any more wash until this loan got approved and we could risk putting a potential charge on a credit card for a plumber. Then, at least twice last week, the water in those tubs rose back up without any laundry being done- not close to overflowing, but where was it coming from? We had some very warm days last week, and the last of our February snowpack had finally melted. Was groundwater getting into the pipes? That would be potentially a Very Bad Thing.
Worse still, today's accumulation was even bigger. When I went down, both tubs were nearly full. No rain in days, no more snowmelt. What was causing this? It was a mystery!
Fortunately, I thought of a good detective.
After I finished bailing- no small feat, using both a five-gallon pail and the Shopvac we named Hymie after the Get Smart robot- I went upstairs and explained, in my best Columbo voice, what I'd learned:
Well, ma'am, when I got into cleaning those tubs out, I noticed something really strange. That standin' water that filled them outta nowhere? It was warm. So I had the lab boys take a look, and they THINK the problem is that the water from the kitchen sinks- remember all those dishes I washed before?- is going into the same drain as the laundry tubs, because the kitchen's right above the laundry area!
That's right- IT'S COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! And it'd also explain why the Drano didn't do shit to fix it. So now we can call a plumber with a much clearer idea of what the problem is!
Eleanor was raring to go even before Zoey got in here this morning. She'd been in the habit of taking a bedtime dose of Z-Sleep, the generic knockoff of Z-Quil that itself is a variation on NyQuil only removing the pain med component but leaving all the Benadryl in it plus the 20-proof alcohol to knock you out. A few nights ago, she tried cutting the dose in half, and is finding it a lot easier to get going in the morning. That would work for me, too, except I'm not taking the stuff. Instead, I just have twelve paws that insist on me getting out of bed.
Today's project for her was a continuation of one she began Friday and continued yesterday. She was also having embarrassing thoughts about the conditions of some things around here, brought on by the appraiser's visit, the results of which we still haven't heard. While I was flashing back to 40-year-ago dartboards, she was determined to fix the cracks in the bathroom ceiling that were caused by some since-fixed leakage around the vent's roofjack. By the time I got home Friday, she'd taken the frame and filter off the vent cover, spackled the damage, and begun sanding. There were also Saturday hardware store runs for paint and such, and after I got back from dog-parking this morning and finally cleaned up the kitchen dishes from last night, she went downstairs to get some brushes, and when she came up she asked me to check the downstairs laundry tubs.
This was the other object of concern I had when the appraiser came. Last weekend, those tubs, which have always run a little slow, had completely stopped draining. A full washload will just about cause them to overflow if they're not draining. I bailed them last weekend, ran some Drano-ish stuff down them to no avail, and we just resolved not to do any more wash until this loan got approved and we could risk putting a potential charge on a credit card for a plumber. Then, at least twice last week, the water in those tubs rose back up without any laundry being done- not close to overflowing, but where was it coming from? We had some very warm days last week, and the last of our February snowpack had finally melted. Was groundwater getting into the pipes? That would be potentially a Very Bad Thing.
Worse still, today's accumulation was even bigger. When I went down, both tubs were nearly full. No rain in days, no more snowmelt. What was causing this? It was a mystery!
Fortunately, I thought of a good detective.
After I finished bailing- no small feat, using both a five-gallon pail and the Shopvac we named Hymie after the Get Smart robot- I went upstairs and explained, in my best Columbo voice, what I'd learned:
Well, ma'am, when I got into cleaning those tubs out, I noticed something really strange. That standin' water that filled them outta nowhere? It was warm. So I had the lab boys take a look, and they THINK the problem is that the water from the kitchen sinks- remember all those dishes I washed before?- is going into the same drain as the laundry tubs, because the kitchen's right above the laundry area!
That's right- IT'S COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! And it'd also explain why the Drano didn't do shit to fix it. So now we can call a plumber with a much clearer idea of what the problem is!