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.
Don’t you just love it when you can McGyver something? It feels so powerful! Even though you didn’t get any snow…you still had quite the sump pump adventure….sounds yucky. It’s almost unbelievable how much snow did fall in other areas….you were very lucky, Just glad to hear you are safe and sound. Cute cup…that Don…he’s a keeper! ;)
I’m glad it’s all over – though snow is being predicted for Wednesday. Yuck!
Great job but that’s way too much excitement for one day and night! I collect special coffee mugs too, love it.
Glad you are safe and no damage.
Me too! Thanks, Deb.
oh, ugh … so sorry you had to go through all that … but look how strong and clever you are! still, am glad you can get the sump pump checked, found the guilty smoke detector, didn’t get completely socked in with snow or lose power and are on the other side of that stuff. and enjoyed the movie and cocoa.
hope today is a much easier day.
didn’t know a person could create a mug like that. how special … and you have a good man!
thanks for the link to the today show coverage of “etm” and your don.
kathy in iowa
You’re welcome, Kathy! Thanks.
Thanks, Claudia, for posting the link from the Today Show. Loved it! I do have a question … one that could possibly horrify all of the long time Jimmy Buffett fans (!!!), but what is the significance of Don wearing the eye patch?
I’m so glad you, and the cottage, are safe after the terrible storm. That sort of thing totally stresses me out
It has nothing to do with Jimmy Buffett, everything to do with his character. Just the way it’s written. Plus, it’s pirate-like.
A Pirate Looks at Forty, a JB song is featured several times in the play, so…? You know?
Don’s character is supposed to be in his seventies! So maybe, A Pirate looks at Seventy?
Watched the Today show clip. For those few minutes, I was able to escape my cold, dreary, snowy Michigan winter. It certainly looks like a lot of fun.
Thank you for a respite from the storm.
It IS a lot of fun, Nancy!
Ugh, mechanical failures in the middle of a nor’easter! You are much more enterprising than I could have been. Good job! Now, get some rest.
I am, Shanna!
Oh what a perfect gift your husband had made for you. Also my favorite movie. I even like the remake with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I don’t like the one that was remade with Van Johnson and Judy Garland.
Trina
Same here. In the Good Old Summertime (?) never did it for me, either. It was also made into a successful Broadway musical called She Loves Me.
Hi Claudia – brave and clever and you fixed the float, (bet you had a lot of laundry too), found the blasting smoke detector, got a bit of sleep plus gave us the link to see DON singing (and the rest of the cast too). Busy. Thanks.
Joy
Busy! You’re welcome, Joy!
Claudia, You’ve earned a few days of nothing happening except what you make happen! Love your mug. I like the movie too. It’s a weird rain-sun pattern in my area…sunny skies when I got up this morning, then a heavy downpour, now sunny skies again. It’s supposed to start raining this afternoon again. We had an earthquake around 3 am, but it was very weak so I slept through it.
There was an earthquake in the Hudson Valley a few weeks ago, but I didn’t feel anything. Apparently, areas south of us did.
You did a great job with that pump. Glad your power stayed. We have a few branches down, but that is all, thankfully. Some of Queens has flooding,but not here. I love that mug Don gave you for Christmas. Stay safe and enjoy the week end.
Marilyn
Yes, I’ve seen film of the flooding. And it’s very, very bad in Boston. Thanks, Marilyn!
So glad the storm is over. Here in Northwest Jersey we had at least 8 inches of snow and it drifted. I can relate to your sump pump issues. Nothing ever stops working in my hundred year old house when my husband is home! I am so done with winter.
Exactly! That seems to be an unwritten rule. Thanks, Judy.
Claudia, I love your special cup and I too love that movie. I did not know you lived out of the city, so I know about electric for the well pump…and I too worry about the sump pumps working right…it just makes me nuts. Ted seems to not worry at all. Sorry you had to go thru so much to tend to that pump. Thank goodness you are a smart cookie. Hopefully you will get a good night’s sleep tonight. I am praying for both coasts of this country, but especially the east coast…so scary. Blessings to you. xoxo, Susie
Very scary. So much damage! Thanks, Susie.
I so enjoyed watching the cast perform. Couldn’t take my eyes off Don. Such joyous entertainment!
Completely joyous! We need that right now, Barbara!
That was indeed a rough day and night. So glad you got it ‘fixed’ for now and didn’t have to pay for an emergency call. I got home around 2pm from staying the night with the Grands. Not much sleep for me as 3 in a bed is rough and Scout sleeps sideways … still I loved it. I did take a nap when I got home! I love your special coffee mug. That is a great movie and I need to see it again as it’s been years since i saw it. Hope you had a better day today. Hugs!
You must see it again. It’s on TCM fairly frequently. Glad you had a good time with the grands!
It was so much fun seeing Don sing. What a treat. Just like being there! Thanks , Claudia! Now I want to see the whole show!
You should, Casey! It’s a lot of fun!
You have a lot of admirable grit and ingenuity, Claudia. Hearing of your ‘escapades’ yesterday just wore me out. Very capable woman; must make Don proud (I’m sure he felt concerned and helpless, far away in NYC and on the job). It strikes me you’re a real cross between a woman of the countryside and a woman of the big, urban city.
