I Have Water in my Basement!!!

There’s a reason I don’t have rummage sales anymore.  Haven’t had for years.  I would do this wonderful job of cleaning out my basement and closets.  I always had great plans of getting rid of all those things that accumulate that you haven’t used for years and probably don’t even remember that you have.  My policy is if you haven’t used it in three years you don’t need it anymore.  Now Ole, on the other hand, has a different philosophy in life.  NEVER THROW ANYTHING AWAY BECAUSE YOU MIGHT NEED IT 20 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD.  The only problem with that is by that time he can’t remember where he put it so he goes out and buys a new one anyway!  Makes sense, doesn’t it? 

So I would do this great job of getting all these “goodies” hauled out into the garage, organized, priced and set up so that the next day, when I opened the garage door, I would have all these bargain hunters standing there just waiting to pounce and take advantage of my wonderful treasurers.  NOT!!  Ole would come home from work the evening prior to the big sale and go through everything, item by item, and carry 75% of it back into the basement.  His theory?  “I MIGHT need that some day,” or, “This is still perfectly good, why get rid of it?”  My response (although it never did any good) was always the same. “Dear, we need to get rid of it because we haven’t used it in 20 years.”  Just as an example, we moved back from Iceland in 1971, and there are still boxes in the basement that have NEVER BEEN OPENED in all those years!!  Well, actually, I  have opened them and know what’s in them, but I’ll bet you a large amount of money that Ole doesn’t have a clue.  And he hasn’t missed one single item that stored in those boxes from 35 years ago.

Well, anyway, on with my story.  At one time Ole was “into” fish and we had four aquariums.  He eventually graduated to an aquarium that was installed in the wall in the basement – 9 feet x 3 feet x 4 feet.  It cracked one day and spilled 280 gallons of water on the carpeted basement floor.  But that’s a story for another day.  Anyway, he had managed to collect four smaller aquariums that were all retired and placed on the shelf in the basement when he graduated to the gigantic one.  I’ve suggested many times that he either sell the smaller aquariums or donate them to the Boy’s Ranch so someone else could make use of them.  Guess what – all four aquariums are still sitting on the shelf after 20 years because he MIGHT use them again some day.   

Enter the washing machine.  I noticed the other day when I was doing a load of laundry that there was kind of a funny gurgling sound coming out when it dumped.  Then I noticed that water was backing up in the sink next to the machine when it dumped.  Didn’t think anything of it at that time, just that maybe the high water was affecting our septic system and causing things not to work quite right.  Later that day I happened to be down in the basement in the room that’s located under my laundry room, which is on the main floor, when the washer was dumping.  To my terror I heard what I thought sounded like Niagara Falls!!  I quickly tracked down the sound of gushing water and watched as torrents of soapy, sudsy water came roaring down through a hole in the floor where the drain line ran from the washer, and filling up the 30 gallon aquarium that just happened to be sitting on the top shelf right under the washing machine drain line!

Yelling up the stairway, “Ole, Ole, come down here, we’ve got water in the basement!”  “Well, float the boat, then, I’ll be right down.” Ole hasn’t said, “I told you so,” yet, but I guess that’s one time it was okay to hang onto something we didn’t need anymore.  It just happened to be in a strategic location and held exactly one washer load of water!!  But I’d still like to get rid of the other three aquariums!!

Otherwise, all is quiet on the South Branch of the Buffalo River.  It continues to recede and leave behind a silty, black mess that will eventually be washed off when the spring rains come. 

Here’s a couple of shots I took over the last couple of days.  The one below is of a complete square mile section under water that’s headed for the Red River (lucky them).  There’s a few black spots of soil showing here and there.  You can’t see them on this picture, but farther into the field it’s covered with Canadian Geese, Snow Geese and Swans. 

Here’s a few of the family members crossing the road.  Water must have been better on the other side.

Daisy has a wonderful time chasing these critters and barking at them.  In the process of getting them to fly, she misjudged and slipped into the ditch for a swim all the way up to her neck.  She paddled around for a bit before she decided the water was cold and climbed out.  German Shepherds aren’t supposed to like water – but somebody forgot to tell that to Daisy.  She should have been born a lab or a spaniel.  She’s like a kid – if there’s a puddle,  she’s in it!!

Love, Lena