Sorry to interrupt the Arkansas vacation stuff

Well, my house just flooded. Again.

In case you are new, or just don't remember, this happens to me a couple of times a year. And, don't worry, it's not the kind of flood you see on TV where helicopters rescue people from rooftops. This is the kind of flood where a couple of inches of rain comes into your house and makes a big mess.

It's just that I thought the problem was finally fixed. It wasn't pretty, but I could always work on that later. Last year we bought a pump and put it in the backyard, and I recently finished digging a hole so that the pump would come on automatically when the water got over a certain level.

Once in a while, a cord or a hose or something gets tangled up, and the pump won't work properly. So I've been checking the thing on a regular basis. And I've been checking the thing all day. And I heard on the news that another big storm was coming, so I went out and checked again, just to be sure. Then I heard thunder, and I thought I should unplug a power strip with all of the computer stuff, just to be on the safe side.

Half an hour later, there was water coming from this room into the hallway.

I look outside, and there's about 200 gallons of water, and the pump isn't on. So I wade through the water to turn the pump on, but nothing happens. I go back inside the house and find out that the pump was plugged into the same power strip as the computer stuff.

Okay, that was annoying. So I plug in the power strip and go back outside and turn on the pump. The pump usually clears the water away in about ten minutes, but it didn't seem to be doing much this time. I went back in the house, and there's water in all but one room. It's too late, but I start vacuuming anyway.

The vacuuming doesn't seem to be helping, so I go outside to check the pump again. It seems to be on, but the water doesn't seem to be going away. I move the hose to an empty trash can, and it pumps 25 gallons in less than two minutes. So there's nothing wrong with the pump. I put the hose back where it was. I go back to vacuuming.

An hour after I noticed the problem, the 200 gallons of water have been moved. The floor in every room but one is wet, but at least I don't have an inch or so of standing water in the house now. I suppose I should get out the sponges and such and maybe do a bit more vacuuming, but I just don't care right now. I'm just going to have to get rid of the carpet except for the living room, and I'm probably going to go ahead a take out the hallway carpet myself tomorrow. There's probably ten gallons of water in the hallway carpet, and if I'm going to end up throwing it out anyway, I don't see the point of trying to vacuum it anymore.

I moved on to the kitchen for a bit. The frog lady knocked on the door.

Are you busy?

Yes. Bye.