Well, the adventure continued today, which was moving day.<br><br>First, we got up at 7:30, as the movers were coming at 8:30. We do a little last-minute packing ("Gaaaah! We forgot to pack up the DVD player!") and then sit out on the balcony of our apartment to await the movers.<br><br>Off in the distance, we see a moving truck coming.... and then it turns away. Puzzled, we figured it was someone else's. Then we got a phone call. Turns out, the movers couldn't find our place. So we direct them to our apartment building ("It's the only 3-story building in the whole city, dudes!") and they arrive.<br><br>As we learned later, getting lost was not their fault. Apparently, their dispatcher sucks big-time, and didn't even give them the right map. Dean and Travis, our movers, came in and started going gangbusters on our packed-up boxes.<br><br>Things were disappearing into their truck with great rapidity... furniture, boxes, minor appliances, sacks, cat hair, you name it. Everything is in the truck in about three hours, which is really good considering there were only two guys. Then we lead them on to our new home, where the unloading started.<br><br>Woe to us, neither of our couches would fit down the stairs into the basement. Said couches are now in the garage, awaiting appointments with Mr. Box Cutter, Mr. Circular Saw, and Mr. Junk-Heap. I think we're gonna buy a couple of papasan chairs for the basement, or I will end up making a couch of some kind for reading down there. (Basement is going to be the library of the house... there's easily 2500 pounds of books in the house between Mrs. Bug and I.)<br><br>Anyway, once we determined the couches were to be No More, things went quickly. Dean and Travis did an absolutely kick-ass job of getting our stuff in. Not one wall was scratched, nor were boxes dented. They even wiped up the floor in the front room for us. The only casualty of moving was one of the mounts for our storm-door's door-closer, and that I can fix with a pair of pliers and a screwdriver. No biggie. Our movers, (C&C Moving, as I recall--props) did a great job and we're happy with 'em.<br><br>Also, Travis and I got to talking, and I may end up spec'ing out and building a machine for him sometime in the nearish future. Could be an extra hundred bucks or two while I wait on job interviews and such.<br><br>Now, you'd think that everything could be calm, yes? Well, you forgot our cats. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> We had locked them in one of the bathrooms in the apartment earlier today (with water/litter, of course) so they wouldn't get squished by the movers. Mrs. Bug and I went back to get them, and they were, understandably, very angry. Rufus hissed at both of us, something I've never heard from him before, while Buster just moo'ed at us pathetically. Yes, Buster makes a 'moo' sound. We go around the house and moo back at him. Our future house-guests are going to think we're nuts. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>Anyway, we transport the cats and let them out to explore. At last, we can relax! Mrs. Bug kicks back upstairs, and I head for my lair and begin to start getting things arranged.<br><br>By the way, did I mention it's been raining cats, dogs, and gerbils since about 12:30 here? I went to the lair at something like 3:30.<br><br>I had to hit the workbench in the back of the basement to get a boxcutter to open some of my boxes. Instead of nice cool tile under my feet, I feel water, enough to cover my little toe. I look down, and there's water <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>everywhere</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->.<br><br>Turns out, the bottom of the walls on the NW side of the house have leaks. So I call my stepfather, who was--before he retired--in construction for about 35 years or so. I explain to him what's going on. He has me get my raincoat (remember, it's still coming down <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>HARD</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> outside) and go look around the house.<br><br>Lo, I find standing water. The guy who owned the place previously made a nice-looking gravel surround for the house. There's plants in it, and a sheet of plasic weighted down by the gravel, as is apparently standard practice. None of the sheeting at the edges of the house is wet.. a little damp, yes, but no standing water. So I look elsewhere. As it turns out, the garage has a downspout that's emptying right near the edge of the deck, but doesn't have an extended pipe to guide the water away from the gravel and sheeting... and the deck is surrounded by plastic edging. So the runoff from the garage roof is collecting there and somehow seeping some dozen feet back to the edge of the house and under the basement walls.<br><br>So we make a panic-trip to Home Depot. (I forsee more of these in the future, somehow) Since we can't fit 20+ feet of PVC piping into a Honda Civic, we elect to get those flexible downspout extenders, about four of them. Then we get a shop-vac and dolly in case we have to move boxes away from water (we didn't but a dolly is a good thing to have).<br><br>We get home and assemble the 20 feet of flexible extenders, plunk 'em on to the garage downspout, verify that it's indeed redirecting the water, and leave it at that for now. (It was still raining cats and dogs then--I'll be making improvements to the placement when it's a bit drier) Then we take the shop-vac in... sorta. <br><br>On the way up the stairs to the back door, the box falls apart and there's shop-vac parts all over the deck. We scramble, get 'em inside, dry 'em off, assembled (didn't read the instructions 'cause I'm a <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>man</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> now or something. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START ;) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif ALT=";)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> ), and taken down the basement. We attack the water, and lo, are successful! This takes about an hour.<br><br>That done, I go back and check on the downspout... turns out the standing water is gone, as it has drained to wherever it's going (our basement, likely). The extenders are still working just fine.<br><br>And the cats are nowhere to be found. Turns out the shop-vac scared the crap out of them and they're hiding. Since this is the first day in the house, we aren't going to have much luck finding them, but we know they didn't go outside.<br><br>---<br><br>Ah, here's one of the cats. Buster, he's roaming now. Rufus is probably under the couch.<br><br>--<br><br>Anyway, it's been a rather exciting day. Yes, it <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>did</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> rain earlier, when Mrs. Bug and the relatives and I were painting up the house, and there was no seepage. Current explanation is that since this area has been in a drought for the last three years, the soil had been sucking up all that garage-runoff just fine. Now, with this huge rain, no longer just sucking it right up, instead passing it on.<br><br>Gonna have to vacuum the water up again later this evening, but I think we've got the main cause of the problem figured out. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <br><br>FIRST DAY! OY! If Publisher's Clearinghouse showed up with a check for fifty million bucks right now, I wouldn't be surprised. <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :) --><img src=
http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/smile.gif ALT=":)"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>
