Thar' She Blows!

Sometime around 3:00 a.m. today, I awoke to what sounded like (or so I thought) an airplane flying quite low overhead. I lay in bed and thought to myself, "They must be dusting for mosquitoes" (Idaho is currently experiencing a massive outbreak of West Nile Virus, with the county bordering ours at a state emergency level). Then I began thinking that since I had a fan running, I ought to get up and shut it off, so as not to ingest large amounts of "bug spray". After shutting off the fan, I realized that the very odd noise was actually coming from inside my house (that would be the same house that Steve and I just purchased last week). I then decided my father was taking a shower downstairs, but what the heck was he doing, showering in the middle of the night? I began to make my way down the stairs, and along the way, realized it wasn't a shower I was hearing, but a very large amount of water, splashing violently (this is the part where I started to feel like I was going to hurl). I reached the foot of the stairs and immediately stepped into cold water. Here is when I did what any sensible young woman would do - - I hollered for my Daddy! Dad came running out of his bedroom and we both stared at the pantry door for what seemed like forever (but was actually just a second or two). Dad threw the door open, and all we could see was water spraying directly at us, as you would see when a fire hydrant had been opened. Apparently, the pipes that once carried well water (at a much lower pressure, I might add) simply could not withstand the pressure of the *&%$# city water (see my earlier posts on this subject). Without hesitating, Dad shot across the room to the valve and turned the water off, not pausing even though he was clad in just his pajama bottoms and was barefoot. I'd also like to add that there was a very large freezer (full of elk meat) plugged in, sitting in water, but that didn't stop him, either. The water stopped, and I think we were both speechless for a minute or two. Here is a lovely photo of where the pipes blew apart, spewing very expensive city water all over my brand new home. How ironic that Dad and I had chose the day before, to spend hours packing and unpacking my kitchen, placing all of my appliances and pantry food in that very room. Someone was obviously watching over me, because although my beloved kitchen appliances were wet (my bread machine was down there, for goodness sakes!) they all seem to have pulled through. The only food item that seems to have been lost was a bag of flour. I find this completely amazing, because we are not talking about a slight drip here, folks - - this was a massive amount of water. After about an hour of mopping, wiping, and sopping, we called it a night and went back to bed. I called Jeff's Plumbing first thing in the morning, and by 10:00 a.m. the pipe had been repaired and we had running water once again. I am most thankful for the fact that my Dad was there, and that he saved the day. After that, I'm thankful this occurred in the middle of the night, rather than on a day I was at work. Last, but not least, I am thankful that my pantry also has a massive sump pump, for disasters such as the one we experienced early this morning. That sucker was pumping like there was no tomorrow.