Meredith
01-07-2005, 07:22 AM
yesterday morning, the power went off. It was off for the day. We have two sump pumps in our basement. We have had warmer than normal temps last week, which caused the 10 inches of snow on the ground to melt into the ground, into the river, thereby causing flooding. We get water in our basement... just little trickles, but Wed. night, DH noticed that our sump water in the main pump was to the floor, ready to overflow because the pump had wedged itself up against the wall, so we knew that we were getting a large amount of water in through the intake pipe.
So the power goes out yesterday, and my first thought was the power to the pumps. I called DH at work, who thinks he is just going to stay at work all day and nothing is going to happen, maybe the power will come back on. You know the type.. they don't want to *think* about things... they just want to go about their business (as my DH states... it is *optimism* and I state it is going through life looking through rose colored glasses). Anywho...
My brother and my father are calling me, asking me what the water was doing, is it rising, etc, do I need them to come over (because they also are aware of DH's philosophy on life). I told them that I was calling DH to come home.
So I call DH, he says "well, do you need me to come home?" WELL DUH!!! YES!!!! I can't bail out the sump pumps and keep an eye on the kids at the same time... get a clue!!!!
He comes home, decides he wants to try the scientific approach of siphoning the water up the basement stairs, out the door and out to the side of the yard. Um.... yeah. So after he sucks on the end of the hose in sub-freezing weather, I tell him to grab the cat litter bucket and start bailing.
So he grabs the bucket and, after making about 30 trips outside, he comes in for a sandwich. He goes back down after 30 minutes, and the water level is back to where it was before he started bailing. I am calling all these places to see if they have a generator that we can rent, buy, etc. Nothing, of course. Then I call our plumber/handyman/sweetheart of a man, and he says "did you get it under control yet?" and I said no and he said "I'll be over in 20 minutes with a generator you can hook the pumps up to." I LOVE THIS MAN!!! He is SUCH a peach!
So I tell Dh that he can stop bailing, that I have secured a generator.
WE get the generator, get it hooked up, run the pumps, and then DH takes off to shut down his computer at work, and was going to pick up more candles, batteries, and flashlights.
All this time, my children are driving me BATTY!!!!!!! I'm cold. I'm bored. Evan blew out your candles (which he had). Sissy is kicking me (in the tent that DH put up....it was warmer in there with all the things zippered shut). Evan won't stay on his side of the tent. When is the power coming back on? I hope it doesn't.... I want to go out to Uncle Barry's and spend the night. Did you know that our tv runs on electricity? Evan, stop flipping the light switches... they don't work. Evan, leave your sister alone. McCayla stop screaming at Evan.
THANKFULLY, at dinnertime (as soon as we decided to vacate the premises and go someplace (1) warm and (2) with lights and food, the power comes back on!!!!
My sister and mother had theirs' restored in the middle of the night last after having been out on Wed. night.
I know there are those on here who have been without power for MUCH longer, and I don't see how you did it and lived to tell about it.
So the power goes out yesterday, and my first thought was the power to the pumps. I called DH at work, who thinks he is just going to stay at work all day and nothing is going to happen, maybe the power will come back on. You know the type.. they don't want to *think* about things... they just want to go about their business (as my DH states... it is *optimism* and I state it is going through life looking through rose colored glasses). Anywho...
My brother and my father are calling me, asking me what the water was doing, is it rising, etc, do I need them to come over (because they also are aware of DH's philosophy on life). I told them that I was calling DH to come home.
So I call DH, he says "well, do you need me to come home?" WELL DUH!!! YES!!!! I can't bail out the sump pumps and keep an eye on the kids at the same time... get a clue!!!!
He comes home, decides he wants to try the scientific approach of siphoning the water up the basement stairs, out the door and out to the side of the yard. Um.... yeah. So after he sucks on the end of the hose in sub-freezing weather, I tell him to grab the cat litter bucket and start bailing.
So he grabs the bucket and, after making about 30 trips outside, he comes in for a sandwich. He goes back down after 30 minutes, and the water level is back to where it was before he started bailing. I am calling all these places to see if they have a generator that we can rent, buy, etc. Nothing, of course. Then I call our plumber/handyman/sweetheart of a man, and he says "did you get it under control yet?" and I said no and he said "I'll be over in 20 minutes with a generator you can hook the pumps up to." I LOVE THIS MAN!!! He is SUCH a peach!
So I tell Dh that he can stop bailing, that I have secured a generator.
WE get the generator, get it hooked up, run the pumps, and then DH takes off to shut down his computer at work, and was going to pick up more candles, batteries, and flashlights.
All this time, my children are driving me BATTY!!!!!!! I'm cold. I'm bored. Evan blew out your candles (which he had). Sissy is kicking me (in the tent that DH put up....it was warmer in there with all the things zippered shut). Evan won't stay on his side of the tent. When is the power coming back on? I hope it doesn't.... I want to go out to Uncle Barry's and spend the night. Did you know that our tv runs on electricity? Evan, stop flipping the light switches... they don't work. Evan, leave your sister alone. McCayla stop screaming at Evan.
THANKFULLY, at dinnertime (as soon as we decided to vacate the premises and go someplace (1) warm and (2) with lights and food, the power comes back on!!!!
My sister and mother had theirs' restored in the middle of the night last after having been out on Wed. night.
I know there are those on here who have been without power for MUCH longer, and I don't see how you did it and lived to tell about it.