I’ve had a miserable week.
Monday morning started with a flat tire on the Jeep. From the time I texted work to let them know I would be late, I have felt like I have been chasing my schedule to catch up.
Tuesday the temps dropped 40 degrees and we got a couple of inches of much needed rain. I met a friend for dinner and we marveled that the storm could seem so intense. I arrived home to find a foot of water in my cellar. I turned off the breaker for the outlets down there and used a broom handle to unplug the dehumidifier that was now under water just in case.
Wednesday I scrambled to find a plumber to root out the cellar drain. It took me all day to find someone who would return my call. I met him at my house and he took one look at the cellar and said he could not work from inside the house with standing. I showed him the end of the drain in the woods some 200 feet from the house. It was brutally cold outside – the windchill was about 12 degrees, but soon my problems would be over…or so I thought. After 45 minutes the plumber called me outside. There would be no opening the drain, the drain was collapsed about 100 feet up the line.
As he put together a list and a schedule that would include a backhoe and about a mile of pipe I started to zone. When I check out like this, the best thing I can do is shoot. It was a cold grey soggy day, no color to be seen. I spotted my platter feeders. They were completely iced over. As I shot I consciously decided to not focus on the birdseed below the surface, I focused on the ice.
I was surprised by the depth…
The seeds below the surface seemed to be saturated in color…
The ice almost magnifies the seeds below…
How hungry would a cardinal need to be to try to get at these…
I’ve been filling a chipped mosaic birdbath with food, I like the color for photographs…
But now it takes on a more painterly look…
The mix of colors taking me to a warmer place.
The plumber came over and gave me a puzzled look and then dove into the details. There would be no draining the basement. I called a friend with a shop-vac and we hauled about 150 gallons up the stairs five gallons at a time. The water level dropped an inch. We gave up and called it a night.
Today I looked for a sump pump and finally found one late this afternoon. After work I put on my new rain boots and headed down into the cellar/wading pool. I got everything set up and discovered that all my garden hoses are frozen solid, just like the birdseed in those feeders.
Tomorrow at lunch I will buy an unfrozen hose and this week will finally come to a close. Once I empty the cellar I will take an ice pic to my bird feeders.
If this goes on another day perhaps I will open an underground ice skating rink.
the eff stop 
Pingback: The Snake Dog and the Great Flood | the eff stop
Hope things get better soon! Great pictures, I loved the texture on them from the ice. There’s a Brazilian painter named Naza here in Florida that gets textures and drips like that in oils.
Thank you! I checked out her work – very interesting use of textures over images. Things are much drier here today.
Thank goodness for a little dryness! So cool that you took a look 🙂
It’s a very interesting style she has – it reminds me of transparencies – I see why the ice reminded you of them.
Sorry about your problems, hope they sort out soon. Love the photos – it amazes me that you can focus on the ice when it is not that far away from the seed. Wow!
Things are drying out nicely – finally. I used a macro lens and hand focused it on the ice instead of the seed. I love that lens.
So much for the dehumidifier huh? Hope you didn’t have anything stored down there. I too wonder how hungry your diners would have to be to make a go of that frozen dinner.
Oh well – the air is too dry for a dehumidifier anyway. Mostly the cellar is full of old canning supplies and lumber. I hope to get it drained completely tomorrow. I was hoping I might catch some chickadees skating across the the feeders. I wouldn’t let my diners get hungry enough to get through that.
Do you have sump pumps in your area? Your chickadees are so lucky. Our feeder has been taken over by those black birds you saw when you were TX.
We do – I found one yesterday but it only worked with a garden hose and mine were frozen. Today I got a better one and it is doing the job, thankfully. I am confident that by midday I will have relocated all of the water to a location downhill from the house.
My chickees are pretty demanding. They get vocal if I don’t keep the feeders full. Man those black birds were thick – a cardinal doesn’t stand a chance…
What beautiful textures and colours. Would make an outstanding fabric print. Or framed print…three in a row, each a little more macro than the next, like you’ve done.
Thanks Sara – I was thinking about the last 3 as a set – they almost felt like paintings.
I forgot — the pictures are seriously cool!
LOL – Thanks! I did distract from them a bit with that rant.
You might be able to make an insurance claim on this — we had a bad basement flood years ago in a different house and didn’t know we could claim the damage. So we paid for everything and it never really got cleaned up well — and did damage we didn’t know could happen.
The cellar is not really like a basement – it’s a stone and cement “room” but it has always served as a drain so there’s not much damage except for some wood I had stored down there and the dehumidifier. Probably wouldn’t hit my deductible. It’s too bad they wouldn’t cover that stinking drain pipe 🙂
That’s good. Our basement had wood paneling and linoleum. It got moldy and smelled awful. So we moved …
I spoke with my 99 year-old neighbor who grew up in the house and she told me that they had water up to their chests in there once – that all their home canned vegetable jars were floating in it. That’s why they put in a drain 🙂
Oh my. Hope you get things sorted out soon.
