Monthly Archives: August 2011

If you’ve been following these posts the past few days, you know that Monday night I discovered that the condensate from the HVAC drain had seeped under a partition and soaked an area rug in a storage area. I used the wet-dry vac on the carpet and then cut it into pieces to take it out since the sodden carpet was too heavy to lift in one piece. There was about a foot wide piece I left since it ran under a couple of seven-foot tall bookcases loaded with books and a couple of four-drawer files cabinets loaded with files.

I went downstairs Tuesday evening to move the bookcases and file cabinets and take the last of the carpet out. I thought about unloading the bookcases before I moved them.  I decided I could move them without unloading them.

At this point I am reminded of the parable of the wise and foolish builders from the Gospel of Matthew.

Matthew 7:24-27:  (ASV) Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and if fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.

Put me down for a foolish man in trying to move a fully loaded bookcase. I moved one off the carpet with success and started on the other one.  The interior shelves were held by those  thin metal clips, one of which broke under the stress of being shifted.  The shelf (and books) fell onto the shelf and books below it and the next and the next.  There was a cascade of books pouring out of the bookcase.  I had two thoughts: It’s raining books and “great was the fall thereof.” Even though I don’t move as quickly as I used to, I leaped out of the way of the torrent of hard- and paperbacks with considerable alacrity.

I think I said that the silver lining in taking up the carpet was finding a dulcimer neck to a kit I had lost track of.  In this case, the silver lining was going through all the fallen books, some of which I had forgotten I owned.  I listened over the radio to the Nats pound the Braves and stacked books for an hour.

In spite of the fall, it was enjoyable.  Sometimes even a foolish man lucks out.

If you’ve been following these entries, you might remember that I wrote about the condensate drain on our air conditioner backing up a bit and my adventures with the wet-dry vacuum.  Well, not so fast, there, Sparky.  On the other side of a partition is a storage space where I have a lot of books and where we, well, store things.  I went into the room last night about 8 PM to look for a book and noticed the area rug was decidedly squishy.  I didn’t have a bit of water, I had a lot of water.  Fortunately the carpet absorbed a lot of it and kept it from spreading. Unfortunately there was a lot of stuff sitting on the carpet which I had to move.  Then I cut the carpet up since it was too heavy to carry out and stuffed it in plastic bags.  I used our friend the wet-dry vac to take up most of the water and set a fan on it overnight.  This morning the area is completely dry.

Obviously I wasn’t too happy about the situation, having to labor late into the evening. I found that condensate drains have a tendency to clog and the cure is either to snake them out or vacuum them out before they clog completely.  Mea culpa for not doing so.

Earlier that afternoon, Alyssa sent me an email about an unfortunate family in her neighborhood:

There was apparently a huge house fire in Stone Ridge last night.  All of the people and animals got out okay, but the kids are 9 and 11, and the dad passed away unexpectedly last year.  Poor children.  The HOA is already organizing a walk to benefit the family, and they are staying with relatives locally.  So sad.  In the meantime, they have asked for gift cards, so I think I’ll pick one up on my way home and drop it off at the HOA office.  The nice thing is that Stone Ridge is a good community, so I think they’ll get lots of assistance.

And later,

One of the neighbors was collecting donations tonight after the HOA office was closed, so I took a card and a check over.  I didn’t realize I’d walk by the actual house–it was awful.  You could smell the burnt smell from streets away.  The neighbor said that the outpouring of support has been incredible–they have raised several thousand dollars in cash and several thousand in gift cards, plus a huge room full of new clothes, so that’s good.  It’s nice to think that if this happened to me or to any of the neighbors, the community would be supportive. If only Anne Bradstreet had something to say about this…*

And finally,

I did get the ages of the kids wrong–they are 12 and 17.  They both play sports, so people have also asked about donating sports equipment, as well as video games for the little boy. 🙂  People have also written cards, and the kids have drawn pictures.  Very cool.

This family’s situation put my little problem with water into perspective.  It also affirmed that our daughters are compassionate, insightful, thoughtful young women (Amy recently offered to help in a situation I can’t write about because of privacy concerns). They’ve evidenced these qualities time and times again.  Their attitudes and actions would make any parent proud.  And we are. 

* Alyssa is referring to a poem by the seventeenth-century American poet Anne Bradstreet, “Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House,July 10, 1666.” You may read the poem at  http://www.poetry-archive.com/b/some_verses_upon_the_burning.html

Did you ever feel that your appliances were conspiring against you?  No, I’m not being more paranoid than usual–it’s just something I’ve noticed.  The refrigerator develops a buzzing noise, then the washer won’t drain, and next the microwave goes up in flames, all within a couple of days. Something is afoot and it ain’t your shoes (sorry).

Here’s a secret: household appliances communicate with each other.  The HVAC sends a message to the oven: “It’s going to be over 100 tomorrow.  I’m goin’ over the wall!”  The other appliances whisper “Good luck, man,” and they get the idea.  The oven door drops off.  A day later the dishwasher springs a leak all over the kitchen floor. The vacuum shoots out clouds of dust from its exhaust.

You know what I’m talking about.

I had such a day Saturday.  Four different inanimate objects busted loose.  Fortunately I was able to fix them.

The condensate line of our air conditioner runs into a drain in the floor of the basement and usually backs up a little during the summer if we’ve had a series of hot days.  I suppose I should have the drain enlarged, but it runs through the basement slab floor and that would be a mess. I just vacuum it up each day for about a week.  Well, it backed up and I got the wet vac out, forgetting that the last thing I used it on was a drywall sanding job.  Since the filter was full of dust, the water couldn’t get through to the tank and the vac spewed water out the back, all over the furnace and me.  Fortunately, I figured out that the filter needed cleaning so I did that and I was good to go, if soaking wet.

Then I was going to the grocery store and some citizen didn’t see me and pulled out in front of me from a side street.  I crammed on the brakes and tried to blow the horn and nothing happened.  When I got back from buying bananas I tried to find the location of the horn relay but it wasn’t listed in the owner’s manual. I looked online for an hour before I found someone who said the location diagram it was printed on the inside of the engine fuse box cover.  And it was.  There was also a page online on how to test for a bad relay so I took my twelve-volt tester out and found that, yep, it was a bad relay.  I ordered one online since no one at Advance Auto seemed to know what I was talking about. The part was $15 and shipping was $12.  Still cheaper than a mechanic (sorry, Logan).

We use some portable fans on the upper floor since the air conditioning doesn’t reach as well there.  I had not used an old floor fan yet this year but I was cleaning up my study and needed a fan in there.  When I started it up it sounded geriatric, which it is.  I took it apart, cleaned it and sprayed everything with WD-40.  It wheezed and groaned when it started up but the lubricant worked its way in and it took off.

Later on, my special three-headed flashlight started acting possessed.  It came on by itself and went off by itself. That’s inconvenient when you’re trying to see if the condensate drain is clogged up.  I figured the flashlight had a short somewhere so I took it apart and found some of the battery contacts were corroded. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen corrosion on a dry cell device.  I poured some vinegar on the offending contacts (didn’t have any Coke) and the flashlight returned to normal.

I hope you don’t have a spate of appliance problems as I did, but if you do, I also hope they’re as easily fixed as mine were!