You Know How I Love Disaster Preparedness So Much?

8:16 AM Edit This 11 Comments »
Well. I got to practice. And let me tell you. I am NOT prepared. Last night as I was getting into the car after running club (i.e. sweaty, tired, bug sprayed and disgusting) the radio dude was all, "OMG! Don't use your water. Don't shower! Don't flush your toilet! And for God's sake, don't do laundry! Sewer main break! Sewage backup LIKELY!" And I'm all, "LIKELY?! I live in the basement!" And by the time I get home, Gay Boyfriend has been to the hardware store and has gotten these screw in plugs for my shower drain and my kitchen sink, he's got a 50 gallon bucket of paint sitting over the drain by the washing machine and he's just waiting for me to get home so he can help me move whatever I need to off the floor.
So we start piling things on tables and bookshelves. Because no matter how nice the bookshelves my dad made me are, there's no way we're going to get them all cleaned off and up the stairs by the end of the night.
I don't own very much stuff that's worth anything, but my mom's baskets are treasures. They were the first things up.
And not every girl has muck boots sitting beside her bed for emergencies. But I do!
And here's pretty much anything of value, sitting in Gay Boyfriend's dining room. My two antique chairs, my oriental rug and my antique cherry dining room table. And my camping sleep mats because yanno, it was too much work to roll them up.
And here's what's left. I asked Gay Boyfriend about my stereo and he just rolled his eyes and said, "It's HOW old? You can get a new one with insurance." Yeah. My sister got it before she graduated from college in 1989 maybe?
And last, but certainly not least, the two cat carriers, sitting out and ready to go should I have to evacuate the critters. They don't get along with Gay Boyfriend's cat, so they would most certainly have to be enclosed. The shop vac was all ready to go, also.

And then, I drove over to Miss M's at 9:30 p.m. to take a shower because she wasn't in the emergency zone and I was SUPER crabby because I was still disgusting from running club and then Gay Boyfriend was all, "OMG! Move this! Take the rug upstairs! The shit could just EXPLODE from the drain!" And well? That wears me out. And this morning? I find out they pumped a million gallons of sewage into the river. DISGUSTING! And we're sort of in the clear. Sort of. Gah.

11 comments:

Non Sequitur Chica said...

Ewwww. But at least the worst didn't happen- sewage all over your stuff!!

carrster said...

hahaaha - oh Kate, you crack me up! Glad you're out of danger!

The Good Cook said...

Wow. Your night was way more exciting than mine. Sad for the river (and the fish) but happy you didn't get "backed up on"...

How was the running?

Rebecca said...

So glad you are safe!

Anonymous said...

Yikes. That sounds really icky. I'm glad nothing happened.

Anonymous said...

Yet another reason I'm glad I live in the boonies with an onsite septic tank. Yeah, we have to get it pumped out every couple of years, but at least when it backs up into the drains, we know who the shit belongs to....

Oh, and...raw sewage into the river??? Ack. How do the folks living downstream feel about that?

Anonymous said...

Yikes, sounds disgusting. I'm glad nothing ended up happening in your apartment.

Anonymous said...

Into the river?! I bet that smells nice. Well, at least it's not your basement and that fine, fine stereo equipment. Getting the smell out of your place would be near impossible.

Lemon Gloria said...

Yikes! I'm very disaster UNprepared. You reacted much better than I would. And yay for no sewage in your house!

Shelley said...

What in the world? I have never heard of such a thing...if it's possible here in Texas, well, I don't wanna know.

Sparkling Red said...

What an ordeal! Good thing the worst didn't come to pass. One time my mother-in-law's basement apartment was flooded with sewage due to a problem with a faulty valve. It backed up through the washing machine. She came home from a hard day of work to find her entire home two inches deep in crap. What a nightmare! She got it cleaned up, and moved into an apartment on the second floor. Never again!