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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Random Thoughts on a Random Day Off [now with updates!]

My neighborhood is not the one that caused the entire school district to close. Our roads are bare and wet here. But it's not the same in the entire district and I'm kind of thrilled to get the day off.

I'm also annoyed that I couldn't get back to sleep after they called it.

Yeah, yeah, Seattle wimp-drivers. I know. Been there, done that, wrote the Vocal article.

Because while I am well enough to go back to work (I am recovering from bronchitis), yesterday was just about enough for me. 

Lizzy (because big forks are the only ones clean) is just about as annoyed as I am about the inability to go back to sleep.

Our water pressure is low today. Just us, as far as I can tell, but it's not a trickle like it would be if our pipes froze and burst. Lizzy posits that maybe they're partway frozen, leaving a narrower channel.

Lizzy was incorrect because as I typed this, a neighbor came to tell me that she could hear lots of water moving around under my house. I went to find the shutoff and slipped on the wet (icy?) stairs and down I went. Did not reinjure my knee (yay!), but I have some very interesting scrapes and bruises on my arms from catching myself.

And, you know, no water.

This is not the way to make me less irritable, universe.

Well, this blog post has taken quite a turn...

I'm waiting on a call back from the plumber. I don't know why we had no trouble with the water during the actual cold snap; we did the usual bits of responsible homeownership like wrapping outdoor faucets, leaving things on at a trickle at night, etc., and the water was fine.

Until today, so who knows?

Was this really necessary?

[UPDATE] Well.

We have water, yay! 

It took most of the day, numerous phone calls,  two plumbers (man, are they busy this week, because I assure you we are not alone in our doing-things-right-but-still-freezing-pipes), quite a lot of money, two showers and a few bathroom breaks at grandma's house down the road, most of my patience, and a short bout of situational anxiety. 

School is closed again today due to icy road conditions, both for us and for most of the surrounding school districts. I have to go out at some point today for a prescription but that can happen after noon when some ice has melted. The knee is fine, but the arm-bruises are stiff and sore.

On the other hand, Lizzy received a replacement not-LEGO piece that she was missing from one of her Christmas gifts, so she's pretty happy just chilling at her LEGO table.

So now we're okay again.