I really don't have a column today due to unforeseen circumstances.
Wednesday, our family was celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday. She's 8.
We stopped at the grocery store on our way to the laser tag center so she could compete with other kids her age – all dressed up in camo! (Hey, it was her idea, not mine.)
It had been a nice day – sunny and warm, up until that moment, though I did notice a large, ominous black cloud approaching from the west.
When we concluded our business at the market, Elizabeth and I proceeded to the exit only to notice it was pitch black outside at 3 p.m.! Not only that, but we had to make our way back to the car through a torrential downpour. And, if I recall correctly, I actually saw shopping carts flying through the air in the parking lot.
Something was terribly wrong here.
Well, we got wet. And it was hard driving to the laser tag center in the blinding rain. But we made it and quickly forgot about the weather outside.
Grace told us she had a great time at her party. Then it was time to go home.
It wasn't raining any more. The wind had died down. But when we got home we were instantly reminded of that weather we'd experienced earlier in the day. The first clue was the generator was running.
Other than that, everything looked normal in the front yard and inside the house.
But when I looked in the backyard, I saw a heavy, 20-foot piece of gauge aluminum designed to protect our pool cover that had been swept up and thrown into the yard. I also saw lawn furniture strewn to and fro. I saw a heavy, stainless steel pool ladder had been picked up by the wind gusts and tossed willy-nilly into the woods.
It was a mess out there. And so was my pool.
But that didn't bother me. I was happy my generator was running and I had power.
Then I heard a loud explosion.
It wasn't lightning. It was the sound of my generator exploding.
This is a sound familiar to me. It was my second generator to explode in 10 months. But, nevertheless, it is not a sound I find comforting. The previous incident involved flame I could not extinguish, while the generator refused to go off – burning with an increasingly high-pitched squeal that sounded like a chainsaw in an echo chamber.
Then my power went out – just like it had for all my neighbors hours earlier.
It didn't come back for more than 24 hours. But that wasn't the worst of my experience. That is not my excuse for failing to write a column today. It was what followed that power outage that really was to blame.
I should point out that I spent $1,700 this week making sure my sump pump was removing groundwater far enough away from my house. We live in an area with a high water table, and it's not unusual to get some basement flooding. I had discussed with my plumber the idea of a battery backup for the sump pump, but I forgot to have him put it in Wednesday. He later told me he didn't ask about it because he saw our generator and didn't figure we would need it.
I'm sure I don't have to tell you what happened after the generator exploded and the power failed. That's right. The sump pump stopped pumping – and my basement started filling up with rainwater.
About 10 p.m. it was getting deep – threatening to overflow from my former radio studio into a basement pantry, family room, guest bedroom, bathroom and storage area. For an hour, I bailed water from the lowest room and dumped it in the bathroom sink. This was getting nowhere. Still the water rose.
I called Elizabeth for help. She summoned our oldest daughters, who still live with us. We all bailed. Still the water rose.
I rigged up a pool cover pump to some hoses and generated power with my truck. Still the water rose.
Finally, some relief came the next morning when my plumber, who felt sorry for me, sent over a helper with a generator. He hooked it up to the sump pump and away the water went.
Later the generator guy came over and spent six hours not fixing the machine. But the lights finally came back after 24 hours.
And that's why I don't have a column today.
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