How Many Idiots Does it Take to Do a Load of Laundry?

The water ran all over the basement floor, surrounding boxes holding Leah’s hair stuff and cat toys and Christmas decorations. The water rushed toward the back door and into closets and near the stairs.

It pooled in the floor’s low spots where it patiently waited for me to finish picking some weeds. Done with my yard work, I bounded down the stairs to move my laundry to the dryer.

Two steps in, my shoes filled with water. My eyes rolled back in my head. My mouth opened and I groaned. My first thought was that a pipe had burst.

It took me a few minutes to figure out what had really happened. We have a washing machine that drains into the sink next to it, but in the move we had inadvertently knocked the drainage pipe out of position. So when the machine was done cleaning my jeans, it dumped the water on the floor. Then the machine rinsed my jeans and dumped that water all over the ground as well.

Leah was in a law class, so the clean up fell to me.

Being the incredibly bright and capable person that I am, I rushed upstairs and grabbed the mop and a bucket. My plan was to use the mop to soak up the water and then wring it out, which would have been about as time efficient as emptying a tub with a dry hand towel.

My next attempt wasn’t much better. I tipped over a bucket and tried to sweep the water inside. The water really didn’t cooperate.

Luckily, the day before the flood we purchased a wimpy 2-galllon Shopvac (because when do you really ever need to vac up more than two gallons?) It took me more than two hours to clean the joint, but I learned my lesson. Leah should do the laundry from now on. I can’t be trusted.

Actually, Leah was very nice about the whole thing, claiming responsibility for the dislodged the drainage pipe and volunteering to oversee the next load.

Then she flooded the basement too.

Leah made sure the pipe was pointed at the sink, but the basin drain was plugged.
The basin overflowed and water was once again all over the laundry room.

It wasn’t a bad as what I am now calling my “thorough floor rinsing,” but it still was a mess of Shopvac proportions.

Here’s hoping that third time’s the charm.