Gary's ramblings

Sue got home Thursday instead of Friday and went back to work today, so over our long weekend, after a couple of days of catching-up, life returned to normal - as normal as things get around here anyway. Saturday we were working in the yard, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, and the dreaded black flies weren't nearly as bad as they have been in years past - life was excellent. We came in, Sue had her shower, then I introduced her to the Wii, and went to take my shower. I had no more than hopped in (ok at my age I don't really hop), than I heard her screaming, but the water was running and I was upstairs so I couldn't make out what she was saying. It didn't take too long to realize though, she wasn't screaming because she had just scored a birdie at Tiger Woods golf, something was definitely wrong. I jumped out of the shower (even though I don't hop, when I hear my wife screaming bloody murder, I still jump), wrapped a towel around me, and took off down the stairs. When I got to the bottom there was Sue standing in water almost over the soles of her shoes. I looked around and the entire basement was covered in water. Sue was frantically pushing waves of water down a drain in the middle of the floor (till then I always wondered why we would ever need a drain in the middle of the basement floor) and yelling something about the washing machine. I waded, bare feet slipping and sliding on a concrete floor, over to the washer and it was shooting water out the bottom drain hose. I'm guessing it had done the little washing machine jig it does when a load is off balanced and pulled drain hose off the bottom. I get it semi-hooked up, at least good enough that we can continue the clean up, and Sue and I look at each other and break-up laughing. I know I must have looked pretty funny, mopping the basement with only a towel wrapped around me, and sweet Sue, well you just have to know her. When she gets worked up her french accent gets a bit heavier, she swears just a tad, and is really quite funny. While experience has taught me that is not always the best time to laugh, it was ok because she was laughing as hard as I was. So we mop up the basement, laughing the entire time, and I pull out the dryer, mop under there, pull out the downstairs refrigerator, mop under there, then go finish my shower.

Next day is even more beautiful and we are back outside. I start building a deck off the shed and Sue continues working in her flowers. During one of my many breaks I went inside, and just as I walked in the door, I heard the washing machine stop. I took a quick glance around and saw the floor was dry, so I chuckled at yesterday's fiasco, threw the clothes in the dryer, started it, and went back outside. Next time I came in it was hot, muggy, and smelled like fabric softener sheets. The day before, when I pulled the dryer out to mop under it, I had pulled the vent hose off.

Yep life is normal again, and it is great.