Drip! Drip! Drip! Or, Owen is my hero!

Well, I had quite a morning yesterday!!! I was lying on my bed with my laptop, typing away and listening to Glenn. I was listening to something else, though, too, not really wishing to figure out what it was. The sound was like a creaking floor, the noises a wood floor makes after its been walked on and sort of bounces back into place over time. But this sound was going on too long for that to be happening, especially since I had not walked on any floors. Okay, let's go see what is making the sound.....Drip, drip, drip, drip.....Sure enough, water was dripping from the ceiling vent in the hall bathroom, landing first in a ceramic plate on the back of the toilet and then overflowing nicely onto the floor. Oh, for heaven's sake, now what?????

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Let the phone calls begin! First, I called Tracy downstairs whose spouse is the maintenance manager for the building. Jeff was asleep, having just returned from flying for Fed/Ex. I called both Travis and Jessica but neither of them answered their phones. Quickly I brushed my teeth and got dressed, planning to go out and find Connie on the property somewhere, to see if she can help me. I had put towels down to absorb some of the water, and as I stood there listening, I could hear something running above me. Like the sound a toilet makes after it is flushed and refills. In the meantime, Tracy had gotten a key to get us into Jessica's house, and I had reached Jessica. Connie went with us to check for leaking water but we found nothing amiss, nothing was running. Back down to my house we three went, and Connie climbed on the toilet to remove the vent cover to see what was going on. She could not really tell, but I was busily trying to reach Butch, the man who has done much work for us in this building. He was busy. Next, I called Steve Bradshaw, my plumber friend from the business, but he, too, was busy roughing a house and had no one to send over. Rats! I called Hugh on the 2nd floor for a plumber's name but he had none to offer me. Rats again!

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So I called my buddy, Owen, to see if he knew of a plumber who could help me out. Owen is my hero! He was coming to Orange Park anyway to check on a job and offered to come over to see what was going on. He is an A/C man by trade, but really, jack of all trades. He said he would be here in about a half hour which is more than I could have expected from a plumber.

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In the meantime, Jessica had gotten home from her walk with the baby, which ended up being more like a run since the urgent phone calls. She called me to see what was going on and it turned out the water had since started coming in through the kitchen cabinets. Yikes! She said she was going to turn off her ice machine because it had just run again, thinking that was the source for the water. She was right! What she shut off was the electricity, not the water supply, but when Owen got there, he shut it off. And gradually, the dripping subsided.

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Owen's worker, Art, got behind the fridge and vacuumed the floor after he wiped up the water. I noticed there was no cover on the outlet and brought one from my toolbox (a good builder always has extra covers!) which Art installed as long as he was back there. Nothing in the cabinets was ruined and it seems no long term damage occurred except perhaps the fan in the bathroom. I do not know yet about the fan, nor do I care really. All I care about is that it stopped dripping and it was not me dripping on anyone else. Both Jess and Travis assured me they will cover any damages I might experience but I think all is well. Except, they have a repairman coming on Monday to fix their ice machine. It is not that old, since Travis bought and remodeled when I did, and he said it cost a pretty penny. Just imagine all the goofy things that can happen in a building like this and have it be nobody's fault....

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I had sent Justin a text message telling him of my situation and how stressed I was. He offered to come over at his lunch time to help me clean up but I had things mostly taken care of, even while Owen and Art were still here. When they were up at Jessica's, I was working off my anxiousness polishing my fake fruit from the basket on the fridge, dusting this and wiping that. Things got cleaned that I never intended to clean!!! Even straightened out my food cupboard since the doors were wide open to let the water flow better...Remember the other day when I mentioned how dirty the French doors were to the guest room off the kitchen?? Not anymore!! No wonder my back was killing me....Justin suggested we recuperate over lunch because he was hungry for Koko's. All this commotion and activity took place before 11:00 a.m. so when it was lunchtime, I had collected myself already.

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I love Owen, and not only because he would not accept any money for his help---he is just a great great friend!!!!

Hanging on for dear life

There!!!! My new room---well, at least the floor is new---once clean and neat, is now trashed! Justin came over after working yesterday to put my office stuff back together and into place, including piles of paper, heaps of paper, on my desk. Nice! One thing that came to mind when Mike and Andy were putting my furniture into place and such was my office chair. It really needs something to govern it, because when I stand up or sit down, whee!!!!!, away it goes, as though trying to get away. One thought they had was to put coasters under the casters, or was it casters under the coasters??, like they put under the legs of the bed frame and dressers. I would not be able to scoot around, as is my custom, but it also would prevent scratches from marring the floor. Another option Mike thought about was the floor protector used typically under desks to protect carpet and allow for chair movement, but not the one for carpets. Some research must be done on that. Or or or I could move the round rug that I brought in from my foyer over here to the desk region and ride around on that!

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Since beginning this posting, I have been out to the pool and am back in again. It was sort of quiet today, not as full and busy as I would have liked, but lovely just the same. The greatest news was the return of the hot dogs, the same brand as last year. Yippee!! The water was the perfect temperature and the air was great, too, coming in at 97 above zero. Who could ask for better? Tonight is a mini-buffet event poolside so I changed from the swimsuit to nightie until such time as I must dress for dinner. Last night I enjoyed time with my friend, Penny, and others from the building. Once more I stepped outside my comfort zone and ordered the chicken and cheese quesadilla served with corn salsa. I ate half of the four pieces and my neighbor, Rosemary, ate one quarter, and Cassidy, my downstairs neighbor, ate the salsa. I really prefer the sirloin sliders and that's all there is to it! Even Beckham, The Prince of The Palace, enjoyed some time poolside with his parents.