Friday, February 11, 2011

Not all sunshine and happiness

So I'm in FL again visiting my parents and avoiding winter.  I've been enjoying my time away and the weather has been really nice.  Until today.  Today was unseasonably cold and wet.  Today I rode for two and a half hours in 58 degrees and rain.  The Weather Channel said it was going to get nice it just never did.  Oh well, at least I was able to get outside for a couple of hours.  The weather is supposed to be warm and sunny for the rest of my trip so one day of cool and wet isn't so bad.  Only 30 days until my first TT on 2011, I can't wait!

Thursday, February 03, 2011

It's been a trying few days and no chance to ride my bike:(

It is now Thursday evening and I haven't ridden my bike since Tuesday.  No big deal except it that riding my bike is my major mechanism for relieving stress and I've had plenty of it in the past two days.
On Tuesday night I stayed at my brother's house because Wednesday morning I was supposed to take him to the oral surgeon to have 6 teeth removed.  His appointment was canceled because there was a major ice storm and the office didn't have electricity.  I came home and was making the most of a mostly wasted day.  I went to get a shower so I could get ready and go out to eat when I heard a pounding at the door.  I ignored it and a few seconds later there it was again.  I turned off the shower and grabbed a towel and that is when I heard the yelling, "Mt. Holly Springs Police! Come to the door!"  I heard the yelling as I exited the bathroom to the sight of a policeman standing at the bottom of the steps with a tazer pointed at my face. 
He asked me(half naked and surprised) for my ID and told me that someone had called the police because they saw my door hanging open and hadn't noticed anyone around for the previous couple days.  So...........long story short I got it straightened out and I was headed back to the shower. 
I get back into the shower and turn the nob, no water.  I get out and try the sink, no water there either.  At this point I panic because I know that there is water running somewhere and I don't yet know where that is.  Turns out that a fitting in the basement had blown off and water was being pumped directly in from the well into my basement.  After looking for a shutoff valve for several minutes, while the basement flooded further, I flipped the breaker switch to turn off the pump in the well.  I stopped the water but the basement was a disaster. 
Let the clean up begin!  Lots of wet/dry vacuuming, a dehumidifier and a couple fans will do the trick. 
Thursday morning I called Roto Rooter at 8am to see how long it would take to get someone out to my house.  They made the appointment from 1-3pm and told me there was no way I could make an appointment for later in the day.  I was there waiting at 1pm and I was still waiting at 3pm.  At 3:15 I called told the Roto Rooter Dispatcher that I hadn't even heard from anyone yet and she told me she'd get right on it and my house would be next on the list and that she would personally call me and let me know when that was going be and who would be coming.  An hour later she called back and told me they were a 30 minutes away.  An hour after that the guy finally showed up and was here for about 3 minutes before he told me he didn't have the parts and had to run to Home Depot to get them.  When he arrived back it took a whole 15 minutes to do the repair and allow the glue to dry and I now have running water again!  Hooray!
$420 and 25 hours later and other than some slightly damp carpet and a disaster of a house things are back to normal:(
BTW, if anyone needs to borrow a nice new wet/dry vac just let me know.
*(none of my bikes were injured or in any way harmed by the aforementioned events)