Irony

Our house is old. Built in 1928, this house was filled with galvanized pipes. When Baby Jeneric became a reality, Eric decided to tackle the plumbing, installing shiny new copper pipes that were free of the rust and gunk that could interfere with Baby Jeneric's growth and development. But really, it was a good excuse for Eric to play with pipe cutters, torches and water.

Fast forward to Friday when we reached the final stage of this project: cutting out the old pipes to install the new ones. Scary! (please note that Eric originally planned to do this on the Saturday night before Easter. Yes, Easter, when most plumbers would charge enough to fund their grandchildren's college education). Needless to say, chemical engineers really are nothing more than glorified plumbers. Eric's work was nearly flawless (the only minor drip came from a threaded joint that, on further inspection, was dented). Woo hoo!

Then why did our basement flood Sunday afternoon?

It may have had something to do with the terrific nor'easter that slammed the east coast. Final estimates aren't in just yet, but we easily got 5 inches of rain, if not 8. It's mind boggling - if that had come as snow, our roof would have collapsed. Instead, it came as rain that filled the ground water table past capacity, such that about 3 or so inches of water decided to take up residence in our basement.

I wish I'd taken a photo, but it was too horrible to document. With the help of some amazing friends (who called and offered to help not once, not twice but three times), their power washer (used in reverse) and their aquarium filter (Thanks to Speedy the Turtle), and two shop vacs, we prevented the water level from becoming any deeper. By morning, the flood had receded and today we're left sopping up the puddles that remain.

We'll be purchasing a sump pump when they're back in stock at the local hardware.

And now, we're off for a much-needed vacation. Baby Jeneric's going to meet the Atlantic Ocean!