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lisaviolet
Wednesday, 09/10/2003 - 11:38 AM PDT
The topic: What a horrible morning!
Wednesday, September 10, 2003 This morning has been absolutely horrid! Well, the early, early morning that is.
The weather has cooled considerably, which is really nice for sleep, you know? It's so hard to sleep when you feel all sticky, which happens to me when it's so darned humid. I've actually been looking forward to a good night's sleep, one where I can actually slide under the covers and have kitties cuddled up with me. And last night was the first night in months that I've been able to do that. Since it's getting dark earlier it's pretty easy to get the cats in earlier and I went to bed around ten, I think. Imagine my surprise to get woken out of a sound sleep about two thirty in the morning by Brian saying "What's that?" referring to a noise in the house. "Oh, a cat probably fell out of the window", I replied, ready to go back to sleep. "No, it's water!" He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room. "Spit!" he yelled (except it wasn't spit that he yelled). "We're flooded!"
I quickly got out of bed and followed him into the kitchen, my feet covered in water as soon as I stepped out of the bedroom (the tiled bedroom floor is higher than the rest of the floor, same for the family room). The hot water pipe under the sink had come apart. The water had been flowing for some time. The dining room and living rooms were flooded, the entry way was flooded, the hallway in front of my bathroom, which leads to the office, was flooded, as was the office. The exercise room didn't seem to have gotten much moisture, nor did my bathroom, although it was starting to spill over the sill on the floor. Water was also slowly flowing over the sill in the laundry room onto the patio. This is going to be fun.
Brian told me to get my machine and I said "that's not going to do much" and he agreed, he went back to the shop to get his ShopVac. Meanwhile, I checked out the cats and all seemed to be okay, none the worse for wear. Mystie was the most spooked of them all, Pete thought it was time for us to open up the house so he could go into the backyard and do his little Petey hunts. While I was in the the garage, I got the old SteamVac and hauled it into the hallway, plugged it into one of the outlets in my bathroom and started it up, started sucking up some of that water. It was slow going because it doesn't hold much, but an hour later I'd made a great deal of headway into the office. I told Brian (who was working on the other side of the house) that I wasn't going to go walking this morning. I finally got the office mostly dry and finished the hallway. Then I did the entry way and into the living room. The bottoms of the cat trees are soaked with water. Brian had a lot more to do than I did, because he had to pull out the washer and dryer in the laundry room and the refrigerator in the kitchen. A little before four, I opened up the sliding screen doors and let the cats out (after I'd split a can of people tuna between them in the garage). I emptied out the dirty water tub on the SteamVac and wrapped the cord up and put it away. I got a carton of lemon yogurt, a spoon and turned on the tv to the History Channel. After I ate the yogurt, I helped Brian a little in the laundry room and he was trying to see exactly what the problem was under the sink when I fell asleep. He said that he finished around five, laid on the loveseat, watched tv for about a half hour, then went to bed. He got up at a quarter after seven this morning.
I mentioned to him how wet the patio was and it seems that Junior had a bad night. He'd thrown up on the patio and also had some very runny stool. He did eat his breakfast with relish and seems to be doing fine now. I think it was the tomato he ate yesterday, one that I pulled off of the plant that had been attacked by worms. I didn't think there would be a problem with him and tomatoes, since he's snuck them before, but I was obviously wrong. I cleaned up the yard not too long ago and his stools are looking normal again.
For some reason, I really like this ring, over at QVC.com:
I kept looking at it and I finally ordered it. It's on a waitlist because so many people ordered it. I hope it's here by my birthday, but I'm not holding my breath. It's sterling silver and has little Diamonique stones around it. I thought it would be a great pinky ring. Or right ring finger ring. It's *koff* $68 but I'm just drawn to it, not something that usually happens. Some of the stuff they carry is flat out butt ugly, but I really like some of the jewelry they carry. All of my sparklies are now Diamonique. I've got two carat solitaire rings, one sterling, one gold, that I wear with plain bands on either side. I rarely wear my real diamonds any more, because I'd just hate to lose them. I did lose a diamond necklace (bad clasp) years ago and I was heartbroken (the stone came from my original wedding set). Now, I don't have to worry about it. I've just started looking at their stuff again this summer. Luckily, I know that I wouldn't really wear all the stuff I like looking at. I've grown up, I guess. Plus, we can't really afford it right now. I'm hoping mom gives me money for my birthday and I can use that to put towards the cost of that ring.
Anyway, right now, the furniture in the living room is moved around, the cat trees are propped against the furniture so the bottoms will have a better chance at drying out. It's nice that the humidity has dropped because that will help them to dry out more quickly with less damage. When I told my mom about it this morning, she said "well, it's a hell of a way to wash the floors, now you don't need to do it". "Mom, I washed the floors this past weekend. They didn't need to be washed." And they look really dull now that the sun has come out, so I have to wash them again. I'll wait, though, until Brian has fixed the problem under the sink.
