Things You Don't Want to See Broken

Let us back up to earlier this week, Tuesday morning, as a matter of fact, when I popped down to the cellar to get something or other.  Little Cat, like the brat she is, slunk in behind me, and refused to come out.  So I left her in there, shutting the door to ensure none of the other animals joined her, and went to work.

Around noon I texted Nathan to check on her and see if she wanted to come out.  His response?  "Not yet, apparently."

That afternoon I discovered a wretched ant infestation, and after raining down my wrath upon them, further discovered I was out of paper towels in the kitchen.  So back down to the cellar I went, calling again for Little Cat.  This time, not being in a rush to get to work, I stood perfectly still and listened for her.  I did not hear her, but what I did hear, was... water...

I followed the sound and noticed a large damp stain around the water heater, and then realized that it was leaking- not just dripping, but a small stream trickling out of the seal around the drain-faucet.  "Huh," I said to myself.  "That's probably not good."  And then I called Nathan down to take a peak at it, because he knows more about the bowels of the house than I do.

"Nope, not good," Nathan agreed, and went outside to turn the water off.  And can you guess who came prancing in the front door as he did so?  Yes.  You are right.  Little Cat can walk through walls.

::sigh::

Anyway, flash forward to today, skimming over the parts where we'd been living mostly without water (we'd turn it on for a bit in the morning and at night, just to do things like brush our teeth, etc), and the plumber finally is able to come out.  He and Nathan troop downstairs, and then I hear a lot of angry language and the plumber rushes back up, then back down, this time with a huge bucket.  And then the three of us are engaged in a twenty-minute long race to move who knows how many gallons of scalding hot water from the cellar to the bathtub using two buckets and two large bowls.  Exciting!

What had happened was that when the plumber tried to open the drain, the entire thing just... broke.

Not good.  Not good at all.  Also, see how nice my nails are when I'm not climbing regularly?

His angry words were mostly for the guy who'd installed such a cheap part in the first place (apparently brass from different parts of the world has different levels of quality to it- who knew?) and fortunately for us the whole thing was still under warranty (we replaced the entire water heater last year, literally the day after my first miscarriage, which is why I was so hazy about the whole thing) so we only had to pay for labor.

...well, that and the massive amounts of water that I literally just poured straight down the drain.  ::sigh::  Ah,  home-ownership... at least we caught it in time.  Thanks, Little Cat!