House Sitting Story #3

Is this #3 already? Or is it #4! Anyway, off to another story telling about my housesitting fiasco's. Of course, as I write this I'm sitting in a friends house taking care of their 2 cats and a snake! I'll be sure have a story after this stint as I'll be here a month. I swear, I should sell all my belongings and become a professional housesitter!

Well, this housesitting story doesn't only include water but it also involves 3 children and a load of crap! haha! Good way to start off, don't you think!? Last fall, Hope and Darcy were planning on going to a seminar in Great Falls, Idaho and would be away for a few days. Since they didn't want to take their children (Willow 8, Hunter 5 and Dawson 3), they had asked three of us to take turns and look after them. I was just getting back from Europe and would only take care of them for one night before H & D got back the next day. Well, sure.....no problem. How hard can that be? HA!!

Being the giving person I am and one that likes to go the extra mile for people, I thought I would help Hope out and do a load of laundry. The kids were outside or running around the house and I decided to throw a load in. After an hour or so I went to throw it in the dryer and noticed that the water was rising around the drain and was slowly going down. I didn't freak out too much cuz I just thought it would eventually go down and it didn't ruin anything. Thankfully there was nothing around the drain, no carpets, furniture, etc to block it. I say that only because that has been one of the causes of previous water episodes.....obstruction to the drain!

As I waited for the water to go down, I decided to continue on with other chores, doing dishes and whathaveyou. When I checked on the drain later, the water hadn't gone down! In fact, it seemed to be rising. So, I put my thinking cap on and grabbed a pail and thought I could take the extra and put it down the toilet or something. I made sure the drain cap was off just in case there was something on top of it because I could see it.

After a few HOURS, the situation finally got the best of me and I thought I could handle it on my own and with the help of child labour. It was funny at one point when Dawson was helping carry some water to the washroom next to the laundry he raised his arms and shouted, ' This is Team Work!' Obviously, Hope had been instilling the idea of teamwork in her children and I thought it was so cute....and wonderful that he understood the concept and was enjoying this.

Of course, I couldn't call Darcy's brother for help because he was out of town and H & D were traveling back. They also couldn't talk on the phone because they would receive roaming charges so I was feeling alone at the task ahead and not sure how to handle it. The thought did cross my mind that this wasn't just laundry water but the sewer backing up. So NOW I had to deal with stepping in other people's crap and I couldn't even wash our feet because the water would come back up the drain.

After shedding a few tears, a couple friends coming over and Trevor Wise lending a helping hand, I finally stood in the shower with the kids, washed our feet and took the children to my house. It was a LONG day and one I wish to NEVER repeat again.

Lessons learned:
1) If you're housesitting and something happens, YOU don't have to clean up the mess. You are ONLY responsible for telling the owners and you can only do what is within your limits. Clearing out drains is NOT one of them.
2) NEVER put a potato down the toilet and go away for a few days. It calls for an unhappy housesitter.