A new year, a new decade, a bit of a flood

I guess every year and even every day starts a new decade, but this is my second entry of the more conventional decade: 2020. The year didn't start off well with LL breaking her foot and it's taken about 8 weeks to get to the point where she can walk without a boot or crutches.  She then developed a blood clot in her calf and pneumonia!! Just crazy. Then my sump pump and backup pump both failed during an unusual January rain storm and the basement flooded. It's been a crazy start. Here's what I wrote just after the flood:

I’m not much for astral plane creatures or ghosts and such. Luke 16:19-31 is a fascinating embodiment of why, religiously, it’s unlikely that someone would come back even to warn you about what’s on the other side. That said, this summer and again this fall, I had the urge to replace my aging sump pump (15 years old most likely). If something were to go wrong though, I do have a battery back-up pump just in case.

A week or two ago, something told me I should spend some time to get all of our framed pictures off the ground in the basement and organized to be put up. Framed were wedding pictures, kid pictures autographed stars and athletes. All sorts of wall pics that we just haven't figured out where they should go yet (even though it's been 3 years). I just had this nagging feeling that I needed to get all of these frames up off the floor at a minimum. 

Last night, while LL and the kids were at her folks’ house, I was weathering the storm at the house alone. Earlier in the evening, I had my company party downtown and had been at the office all day, so LL, with her bad foot, didn't join me. Though I didn’t hear the sump pump running, I figured it was on and I was just not hearing it when it flipped on. Still, I had this feeling that I really should go check on it. Turns out it wasn’t running and we got a LOT of rain.

This morning when I went down to see if my intuitions were accurate, I saw and felt the water immediately. Ugh. An hour later I had a new sump pump since I had been in contact with someone already. Another hour and a restoration company first responder was at the house assessing the damage. Two hours later and there was a crew of 6 stripping out the 15 year old carpet.

All in all, the whole thing sucks and I’m sore and it’s back breaking work to clean up. We had two shopvacs and another carpet cleaner picking up water for three hours. Getting the new sump pump working was key though as the flow of NEW water was halted at least. The pump ran pretty continuously for a few hours as more water from the drain tiles found its way to the pump.

So, this is not great but here’s why I’m writing about it: something or someone wanted me to get a new sump pump. Something or someone wanted me to get those pictures off the floor in the room by the sump pump so they wouldn’t be ruined. Someone, but who or how? Well, all I know is that this is exactly the type of thing my dad would want me to have taken care of in advance, just in case. And he would be pissed that I had not.

Sorry Pops!