Wrong assumption

So if you read enough of my blog post for the last couple years you will notice a theme that we've had to deal with a lot of home repairs.  I've gotten into a bit of a mode where I am just expecting something else to go wrong each week..

Well, one morning my wife was out of the house early and on her way to work while I was still laying in bed.  As I lay there, I heard a bird chirping loudly and a kind of thrumming hum.  It didn't last long enough then to really draw my attention but then it started happening again and in my semi-foggy state started to think about the sounds. 

The first thing that started to come to mind is the heat pump which is right outside the window.  I've been waiting for it to go out.  As I lay there, I'm thinking it sounds like the compressor wants to start but can't.  And what is up with the bird like chirping sound - did something nest next to the to heat pump and is now flipping out due to the sounds or is it the heat pump too?

I'm going to cover my head a minute and find a happy place now.

I finally get up and decide there is little to be done - wait until evening to look at it closely.  My son was still around and he commented that mom had forgotten her phone - she gotten a hold of him from work. Anyways, I had an afternoon appointment that I did not want to miss nor did I want to be all uptight from the heat pump issue.  Normally I would just call the wife and things would be better - but couldn't that day.  

When I went to my appointment, I took my wife's phone with me since I figured I would be pretty close to her work and I could drop it off.  The ESL class at church was that evening and I know she likes to know earlier than later if any teachers/helpers can't make it those evenings.  

I dropped her an email that I would swing by and when I met her I told her about the heat pump sounds.  She laughed a little.  I thought she lost it.  Then she explained that she kept missing texts so our daughter changed the sound of her text notifications to a chirping bird and left the vibrate on too.  

Hm, chirping bird you say?  That could sound a bit like a bearing on a compressor trying to go out and combine that with what sounds like an electric motor hum..  and I did find her phone in the bedroom.

Sigh.  Ok, so the heat pump isn't going out.  It was just her phone.

I did sigh with relief at that point.  

Psalm 107:30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

30 Then they were glad because they were quiet,
So He guided them to their desired haven.

Unwelcome surprise

So do you ever have moments where you want to pretend you didn't hear something?  There are times I do this just for fun when my wife is talking to me about various things - "Huh, sorry, didn't hear you?".  Usually this involves something that was forgotten.. theoretically speaking that might include something like a dry towel..  

Then there are the times when you do wish you didn't hear something.  Usually this coincides with some very unenjoyable event for me.  

This was an instance of the second item.  I know it is bad when my wife calls and the first words are "we have a problem!".  I really don't want to hear that. 

The next words that come out are all in a semi-intelligible rush -  "water.. pipe broke.. spraying everywhere.  Where are YOU?"!

I was able to gather after a minute that the pipe was outside.  Ok, that is either really good or really bad.  Fortunately, we had been doing enough work on the house that my wife and son were aware of where the shutoffs (multiple) were outside.  Their first attempt ended up being the one for the water heater only.  Fortunately, the second shutoff did work.  I say fortunately because the problem was downstream of the shutoff at the house and not between the house and the road.

When I got home, I found that the line going to the long defunct sprinkler system had broken loose at a 90 degree elbow just *before* a shutoff valve. 

When I had received my wifes somewhat frantic call I was still at work and it is roughly an hour home.  I got on my way quickly at that point - it was somewhere between 6-7pm already.  I was able to talk my wife through what I mainly needed to cap it (which I hoped was all that was required since I hadn't seen it yet).  She went to Lowes and picked up a variety of pipe sizes since they couldn't determine the exact size.  

It worked out that she had the size required.  The only problem was that my pipe cement was expired - normally I don't even pay attention but I happened to decide to check since if this broke loose again I may not know immediately so better safe than sorry.  I made the run to Walmart at that point and got a fresh pack of Oatey cement/primer. 

I ended up ripping out the lines that went to the sprinkler zones at the back of the house so I had room to splice in a new piece of pipe.   You can see below that I spliced in a fairly long (~ 2 feet) piece of pipe which was longer than needed but it let me reuse the clamp that was attached to the wall to hold it before.  I didn't have that clamp in place for the picture though.

I think I finally got it done about 9:30pm and had the water to the house back on around 11:30pm.  I wanted to give the pipe cement a bit of time to fully cure. The extra parts in the weeds/grass were from the sprinkler plumbing I ripped out.

So we figure we had a sideways geyser for probably several hours before it was noticed.  The sort of funny part is that my wife had gotten out of work and she laid down for a while in the master bedroom just feet away from the break.  Apparently at one point she got up very sleepily and noticed the sink only trickled but then laid down again.  Next time she woke she thought it was raining and then realized that wasn't the issue..

So our next water bill will be a little higher than normal but it could have been a lot worse.  I'm just glad the pipe wasn't in the house and am grateful that my son and wife were able to find and turn the shutoff.

I do have one extra project out of this now though.  When they shutoff water to the water heater - there are 2 valves.  One is an old brass gate valve and the other a newer PVC valve that someone spliced in instead of fixing the deteriorated old brass valve.  My wife had my son shut off both and the brass valve was pretty much shot and leaks when you try to close it. So now I will go ahead and put something else in that doesn't leak.

2 Corinthians 5:1 English Standard Version (ESV)

Our Heavenly Dwelling

5 For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Snowflake vs bus

So we started the holidays with a bit of an off note.. My wife was on her way to work and was stopped a red light.   That is not an unfamiliar thing around Tampa but what followed was.  A public school bus was trying to make a u-turn to her left in a location that wasn't appropriate.  As my wife sat there, the rear of the bus swung toward her and broke her driver side mirror.  By the way, we named her car Snowflake - we started naming the cars for fun when the kids were little and just keep up the tradition now.

Here is what it looks like now.

Here is the passenger side mirror for comparison.

Fortunately, no one was physically hurt and we hope the bus driver is able to get the points wiped so they can continue to drive a bus.  

Now we are just trying to find a moment during the holidays to get it fixed.  

I'm not attached to any particular car - they are just transportation to me.  Even without Matthew 6:19-21 mentioning cars, buses or broken mirrors - I think the message is there.  This incident was just a reminder. 

Matthew 6:19-21 English Standard Version (ESV)

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust[a] destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.