It's Been a Bad Day
This is a long story about my really awful evening. You can click the link below to read it or just skip it.
Last night, we had freezing temperatures here in the Florida Panhandle. I thought I had made all the preparations a homeowner should make for such things.
However, when I came home from work today, I discovered the pipes for my sprinkler system had busted and were leaking. I wasn't expecting this because I had turned the water off to the sprinkler system at the beginning of winter.
Like a dummy, I tried to turn the valve to see if I could get it to stop leaking. It started gushing instead. I'm now soaked and the temps are in the upper-thirties.
I called the emergency plumber. They are completely swamped. The earliest they can come out is noon tomorrow. They tell me I need to shut the water off at the main valve. I decide to give this a try, since my front lawn is turning into a swamp.
I lift up the lid to where the main turn-off valve should be. All I see is a water meter, clicking along at quite a brisk pace. I see nothing that looks like a valve.
As you can imagine, I'm pretty much panicking at this time. My elderly mother, who lives with me, is going around to our neighbors' houses to try to get some help. Nobody is home.
(I should mention that my mother had also been gone all day. She and my sister sometimes take trips to Biloxi to throw money away play slots at the casinos.)
I decide to try another plumber to see if I can get someone else out sooner. The lady tells me that their plumbers are all exhausted and have gone home for the day. However, she was very helpful in that she gave me the emergency number for the utility company. (I had been trying to find that number in the phone book with no success. Panic causes me to get stuck on dumb.)
I call the utility company and hold for about twenty minutes. I tell the dispatcher my situation. He tells me my valve is probably covered with dirt. He describes it and tells me I need a wrench to turn it off. I tell him I'll give it another try and I call back if I can't get it to turn off.
I dig around and see something like what he described. However, I either don't have the proper tools or the upper-body strength, because I can't budge the thing.
I call them back, and they picked up right away this time. I talked to a different guy, who said he would put me on an already very long list. He says it might be a while.
In the meantime, the water is now shooting up like a geyser. In desperation, I try again to turn off the valve. Nothing. The water meter is now spinning like those little wheels in a slot machine. I've been praying this whole time. I look up at the stars and ask God to please help me.
My mother finally gets my sister's husband on the phone (they had been grocery shopping) and he says he'll come over and help. Not long after, a nice man from the utility company arrives and turns the valve off. I thank him profusely. I thank God profusely.
I had the foresight to draw some bath water before attempting to turn the water off. My mother also filled up some jugs. So at least I was able to take a bath and have some water for other needs.
So, I'm pretty drained this evening. I just wrote this to vent. If you've read this far, all I can say is I'm very flattered.