Black River in the Drought

If you think my title is bizarre, wait until you hear the latest story. It really made me glad the baby isn't here yet!

Somehow, we both forgot about the water bill. Ours comes about every three months, and they don't send any kind of reminders by email like we have most of the bills set up to do (we prefer to pay online, just easier). Pregnancy brain isn't even to blame for this, because I was wondering about it yesterday. We have just been too busy or away from home, and haven't seen the bill or thought to check online. As a result our water was shut off. This has never happened to us.

Michael called to find out what had happened when he came home from work, and then paid the bill right away. He also gave them our phone number since they didn't have one on record for us yet (if they had, they could have called to warn us). They did think something weird must have happened, as we have excellent credit and have never missed a payment in three years. However, since Michael didn't notice until the end of the business day, we were going to have to make due without water until the following morning. Resourceful and positive people manage these situations well, and we used this as an excuse to go to Panera for dinner. We used the bathroom there, and took home 4 cups of water with lids to brush our teeth and to drink. I put a little toilet cleaner in the toilet at home as well.

We have had a friend staying at our house short term, and last night she moved out. We were helping her load stuff, including some boxes in the basement. Also in the basement, still waiting to be transported to the recycling center this weekend, were a few jugs full of motor oil. Somehow, someone pushed the gallon milk jug into a concrete brick which created a small puncture. I noticed it started leaking last night, but I honestly thought it was just a little spill that was under control. I put paper towels around it, and didn't think anything of it.

This morning as we were having breakfast, I asked Michael if he could smell motor oil. He didn't really notice it. Then, he went downstairs to get something for me and I could tell from his reaction it was bad! I went down to see a black river oozing across the floor, but stopping before it retch the drain thankfully. It was a mess! I was kicking myself for not doing something better when I had the chance. Without water and a way to wash our hands beyond hand sanitizer, there was little to be done at the moment but just put more paper towels in its path. We also temporarily moved one cat box upstairs so our curious kitties would not get into the oil and track it around the house.

The bright side of the situation: none of our baby stuff that was down there was in its path and nothing of value got destroyed. Our friend's stuff was gone, or it would have been destroyed. The floor is just painted concrete, so it is an easy surface to clean. And finally, I have my own environmental engineer who knows how to properly clean up oil spills! He attacked it this afternoon with some cheap clay kitty litter, then we both went down wearing old clothes and gloves. We opened the door to the garage for good ventilation, picked and swept everything up, then used dish detergent all over the floor. Oil is quite slippery, so I was extra careful. Now, the mess is pretty much cleaned up, the oil smell is gone, and it probably only needs mopped one more time. Problem solved. At least Michael's rashes stopped on Monday. It has been one very eventful week for sure.