The Joys of Winter in New York

On Tuesday morning, we went and dropped Daisy off at the vet to get spayed. Poor thing started shaking like a leaf when she saw that Jason and I were leaving. I felt awful, though the folks at the vet are very nice and assured us she'd be fine.

A long day of conference calls kept me busy until Jason brought her home at about 6. He had committed to helping out at Oakwood for a couple hours, so he had to head out again shortly after he dropped her off. Only directions about Daisy: keep her calm and give her water if she wanted any. So I am basically settling back on the sofa with a book to watch Daisy. . .when I notice that the pump in the basement is running and not turning off. Give it a minute or two, I think. Nope, still running. Sigh. I pulled on my boots so I could head down and check to make sure everything was OK in the barn. No sooner had I opened the doors than I hear water cascading from somewhere in that general direction. Not good.

Grab phone, call Jason's cell. . .no asnwer (Oakwood has notoriously bad cell reception). Run to barn, search for cutoff valve. Call Henry (handyman guy) on cell, ask if he can help me find the cutoff. (No, quite difficult on the phone). Henry says he's on his way. Meanwhile, I remember paying $950 for a new pump less than a year ago when it burned itself out the last time a pipe burst. Shit! Run to house. . .Daisy freaks out barking. Calm down dog. Run down basement stairs. Try to find light in the side with the pump - no good, bulb burned out. Feel around in the dark for pump switch (at this point, if any spiders had jumped out on me I would have absolutely lost my marbles). Found it. Shut off pump. Run to barn (it OK Daisy, Gooood Girrrl). Crap! Water still coming out of the ceiling all over the motorcycles and not showing any signs of stopping. Henry not here yet. Call Jason's cell again. Damn! Call Terry Ringler (neighbor). Terry on his way. Finally notice cutoff valve on pipes leading to upstairs bathroom and shut them off. And the water stops just as Terry pulls in.

Terry and I confirm which pipes were frozen/burst, and I run back up to the barn to turn the pump back on so nothing else freezes (all the taps are open, but if the pump is off. . .well, you get the idea). Meanwhile Henry has arrived, and he and Terry and I rig up a ladder up to the area where the pipes are. Terry runs home to grab an electric heater, and he and Henry get it bungeed to the ladder while I am up at the house checking on Daisy.

The story turns out fine in the end though. Daisy is fine, and Henry came back the next day and fixed the pipes. I should be set for the renters coming in tonight!