Perks of Renting

Carl and I will probably be lifetime home renters instead of home owners. Although owning has perks, so does renting. For example...I came home Thursday evening and noticed a LARGE wet spot in the yard. It was more than just wet, it was almost flooded. The fence was wet, the side of the house was wet, and the ground looked like a rain shower had poured in a specific area all day. Upon closer inspection I noticed not only the pooling water but a few spots of "bubbling" water coming up from the ground.

I put in a quick phone call to the home owner that we rent from. They both were at work but instructed me to turn off the main water source...which I did, but the water continued to bubble out of the holes. It also was still running in our guest house. When the homeowner got home later, after it had gotten dark, he found the problems. #1-the water shut off to their house is not connected to our guest house and he had to shut the water off from the street. #2-after a little digging in the dark he found that the water pipe was faulty because the previous owner connected copper piping with PVC pipe...which in a big NO-NO. #3-he couldn't do anything until the next morning.

So we spent the night and most of the next day without water. However, this started a big debate between my husband and myself as to HOW to flush the toilet without water. I know how to do it...he did not. He takes our 1 bucket of water and proceeds to pour it in the back of the toilet in the tank at which point I yelled "What are you doing! That is not how it works!". Finally, when we actually had to flush the toilet and his method failed...he believed me that pouring water in the tank will NOT flush the toilet! You have to pour water directly into the bowl to "force flush" it! Anyway...

The next morning the men worked on the pipe only to find that it was worse than they had detected the night before. Not only was the connection faulty, but the tree roots had grown into the pipe and burst it in a few spots. Who knows how long the water had been leaking underground!

Here are the culprits!

Late on Friday we got our water back on and I promptly took a hot shower. It's funny how we take for granted the simple conveniences like running water. Needless to say, we were happy to be renters and not owners because we didn't have to fork over any money for repairs. Thank goodness! We also don't have to pay the water bill...which I can only imagine will be expensive this month with all the water that was able to spray out before we found the problem. The only issue that concerns us now is that because they had to cut the roots away on one side of the tree, I'm afraid that the tree is unstable and may fall over. Not a good thing to have an unstable tree in earthquake country!

Thanks for reading, there will be more funny stories, book reviews, and adventures to share soon!