Murphys Law, revisited.....
It was just several months ago that I wrote about Murhphy's Law and it's important adjunct Finagles Corollary... "Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment"
Well last night the law [with corollary] came to pass once again. Because of the weather I had decided to stay at home with Daphne watching football in front of a cozy fire. The perfect quiet evening at home for dog and man. It started out that way, until as I was cleaning up in the kitchen I noticed that the water pressure was none existant. Thinking that a city main had burst somewhere I let it pass...for a moment. Then, living in an older home, I decided that the best policy would be to check out in the yard just to make sure. As I stepped into the back yard I heard the roar of liquid being expelled under high pressure into the night, sounding something like a runaway gas well.
My hope was that the water main in the alley had broken, therefore a city problem. But luck was not with me, the sound was emanating from within the confines of my yard. As I shined my flashlight on the spot of most suspicion, the lawn sprinkler main valve, I saw a geyser of great proportions shooting up into the trees. A complete blowout sending all the water destined for the house into the sky. To see how I might somehow fix the problem I had to venture into the spray, not a pleasant task in 26° weather. Once soaked I saw that the problem was not fixable by me so I had to acquire tools and venture into the alley to shut off the main water supply to the house.
This accomplished I thought, "well nothing can be done until morning" so at least I have 5 gallons of water available in the R.O. water tank and hey there is still football on. And it was a very exciting game for five minutes. That's when the TV screen suddenly went blue; loss of signal. Same for the phone and internet connection. Prognosis: Grande Communications has gone down. Just when I was working up a good case of "pissed off" at Grande I noticed that the block of houses across the street, usually well lit, were gone. New prognosis: power failure in that grid, which must have included the Grande switch controlling my communications.
I have to once again thank AA for some degree of serenity, because I surely wanted to kick something really hard. I didn't so I went to bed and built up a new case of premeditated "pissed off" knowing that my expensive lawn sprinkler people [the ones who installed the valve only last May] would find some excuse as to why they couldn't send a repairman out until Monday, leaving me waterless until then.
But as I've also learned in AA, my expectations are usually not met and in this case for the better because with one call early today the landscape company had a very nice young guy out in my yard fixing the problem. I have water, I have TV, life is good. We'll try the cozy fire and football again tonight.
It was just several months ago that I wrote about Murhphy's Law and it's important adjunct Finagles Corollary... "Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment"
Well last night the law [with corollary] came to pass once again. Because of the weather I had decided to stay at home with Daphne watching football in front of a cozy fire. The perfect quiet evening at home for dog and man. It started out that way, until as I was cleaning up in the kitchen I noticed that the water pressure was none existant. Thinking that a city main had burst somewhere I let it pass...for a moment. Then, living in an older home, I decided that the best policy would be to check out in the yard just to make sure. As I stepped into the back yard I heard the roar of liquid being expelled under high pressure into the night, sounding something like a runaway gas well.
My hope was that the water main in the alley had broken, therefore a city problem. But luck was not with me, the sound was emanating from within the confines of my yard. As I shined my flashlight on the spot of most suspicion, the lawn sprinkler main valve, I saw a geyser of great proportions shooting up into the trees. A complete blowout sending all the water destined for the house into the sky. To see how I might somehow fix the problem I had to venture into the spray, not a pleasant task in 26° weather. Once soaked I saw that the problem was not fixable by me so I had to acquire tools and venture into the alley to shut off the main water supply to the house.
This accomplished I thought, "well nothing can be done until morning" so at least I have 5 gallons of water available in the R.O. water tank and hey there is still football on. And it was a very exciting game for five minutes. That's when the TV screen suddenly went blue; loss of signal. Same for the phone and internet connection. Prognosis: Grande Communications has gone down. Just when I was working up a good case of "pissed off" at Grande I noticed that the block of houses across the street, usually well lit, were gone. New prognosis: power failure in that grid, which must have included the Grande switch controlling my communications.
I have to once again thank AA for some degree of serenity, because I surely wanted to kick something really hard. I didn't so I went to bed and built up a new case of premeditated "pissed off" knowing that my expensive lawn sprinkler people [the ones who installed the valve only last May] would find some excuse as to why they couldn't send a repairman out until Monday, leaving me waterless until then.
But as I've also learned in AA, my expectations are usually not met and in this case for the better because with one call early today the landscape company had a very nice young guy out in my yard fixing the problem. I have water, I have TV, life is good. We'll try the cozy fire and football again tonight.
