As I said on Instagram, it’s interesting when the title of the book you are reading mirrors what’s going on outside.

The nor’easter was relentless and scary and insane. But our little pocket of the Hudson Valley was somehow spared the snow and, at least in this neighborhood, downed trees and power outages. For that I am truly grateful.

That being said, I was up here sitting at my desk when I realized that I could hear the sump pump, and it wasn’t going off. This has happened in the past, so I pulled on some jeans, donned my muck boots and a slicker and made my way outside. Our basement is the kind that you enter from the outside and it’s old (house was built in 1891) and full of cobwebs and not my favorite place to be, which is ironic since I ended up spending much of the day there yesterday.

Upon examination, it looked like the float had become loose. For those of you who might not know: a sump pump has a float, like a toilet tank has a float, and it rises according to the level of the water that is draining into the pit around the sump pump. When it reaches a certain height, the float rises, the sump pump kicks on, and it flushes the water out through a pipe and up to the ground outside.

I tried putting it back in place and it would work for a while, but then, back upstairs, I would realize I hadn’t heard it, and I’d have to go back outside and downstairs. Keep in mind that we had gale force winds all day long yesterday. I won’t make this story any longer than it needs to be, just fast forward through about 6 or 7 trips downstairs, at least three changes of clothes and a second shower, to the point where I realized I was going to have to come up with something to keep the float in place or the basement would flood. The rod that goes through the float and threads through a hole on the sump pump needed something to secure it in place and keep it from ‘floating’ away. I finally came up with the idea of using a cork coaster. I brought the float upstairs, poked the end of the rod through the coaster, and then trimmed the cork. Back downstairs, kneeling on the very wet floor (another change of clothes), I threaded the rod through the opening, gently pushed the cork down – it didn’t tear, thank goodness – and waited.

It worked.

But I spent the rest of the day listening for the sump pump to go on and off, in case I had to try something else. But it kept on working.

I guess I MacGyvered it, right?

Someone is going to come and fix it on Wednesday. I was darned if I was going to pay for an emergency call if I didn’t have to.

Tuckered out after all of this, I treated myself to a hot chocolate and watched It Happened One Night, one of my favorite movies. Then I took a hot bath and went to bed. All the while, the winds kept blowing and, as you know, that is very nervous-making for me.

I finally fell asleep, only to wake up at 4:30 in the morning to the relentless chirp of a smoke detector.

I am not kidding.

After a couple of hours of searching for the guilty party to no avail, then trying to go back to sleep only to have it happen again, I finally figured out which one it was. Triumph!

And I ended up going to back to sleep for an hour or two.

Can you see why I’m just plain tuckered out?

I know so many of you had it much worse and I’m thinking of you. This was a deadly storm and thousands upon thousands of people do not have power. Many, many trees have fallen. It’s terrible. And those of you on the West Coast are facing storms as well.

Today, I’m going to try to get out for a while. I feel extremely housebound, while appreciating that I have a roof over my head and am snug and warm.

Speaking of movies, did I ever show you the mug that Don had made for me for Christmas?

It’s from one of my favorite movies. I watch it often. And I mean, often.

Here’s the other side, the storefront of The Shop Around the Corner:

He’s a sweetie, that guy.

Okay. Have to get a move on. There’s debris to pick up in the yard.

Link to performance on the Today show. If you stay there, the second number will pop up, too.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.