Some non-baby related stuff. We had an interesting weekend last weekend. The Grand Rapids area got about two and a half inches of rain, which also melted most of the snow. The result regionally was flooding, and the Rogue River here in Rockford was crazy (Marc happened by and helped the guy raising the flood gates). But that's not where our troubles started. You see, our roof has no gutters, but does have two roof lines, and where they converge, enormous icicles form. As it happens, this is directly above our gas meter. Well, we woke up Saturday morning (in our second-story bedroom on the opposite side of the house) to the smell of gas and a loud hissing noise. You guessed it - the icicles had fallen, breaking open our gas line. We hustled over to church to wait for the gas company to respond. After the leak was fixed, we left the house open for around six hours waiting for the smell to clear out. Fortunately this day was unseasonably warm--in the fifties--and extraordinarily humid.

So, smell gone, house closed up, go to bed. Overnight, the temperature dropped back below freezing. When we woke up, we found every surface in our home coated in water. All that humid air had condensed on walls, windows... everything. About the same time, the blower on our furnace started squeaking. Loudly. We tried to ignore that, but after a few hours we also heard a gurgling sound every time the blower ran. So, we reluctantly climbed down the stairs to see what was going on. (I should explain that I try to avoid going into my Michigan basement whenever possible. I just don't want to know.) What I found was 6-8 inches of water surrounding the furnace. The blower was actually in the water, churning it when it ran. The wires powering the blower were in the water. The electronic air filter was under water. So, the power to the furnace got switched off (I could reach the switch from dry land), and space heaters were brought out. We headed to Lowes to buy a utility pump and some garden hose, and got to work emptying the basement.

Many hours later, with a garden hose snaking out our front door, we were able to turn the furnace on. The pump had to keep running, as water was still coming in (not through a leak in a wall or pipe, but up through the floor); only now (a week later) is the basement actually starting to dry. On the positive side, the furnace has, for a week, also acted as a giant humidifier.

In other news, one of my Christmas gifts was a handheld GPS. Here's where I've been lately:

I stole the code to do this from my brother, who is calling this a "Billy Path" after the Family Circus comics.

Comments (2)

"Gentle breezes"
written by Mom , January 04, 2009

You forgot to mention the 50 MPH winds blowing gentle breezes through the doorway in your guest bedroom... across your parents sleeping there. Visiting you in the winter is quite the adventure.

Donuts
written by crladkadad , January 07, 2009

Noted that one of the stops was Krispy Kreme. Better get 'em while they are available. KK is closing a lot of stores nationwide, including the one in Peoria.