Our rain in SoCalif was sort of a big bunch of nuth’in where I’m located. We just got back from the winter beach (my favorite; no tourists); lovely and clear and cool (sun & clouds & blue sky and sunshine) after the little-bit of rain; we had many gull friends today. They were ‘talking’ a mile a minute at us!
I’m feeling sorry for myself because ‘everybody’ seems to have a more interesting life than I have – – Susan Branch is about to leave for four months in England/Ireland; my cousin is in The Netherlands for a month, vacationing, as I write this; my high school friend just got back from a surfing vacay in Costa Rica and another childhood friend is just about to leave for Tuscany/Italy for three weeks where they have a friend with villa/vineyards. Sigh. I seem to be ‘surrounded’ with people at or near retirement (my age group) who aren’t hurting financially AT ALL. Several have had windfalls from the passing of their Greatest Generation parents who were frugal with money, so a lot is left over for their baby boomer adult-children.
I know two people my age who’ve inherited the elderly parents’ homes, long since paid for and never borrowed against (full equity) and houses are selling lightning-quick here, at nearly all-time-high selling prices, so these heirs my age are getting handed checks for $600,000 or $900,000 (for just boring, no-character, 3-bed [maybe 4-bed but not necessarily] 1950s-style tract houses with small lots; but that’s SoCalif real estate for you, if you hit it right, like not in a recession). The house across the street from me, identical to my house, little cooky-cutters all in a row, blah-houses, is going for half a million, it hasn’t had any improvements in 25 years and has a lot wrong with it.
My husband is retiring this year and, well, I don’t even know how we’re gonna make it but I guess we’ll find a way. He’s going to have to keep working at some sort of other job. I wish my health would allow me to do the same. Like you, we have a big monthly mortgage payment (like til I die or turn age 95 or something). It’s not that I’m not happy for people I know, that they’re very comfortable at this stage of their lives and money is no object (they have no financial worries; they have great health and can travel). How can I not be glad for them? I just feel very much in the minority (maybe I need new friends!).
My husband says I should be ashamed of myself for having envy. We’re probably about to nosedive into another real estate recession here and Calif usually feels it the worst, sooner than anybody else — and of course interest rates are rising now — but I’m just feeling like we’re nuts to not take advantage of the high selling prices while we have them, and go somewhere else, soonest. I have a friend in the very-expensive bay area/San Francisco and he says he’s losing a lot of neighbors in his subdivision to the states of Washington and Montana where they can buy a more affordable home with their big fist of dollars from the sale of their Calif homes. I’m of course chewing on all this…
…and feel guilty even writing about it when I personally know people who are out of their homes after the destructive wildfires here of just 3 months ago…although little by little, things are starting to come together for them (thankfully) in ‘life-interrupted’…
…with my dad’s words echoing in my ears to count my blessings and be grateful for what I’ve been given!!
Another subject: Are you at all excited about the Oscars? I’m finding I’m not. It used to be an ‘event’ for me to get everything out of the way and decks cleared so that I could watch that telecast; I’d race home from work because it would start early out here on the West Coast!
Unfortunately, we are all prey to feelings of envy. I went through that phase, too. But I seem to have left it behind. We don’t have any significant amounts of money in our savings account. And we have a huge mortgage. But I like our life and I’m grateful for it. I’ve come to terms with the fact that we are all on different journeys and one isn’t better than another.
Not all that into the Oscars this year, wither. I’ll probably look in on it, but that’s about it.
You always the say the right thing when I need to hear it. Very sage way to look at things!
xo
So exciting to see the scene out of the play with your guy!! Would love to see the whole thing. Sounds like you had an exhausting day. Rest up – you deserve it.
Love,
Judy
I think you’d love it, Judy! I hope you can see it someday.
Oh boy…do I know about sump. pumps!…that is why I made sure to not buy a house that has one!!…What a horrible day and night Claudia…That was a clever fix you thought of….I hope today was better for you and you got your yucky mucky laundry done…you glamorous Broadway lady you..lol…sorry I had to try giving you a smile after all of that….We dodged the snow too but not that wind!..scary wind!…I have to go out tomorrow and do some picking up I just wish it would be warmer….Now I’m going to go watch some very talented people who are are going to make me feel happy and warm again!
Yeah, glamorous me! I’m hardly that!
you have the same ingenuity that ‘won the war!’
that’s what I always have heard anyway. here we call it ‘the pioneer spirit.’
isn’t it Murphy’s Law that something like that happens on a weekend or after hours …
like you say … an emergency call. if you can avoid it … BRAVA!
your favorite movies mentioned are literally always MY favorite movies too. I adore your mug.
Always on a weekend or on a day when they’ll charge you extra! Thanks, Tammy!
I was teaching when the Today show was on, so thanks for sharing! I absolutely loved seeing Don, and I am so happy for the both of you. When I taught drama, I was always telling the kids that there is work out there for them. So, so happy to see a talented guy get some recognition, and I love reading about your work with theater groups. Fingers crossed, hoping to get to NYC to see the show!
Well he’s been on Broadway before and is fairly well-known in the theater and television industries, but a big Broadway musical is another thing entirely! I hope you get to see it, Tina-Marie!