Recipe for a Disaster

On May 1st Cheyenne saw over a foot of very wet snow fall and then temps climbed into the 50s just a few days later...recipe for a disaster!!

Mid-morning on May 1, 2013

Several weeks ago I bought a bedding set to put on the bed in the spare bedroom, which happens to be in the basement. I couldn't lift the mattress myself to put the bed skirt on so I kept asking James for help, but we never got around to it. Friday was James' Phoenix Friday...meaning he had the day off! We spent the morning running errands around town and then took a drive to Wellington since the weather was so nice. On the way home we remembered the bedding...perfect day to get it taken care of! Immediately upon entering the room James notices a wet floor and we see our window well FULL of water and a steady stream coming through the window sill! Sorry, no pictures because we went into panic mode. We immediately placed towels on the floor and where the water was coming in. Then James grabbed a bucket and started hauling out water while I rushed to a rental company to get a sump pump. Pour guy was dangling from the ladder and standing in mud for hours holding the sump pump and digging out mud.

Notice the waterfall coming down the window!

Still smling after being in the well for over an hour!

I went to Safeway to rent a carpet cleaner to start sopping up the wet floor...about a 6'x8' area was drenched! Luckily under the window was a plastic storage bin and one cardboard box (my childhood memories) so not too much damage.

Doesn't this look like a room ready for my MIL to stay in when she comes for the Baby Shower?!

The sump pump was working great, but there was still a steady flow of water coming in the well, so off to Home Depot I went to get a foam sealant...not much else I could do at 30 weeks pregnant.

We always take a "bump" picture on Friday's documenting my growth for the week...only seemed fitting to do this weeks by the window well :-)

By 5pm (this all started around 1pm) things looked to be under control and water was down to a trickle and the well was just muddy, no pooling water! Thank goodness because James had to be at drill (mandatory National Guard duty) by 6pm. We scarfed down a quick dinner and he left for drill while I ran to Home Depot again to get another can of sealant...just to be on the extra cautious side! Training at drill was canceled and James was released to his Directorate (who happened to not be there) so James came back home!! The well was looking pretty good...a few more pumps and some more sealant and we were off to bed...crashed from pure exhaustion. Unfortunately James could not sleep and kept checking on the well...all continued to look good! Saturday morning James was up at O'dark thirty to head off to drill...this time he was taking a bus up to Camp Guernsey to take his PT test and wouldn't be home until after 4:30pm. He reassured me before he left that the well looked good and loaded all the rental equipment into my vehicle so that I could return it. I spent the morning cleaning up outside and doing loads of laundry...we used every towel and sheet the day before to dry things up! Just before lunch I checked the well one more time...a slight trickle, but still no water accumulating. So, I left to return all the equipment. If felt good to be out walking so I stopped by the Goodwill and Hobby Lobby while I was that direction. When I got home I took the towels out of the dryer and was going to check the floors and fans downstairs.....OMG, so glad I went back down there....the well was full again and just shy of an inch from flooding back into our basement!! I sent James a quick text, but figured he wouldn't get it since he was testing. I then called by dad...no answer, called my mom...bawled while talking to here, texted the one person I knew in Cheyenne...no answer. I was left to take care of the water on my own. It was pretty close to flooding by now so I just grabbed a pitcher and began scooping water into a bucket and carrying it upstairs and out to the street. I could hardly keep up with it let alone make a dent in the water level. Tears streamed down my face with each step. About 20 buckets into the process I threw up from exertion...luckily I was carrying a bucket :-) At one point I took a break from scooping to work on the gutter...the drainage at our house is terrible, I just couldn't get it to drain far enough from our  house. The water coming in was melt off from our roof and the roof of the neighbors...notice the conveniently placed gutter on their side...UGH :-( 

Neighbor's gutter is at the top left. Very proud of the handy work the 2 of us ladies came up with!

The neighbors where home the entire time and every time they saw me carrying the bucket their eyes diverted...this made me cry even more (dang pregnancy hormones!). After about an hour of lugging buckets upstairs James calls and informs me that another soldier's wife is on her way over with a pump...neither one of us had met this couple before, but they stepped right in when they heard of our predicament!  The soldier was also given permission to leave drill and drive James home!! So after 1 1/2 hours of trying to keep up with the water using only buckets she arrives with a sump pump!! It was working great and the water level was rapidly going down!!! Then...the motor died.

With her help we were able to get the gutter a little bit further from the house and slow the flow of water going into the well. Also, by this time during the day the snow melt off the roof was pretty much done. She took the last few loads of water up using the bucket and then left. My body was saying no more so I stopped to eat lunch, as I am finishing James walks in the door...I burst out crying again (pregnancy hormones are evil I tell you). He took over clearing out the water and soon the 2 guys from his unit show up with shovels to help!! The true meaning of "Military Family" really shown through! The guys worked on it for several hours...one of the guys had his basement flood last year so he was an expert in helping us!

After they left James and I went back to Home Depot and bought a sump pump, installed it in our window well, cleaned up the mess and called it a night.

We were able to sleep much better...A) knowing the snow melt was pretty much done and B) having the sump pump installed to run on its own. We shall see how effective it is...forecast is calling for rain this whole week :-/