It's funny....now.

My husband had just left for work when the toilet suddenly erupted a mile high gusher of water. OK, I exaggerate... but only a little. It sounded like.....hmmm. I can't think of anything that sounded like that. It was loud, and definitely water. It sure brought me running from the far room. It seemed to go on and on. It paused once, (sigh of relief) then started again. (OH NO) I didn't know what to do. The lid was already down, but that didn't seem to matter. The water was pushing it up and water was flying everywhere. Without thinking it through, I lifted the plunger thingy in the tank hoping it would empty and end the gusher. WRONG! Just more water. (I know, I know....stupid. Chalk it up to panic.) The sink was gurgling too, but not shooting water like the toilet. Even the kitchen sink was talking to me. Which led me to wonder if the city was doing something, or if it was horribly, our plumbing. There wasn't time to find out. I had to keep up with the mess and get as much, like waste basket, spare tissue tower, scales, plunger, rug in front of the sink and one in front of the shower, etc. out of the way as fast as I could. Meanwhile tracking water to the kitchen floor and soaking my jeans and socks. It finally stopped and I got the water mopped up.Then I had to dry the walls and take down some curtains and wipe up other surfaces. Thank goodness it just seemed to be water. All the wet rugs and towels went outside to dry and I had to dry those areas in the kitchen where I'd left puddles.

I phoned the water department first and she did tell me someone in my neighborhood had complained and they were blowing out the line. So I told her how unhappy I was that we hadn't been notified first and given some way to mitigate the mess. It seems I wasn't the first to call. Among the first was the neighbor behind us who happens to be President of City Council. Bet we'll be notified if they ever have to do this again. (I've learned since that they will be ordered to use less pressure too!)

A man came to the door later from the water department, and asked if there was any damage because he was sent to make reports. He was eyeballing all the wet things dripping on the deck. He told me that this is such a flat, low area and the lines are a problem. I just know I've been here since the early 80's and this is the first time I've seen anything like this. There has been a lot of rain and flooding in our area. Could that have contributed.....doesn't make sense to me. I told him the only real damage was to my stress level. Mopping up all that water, and not knowing if it was our plumbing, or if it would damage our pipes or blow out the stool didn't help my stress level or headache or aching fibromyalgia muscles. And getting angry that it happened at all was, in my opinion, damage.

But, it's over and now I can laugh about it. Can you imagine if I'd been sitting on the stool when it erupted? Maybe my big butt would have plugged the hole and kept the water to a minimum. IF I could have stayed on. When I said this to my sister-in-law, she decided (after the initial giggles) it would have been even funnier if her brother had been, umm, standing there when it started. She thought I'd never see his winky again.

I'll leave you with the mental images of me, and him, and a gusher of water.

Have a nice day.