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The Great New Year's Eve Flood of Aught-Six
Let me tell the tale of the Great New Year’s Eve Flood of Aught-Six. You won’t hear it from anyone else. As most calamities begin, so began this one; not with a single odd event, but with the convergence of multiple odd events. In this case there were two:
- A stoppage in a pipe somewhere kept the toilet from draining.
- The flapper valve in the toilet stuck open, causing the water to run and run.
The end result of the convergence of these two events was the Great New Year’s Eve Flood of Aught-Six. At first, it didn’t appear to be too bad; water had run out of the bathroom and into the hallway, but that was about it. Becky called for me to help, and I quickly used the shut-off valve to stop the water. We grabbed some towels and started sopping up the mess. Then we heard another sound of water running. Suffice it to say that our floors are not waterproof; the wooden floor let water run through right down into the basement. And then a bunch of water backed up near the toilet and made its way down as well.
So downstairs we went, to find water running from the drop ceiling in several places. I grabbed a bucket to catch the worst of it, but there was already a nice puddle stretching from the computer table over to Laura’s playset. Again with the towels. My computer monitor, tower, and keyboard were fortunate; they got splashed on a bit, but didn’t suffer any damage. My printer/scanner I’m not so sure about; when I picked it up a good 2 or 3 cups of water ran out of it. I unplugged it and set it in the downstairs shower to drain out. I haven’t yet tested it for damage, but I’m not too hopeful.
Being as this flood occurred mid-morning, the rest of the day was spent cleaning and repairing; I replaced the various valves in the toilet and it seems to be much happier now. Two of the ceiling tiles in the basement were waterlogged beyond salvage; a quick trip to Lowe’s found me a partial package with just the two tiles that I needed, which was a much better option than having to buy a full carton of ten. Several hours of a box fan on high speed managed to dry things out pretty well in the basement. All that really remains is for me to hang the new ceiling tiles, sweep the floor, and test out the printer.
Thus ends the tale of the Great New Year’s Eve Flood of Aught-Six. Pray it never happens to you.
Heading Home
So I’m finally caught up with my trip posts. It’s 10:20 PM and we’re in a hotel room in Dayton, Ohio. We traveled from Waxhaw this morning, picked up my sunglasses from the Cozart’s where I’d left them last night, then headed up through NC, Virginia, West Virginia, and most of the way through Ohio. It was actually a pretty good drive, not too tough, went pretty quickly.
We stopped in West Virginia at a Cracker Barrel for lunch. I’d never been in West Virginia before today. Well, not quite true; I think our college choir bus went through that little arm of WV and the little arm of Maryland on our way to Pennsylvania one year, but that hardly counts. Anyway, maybe the Cracker Barrel experience today wasn’t totally representative of WV and its people and culture, but maybe it is… I’ll just take it as a data point. So, we’re all familiar with the stereotypes of West Virginia and its people; of uncultured inbred toothless hillbillies… you get the idea. The funny part today was this: had I gone into that restaurant with no preconceived stereotypes about West Virginians, the ideas I’d have picked up in that hour would have pretty well matched the preconception I already had. I saw more people without teeth, in bib overalls, and/or just plain scary looking in one hour in that Cracker Barrel than I have seen in a month of Sundays at home. (Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t fearful or anything… more just amused.)
Over the Rhine graced the CD player this afternoon in honor of our Ohio travels, and tonight we hit a shopping mall to stretch our legs and eat some supper. Tomorrow morning I think we’ll be hitting the local Tim Horton’s in honor of my favorite Canadian *Dan (who speaks so highly of them!), then it’s back onto the interstate through Indiana, Illinois, and finally into Iowa. It will be good to be home.
The Penguin, and New Friends
Thursday was get-ready-to-head-home day. We picked up a cartop carrier that Ernie had salvaged for us. It is in excellent shape, and with all the post-Christmas shopping Becky did, it’s a good thing we have it! There’s no way we’d have fit all the stuff into the van. Then we started packing up to go home. Can’t believe we brought so much stuff along. Seriously, we took the back seat out of the Caravan, and it’s still packed up nearly to the ceiling, then we have the cartop carrier almost full, too. Goodness.
Thursday evening we headed in to Charlotte to meet some of our “weird internet friends” for supper and to hang out. We met Brandon, his wife Sarah, and Andrea at The Penguin near downtown Charlotte. The Penguin is a nice hole-in-the-wall place; very small, very loud, very eclectic. The jukebox would be playing heavy metal one minute and jazz the next. Very unpredictable. The burgers were good, and the specialty that we had to try was deep-fried dill pickle chips. They were fantastic.
