Lucky for us, the party was at Columbus Grill, which is a hop skip and a jump away from our house. Just awesome! I was thinking of asking Mom and Dad to watch Kateri, and I would drop her off at their house. But last minute, Mr. and Mrs. Grenier offered to bring us dinner (without realizing we were going out) and so it just fell in to place that they could watch Kateri at our home. Especially wonderful because Kateri sleeps so much better in her own crib!
We got all dressed up and headed out. It is always fun to go to Columbus Grill for three reasons:
1. That is where we had our "talk" about being "official". Walked in on a date, walked out boyfriend girlfriend. Awww ;)
2. That is also where we went for our very first Valentines Day Dinner (and we were engaged by this point, fyi)
3. We almost never go out, so it is ALWAYS a treat anyway!
So off we went, and, unlike our usual lack of timeliness, we arrived right at seven when it was beginning! We walked in and realized we were the very first people there, which oh-so-never happens. After a few minutes, people started trickling in. This new little baby found the food especially scrumptious, and so of course I had to humor him and shovel it in. Which means I went from second trimester to third trimester in a matter of minutes. Worth every bite, though, I must say. And, worthy of note, I think this munchkin may really really REALLY like calamari. We will see, Pat despises all things seafood so it will be interesting to see what this little man likes.
While we ate, Pat got a phone call from his parents, thankfully he heard it and picked it up. It turns out that while they had been bathing Kateri, someone started knocking at the door. Mac ran downstairs to see who it was. He later told me he almost grabbed a dismantled wooden table-leg we have downstairs to use as a potential defense. But he decided against it, and opened the door.
"I'm the neighbor" the guy at the door said.
"I'm the grandpa", Mac said.
With introductions taken care of, the guy got straight to business,
"So I heard a rushing sound and saw water gushing under your deck. I think one of your pipes burst."
So immediate action was taken. Mac hurriedly turned all the water off. The downstairs hallway was drenched in water into the bathroom and a radius of six or seven feet into the downstairs living room. Mac then drove home and picked up the carpet cleaner that can't clean but can suck.
After Nanny put Kateri down, they started pulling all the water from the rug. They dumped many buckets of dirty brownish water. By the time Pat and I arrived home, Nanny and Mac were hard at work on the floors. Kateri had heard the commotion and wanted to join the fun. So we took her out of bed and she proceeded to have a blast. She was in such a joyful happy energetic mood. What a little nut!
By that time, quite a lot of water had been removed, but you could still see water pooling around your toes and feet if you stepped on the soaked carpet. We worked and worked on that carpet. Eventually, Nanny and Mac went home, and Pat, whose jaw was aching, went to bed. I stayed up and worked that carpet. I learned the trick is to push the carpet cleaner forward, and then pull it back so slowly. This definitely brought up the most water, but also drove me nuts. Definitely makes me realize how much I need to work on patience. Oh patience, you difficult thing!
The following day, Sunday, I headed up to enjoy Nonie and Nano's company and the delicious brunch at Falcon's. Pat sadly stayed home and waited for the plumber to arrive to survey the damage. Victor, the plumber, arrived and immediately showed Pat what had happened. The pipe had cracked where the outside iron spigot meets the PVC piping. The water had gushed outside, and down the cement foundation wall and into our basement. Luckily the break had happened in such a way that absolutely NONE of the dry wall was damaged! Thanks be to God!
Yesterday, Tuesday, Victor and his crew came to fix the pipe. Kateri was very intrigued and spent quite a lot of time watching their coming and going from her vantage point.
Victor cut a big square out of the ceiling, and a big piece of the drywall out (about 4 or 5 feet wide by 7 feet tall). He took out a bunch of the insulation which was soaked, painted the cement wall to decrease the possibility of any mold growing, and then put new and better insulation back in the wall. They then seamlessly replaced the drywall. I cannot even tell where it was replaced!
He also replaced the piping and put a new spigot in for our outdoor water. This spigot has at least a foot or two of metal piping that goes into the house before it attaches to the PVC piping, which will decrease the likelihood of this happening ever again! Sounds good to me.
We are so grateful that all this has worked out and it is not near as bad as it could have been. I keep thinking of what would have happened had our neighbor not noticed the water (which is pretty amazing considering we have a privacy fence, it was dark outside, and freezing! who goes outside under those circumstances, anyway?!), or if no-one been home, how much more damage would have occurred. Thank you so much, Nanny and Mac, for being the first responders. We really appreciate it and it absolutely changed the outcome of this fiasco! Fixing the damage wasn't cheap, but it didn't even come to what our deductible would have been had we filed with home insurance. What a blessing!! So really, all around, this worked out surprisingly well, all thanks and glory to God!
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