What a day...

Well, it started like any other day. Up at the crack of dawn, 6 am. Only today I could have, probably should have, stayed in bed. I had taken today off because we are getting DirectTv and today was install day, after having 3 other installs scheduled, it finally happened, but thats a different blog all together, so lets move on.I tried to go and brush my teeth, no water. Uh oh, did we not pay the bill? No, I know we did. Maybe they are working on it down the street or something, we do have alot of construction going on around us. So I head out in the living room and look at our handy dandy inside/outside/nuclear clock...21 degrees? Did we get tele-ported to Alaska? This cant be right! So I glance outside...it even looks cold. On goes the jacket, still wearing shorts and off I go to HomeDepot for a long screw driver bit that I need for my current garage project...photos and what not to follow in a couple days when I'm done with it. Damn...its really cold outside! Then it hits me...the water isn't off...the pipes are frozen!!! CRAP!Come about 11 am, the DirectTv guy shows up. "Hey, you got a leaking pipe on the side of your house, this is the 3rd house I've been too and everyone has a broken pipe". Not good. As I come around the side of the house, I see a refreshing looking pool...we don't have a pool. Then, I see a glimpse of Multnomah falls...wait a minute, thats in Oregon. This isn't just a leaking pipe, I've struck oil!!!! clean, refreshing oil..but oil none the less. I crank off the valve and shut the water off, wonder how long thats been going for...judging from the birds taking a bath in the stream of water 4 houses down, alittle over a long time.So, we call the property manager, who gets ahold of a plumbing company that does work for the builder down here...4 hours later, a portly disheveled fellow shows up...you know, your typical been around the plumbing block kind of guy. He comes over to the side of the house with me, I turn on the water so he can see where it's leaking from, and I kid you not he says "I'm not certified to work on that". Are you kidding me? What kind of plumbing company isn't certified to work on the pipes? Doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of being a plumber? So, he gives me the name and number for a guy they use that is certified to work on it. A phone call and 2 more hours goes by and they call to tell us "we have you on the list, and we will get to you tonight". 8 pm rolls around, and they call us back "we are out of parts, every house we have been to today has needed a new check valve (also the part we need, sigh), we've used up all we had at the shop, so we have to get more tomorrow, will anyone be home?". Sigh, yes, someone will be home, just come give us water back!!!!I know it's not a life or death kind of thing, but being with out water sucks! I managed to take the valve apart and get it down to a slow trickle so that we could turn it back on for a bit and get in some showers (and some of us needed it more than others!) but then we had to turn it back off again. It just sucks.With any luck, tomorrow we can get it fixed and be done with the problem. Until then...we wait.On top of that, I was planning on taking the truck into the dealership this afternoon to get not 1, but 2 safety recalls done, passenger side air bag and passenger side seat belt....anyone want to go for a ride? =:)