After supper we went back to Brandon and Sarah’s apartment for dessert and to watch Brandon’s beloved Texas A&M Aggies who were playing Cal in a bowl game. The Aggies ended up losing. Sorry, Brandon. We ended up getting back to Waxhaw about 11 PM. It was a fun night, fun to finally meet some people we interact with online all the time. And yes, they’re normal people… not weirdos… just like I’m a normal, non-weird person. Heh. :-)
Post-Christmas Mayhem
The day after Christmas found us trying to sleep off all that food we ate the day before. :-) We enjoyed leftovers for breakfast and lunch, again ate too much food. We played Upwards for the first time. It’s like Scrabble, but gives you the opportunity to stack letters on top of other letters to make new words… kinda fun.
We took a little walk and Brandi drove herself and Laura around the yard in her little battery-powered Corvette.
Then late afternoon came and it was time to pack up and head back to Waxhaw. We just barely fit everything into the Suburban. Traffic was kinda heavy but we made it back and crashed. Another enjoyable day. Pictures below.
35 years and counting...
This post is only a day belated, but let me wish my parents a very happy 35th anniversary! Don and Marj Hubbs were married on December 26, 1971. 35 years and 5 children later they are still going strong, and are a blessing to each of us. Congratulations Dad and Mom!
Christmas!
Christmas morning dawned and we packed up four adults, two small children, and lots of presents and luggage into the folks’ Suburban and headed up to Faith and Ernie’s home in Conover, NC. It was just about a 2-hour drive from Waxhaw - not bad at all. This gave Laura the first chance to meet her cousin Brandi, and oh, did they ever have fun. Brandi is almost 5. Faith and Ernie adopted her from China 3 years ago. She is a sweetie.
We opened presents and presents and more presents. Every time it seemed like we might be done, Ernie would find some more presents under the tree and we’d keep opening them. I can’t begin to keep track of what all I received; Becky is actually sitting right now documenting it all as I write this blog post… at least that way I’ll be able to write thank-yous! The one memorable thing I’ll mention here is a refrigerator magnet from Becky’s sister Cynthia; it has a cartoon of the Mona Lisa holding a fish in one hand, with the title “The DaVinci Cod”. Hehehe. [Edit: Becky corrects me that this magnet was given to her folks, not to me. :-( Still, it is pretty cool.]
After that came Christmas dinner, and Faith had prepared enough for an army. We ate leftovers again on Tuesday and there was still far too much left over. But it was sure tasty. The rest of Christmas day was just a crash day; we watched some football, took naps, and enjoyed watching the girls play. God has certainly blessed us richly with family, friends, and material goods. I, for one, need to step back more often and realize how blessed I am.
Christmas Eve
Sunday morning of our trip brought us to Calvary Church in Charlotte for the Sunday morning service. It is Becky’s folks’ church, and she attended and was an intern there while in college. Then in 1998 we got married in the chapel there… so I guess we have a little history at the church. :-) We got there early so Becky could see a few people she hasn’t seen in a while… and of course she could show off the girls.
After church we pigged out on Sonny’s BBQ, which has some phenomenal sweet tea. Then it was back to Waxhaw for an afternoon nap, and then the traditional Christmas Eve feast with Becky’s folks. Then it was off to bed for the girls as we packed up to head to Faith & Ernie’s for Christmas…
Never buy a Unicorn when it's Sleeping.
Day 4 of our trip (Saturday the 23rd) was a nice day to catch up. After sleeping in, we had a late breakfast with Becky’s folks. Or, I should say rather at Becky’s folks’ place; I’m sure they had eaten hours before we got there. :-) The girls had some time to play with toys, and we helped prepare some food for Christmas dinner. Then in early afternoon while the girls were taking naps, Becky and I headed in to Charlotte to do a little shopping.
Charlotte is growing like crazy these days. There are new Target stores and Harris Teeter grocery stores seemingly every 2 miles or so. We stopped at one of those Target stores to pick up a few things. While there, Becky and I were browsing the toy aisles and noticed a little girl probably 4 years old with her parents in tow. She noticed a large stuffed pink unicorn slouching on the lowest shelf and told her father she wanted to get it. Without missing a beat, her father replied, “oh, but it’s asleep. Never buy a unicorn when it’s sleeping.” And that was the end of it. No questions why, no discussion; I imagine the little girl had something to think about for the rest of the afternoon. It was all Becky and I could do to make it ‘round the corner to the next aisle before breaking into hilarious laughter. I can only hope I’ll be that quick on the mental draw when Laura gets a bit bigger. :-)
Saturday night after supper we put the girls to bed and then Becky’s folks came over and we played games for a while; first several rounds of Sequence, then a few games of Pass the Pigs, which was a new one to me, but is basically a little dice game with specially-designed plastic pigs in place of dice. Then it was off to bed in preparation for church on Sunday.
