Home Again

Hugh, the kids and I got home yesterday following a fabulous week with my parents, siblings, nephews and niece. Our trip was uneventful save for The Teenager’s sudden need to vomit about twenty minutes after we left my parent’s house; apparently, Dramamine needs more than a few minutes to kick in which we will do well to remember in the future.

We arrived home to a cat who was most pleased to see that we had returned, no doubt due to the low level of food in his automatic feeder; I’m guessing he was concerned that a few more days may pass without our return and he might have had to actually skip a meal. Heaven forbid.

In addition to the frantic mewling of the cat, we had to deal with the suspicious absence of water in our household. Hugh crawled under the house, fearing the worst (burst pipe) only to find the crawl space bone dry and warm. His first call was to the supervisor of the Petticoat Junction Public Works department and, he was fortunate enough to not only catch the man at home but in a relatively cooperative mood.

Within minutes of the call, the supervisor was at our house and had discovered that our meter was frozen. And, that the pit the meter sits in was not properly insulated or sealed after our driveway was poured over it earlier this year (a job his department was responsible for). Had the meter broken, we would have had to tear out a large section of the driveway to replace it. As it was, the supervisor was able to thaw out the meter using a hose attached to the tailpipe of his truck (hellooo, Redneck) after which he insulated and sealed the pit properly and, water runneth again in Casa de Chelle.

In other words, we got lucky.

Or, the town of Petticoat Junction got lucky because, really; if we had to tear out part of Hugh’s beloved driveway because the Public Works department failed to adequately seal our meter pit, Hugh would camp out Boy Scout style on the front steps of City Hall until the town agreed to pay for the repairs and, no one wants to see Hugh’s bed head every morning.

You can trust me on that one.