Illinois Monsoon

Basement - wet but not flooded
Sump Pump - new submersible
Water Heater - dried out and functioning
Phone - died but got a spare from the ex
Cleo - MIA

Yea, it's been a full day for me. I went downtown to meet up with a friend of mine this morning. She never showed. I get home around 12:30 because I am reading the paper, working the crossword and just generally waiting for the rain to let up so I don't get drenched leaving the coffee shop. I step in the house and immediately know that there is something wrong, I hear the sump pump running, but it sounds strange. I head downstairs and don’t even have to get a step down to see that there is much water in the basement. I go down and step off the bottom step into about 8 inches or so of water. I pull the plug on the pump and disconnect it from the outlet pipe. The water is back flowing into the basement. I try and pull the fittings off the wet sump by hand. I can't. I curse and cut my finger for the first time. I am now bleeding from the back of my thumb.

I go upstairs (water is still running at a very high rate from the outlet) and run out to the garage. Grab the pipe wrench and head back downstairs. I get the pipe off the pump and get it on the backup pump. I go to connect the outlet to the sump and get drenched. I feel like I am being water tortured (which doesn’t take much for me). Water is spraying in my face, I am not happy. I get things connected and plug the dry pump into the outlet, verrrrry carefully. . . yea, not a fan of stray electricity either. I put the pump in the hole and it is running, but doesn’t sound good. I try and put the pump all the way in the hole and the motor is submerged, it isn't a sealed motor. I pull it back up and sit there holding it for a few minutes listening to it, and watching the water not going down in the basement. I swear. . . loudly. About this time I realize that the water heater element is probably under water. I shut the gas off and turn the temp gauge on the water heater off.

I shut the pump off and pull the plug again. I call my ex. I can't do this alone. I tell her that the sump pump is kicking my ass and she says that she will be right over. I look at my options and discover that the only thing that we can realistically do is route the water out one of the basement windows. I send her to the hardware store with my debit card. She comes back with 50 feet of 1" hose, hose clamps and the correct fitting to go onto the sump so that we can attach the hose. She rocks! We get that set up and get it pumping out the window out away from the house. I set the other pump back in the hole and sit there holding it so that the motor isn't submerged. I watch and watch and watch and watch, the water level isn't moving, not going up, not going down. About 10 minutes later, still not changing. And the sump that I am holding is getting hot and starts to smell bad. It kicks off, trips the breaker and the other one shuts off. I swear again . . . loudly.

I get the breaker tripped back on. Get the other sump running out the window again and we go upstairs. I get online to look at the big box hardware stores to see what they have available for sump pumps. I call Home Depot to see what they have left, anticipating that everyone is needing one today. They have one, Julie goes to get it. We get it hooked up, I cut the same thumb for the second time, this time bleeding fairly badly, and in the hole. It's PUMPING AWAY! Now, I watch and watch and realize that the water level has started to go down. YAY!

We go upstairs and about a half hour later, go back down. We can see cement that isn't covered with water. I try and light the pilot on the water heater. No dice. It's still damp and has water in it. I remove the access cover and we set up a fan and a space heater to try and dry it out.
Julie goes home. I get a phone call, I am talking on the phone and the person on the other end can no longer hear me. My phone crapped out. I don't have a home phone. I need a phone, I text Julie and ask her if she still has her old phone. She does. I make arrangements to go and get it. I go down and try and get the water heater going. I am wet, dirty from crawling around on the wet basement floor and I cannot get the effing access panel back on the water heater. I finally get it back on and get the pilot lit. So, whew, no need for a new water heater.

I go to Julie's to get the phone. I come back. We had noticed when Julie was here earlier that my female cat was not about, which is unusual for her. So, I start looking for Cleo. I still have not found her. I am not sure where she would be. I have looked everywhere. No Cleo. I am worried but not too worried, and still thinking that she will come out from her hiding place or show up outside.

So that was my Sunday. I am exhausted. I didn't get ANYTHING done that I wanted to get done today. I hope this isn't an omen of the week to come. . . I don’t know if I can survive much more.

On the bright side, Cleo crawled out of her hiding place. Ahhh relief.