Wednesday, January 16, 2008

I quit.



Meet Brooks.

Brooks understands how I'm feeling regarding house-sitting.

Yeah, not a good thing.

I have really bad luck with anything regarding WATER.

It all started when my parents went out for the weekend in October. I was all ready for church and came downstairs for breakfast. I found a LAKE in the kitchen.

The line that goes into the freezer to make ice had exploded and deposited oodles of water into the house all... night... long.

I watched a house and 11 sled dogs out in Eagle River in December. On a Friday night after returning from work and taking care of the dogs I discovered the house was chilly.

Chillier than the normal chilly.

50 degrees Fahrenheit chilly.

The floorboard radiators were cold.

The hot water didn't work either.

At 1 in the morning a neighbor and I found the hot water heater and boiler.

They were silent.

He unplugged some stuff, plugged them back in, and -Whirr!- there was something going on.

6 am Saturday the heat finally reached 65 Fahrenheit... tolerable.

Top all this off with the fact that I was sick too.

Really sick.

I called work Saturday morning and explained why there was no way in heck I was coming in after Friday night's adventure.

The hot water didn't work till Sunday morning.

Early January I watched a house, dog, goldfish, and finch just around the corner from my folks.

Everything was hunky-dory till the coldest day of the winter thusfar in Anchorage.

16 below zero.

Saturday the main water line froze.

Then it cracked.

Then it thawed.

The water cut-off was ABOVE the crack so....

There was gushing water in the garage for 45 minutes till the city came to shut off the water from the keybox... around 1am Sunday morning.

The heat in the house wouldn't budge past 58 Fahrenheit either.

Friends of the family that came to help out said the non-insulated aluminum windows didn't help the lack of heat.

A cold breeze coming through the cracks of the sliding glass door that wouldn't shut properly didn't help either.

The little space heater, 3 blankets, and an obnoxious (but very cute) beagle DID help.

So did my friend, Mark, who came over with food, water, and stories till I fell asleep on the couch. Thanks.

Sunday the house was alive with the in and out of the plumber who fixed everything.

The Scottish dude from the city came and turned the water back on also.

Everything was taken care of in time for me to take a luke-warm shower and barely get to church on time.

Wearing blue shoes with a black skirt.

I quit.

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