It's official; I really, really, don't like the Midwest or anywhere north of the Midwest. This cold weather is punching me in the gut.
I had a very interesting evening last night and thought I'd share some of the details with you. The best way to fill you in is to copy and paste the email that I sent to my wife who is visiting her mom up in Iowa. Here is some of what I wrote her...
"Our water wasn't working this evening (10:30 p.m.) so I bundled up to go into the crawl space to try and unthaw our pipes, but the crawl space was flooded with about 5 inches of water. So I can't get down there to do anything. I called the police department at midnight and they got the city worker and drove him over to shut off our 'main' at the meter. (I had to shovel the lawn in order to find the meter!) I have no idea if the water is from a busted pipe or not - when the city worker came to shut off the meter I had him look to see if the meter was running ... and it was not running. If it were running it would mean that there was a busted pipe that was still leaking. Right now it is a mystery. I will call (a plumber) tomorrow to come and try to solve the mystery. Tomorrow is supposed to be colder than today and I leave early Saturday morning (for Jamaica)... so our water may be off for over a week; but it is better to have it off at the main than risk it unthawing while I'm away and causing HUGE damage."
I then proceeded to tell her how cold and miserable I was. -20 to -30 degrees with windchill had pushed me to the limit. I've seen too many bitterly cold winters in my short lifetime.
Here's the beauty of it though, tomorrow I will be enjoying a 100 degree temperature shift as we go on our mission trip to Jamaica... God is good!
"Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Ps.37:3-5
My desire is to experience a warmer climate - amen.
Enjoy your break from the cold and snow. I am praying for everyone on the mission trip.
ReplyDeleteSounds like we both had an interesting thursday night. Sorry to hear about your water bro.
ReplyDeleteHere is a e-mail I sent your mother concerning my evening...
Right now I am waiting for the plumber to come over and fix one of the radiators. The down stairs is a bit drafty so the furnace constantly runs, which tripled my gas bill. Since the furnace constantly runs the upstairs rooms get to be 80 or 85 degrees at night. I thought I would check out some of the valves to see if I could cut of the flow to the upstairs rooms. this turned out to be a mistake. As I turned the valve something broke and water started squirting out, then trickeling out, then rushing out. I had to run to the basement and turn the entire furnace off and shut off all water flow to radiators. (Not including sinks and toilets, thats a different water source) I lost so much water and antifreeze that it ran through the floor down to the living room. OOOOPPS. This all took place last night when I got home from work. So I have had no furnace running at all since around 5 Oclock yesterday afternoon. Surprisingly with no furnace the air temp in house is holding a steady 56 degrees upstairs as well as down stairs. I checked all the water supply and it is not froze nor anywhere near it. I even checked the temp in the basement figuring it would be very cold down there, but the air temp again is maintaining 50 degrees or better. I'm very stunned and amazed. This is without the woodburner going also. My prayers for this house are coming true. Now I pray that the gas bill will be going down. Guess it kind of has to when the furnace isn't running at all. (Ha Ha) Like I said I am amazed considering outside it has been 25 to 30 below zero at night. A couple of guys at work said their water lines where frozen, so I'm counting my blessings.
Next year this time I am so going to a warm place. Any place other than the arctic of Iowa or anywhere else where there is a hint of snow.
ReplyDeleteBy the way... Have a great trip ;)
You and the rest of the FFC mission team will be in my thoughts and prayers. Enjoy the warmth and scenery while you do God's work. And, if possible, bring some of the warm weather back with you. Please. :]
ReplyDeleteThanks for the prayers Todd and Mandy.
ReplyDeleteMike, sounds like you had a rough evening too. My plumber will be coming over to the house while I'm gone and taking care of things for me.
Next year you should join our team and come on the mission trip with us. We are going again next January.