XPC - Tell Tales

[xpc]

Tell tale stories of the strong, the weak, and their misgivings

I thought of this last night while burning garbage - it was a clear winter sky on a 4 degree night, full moon shining high. Trudging in snow depths that reminded me of my youth, fresh cold air with the smoke of burning chicken bones brought back memories.

I think it would be cool if anybody and everybody would add a tale from their youth, or even present that may be considered daunting.

 

[xpc]

February 2008 - Aquarius the water bearer.

Though this was fairly recent I just have to tell it as a forewarning to others:

I had just moved in the new (old) house 6 weeks prior, pretty much camping on the floor as I haven't done any work yet. For some inexplicable reason I awoke to a hissing noise - the main water line had burst in the back room and was spaying all my stuff. Not knowing where the water shut-off was I scrambled looking everywhere all while getting hosed by near frozen water - I went out to the road for the main but it was under 6 inches of ice.

I ran back in and turned the power off because it was spraying on the 240 volt dryer outlet, now with a garbage bag as an umbrella and putting on my galoshes I picked up a flashlight in one hand and a pipe wench in the other and bent the broken copper pipe in two, it slowed to a drizzle. I was drenched and only 32F in the house - made a fire in the wood stove to dry off, sat on a chair and watched whiffs of steam twirl off my socks as they dried, it was then that I knew I was home. Oh by the way know your house and where every shut-off is.

 

[sylvie]

Just one story? I have so many

I used to stay with my grandmother for a few weeks each summer on her farm. She used a wringer washer in the basement and hauled the wet clothes up the stairs to hang out on the clothes line. I was watching and helping.
She was outside hanging a load when the shirt I was feeding through the ringer somehow caught my hand and began pulling it through the ringer. I couldn't pull it out, hadn't been shown the off switch and began screaming bloody murder! She came flying down the steps when my arm was to the elbow in the ringer.
She turned it off and released my arm which looked extremely rug burned with broken capillaries. She never showed me where that off switch was, but instead banned me from the basement. She never again washed clothes while I was there. Ever!

 

[hwillm1977]

Here's a similar plumbing story from my childhood...

Moral of this one: Always check the plumbing systems before you use them. Never assume

Sometime in early 1978: Mom and dad moved us to a dilapitated farmhouse on 10 acres of land, we moved in during January and they never once got the house above 50 degrees for the rest of the winter.

There were two bathrooms in the house, but we only heated half the house so just used the downstairs bathroom. We found out during the spring thaw that the septic system was NOT actually hooked up to the downstairs bathroom, in fact there was no spetic tank... the toilet flushed directly into a corner of the basement (which was a 4 foot stone foundation basement, not finished or anything) They spent that spring getting a septic tank installed and shovelling wheelbarrows of waste from the basement.

 

[SKR8PN]

When my "X" and I first moved into this house, the basement was unfinished and just one big room. In the sump pump pit, was a brand new pump, and there was a used one the previous owner had kept as a spare. After a cold beer, I had a idea(never drink and think, nothing good will ever come of it) a little tinkering and I had BOTH pumps set up side by side in the sump pump pit. There just so happened to be a double electrical outlet nearby, and that completed my plans. TWO pumps had to be better than ONE, right? Fast forward 6 months and add in a HEAVY all night cloud burst........I awoke to hear what sounded like waves slapping up on a beach.....as I looked down from the top of the steps leading to the basement, I was greeted to 8 inches of water covering the ENTIRE basement floor. After setting up an external pump by sticking the suction line in through a basement window to begin draining our new basement pool area, I realized that the washer, the dryer and a 220 volt electric heater were ALL setting in that water No way to get to the 200 amp service panel to cut the power without wading through the water.......and there was NO WAY I was gonna stick my hand in the panel while standing in 8 inches of water either!!! We just let the pump do it's thing until the water was mostly drained out, then headed down for the cleanup and to figure out WTH had happened when there were TWO sump pumps setting in the pit.
What had happened was this......one of the pumps, the used one, had died and shorted out.....this in turn, tripped the breaker to that circuit, which made still having a GOOD pump in the pit, a moot point.
To fix THAT little problem, I ran another line to the pit, but tied it into a different circuit in the electrical panel. I then bought TWO brand new pumps and plugged each one into it's own separate circuit. I also began putting the date of the pumps on the top, and I automatically switch them out every 5 or 6 years. We also added the backup generator to insure there is always power.
The basement is now finished off, and that includes a custom built bar and back bar, a restored antique Brunswick Balke and Collender pool table, and an antique Union Loom, so having the basement flood is NOT an option.

 

[xpc]

Just one story? I have so many

I used to stay with my grandmother for a few weeks each summer on her farm. She used a wringer washer in the basement and hauled the wet clothes up the stairs to hang out on the clothes line. I was watching and helping.
She was outside hanging a load when the shirt I was feeding through the ringer somehow caught my hand and began pulling it through the ringer. I couldn't pull it out, hadn't been shown the off switch and began screaming bloody murder! She came flying down the steps when my arm was to the elbow in the ringer.
She turned it off and released my arm which looked extremely rug burned with broken capillaries. She never showed me where that off switch was, but instead banned me from the basement. She never again washed clothes while I was there. Ever!

Good thing you were young or you may have caught your teat in the ringer - can I saw that without being moderated?

 

[xpc]

Moral of this one: Always check the plumbing systems before you use them. Never assume

Unacceptable, no pooping in the basement allowed here.

 

[xpc]

When my "X"

No need to go any further, I understand.

 

[xpc]

December 1977 - Bagley Rapids, Nicole National Forrest

While gallivanting around on a frozen river (not knowing) fast moving water was below I broke through the ice and was only saved by the 12 gauge shotgun in my hands, it bridged the hole while I was being swept under - I held on dearly. A good friend belly slid close to me and held out his hand but could only get close enough to reach my out stretched shotgun muzzle, the stock I clutched for life.

He pushed the business end of the shotgun off to one side and pulled me a shore. I froze solid within a minute and could barely walk, our camp was a two mile hike and once there started a fire to thaw my cloths. Wet cloths is bad news in winter and had to strip down to my underwear to dry off before putting on any new cloths. Always carry matches in a water proof box no matter how short a walk you go on.

Twenty years later off the shores of Santa Barbara California we were to take his 35' sailboat through the Panama canal to Florida, but he drowned when tangled in a mooring line for a barge a few days earlier. Mike saved my life that cold frozen day and wasn't there to repay him. We scattered his ashes in the Lake of the Woods.

edit: sorry for the grim story

 

[meriruka]