DeeJay has had a couple of bad days. I kept waiting for him to puke yesterday, but he never did. He must have eaten something that didn't agree with him, and I have no idea what it might have been or where he got into something. He's feeling better today, has a voracious appetite. He even wanted to eat last night when we were cleaning. The exercise room was quieter, too, so I didn't mind him being in there.
I started cutting back the catnip yesterday. I probably got a third of it drying right now, I still have more to cut back. I just don't have any place I can lay it out to dry. *sigh* There's just so much of it.
Well, Brian's home, guess I should go.
Later
Well, a woman from Project Wildlife just left. Remember the Dogloo we got from the neighbors when their dog died? And that I had Brian hide it behind some bushes and palm trees right outside the entry gate? With the opening at the metal so that smaller animals can get into the Dogloo safely and larger animals can't get to them?
This afternoon, I went outside to see if the mail had gotten here. KittyMeeze was laying on the driveway under one of the vehicles. I looked around for Little Bit, but didn't see her. Just out of curiosity, because the weather has cooled off a little, I looked in the Dogloo. No feline, but there was one of the small possoms we've seen coming to the front. Well, that's cool, I thought. A little while later, I went out with the flashlight to see if possibly, the other possom was here, too. No other possom, but the one in there was injured. I could see raw skin on the side. Now, if I hadn't seen the injury, I'd have let well enough alone, but this guy looked to need some vet care. I remembered Project Wildlife, came inside, searched for them online, found the number and called. I was referred to a pager number for people who help possoms. Within minutes, my page was returned. The soonest she could be out was between five thirty and six thirty because she had two other possoms she had to get. We discussed how I could make sure the possom would stay in the shelter and not run off by the time she got here. I ended up putting one of the cat gates across the opening. It wasn't opened up and it was thick enough that it nestled snuggly between the front of the Dogloo and the wall and iron of the fence. I noticed that there was a trail of ants going into the Dogloo and they were on the possom. I said a little prayer that the possom would be okay.
I checked on it a few more times and it was still alive. She got here about fifteen minutes ago and she and Brian were able to get the possom from the Dogloo (she just picked it up by its tail and dropped it in the carrier box). Brian was pretty amazed and she said that possoms look meaner than they are. While she was holding the possom up, we all got a good look at the wound. It was a large section of flesh taken from the back of one of the back legs. No blood and it looked pretty clean, not jagged. She said it looked like it had gotten trapped in wire or something. And that it would definitely need vet care. I filled out the form she brought and gave her a twenty dollar bill (I have a little money I've been saving for the trip to Disneyland next month). I showed her the fence and the barrier for our cats and showed her where the possoms come from. She asked if it would be alright if she brought the possom back when it was healed, released it back to where it came from. I said sure, we didn't have a problem with that. She was relieved and she was glad that it was okay, because it would be back in familiar territory with familiar faces.
Anyway, I hope the possom is okay. She said she didn't think the injury was a life threatening one and that it would most likely be okay.
Whew.
Replies: 9 comments
I've been through this twice. Once at my old Studio apt. before I got married, the water heater broke. Second, a pipe under BR sink broke flooding the BR and hall,2 days after buying our house.
Posted by Melanee @ 09/10/2003 03:41 PM PDT
Thank you so much for helping the poor possum. So many people hate them.
I had one for a pet until it ate rubarb leaves & died. He was so much fun. He litter box trained himself. He also got along with my cats.Posted by Darlene @ 09/10/2003 08:50 PM PDT
Eek, sounds like you had a mess with the water...
Thanks for helping the possum. We have lots here in GA and like Darlene said, folks don't care too much for them.
Posted by Bobbie @ 09/10/2003 09:26 PM PDT
Horrible way to wake up..
I hate floods like that.
Only thing worse is the septic tank backing up and that really is gross..
Glad the possum will be ok.
Hope the weather dries out for us both..Posted by granny @ 09/10/2003 11:55 PM PDT
Didn't you guys just put in Pergo flooring????
Posted by Tia @ 09/11/2003 08:26 AM PDT
Tia, we put in tile. remodel page (needs updating).As for the possom, yeah, I've never minded them. I don't mind raccoons, either, but I hate coyotes.
Posted by lisaviolet @ 09/11/2003 08:44 AM PDT
You hate coyotes? :cool:
Anyone who's been reading the Diaries would know that. We found a solution to that problem - Llamas - our Llama will chase them and kick at them! They don't come round here no morePosted by Donna @ 09/11/2003 11:31 AM PDT
I love the people at Project Wildlife. I've taken many birds to them. The cats haven't harmed any lately though,thank god. The last one I picked up from my husbands work, it had flown into a window. How great that it gets to come back to your home.
Posted by Melanee @ 09/11/2003 12:18 PM PDT
You sure do have your adventures! I'm glad you helped the possum. I never get to see live ones. They remind me of one of my rainbow bridge cats - who was named "Possum" (long story - she didn't look anything like the real thing).
Posted by Lisa @ 09/11/2003 02:07 PM PDT
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