Jerry, Jackie and Water, Water EVERYWHERE!

Let's start with water.

We take care of Jerry's Mom's house in Kingfisher, OK.  It is a little over 1600 square feet, and we have had it on the market for over two years.  Jerry's Aunt lives in Kingfisher, and she drives by it nearly every day to make sure everything looks okay.  One thing Aunt Betty Jane CANNOT SEE, however, is if there is a broken pipe INSIDE the house between the brick on the outside and the sheetrock on the inside.  She also cannot see the water heat that is in a closet in the garage when water is spewing out the top of it -- the bottom of it -- and out of several cracks in the pipes behind it.

Actually, IF Jerry and I didn't have the habit of always turning the water off at the meter when we leave there, Aunt Betty Jane WOULD have noticed because there would have been a river pouring out underneath the doors.

We were just there for Bob's service, as you know.  We, of course, turned the water on.  The first time was a week ago when we went to put the chairs and the pictures up.  I asked Jerry to turn the water on so we could make ice in the ice maker in case anyone wanted a drink.  Jerry turned the water on.  I turned the ice make on.  We drove back home to our Edmond house an hour away.

THANK GOD, Aunt Betty Jane went into the house to show it to someone that was interested in maybe buying it, and she noticed water on the floor in one bathroom and water coming out of the closet onto the garage floor in the garage.  She called me.  Jerry directed her to take the funny black metal "key" and turn the water off at the meter.  Now Aunt Betty Jane is 87 years old.  I don't know if she did it, or the lady that I'M POSITIVE had lost all interest in the house turned off the water, but it got turned off.

The next day -- last Wednesday -- was Jerry's Chemotherapy treatment #5, so he sure couldn't go to Kingfisher.  Therefore, I was chosen to tend to the task.  I really didn't mind, but I am not crazy about getting up real early in the morning.

It's not so much the getting up -- it's more of the way I look: kind of like Albert Einstein hit by lightning and put into non-matching tee shirt and pants with funny looking fuzzy slippers and a cup of coffee glued to one hand and a box of Kleenex in the other.

My daughter has the same gene!  We joke about people who get out of bed in the morning, and they don't look any different than when they got into it the night before.





I arrived at 8:30.

Aunt Betty Jane was there and she had let the plumber in.  The plumber called me over to show me the many cracks in the pipe and described the water flowing out in a high fountain out of the top of the water heater.  Seven hours later, we had a new water heater that was now 18 inches off the floor with a new smoke stack that went up through the new hole in the roof to comply with current codes.

Pic on the left is what I found when I arrived.  You can see where the water sprayed all over the wall in the back and was going down through the floor drain.

I guess the water heater there had been there since the beginning of time.  The bill arrived via fax the next day for $1700.  How sad that Jerry's Mom is still incurring expenses from the grave!

This is after is was all done.  The green tag is from the City Inspector.  I requested he come out, and he did.  All passed fine.  You never know about these plumbers.  They may have been in business for 20 years or 20 minutes.


That was all done and I drove back home that afternoon to be with Jerry.  All was well.  I had turned the water off at the meter when I left Kingfisher JUST IN CASE.

That was Wednesday.  We went back there on Saturday for the service.  We got there early to guess what?
Yep.  Turn on the water!  We looked around to be sure water wasn't spouting out any of the faucets or appliances or under the sinks.  No problems.  12 people showed up.  12 people left dry.  AGAIN, we turned off the water at the meter when we left although I didn't think we should have to.

The next day was Sunday.  We had planned to go home to our KingSTON house (not to be confused with Mom's KingFISHER house).  Jerry decided that we needed to go back to Kingfisher and water Mom's very big lawn that had been sprayed with that green fertilizer just a few days earlier.  The weed sprayer guy had left a note saying we needed to water the lawn if it didn't rain.  Okay.  BACK we went to Kingfisher two days ago.

We got there.  I landed in the living room with a crochet project and my Ipad.  Jerry turned on the water.  There was one of the traveling tractors that always jumps the hose or gets stuck in the mud in both the front yard and the back yard.  Water was coming out of both of them just fine.  UNBEKNOWN to us, the water was also pouring into the closet in the front bedroom -- following the length of the closet under a wall and down the hallway where it flowed under another wall into the bathroom tile floor.  Jerry walked into the bathroom to see if the new doohicky he had put in the toilet tank was working, and he saw the floor covered with water.  NATURALLY, we assumed at first it was the toilet.  It wasn't.  I walked into the hall where my feet got wet from splashy carpet.

ANYWAY.  We used the shop vac and sucked for hours to get as much of the water out as we could.  I put every towel and blanket in the house down on the carpet and walked all over them to soak up water.  It was Sunday.  No plumbers on Sunday.  We turned the water off AGAIN, and we went home.

Yesterday -- Monday -- Jerry and I went back to Kingfisher again and met the plumber.  The zero degree weather had broken a pipe between the brick and the sheetrock.  It didn't take long at all to find it and fix it with a new pipe.








 Phylly thought to loan us her carpet cleaner, and we took it along.  I used it for a long time sucking up every last drop of water I could feel or see.  It worked very well.

We will go back tomorrow to see if the carpet has all dried yet.

I have ordered ANOTHER apple pie!  The owner, Ginger, of a little restaurant there in Kingfisher makes the pies herself.  This pie is the CLOSEST I have ever eaten to my Mom's amazing apple pie.  My Mom has forgotten how to make it now, so I may never know.  I took this picture yesterday.  YUM YUM, as Jeannie says!

And, I know you are DYING to see a picture of our baby, Jackie.  She is so adorable.  She stays by Jerry most of the time.  It is like she KNOWS something is wrong, and he isn't feeling good.  He has been really weak today, and his body is swollen from the drugs.  If you see Jerry asleep in the middle of the day, you better call 911 or already know why he is doing that.

If Jerry's feet weren't up on the lift, Jackie would be sleeping ON Jerry's feet.

Only one more Chemo treatment on April 9th.  We will be so glad.  I told Jerry I want him to grow a mustache to celebrate having his hair back.  I may change my mind on that, however.  I was married to him 20 years before he shaved off the one he had when I met him.  It was SO SCRATCHY when smooching.




And here is a picture I took a little while ago when Jackie came to be by me ONLY because I had a cookie in my hand.

I NEVER feed her our food from our hands or while we are eating.  I can't stand it when I go to someone's house and the dog is under the table begging for food.  Just me.  I know.  Jerry feels the same.  She got NONE of my cookie, but I did get a pic so you can see how BIG she is.

This baby is only five months old.





Look at this paw.
I lightened the pic so you can see it.  It is all very black, of course.






And here is her darling face.  Also lightened.  I keep her face shaved or you wouldn't even be able to see those eyes or the nose.  Her hair gets very long.  I have her body hair cut by 1/2.

WHAT A FLUFF!







Gotta go.

I need to finish fixing my Ally Oop dress.

Hugs, Joy