The Rains Came Down and the Floods Came Up

The little kids sing this cute little song at church. "the rains came down and the floods came up", etc, etc. It sounds all cute and sweet until it is reality. Then not so much.

The weather is warming, the snow is melting, we can actually see most of our yard. Sounds all wonderful until you go in our basement. Our killer winter has come back to haunt us in a major way. Heres our week from horribleness in a nutshell.

It all began Monday when there was water in the pump room and a bit around the furnace. Matt went to work but by mid-day I had to call him home b/c I wasn't able to keep on top of it with our old old 2 gallon wet vac. He got home in time for the wet vac to finally stop working--he kept messing, I went and bought a new one.

We continued sucking and lying towels in lots of places to keep the water contained. Oh, Monday was so fun.

It's that back room, our pump room with our well pump and water tanks where it all began.
Thank heavens the boiler is elevated. The water has been filling up on the sides and behind the boiler.
See that wet vac....I hate it. I have used it (and our neighbors' wet vac) too many times this week. Even when it isn't running I hear it. I never want to use one EVER again.
We worked round the clock Monday thru Thursday, literally using the shop vac anywhere from every 30-40 minutes to every 2 or so hours. We even took shifts at night. The water wasn't deep enough for a pump above the ground and we don't have a sump pump (yet). We had managed to keep it off the carpet, except for this small bit that we had pulled back. Don't you love all the crap we have behind it. But we were winning this battle--the finished part of the basement was going to be saved.

Then we got rain....lots of hard rain all night into Friday and Friday morning. That sent things over the edge.

By mid-day Friday, we had the carpeting all out and it didn't take long before the carpet pad was this wet. The water was coming in so fast and so much...still not deep but definitely all over the basement. Fortunately the boiler, washer, dryer and chest freezer are up a few inches off the ground so they've been saved so far.

A more glamorous shot of me. This was late Friday. I wore this shirt all Thursday, slept (or didn't sleep) in it. The sweat pants had been worn about 4 nights in a row. Yes, I saw almost all of my neighbors while looking like this and we even had the missionaries over helping us for several hours. It was a pitiful look for a pitiful day. I think I've used the wet vac at least 70 different times this week (probably more like 80 or more). I don't know how many gallons of water we have gotten out, but it's definitely in the hundreds and hundreds.

This is Mary in the garage with some of our stuff. The garage is also wet EVERYWHERE. We moved the piano out to the only dry spot and put the sofa up on buckets. Now this massive area has our carpet draped over all of it. It's pretty much dry though, so I think we've managed to save it.

And here's our helper man. Andrew has become a professional shop vac-er. He uses the 6 gallon one and goes to town. As soon as it fills, he whips off the top, unscrews the hose and goes to dump it. I needed his help doing one last vac before we headed to church this morning since Matt had already gone. We've rolled up his pants and he got straight to work.

This is our 'finished' side of the basement. No more carpet, no more pad. It's drying out a lot...halleluia.

So now, it's Sunday night. We haven't used the wet vac in 5 hours....while there is a good amount of water to be sucked up, this is by far the longest we've gone without having to suck it up. We might actually get a decent stretch of sleep tonight. I can't wait.
Rain is in the forecast for Wednesday...let's just hope the water can drop a bit more before then.

To add to the craziness of the week, this had to be the week of 1 doctors appointment, 3 dentist appointments, getting our van back, 2 funerals, Whitney getting gum in her hair, etc, etc.

It was also a week to be reminded of how many awesome people we have in our life!

• Cardon, Chiara, Dennis, Jeff, and Trevor came over Monday night and shoveled the massive amount of snow that was sitting on top of where it was all coming into the house. Nothing like shoveling snow to a different part of the yard. Stupid.
• Tanjua, Nikie, and Kelli watched all or some of the kids on different days.
• Kelli made us dinner one night.
• Aaron called and asked if he could come and see if he could figure out a better solution for us. He even went to Home Depot searching for the right type of pump or stuff to rig up for us. He and his wife even volunteered to sleep over and take a night vacuuming for us.
• The Elders serving in our ward came over Friday and helped Matt move carpet out of the house and move furniture up to what was Whit and Annie's room. They were involuntarily moved to Mary's room this week.
• Randy came over for several hours yesterday helping Matt rip out carpet pad and move stuff from our wet garage up to the shed.
• Andrea and Dave came over with a dehumidifier and fans and ice cream for the kids.
• Both Ivonne and Jen (wonderful neighbors) have let us borrow their wet vacs--bigger heavier dutier than ours type wet vacs. We have a love-hate relationship with these wet-vacs. Jay and Amanda (other wonderful neighbors) let us use their furniture dolly and helped move the piano.
• So many friends and family have called to check in, offer help, be listening ears, etc.

We hate not having our families nearby. It's really comforting, however, too know that we have wonderful people all around us that step in and fill that void when we need it. I feel so grateful.

Obviously unscathed by the insanity of the house this week, these two just think it's fun to take off their pants, put on some winter gear and jump around the kitchen. Good times!