Not a Good Sign

Last night was the coldest night here in 4 years. I'm not sure how low the temperatures dropped, but it was 3 deg. when we got up this morning. Last night was also the only night in....well, ever, that our garage door was left up! Wouldn't you just know! We always keep our garage door closed, we try to be very careful about it, and last night DH and I both thought we remembered it closing, but apparently we were wrong.

This morning first thing, I stripped our bed to wash the sheets, pulled the knob on the washer and nothing, nada, no water. Water was frozen. We then tried the kitchen sink, which had cold water, but no hot water. All other water sources were okay. We have lived here 15 years and never had water pipes to freeze before, so DH went down into the basement to check and that's when he found the garage door up. It scares me to even think what else could have happened, since that leaves our house totally open. It also explained why the pipes were frozen since the garage is in the basement just below the laundry room. Since these pipes are up in a finished ceiling, we decided to just wait and hope that after the sun came out and it warmed up, with the door closed they would eventually thaw and we would have water.

Dh had to go into work at 1 pm. About 3 pm I turned on water in a bathroom, which had previously had water ,and now there was no water there. That was odd, since it had gotten warmer during the day. I went to check, opened the basement door and saw a lake! Apparently, the pipe might have thawed a little, then the pressure of the ice and water burst the pipe. Water was pouring through the garage ceiling and coming through the door into the unfinished side of our basement. It was probably at least an inch deep and rising. Thankfully, I knew where the water turnoff valve was and turned it off, then spent the next 2 1/2 hours sweeping and vacuuming water out of the basement and garage. Dh helped me finish when he got home. He made some calls, but nobody has been able to come yet, so we are without water.

After getting the water under control, (we still have lots to dry out, but no standing water), I decided to run to the grocery store to get some bottled water. I had pulled the van out of the garage while sweeping the water out, so I went be-bopping out to the van and my legs flew out from under me. I landed on my bottom and my right elbow and it hurt like the devil! I have a skinned elbow, but the worst part is my upper right arm and shoulder. I guess I jarred it or something. I'm sure I'll be sore tomorrow. I was so mad at myself for not thinking that the wet-looking driveway had turned to solid ice!

I made it to the grocery, got water (they were almost out - said they had lots of customers with frozen pipes) and some ice-melt for the driveway.

I am so thankful that we have heat and electricity, but it it so hard without water - I have turned on the faucet several times tonight without thinking. I've already filled the dishwasher and am going to have to heat water for dishes. If no water tomorrow we will go to Amy's for showers, but DH is very worried about the bathroom! LOL We do have a little creek on our property down the hill through the woods, and I've told him we may have to carry buckets of water so we can flush! He didn't like my suggestion. We are very spoiled!