It seems like there's always some kind of excitement going on over here. But sometimes I could honestly use some less excitement. Like Friday two weeks ago. The girls had gone upstairs for a school break while I was fixing lunch. I was in the kitchen and thought I heard an unusual noise. It wasn't very loud, and I wasn't even sure at first I heard anything at all. But as I got closer to the refrigerator, I did faintly hear something. I stopped and realized it was coming from somewhere behind the frig. It kind of sounded like hissing air. So I craned my head around the cabinet and behind the refrigerator, only to be sprayed with water on my forehead. Water was spewing out of the water line that runs into the frig.
I quickly began pulling the refrigerator away from the wall so I could get behind it, but that made a bad situation so much worse. At that point, the line straightened out and was no longer crimped so there was water spewing everywhere. I knew immediately what and why it happened. We've had to pull that refrigerator away from the wall several times because we've had issues with the ice maker over the years. And I also like to periodically clean behind and underneath it so it comes out quite a bit for that. After coming in and out for almost 11 years, the line eventually crimped enough that it broke.
I couldn't pull the frig out far enough to get behind it, and I had no idea what to do. All I could think of was that I needed to turn the water off. I had never done that before and only vaguely knew where it was. I called Seth and explained as calmly as I could that we had a bad water leak and that I needed to turn the water off. He told me where to go so I hung up and ran out to the water meter by the road, struggled to get the cover off and then had to clean out all the leaves, grass clippings, spiders and everything else. All I could think of was that water was running everywhere in my house. And, living in south Louisiana, my house has never flooded before, but I know plenty who have, and I know very well what that's like. It's bad.
Once I was able to see inside the thing, I couldn't figure out what I was supposed to turn to get the water off. I didn't really see anything to turn. At that point, I knew I'd been outside too long so I ran back to the house. When I got there, water was already running out of the bricks and onto the friends' entry porch. I ran back into the kitchen expecting the worse. I doubted I could get the water turned off, and I really didn't know what else to do at this point. All I could do was pray. And be thankful for insurance.
The girls were, of course, at home with me. And since their lunch had been interrupted, they were just kind of standing around. I told Hannah Kate to grab my mop bucket. I put that behind the frig, but it didn't help very much. It was filling too quickly, and a lot of the water wasn't even going into the bucket. And then I dropped my phone into the bucket of water. I almost just left it there thinking I'd be buying a new phone, too, but I crawled over the counter and managed to fish it out. I asked Hannah Kate to come take over the bucket. Let it get full, dump it in the sink and start all over. I told her not to worry about the water she couldn't get but to just do her best.
I realized my phone still worked so I face-timed Seth and told him I couldn't figure out how to turn the water off. He told me I'd need a wrench. I ran to the toolbox in the garage storage room to look for it. He told me to turn the power off since there is an electrical outlet where the water was spraying so I did. But then I couldn't see to find a wrench. It didn't matter because they weren't in there. So I ran back out to the water meter again and told Seth to tell me exactly what it was I was supposed to be turning. He did, and it was just impossible. By this time I was more than frantic. He said he thought a wrench was in the toolbox in his truck. He was also trying to find someone to send to our house to help me, but no one he called was at home.
So I started running back to the house again. I dropped my phone at some point and didn't even stop to find it (but I did later). I went back inside to check on Hannah Kate. I was expecting her to be in a puddle of tears, but she was all chill about the whole thing. Good to know. I ran back out to the storage room to look for the wrench again. But since the power was out, I couldn't see. It was pitch black dark. So I screamed for Ellie to bring me a flashlight. We keep two of them in the drawer in the kitchen. Well, guess what? The one she brought me didn't work because the batteries were dead. So I asked her to bring me the other one. And guess what? She couldn't find it. You want to know why? Because somebody likes to play with it, and they don't put it back where it belongs. Kind of like the wrench. So I ran back outside, crawled up in the back of the truck and opened the toolbox to look for some. Nothing. And, at that point, I was done. There was only one thing I could do.
I ran back inside and took the bucket from Hannah Kate. I told her to go to the garage and find another bucket, empty it and bring it inside. I'm not sure how much time had passed at this point. At least ten minutes, if not more. I really thought it was too late, hopeless. But I couldn't give up. So I filled a bucket, handed it to Hannah Kate to dump while the other bucket filled and passed the buckets back and forth like this for I have no idea how long. I didn't feel like I could do it much longer, but I also knew I didn't have a choice. I couldn't see the time anywhere since the power was out, and I lost my phone. I figured Seth was on his way home, but I knew it would be a 45-minute drive on a good day, and I didn't know whether or not it was a good day. And 45-minutes was a LONG time. But I had to keep filling and dumping buckets.
And then, all of a sudden, the water stopped. The water stopped. I told the girls to run to the window and tell me who was in the front yard. They had no idea, only that it was a man in a green shirt and cap. I couldn't move at this point so I told them to go to the door and ask the man to come inside. It was a neighbor down the road that Seth's dad was able to get in touch with. He was able to pull the refrigerator the rest of the way out. He told me there should be a way to turn the water off where the water line connected in the wall. Of course there was. I didn't even think of that. So he turned that valve off and then disconnected the damaged line. I thanked him profusely, and he left.
I told Hannah Kate to bring me every single beach towel we owned and began mopping up the water. I had no idea the extent of the damage, but the cabinets seemed dry, and the sheetrock didn't feel particularly wet. I have hardwood floors in the kitchen. Water obviously got under my floors, hit the slab and then traveled along the slab to the porch, thus the water coming out of my bricks. The kids always complain in the summertime about it being hot in their rooms, even with the air conditioner and ceiling fans running, so last summer they each got a tower fan for their room. I told the girls to bring me all three fans so I set them up in the kitchen and kept them running for two days to dry everything. This was probably more for my peace of mind than anything else. It's almost two weeks later, and my hardwood floors are fine. They haven't buckled. Of course, they're probably growing all kinds of mold and mildew underneath, but we're just going to pretend like they're not.
All I can say is that God was SO good! I was at home when this happened! Had I not been . . . well, we'd have had to rip up the floors and tear out the sheetrock in the kitchen for sure. And I heard it! Seth gets aggravated with me because I always complain about the TV being too loud. But I just don't like loud noises, and I feel like I can hear the slightest noises. That served me well that Friday. When I woke up Saturday morning, the entire underside of my right arm was bruised and sore. At first I couldn't figure out why but then I realized it was from leaning over the countertop and bringing that bucket up and down against the side of the cabinet.
Somewhere in all of this - and I can't remember exactly where because it was intense - the girls grabbed sandwich fixings out of the frig because they were starving, and their lunch got interrupted since the power was off. They didn't grab plates or anything else but made their sandwiches and ate their food straight off the table. Oh, no big deal. Water is going EVERYWHERE in the kitchen, and you're over there EATING A SANDWICH?!
It's also worth noting that at the beginning of this near fiasco, Ellie ran upstairs and packed her bag. She stuffed the biggest bag she could find with her most precious belongings. Once the water stopped, she said, "Well, I guess I can go unpack my bag now." I asked her what she was talking about, and she told me she packed up her stuff because she was afraid we were going to lose the house, and she wanted to keep her stuff safe. And that, my friends, is the mentality of a child growing up in the midst of hurricanes, floods and a pandemic.
One last thing. Guess what I have hidden somewhere that no one in this house knows? Yep. Pliers. Tools. And a flashlight.
So what can one learn from this?
Put stuff back where it belongs so it will be there the next time someone needs it. (Of course, the only person in this house who seems to never be able to find something that's needed is me!)
Hide your tools.
And pay attention to your water line every time you clean behind your refrigerator!