I go down to the basement to transfer clothes from the washer to the dryer and discover that the top of both are covered in water! Oh shit! So I go outside where dad is trimming his yard (mom is mowing) and quiz his diagnostic skills. He tells me to check that the drain hose isn’t plugged up or off or something and describes what it should be like. I return to the basement and get my step stool so that I can look at the back of the washer better.

I notice that some of the ceiling pipes are wet. Now, either my washing machine became a fountain (and with the lid shut, I seriously doubted that) or the water came from above. You know, like from the outside hose which I’d just been using to clean out Leo’s litter boxes… Dad had arrived and we pointed the movable lamp at the pipes and sure enough, there’s a hole that’s most obvious in that pipe. Bugger, gotta get that replaced. It probably froze this winter (though it’s supposedly designed NOT to do this) and ripped. Still, I’m pleased that it was this rather than the washing machine going kablooey. I dried both appliances off and started the next load – they both seem to be working just fine. Phew!

Looks like I’ll be calling the plumber soon – here’s hoping the fix doesn’t cost all that much moolah.

In other news, this weekend has been GORGEOUS!!!!!!! And we’ve supposedly got another day like that tomorrow. Yesterday, I bought myself a chaise lounge for the back yard and Leo & I sat outside. I read, he snoozed & investigated in alternate measures. Then a neighborhood cat came by and Leo got all hyper about it, so I kicked his butt back inside. (My cat, who often acts like a dog, fittingly has a leash to wear outside. OK, so he’s got a paranoid mommy, but he still gets to enjoy the outside even while being an indoor cat.) Today, while I cleaned his boxes, he dozed & sniffed around & enjoyed himself until mom started mowing. Then he wanted to go back inside.

Dad’s doing a Sunday School class on the Jesus Seminar all this month at a church in Dayton, so today we went doon sooth to attend the class. (Mom and I are his groupies.) The class was well attended and dad did a good job on differentiating from the Jesus of the Creeds and the Historical Jesus. Then we went to the Town & Country shopping center where we shopped at Books & Co. and ate at Damon’s (famous for their ribs – which I ordered & were good), and shopped at Trader Joe’s. I bought too much stuff there (well, only $17 worth, but that’s more than $0) including some sour dough bread, Irish cheese, basmati & jasmine rice, and some Madagascar vanilla beans. The folks spent a bit more and bought a bit more stuff. Trader Joe’s is fun – too bad it’s so far away! We’ll probably go there again next week & the week after. 🙂

Well, I supposed I should get offline. I had 3 things I wanted to get done today. Laundry – it’s halfway done. Clean Leo’s boxes – done. Grade papers – not yet started. I did watch the third episode of Doctor Who and really enjoyed it. Leo got distracted by the outdoors about halfway through, however. He must not be all that big on ghost stories. 😉 Hope you all are having a great weekend, too!