September has been a hard month.  It has been a month full of lots of little things going wrong which result in me having to spend all my extra time taking care of the little things and the big things and the normal things and seriously I am just overwhelmed at this point.

In September, we had one freezer die, our refrigerator is acting strange and has been breeding fruit flies that we can’t seem to find where, my car has now been in the shop two weeks including an emergency four hour stop. E has had two visits with his parents that have lasted eight hours or more, Lily moved apartments, Zach had a prank played on him that involved his car and last but not least a water leak.

The house we live in was built in 1976 so it is older and I have lived here for over 30 years so things are going to have to be replaced.  We are responsible for the water line that goes from the water meter to the house and all the lines in the house.  We have already replaced the entire line from the inside of the house to about 5 foot from the meter.  Those last five feet are a pain in the but!

Last Tuesday, Zach noticed a water leak and Matt headed home to check it out and fix it.  We first called the water company because if the leak is on the road side of the meter they are responsible.  I also knew we had replaced most of the line and the connection on our side was replaced less than five years ago when Matt was out of the country for business.   Good news, we thought as the water company came and said yeap it is definitely on our side you are good.  We knew it would be several days before they got to it but was not a big deal.

On Monday as we are driving home, Zach calls and says that the water company has dug on the wrong side of the meter. So I call the company and was informed that it was not a mistake but that the leak of 10 galloons an hour was on my side.  After three very long and unproductive calls, my frustration peaked and my number was given to the “general manager.”  At least this fourth call was productive, the leak was confirmed to have been on my side  for at least a week but the water company acknowledged that several mistakes on their side were made.  Matt, Zach and I spent several hours outside fixing a pin hole leak. Matt originally fixed the leak fairly easily but as soon as he tossed dirt in it another leak started.  I started counting repairs and this stretch had at least 3 previous repairs.   We replaced the stretch of pipe and thought all was good but decided to leave the hole open just in case.  Matt checked and we still had a small drip the next morning.

Part of my productive conversation with the general manager of the water company include forgiveness for the excessive water that had been leaking in the ground because Matt could have and was planning on fixing the leak last week. A second part was they were finally going to change my name from Green to Abbott. I just flat out refused to spend $50 on a name change even after 23 years.  The final part of the agreement was that the general manager was going to come out and make sure that there was not another leak of their side of the meter.

This man kept his word and came out Tuesday morning. He did not find another leak but noticed the drip on our side  and asked if they could repair it.  Sure. Not only did they repair it but the replaced the entire stretch of line including new pipe and fasteners.  This was a small gesture that makes me very thankful and relieves a huge amount of stress from us!