I’ve had so many days where bad events become horrid events. Like a tidal wave of bad luck. I like how you dealt with it. I wish I had the energy, when in a funk, to create or process in a healthy way besides letting the stress spin in my head and take over my body. Bravo!
That is a good way to look at it 🙂 I know that no good would come from a melt down, but it might have felt good to come uncorked for a minute.
Well your shots are awesome, but not your events of the week! We are supposed to wake to 14 degrees, I am guessing you guys may be colder than that. So sorry for all you are dealing with. Sending good thoughts and better days your way. 😉
Thanks Paula. I know – tonight it’s supposed to be 12 or something stupid like that. I tried dragging the 50 foot frozen hose into the living room, but I couldn’t get it through the door. On the bright side – the 150 gallons of water I hauled up the stairs has made a nice slip and slide in the lawn. The dogs seem to like it.
I wish I lived closer and could help!!! You be careful on that ice! (And your little dogs, too!) 😦
Oh, I did think to dump the buckets away from where I walk. 🙂 Stay warm!
We are up to 25 degrees now! 😉
Woot! I got a package today – very cool!
YaY! Glad it arrived! 😉
Ummmm – it has film in it.
Too funny! Wonder what’s on it? Hubby bought it at a sale. 😉
The film inside was discontinued 30 years ago. Perhaps I’ll take it to a camera shop. Just wanted to make sure it wasn’t yours.
It could prove to be interesting! (yikes!)
It sounds like finding a camera with film is not uncommon – I did a google search on the film and there were lots of people who had found old film.
I just found some film of hub’s mom. She passed a few years ago…I must remember to take it in! We can compare notes after ~
I have to take this over to Rogers – they do vintage film at the camera shop there. I have a roll to pick up! I hope you find some treasures!
thanks…you too !
🙂 That camera is really cool – It could be a shooter if film was available. I love it. I may use it in a T-shirt design 🙂
Glad you like…when I saw your post….I thought it was meant for you.
🙂 so what kind of cool old stuff are you interested in?
Oh my…..I just love most old stuff! Pipes..(and nope…I don’t smoke!), skeleton keys, junk that no one else wants….I try and turn into treasure. (not that it always workds!) lol! You know how it is….you see it, it reminds you of your folks or childhood or grandparents…..and suddently you are buying a memory.
I had a house once that still used a skeleton key for the front door. I do my share of repurposing too.
Now that is awesome…..I’m thinking a skeleton key might be tricky to work.
They wear out – and when they do it is tough to get replacement keys.
Never thought about that. Am sure Lowe’s couldn’t help!
Nope – we had a local hardware store that had basic keys – they would have to hand file them to make them work,
and that is the beauty of local hardware stores!!! they are willing to try.
This place was a treasure – it had outdated plumbing fixtures and glass doorknobs – I miss those kinds of places.
We lived in a place like that when I was a kid. I loved it and had no idea we were “roughing” it. I tried to buy two old doors that were just like the ones in my upstairs room of that old house this weekend. (at an auction) Seems EVERYONE wanted those doors and I had to bow out…. ;(
There’s a guy over here – Mr Haney – that salvages them and resells them. Some beautiful stuff.
Mr. Haney!?!? I need to visit him. Does he have a shop front? When we come that way, I’ll have to hollar at him!
He’s in a spot on the highway between Eureka and Berryville. He’s sometimes in town on a corner on Saturdays selling tables and furniture made from reclaimed wood. Mr. Haney – for real, he’s not so shifty as the one on Green Acres 🙂
Lol! Well yes I do love old sitcoms and it shows! 😉 Will have to hunt him down and see what he has!
Let me know – I can get you his contact info. He cracks me up – we have a local BBS and I sometimes post in the classifieds if I am looking for something. Mr Haney always comes through no matter how odd the request – I have thought about trying to stump him.
Are you sure it’s not “Mr. Haney”? I will let you know! ty! Calling it a nite…Hope your week rocks!
What a disastrous week, Lorri.
At least you could get out with the camera and get distracted a wee bit.
Love the pattern of the ice over the birdseed. Turned out well in the photos. Sometimes its the small things in life that put a smile on our faces.
Hope the basement & pipes can be fixed without too much expense & drama. Reading about these types of home maintenance issues make me glad to still be a ‘paying tenant’ in my block of flats, but I often wish I could redecorate inside & out.
(note: in most flats and apartments in Australia, you’re not allowed to put up a nail for a picture, let alone paint the walls if you don’t like the colour. I do dabble a bit in the garden though).
Thanks Vicki – my cellar is a root cellar, so the water is not damaging anything as long as I get it out soon. The pipe in the yard is another story. I guess it’s good that this happened during the winter and not during the spring rains. The foot of water was from a 2″ rain. I dread mess a backhoe will leave in my lawn, but not much I can do about that.
Hell!
Yep