Yesterday morning as I was sitting on the back porch, drinking coffee and reading the news, I heard a car horn blow - a short toot, followed by a fairly long blast. It sounded close, so I got up and peeped around the corner of the house. Nanny's car was parked at the end of her driveway, and she was out of the car. She raised the lid on the water meter, stuck a long T-bar in the hole, and began twisting. I hurried across the road and asked if there was trouble.
Nanny was frantic. "Water just exploded all over my bathroom!" she said. Her voice cracked, as if she was about to cry. I asked if she wanted me to call the plumber who lives about 2 miles up the road. She said she would call him.
I came back to the house and told The Husband about it. He was in the kitchen, about to leave for work. With 15 minutes to spare before I had to leave for work, I grabbed my mop and mop bucket, said I was going to help her clean up the water, and took off down the driveway in my car. The Husband was right behind me.
There was water on the ceiling, on the vanity - everywhere. Nanny said she'd heard a loud "explosion," and ran into the bathroom to find water spewing everywhere. She thought something had exploded in the air-conditioner unit, which was right outside her bathroom wall. I mopped up water while Nanny and The Husband went outside to investigate the AC. After a few minutes, they came inside, turned off the unit, and tried to call the AC repairman (who also lives just up the road), but only reached his answering service. By this time, I had to leave for work. Nanny asked me to stop at the AC guy's house and tell him to come right away. Since it has been about 100 degrees every day for weeks, I told Nanny I'd leave our back door unlocked so she'd have a cool place to wait on the AC guy. I stopped by the house, unlocked the door, and hit the road. Couldn't get anybody to the door at the AC guy's house.
As it turned out, the water line that goes to the toilet had blown loose from the tank and hosed the bathroom. The plumber came right away and fixed it. Now, Nanny, who lives on a fixed income, is fretting about paying the plumber's bill and the extra cost of the water bill.
It's so hard being elderly and alone.
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Late yesterday afternoon, The Daughter-in-Law texted me to ask if I had some peroxide and a band-aid. My heart leapt into my throat, wondering who was hurt and why it was more convenient to get first-aid supplies from me instead of going to the drug store across the highway from their house. Since I am old, my mind envisioned all sorts of awful things; maybe they'd had a wreck, maybe . . . . When I asked her if she needed me to bring her the stuff, she said they were nearby and would stop by our house. It turned out that Granddaughter #3 had tripped and skinned her knee and her hand while the family was out for a walk. The bleeding and the tears had stopped by the time they arrived to doctor the wound.
As it turned out, we had a nice visit. The Little Rotten Baby had just awakened from a nap and was refreshed and full of her curly-headed self. The other three Granddaughters headed straight for my sewing room to tinker with fabric and paint pens. Before long, the other Daughter-in-Law dropped by to say hello.
I love it when the kids drop in, regardless of the reason. :)
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I woke up for a potty break about 3 this morning. On the way back to the bed, I heard a cricket singing. I wandered around the room for a minute to locate him but couldn't tell if he was in the bedroom or outside near the bedroom wall. I went back to bed but could not go back to sleep for listening to the cricket. After about an hour, I gave up on sleeping, got up, and turned on the coffee pot.
This afternoon I will go cricket hunting.
Then I will go to the garden to see about the cucumbers.
I have not set foot in the garden since the weekend. The cucumbers probably need to be picked.
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