Water

I woke up this morning to the kind of noise that signaled something was not quite right. It was a clack-rattle...rattle-rattle...thwack. It repeated every ten seconds or so and was not associated with squealing, screaming, or crying. It seemed to be coming from the first floor, and was loud enough that I could hear it clearly from the third floor--and it woke me up. At 6:15am, which now was 5:15am, thanks to Ben Franklin and his daylight savings scheme.

There are a lot recognizable early morning sounds. This wasn't one of them. I got up to investigate.

I came downstairs to find Brooke putting bowls under drips and mopping water from the stove top (this was the noise that woke me), while Elliott, now about ten months old, made smaller clacking sounds with wooden blocks. Brooke introduced the scenario by saying "I know you're going to see dollar signs here," and she was right about that, but the first thing I saw was water pooled in the place I intended to make my morning coffee.

Boring story short, there is water leaking from someplace in the walls of our kitchen. All night it dripped through a ventilation hole into a kitchen cabinet, through the microwave, onto the stove, pilot lights, floor...and the wall behind the microwave and oven.

Last week my friend Dan showed me how turn off the water at the street, so I did that, and the leak stopped. Predictably, so did all the other water in our house. Called the builder, who said call a plumber and if it's he's error (and not a nail I put into the pipes) he'll cover it. Called Dan to ask for a plumber recommendation (now starting to see those dollar signs). Got one. He can come "after Tuesday."

So the water is off. The leak has stopped. And we're waiting to hear what Big Jim the plumber has to say about things. We'll get creative with dining, bathing, and washing clothes this week. It'll be a Trader Joe's microwave experience. We'll shower at work. Elliott can have a bath at daycare. Who knows where Zoe will get her grubby toddler self clean. We could hose her off outside, I suppose.

Good times.