The Day from Heck!
Merry Christmas!(The above has absolutely nothing to do with the story herein....I have just decided to lead and end all of my posts now until Christmas Day with the above as a reminder of what we are celebrating.....The birth of the Christ Child.)
Monday, December 5th, 2005 a day that shall live in DeLand Infamy!
To keep it somewhat brief........
6am - Duchess & I are preparing for work (yes, we work at a hospital and go early)....she yells. Shower drain is not draining! In addition, water is seeping from beneath the toilet. Within minutes we find similar in 2nd bath in bedroom wing (we have two primary drains which meet out front of the house).
7:30am - I call neighbor from across the street who happens to own his own plumbing firm. He sez he'll call back soon as he arranges his schedule.
8:30am - plumber calls, and I depart for home to allow him entry.
10am - Job done.....my 11 70-80 foot pines have once again sent roots into the drainage system seeking water and nutrients. Ground away, and flushed we are draining nicely again.
10:15am - As I prepare to return to work, a huge "whump" sounds and the entire house goes electrically dead! Scouting about I find another Pine tree in the back yard has dropped a 35 foot limp onto the incoming power, ripping it from the roof. The live line lays in the neighbors yard.
10:30am - After warning neighbor not to allow dog out to "chew the wires", notify TECO power of the situation.
11:30am - TECO "troubleshooter" arrives and in five minutes declares "Yep, your line is down!" I feel better already..... He heads for his truck to "type this in" on his truck computer. Then he DRIVES AWAY! (WAIT!!!!!, I have no power!)
11:52am - Following a 22 minute hold while trying to get to a live person at TECO, I am told the man assigned the problem to a two-man crew which can handle the job.
12:30pm - Two-man crew arrives, pulls old line and runs new one. I go out to take a look and they inform me "Your line" from the meter to the top of the roof is old, shedding its insulation, and they cannot connect me til the line is replaced....all 10 feet of it!
1:45pm - Contact with plumber/neighbor gives name and number for good electrician. Call gets me a promise of response in 1.5 hours!
5:30pm - Electrician calls to see if it is dark outside (like it would be light for an hour longer in my part of Tampa!)....Then we agree to meet at 8:30am Tuesday morning at my home to fix the problem.
6:00pm - Duchess and I go pick up our 33 ft motorcoach, and bring it home to park in the drive. Our home for the night.
7:00pm - We leave for a nearby Chili's for salads....and a tree frog lands on my head as I leave the front door. A perfect ending to a completely screwed up day!
Duke
p.s. Electric was fixed fine Tuesday morning. Waiting for next shoe to drop!
Merry Christmas! (NOT sarcasm!)
posted by Duke of DeLand @ 12/07/2005 09:15:00 AM
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