Back on the Road
Day 3 was another travel day; Nashville, TN to Waxhaw, NC. It doesn’t look that long on the map, but it winds through the mountains a good bit, which makes it longer. It’s a very pretty drive.
We got packed up and left the Opryland resort about 8:30. Taking I-40 east, we headed through Knoxville and then wound our way through the mountains to Asheville, NC. It was rainy and foggy all day, which made for some beautiful views of clouds hanging low in the mountain valleys, but it also made for some difficult driving. Still, we made it to Charlotte in time for supper and then drove the 40 minutes on to Waxhaw to see Becky’s folks.
We hung out at their apartment for a little while and had some dessert (Laura just loves her ice cream!), then they took us over to the little JAARS apartment that we’re staying in. The JAARS headquarters here actually is set up with several lodges and apartments to house folks that come in for training and the like. They’re also available for visitors, which works quite well for us. We’re actually in an apartment that has two bedrooms, one bath, living room, dining room, and small kitchen. Laura slept in a real twin-sized bed, a real step up from her toddler bed at home. She did really well. It’s nice to have a little home-away-from-home where we can just settle down at night. (It even has DSL so I can get my internet fix!)
Fortunately we won’t be doing much more driving for a day or two; Sunday we’ll head into Charlotte for church, then Monday we head up to Conover to visit Ernie, Faith, and Brandy for Christmas. I’ll try to keep my blog posts up-to-date since I know some of my family will be reading them while they’re together in Chicago at Ryan’s place. Hi guys!
Nashville
Day 2 of our Christmas trip landed us in Nashville. Becky’s brother Bob and his wife Holly and daughter Taylor live just south of town. Holly works for Gaylord Entertainment, which operates the massive Opryland Resort there in northeast Nashville. As such, she gets a phenomenal discount rate for rooms in the hotel, and we took full advantage of that to stay there for two nights.
We slept in (a necessity after staying up ’til midnight) and then went with Bobby and Taylor to a local Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Then it was back to the resort and we started walking around. The place is amazing. They have two domed areas with multiple levels of attractions, shows, shops, and gardens. One has an indoor river with boat tours! Bob had lined up a boat tour for us and off we went.
At lunchtime I was able to get together with Andy Osenga to grab lunch. He was getting ready to record some background vocals for another guy that afternoon, and they were heading out for lunch first. I joined them for lunch at a local Irish pub-type establishment (I call it that knowing that Ryan would be happy to tell me how different a true Irish pub is from that place!), then went back to the studio and hung out for a while while Andy recorded. Mitch Dean (who has worked on albums for Jars of Clay, among others) was doing the recording, and it was an education for me to see just how the process works. It was difficult, if not impossible, to resist the geek appeal of all that sound recording and editing gear, and that doesn’t even begin to address the enjoyment I had as a musician seeing how songs get sculpted into a finished product.
I headed back to the resort mid-afternoon and we walked around and saw more of the sights. The place is just designed to soak your money out of you. They have a Chick-Fil-A inside one of the domes. The price for a basic CFA sandwich? $6. At a normal CFA, it costs about $2.50. Add on the $10/day to park, the add-ons for the extras in your room, and I know I couldn’t afford to stay there at normal prices. Oh, a word about the room we stayed in. It was actually a three-room suite, two bedrooms, each with two double beds, and then a connecting sitting room that was huge; perhaps 20 x 30 feet. Each room had windows that opened out to the dome with the river, so you could hear rushing water all night. Amazing. Bob said it usually runs about $550/night. He got it for just a tiny percentage of that price, I’m sure.
That night after Holly got off work we went and saw the “Ice” show right next door; it was a big building full of ice sculptures, and included two big ice slides! They issued you large coats at the door; the single-degree temps inside were in stark contrast to the 60-degree temps outside. Laura was a bit scared, but went down one of the slides. Unfortunately, the picture didn’t come out. There was an amazing ice nativity scene, of course an igloo, a bear ice fishing, a train… very cool stuff. (Pun intended.)
Finally, we went over to the massive shopping mall next to the resort to grab dinner. We ate at the Rain Forest Cafe, which has a waterfall, massive aquariums, animatronic elephants and apes, simulated thunderstorms, the whole bit. The food was pretty decent, too. We finally made it back to our room and collapsed into bed. Well, I guess I collapsed; Becky went down with Bob to hang out for a while and listen to a band.
I’ll just add the rest of the pictures here at the end; the descriptions on Flickr will fill in any info you need.
