h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

(OK, so *technically* to get this title, I shoulda wrote this Doobry afternoon, but 'twas a bit busy...)

Oy vay... At least it'll be all fixed, maybe by the time I hit post, since the maintenence guy's here... I'm just staying out of the way, and waiting for Faith to wake up for her next meal...

Anyway, on Doobry, I was doing the laundry, or at least I'd put the first load in. I was also going to vaccuum, as the place needs it. I finished playing with Faith, popped a CD in so I could listen to something whilst I moved stuff around prior to vaccuuming (the CD someone I know IRL made that I bugged Tom to get me for Christmas that I'd not gotten a chance to listen to yet, as it'd been lost for awhile). Then I wandered out into the kitchen for some reason--probably for a glass of water or something. There was water on the floor, and seeping into the hall carpet First thing I did was turn the washer off--then I noticed that the water was gushing out of the closet that the hot water heater's in No idea how to turn that off, of course--at least not the water part. So I call the rental company, which is of course closed, it being the weekend. And I didn't realize that if I'd listened to the options for a little longer, there's an emergency option So I ended up leaving 2 messages. Then Tom, who was at work, got a panicky call from his wife (who thought maybe he'd know how to turn the water off, without going outside and turning the main off, which didn't work anyway) So he called the rental company, since he knew about the emergency thingy. He said he'd call back. Fine--meanwhile, I'd try taking care of at least some of the water, since we've a cvaccuum that'll suck up water, although the tank's only 2 or 3 gallons (or maybe 5... Not big, in any case) And I'd gotten it through that putting a pan under the leak wouldn't work, as it was coming out the top, and I only had a 2 inch space anyway... The maintenence guy, who was on another job right then, called, and so I finally got the water shut off (nice obvious valve... At least if it hadn't been above my eye level) By this point, there was water about an inch deep covering the entire kitchen floor, water to the same depth in about half the bathroom, which is across the hall from the kitchen, standing water on the hall carpet, and seepage into the living room to the bookcase, into Faith's room, and into the dining room, all wet enough that it splashed when I walked. The only room that escaped was our room, and no water reached any electrical cords, thank God (though it came within a couple inches of the computer, which was on, as that's what I'd put the CD in) Once the water was off, I tackled vaccuuming the kitchen, as it was less depressing to suck up water and have the level actually go down--vaccuuming the carpet seemed too much like trying to keep back the tide with a broom. I emptied the tank out an innumerable amount of times, but the kitchen finally was just damp with rust mud in it--then I tackled the bathroom, and then finally the hallway.

The maintenence guy came, and said he'd replace the hot water heater on Sodit (today). Too bad--no dishes done between then and now At least we've another water heater just for the bathroom, so we could shower. He also called the carpet guy, so we stopped sucking up the water ourselves. When the carpet guy came and extracted as much water as he could, he told me to keep the fans going, and open the windows, so I did. But it still smells musty...

Needless to say, I did *not* cook that night. Of course, we were planning on going out anyway...

Argh, it posted twice... Reply to the other one, as I'm hiding this one and won't see any replies.

That is no fun! Did you lose anything in the quasi-flood?