Frustrations and Revelations

It began in the afternoon, with the discovery that the condensate pump attached to our furnace was leaking. My initial instinct in all such matters is to bring in someone who knows what the hell they're doing, but after watching a 5 minute YouTube video, I felt empowered enough to take the cover off and make sure the float was moving freely.

Not two hours into my smugness, Audrey informed me that there was water seeping beneath one of the cupboards in the basement washroom (the fabled "BatCan").

Audrey emptied the cupboard while I continued to cut vegetables for the next day's stew, stewing my own self, then returning downstairs so the two of us could remove the cupboard and mop up the water. It was by no means a flood, but feeling the damp windowsill made us both fear for the worst. A cracked foundation? Leaky window wells? Being a man with next to no handyman skills at all, I was terrified by what we might discover. I imagined we might need to hire a professional just to figure out what the problem actually was.

The washroom cleaned, and stew underway, I went outside to start the barbeque in order to grill up some hamburgers for us for dinner.  While it was preheating, I grabbed the compost bucket from under the sink and took it out to the bin behind the garage.

When I opened the lid, I saw a mouse scurrying for cover under and around the vegetable discards and humus. Now, I hate the notion of mice in my dwelling at the best of times, of which a pandemic lockdown situation is not, and it is a short hop from the compost to the garage to the house in my estimation. I returned the bucket to the house, informed Audrey about my discovery, and got a spoonful of peanut butter to bait the traps in the garage.

I placed the traps close to the compost bin and opened the lid, only to discover that there were now two mice darting about. I grabbed a stick from a bundle of firestarter in the garage and jabbed into the compost, killing one of the mice, though it brought me no joy, what with my being a renowned softie and all.

I disposed of the stick and stepped back into the house to wash up and start grilling dinner, but before I could explain what I'd done, Audrey turned to me wearing her most disgusted look of the day and said, "The cupboard underneath the sink is saturated."

Sure enough, everything underneath the sink aside from the garbage can was either coated or filled with water. She and Fenya emptied the second cupboard of the day and began laying out some of the soaked items to dry, including a lot of plastic garbage bags. Once they were secured to the branches in the backyard, Fenya wistfully remarked, "Our apple tree looks like a bride - a ghost bride, mind, but still..."

After supper, I went back out to the compost bin to check the traps on the off chance there had been an early arrival, but instead, I opened the bin lid to see at least a half-dozen mice, frantically bounding around like popping corn. I closed the lid, and walked away, disgusted and perplexed.

Returning to the kitchen, I got a flashlight and got under the sink on my back, but couldn't see any more than I had after dinner. Was it possibly a leak in the roof draining down the inside wall of the house somehow? Was this seepage related to the water in the basement bathroom, directly below?

It occurred to me that we hadn't tried the sink since emptying out the cupboard. I asked for the water to be turned on, and after a moment, felt a fine mist upon my face. Taking my glasses off, I reached my hand toward the back of the cupboard, where the mist intensified. Feeling my way along the flexible hose connected to the pullout faucet, I discovered that, sure enough, the hose had become completely frayed. Well, at least we knew!

Once again, the impulse to call in a plumber was difficult to resist, but eventually recognized that replacing such components must be a commonplace affair. While I hopelessly scoured the internet to determine what part I might need, Audrey found the installation manual. Armed with the proper part number, I was able to order a replacement hose online which should arrive here Wednesday.

Yes, the mice are still going to be a problem, and I am constantly reaching for the kitchen faucet when I know full well I shouldn't, and to top things off, the condensate pump is still leaking.

But the furnace is overdue for a servicing anyway so we can sort that out this week (assuming we can find a technician still doing service calls!), and I can always get more traps to place around the bin.

But getting control of one problem was enough to give me a better disposition about all the rest. And besides that - it was nice to deal with something unrelated to COVID-19 for a change!