There is a
Facebook friend who always posts a public service announcement when the Seattle
weather forecast calls for freezing temperatures. He offers great advice which I
usually follow. Unfortunately, this time his sharing went in one eye and out
the other.
Early Saturday
morning when I first got up, I noticed my Nespresso machine had very little
water in its container. I removed it and took it to the sink where I twisted
the faucet as I always do. Nothing happened. Not being fully awake, I twisted
it again and was amazed at the lack of pressure behind the faucet. Even barely
awake, I managed to yell several naughty epithets because I knew somewhere my
pipe(s) had frozen. I also knew why…because I hadn’t left the bathroom cold water
faucet dripping as my FB friend suggested.
It’s been at
least a couple decades since the Karlberg water pipes froze. I discovered the problem
when I got up to get in the shower for work. No water, no shower, no work. It
was a big deal and I remember John renting some huge blower thing to warm up
the garage and the pipes located there. If memory serves, the pipe(s) cracked,
so John had to use his plumbing skills. Unfortunately, his initial attempt
apparently wasn’t quite up to par because the following Friday, there was once
again no water to the shower. Two Fridays in a row…I’m sure my boss thought I made
it up.
Fortunately, I
had filled the water container in the fridge so I was able to water both my Nespresso
and Kuma. I had my latte and waited until 8:00 am when I texted my son AJ…”I
regret to inform you my pipes froze. Going to call plumber neighbor at 9:00 am.”
I got a text back, “Call me.”
The end result
was AJ came over and figured out where the water had frozen. It was the hose
bib at the front of the house. He thawed it with his heat gun; and let me tell
you, the sound of water gushing out of the open faucets was music to my ears. He
told me the cover I’d put on the hose bib was actually worthless.
AJ’s assistance
didn’t stop there. He went off to Ace Hardware and bought a heat strip and performed
the installation. There was already a heat strip on the other side of the
garage door which wasn’t plugged in. He plugged that in too. n.b. When John redid
the water line from the street, he brought the pipe in to the right side of the
garage door, then up and over and down the left side. I think it was the second
Friday when he installed insulation over all those pipes.
I made AJ a
latte and he played a bit with Kuma, having bought him a Cow Ball when he was
at Ace…it’s been Kuma’s favorite toy since. With hugs and my deepest gratitude, AJ
left to go home and relax for the remainder of the day. I collapsed on the
couch, grateful my problem hadn’t required his entire day or one of those huge
heaters. As I’m relaxing there’s a knock on the door and it’s AJ. He’d returned
with a ceramic heater which he installed on the left side of the garage. He
didn’t trust that old heat tape and wanted to make sure the water remained
fluid. He provided me with instructions so I would know how it functions as
well as when to turn it on.
Now, he’d
solved my original problem when he left for home the first time, so he really didn’t need to do anything additional,
sort of go that extra mile, but he did. My thanks and hugs were even more generous when he left for home the second time. Saturday night AJ texted to make sure I’d turned the heater on as instructed. I replied I had and once again professed
my thanks. His responding text was, “Its what sons do for their Ma’s.”
Aren’t I the
lucky (and profoundly grateful) mom though!!! Yes, I am. Yes, I am.