Gordan Lightfoot sang:
"Rainy day people always seem to know when it's time to call
Rainy day people don't talk, they just listen till they've heard it all
Rainy day lovers don't lie when they tell 'ya they've been down like you
Rainy day people don't mind if you're cryin' a tear or two
If you get lonely, all you really need is that rainy day love
Rainy day people all know there's no sorrow they can't rise above
Rainy day lovers don't love any others, that would not be kind
Rainy day people all know how it hangs on a piece of mind.
Rainy day lovers don't lie when they tell you, they've been down there too
Rainy day people don't mind if you're cryin' a tear or two.
Rainy day people always seem to know when you're feeling blue
High stepping strutters who land in the gutters sometimes need one too
Take it or leave it, or try to believe it
If you've been down too long
Rainy day lovers don't hide love inside they just pass it on
Rainy day lovers don't hide love inside they just pass it on."
Today Ann and I were blessed to be "Rainy Day" people. It's late now and we are tired but we are blessed. Today maybe for the first time since the end of May when I lost my job, I realized that maybe, just maybe I lost it for a specific reason and maybe that reason was to be a "rainy day people".
The day started out like most others recently. Micah and Seth left for school in the rain. Ann and I went to church to load the Equinox with donated food to deliver to the food pantry like we do the first of each month even though this month's delivery was delayed by two days because of the Labor Day weekend. It was for this reason that we missed Grandma Delp's urgent phone call saying that she could go swimming in her house even though she doesn't have a pool there.
Until we got home from our delivery and got the message water was rising rapidly in her basement and Uncle Tim was trying to "get everything up" that wasn't still up from Agnes in 1972. While in route to help out in Rutherford Jen calls and says she has 4" of water in the basement and it was rising. Help! Within minutes Grandpop reports the same thing even though it was not as deep. Help, Delp!
In order we 1) helped Tim move a washer and get everything secured, 2) provided instructions to Grandma Delp that she was to stay out of the basement, 3) she was leave the house if the water covered the washing machine that she could now see from the landing, 4) went to Grandpops house , 5) assured him that yes his carpets were wet but that he didn't have a problem, yet, 6) helped Nate set his freezer, washer, dryer and fridge up so as to keep them out of the water, 7) stopped home for 2-seconds to get a phone number to call about a pump, 8) checked our house for water, which was only seen in the fridge, in the sink and in the toilet. All places where water is normal and expected.
We met some very nice people at a plumbing supply house that we did not know existed until today. They supplied us with three pumps and many wishes of good luck in exchange for being able to use my Visa in their machine. They even helped us to the truck in the pouring rain with our pumps. Ann had a free lunch with them while we waited. The trip back to Rutherford with our pumps reminded me of one of those walks taken by the kids in the cartoon "Family Circus". We meandered all over the East Shore of Harrisburg trying to find a route from where we were to where we were going that wasn't impassable because of high water.
At our destination we hooked up the smaller of our pumps because it used a garden hose as its out-take. After a brief but frustrating battle with a window screen the pump was in action, pumping away. We were just trying the stem the tide at that point as the water was still rising. The hook up for the bigger of the pumps wasn't as easy. We had a 1 1/4" hose and a 1 1/2" fitting on the pump. To a plumber that is no obstacle but as you have read in my previous blogs, "I ain't no plumber!" Read my blog on the kitchen sink.
A trip to Lowe's then to Grandma Delp's, then to Grandpops, then to Nate's gave me time to think about what really need to be done. With enough time and with the Holy Spirit guidance one can always remember about going to R.F. Fagers plumbing supply. They know everything about plumbing and are always willing to share.
Five minutes and $6.12 later we are once again weaving our way back to Rutherford. Abracadabra, alakazam the bigger pump is put together, put in place and puttin' what is inside and should be outside, outside where it belongs flowing freely down the street. In what seem like a very short time, about the same time it takes a family of four with their Grandmother and Uncle to demolish two large pizzas and two orders of fries, the basement was emptied of standing water.
It was during the eating of the pizza that I spoke up and said that, "As bad as everyone thinks today is we really have been blessed. First Ann and I were around and available to help everyone. When we needed pumps, we got pumps, When we need fittings, we got fittings. When the water was at it's highest, we got everything working. When we needed pizza, we got pizza. We needed pizza too.
When the people who owned homes that were filling with water were down and very concerned, we were able to be there to help out and provide an encouraging word. We knew that they was nothing that we couldn't rise above no matter how daunting.
We are blessed and are glad to "pass it on". - DD
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